95 3.9 no start issues

hey everyone, i had a thread up a couple days ago about how to check for fuel on this thing. figured id give you the whole story since the pump is working.

it ran fine the whole day and night on thursday. no problems at all just normal everyday running. got home and parked it for the night like always. friday morning i wake up and it just will not start. it cranks fine but there is no pop or even the slightest sound of ignition. its just friggen spinning.

i open the hood and find chunks of snow and ice covering the whole top of the ignition coil. mind you there was a snow storm that night and the truck was facing into the wind the whole time. right off i thought that was the problem so i got all the snow and ice off the coil and dried the top off best i could. tried cranking and still nothing.

checked for spark at the coil, distributor, and then the spark plugs and everything was normal. checked all of the fuses under the hood and dash. none were blown.

then after realizing there was a dead silence in the fuel pump when i turned the key i thought i wasnt getting fuel. checked for fuel at the rail while cranking and there was fuel.

so thats where i am now. about to call a tow truck cuz i have no idea what else to look for or check out. i hate when a car does this cuz i know it could be just about anything. but im pretty sure i checked out all the obvious stuff. anything and everything anyone can come up with i will do it. hell make a giant list of stuff that it could be. just about anything will help.

so i go outside this morning and i pour gas down the intake. cranked it a few times and it tried starting. i proceeded to pour alittle more gas into the intake and open the throttle while cranking and after a few trys it started up. turned it off, started it up, let it run for awhile, turned it off, let it sit or awhile, and it started up just fine again.

anyone have an explaination for this? cuz im really doubting weather to drive this until i know why it could of acted this way.

There is a chance your alarm spider may be playing up although they usually start by stopping the starter motor from operating however it may be inhibiting the fuel pump.

This can be totally out of the blue and very intermittent. easily fixed with a bypass plug.
If it is this it may not happen again for months or it could eventually be pemanent as the heater causes dry joints in the alarm spider unit over time,

oh i didnt know mine had an alarm on it. i never got a manual or a remote when i bought it. makes perfect sense though. i ran it around the block earlier and now the starter wont even crank. tried to give it a jump and it just wont go. ill try to search online a bit but is there a way to bypass it without buying something? what if i just ripped it out of there? dunno where to look for it though.

The alarm spider is above the heater matrix and you have to remove the centre dash panel to get at it. There are 2 hidden screws underneath the little black plastic bar just underneath the sterio opening. Prise this plastic bar carefully up with a small screwdriver to reveal the screws. You will have to remove the sterio cage (2 more screws above it), remove heater knobs and panel to reveal more screws.

Remove the cup holder and then coin holder and clock which can be a bastard to remove.

Spider is small black box on top of heater.

Cut through metal shroud protecting cable plug bend shroud back and unplug.

You will need to order a bypass plug from your nearest Landy specialist or dealer and it is only about £7 to £8 quid, plug it into the loom and you are away. Part number
AMR4956.

The whole job should take no longer than 2 hours to strip and reassemble.

http://www.v8wizard.com/alarm-spider.html this tells you the pins to cross if you can't get a plug.

Hope this helps as it is an easy fix and hope it is not something more sinister.

thank you much! when i looked for the bypass plug online i was wondering why the installation time said 1 hour. i figured its just a friggen plug! now i know. thanks again. ill check it out tomaro.

took the starter out. had it tested. apparently i burned the solenoid.

If your disco is an early 95MY then it won't have a spider, if you had a fob then it would be the single button one.
It's later with the two button fobs and passive immobilision that a disco had a spider and only then untill late 97-98MY.

To find out what system you have, look behind the glove box for the alarm/central locking ecu it will have an antenna co-ax cable with a plug similar to a tv co-ax plug, if you find you have that then will be a single button system.

there was a half broken remote in the center console when we first looked at it. it looks like one button but it could be 2. its looked very old like a truck ran over it and the decals and paint were rubbed off. i bought a battery for it thinking it would work the locks but it didnt do anything. its still in there.

when the new starter is in itll be the next thing ill look into if it still doesnt start.

the thick braided wire going from the solenoid to the starter was burned off. most of it was there but it was cut completely off and burned out. almost melted black. new starter was put in and it starts up like it always did.

i unplugged the maf sensor and plugged it back in and the check engine light turned off. someone told me it was the default way to reset it just to check if it really was going nuts.

i changed the plugs and wires but it didnt do much. i guess i was making sure that the original starting problem wasnt that.

im still at a brainfart as to why it cranked and didnt wanna start in the first place. seems to be starting and running normally now. i have a feeling its going to do it again.