Engine problem....help!

[Lacie]

Hi guys! First time poster here! I'm at my wits end with my usually very reliable 1999 discovery TD5.
Here's the problem.....
Every time I drive it, two lights flash up on the dashboard and the car loses power but only for a few seconds. As soon as I take my foot off the excelerator and then reapply foot, the lights disappear and the car is back to normal. I will try and upload the two lights that come on! There is no pattern to when it happens. It will do it when it's cold or hot, in any gear and going at any speed. It even happens when sat idle at traffic lights! It's very concerning as I can be driving along merrily and for no reason at all the two lights come on and at exactly the same time there is a "clunk" noise heard in the engine, the car loses power as I've said only for a second or two but as soon as you change gear or put your foot back on the excelerator everything clears and car runs fine again. It has been to a Land Rover specialist who is struggling to find the problem source. Apparently the diagnostic machine is not picking up the fault as the fault is not staying on long enough to be registered. So far we have done the following to try and fix it but to no avail!
1. Serviced! Oil change, all new filters.
2. New air flow meter.
3. New wiring loom (can't remember what that's connected to though!)
4. Fuel pump pressure checked and ok.
Has anyone else had this problem? It seems to be getting worse as in it happens now at least four or five times every time I drive it.
Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Coffeelandy]

Hi guys! First time poster here! I'm at my wits end with my usually very reliable 1999 discovery TD5.
Here's the problem.....
Every time I drive it, two lights flash up on the dashboard and the car loses power but only for a few seconds. As soon as I take my foot off the excelerator and then reapply foot, the lights disappear and the car is back to normal. I will try and upload the two lights that come on! There is no pattern to when it happens. It will do it when it's cold or hot, in any gear and going at any speed. It even happens when sat idle at traffic lights! It's very concerning as I can be driving along merrily and for no reason at all the two lights come on and at exactly the same time there is a "clunk" noise heard in the engine, the car loses power as I've said only for a second or two but as soon as you change gear or put your foot back on the excelerator everything clears and car runs fine again. It has been to a Land Rover specialist who is struggling to find the problem source. Apparently the diagnostic machine is not picking up the fault as the fault is not staying on long enough to be registered. So far we have done the following to try and fix it but to no avail!
1. Serviced! Oil change, all new filters.
2. New air flow meter.
3. New wiring loom (can't remember what that's connected to though!)
4. Fuel pump pressure checked and ok.
Has anyone else had this problem? It seems to be getting worse as in it happens now at least four or five times every time I drive it.
Any help would be appreciated! View attachment 100835View attachment 100836

The left light is your water coolant level and onions the right one is engine management warning. Check the coolant ratios. How is the temp?

 

[Lacie]

The left light is your water coolant level and onions the right one is engine management warning. Check the coolant ratios. How is the temp?

Yes, I looked on google to find out what the lights related to. The temperature is, and always has been fine. And this problem can happen within the first minute of turning engine on when cold! So can't be related to overheating :-/

 

[neilly]

I think the first one is not coolant, But water in fuel filter.

 

[neilly]

FYI,

 

[neilly]

Have you tried connecting diagnostics and taking for a drive? nanocom can record a drive and you could then download and review to see if there is any precursor issues / faults seen in the recording.

Cheers

 

[Lacie]

I think the first one is not coolant, But water in fuel filter.

Thank you, where can the water be coming from, and what is usually done to fix ??

 

[Lacie]

Thank you, where can the water be coming from, and what is usually done to fix ??

And would water in the fuel filter cause the engine management light to come on too and the car loses power? If so why doesn't the lights stay on? Why only intermittent? Cheers x

 

[neilly]

Hi Lacie,

Was the fuel filter changed with the rest of the filters?

You can bleed the water if there is some from the fuel filter / sedimeter, just unclip the sensor and undo the bottom cap slowly until either fuel or water comes out. If water comes out then let it flow until fuel starts to come out. If fuel comes out then retighten.

The sensor / connection on the bottom of the fuel filter has been known to give dodgy outputs, it is in a bit of a stupid place.

Cheers

 

[Lacie]

Hi Lacie,

Was the fuel filter changed with the rest of the filters?

You can bleed the water if there is some from the fuel filter / sedimeter, just unclip the sensor and undo the bottom cap slowly until either fuel or water comes out. If water comes out then let it flow until fuel starts to come out. If fuel comes out then retighten.

The sensor / connection on the bottom of the fuel filter has been known to give dodgy outputs, it is in a bit of a stupid place.

Cheers

Hi neil, yes the fuel filter was replaced, and the damn car did its faulty thing on the road out from the garage afterwards!!

 

[neilly]

If this were mine, As a starting point and to eliminate the potential of it being the cause.

I would bleed the sedimeter, If that did not work then I would also look at changing the filter. These are easy to do and cheap. But I would buy a decent quality filter ( Mahle or equivalent).

I would also investigate running without the sensor connector attached on the sedimeter, But having never done this I do not know if it will have any effect on the engine management.

Cheers

 

[Disco1BFG]

+1 for a decent quality fuel filter.

 

[neilly]

Hi Lacie,

This is from a post in 2013. Scroll down to Serrafery's post.
.
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/fuel-filter-dash-light.234085/#post-2700808

Cheers

 

[John S]

The problem you describe with the acceleration could be related to the catalytic converter and or the lamda probe inside it. That could explain the second warning light. What sort of mileage do you have?

 

[Lacie]

The problem you describe with the acceleration could be related to the catalytic converter and or the lamda probe inside it. That could explain the second warning light. What sort of mileage do you have?

148,000 but up until this problem it's been an ultra reliable landy!
Also now noticing that it's loosing water....having to put a pint in every week