Other Dico 1 starting issues.

Hi All, I hope somebody can shed some light on a starting issue with a 1996 Discovery V8. It was brought to me to try and repair the drivers door lock..... which I managed no problem, a bit of plastic steel and a washer to re-inforce it and job was done. Problem is the damn thing now won't start! Not even firing. I have pulled the plugs and there is spark, but it seems a bit weak. So tried swopping out the coil, with no success. I then put a pressure gauge on to check fuel and found it was only getting to 30psi, and that was dropping down to just over 20psi whilst cranking. That seems a bit low, so I tried to chuck some fuel down the intake manifold to see if it would at least fire.... not even a bit. I am now a bit stumped as to where to go next, as I would have thought if it was only a fuel pressure issue then it wouild have fired when I threw some fuel into the intake..... also tried a bit of quick start without success, although I must admit I do not like the stuff, so maybe was a little stingy with my squirting! I still feel that the spark may not be strong enough as, when I take the feed from the distributor off and hold it away from earth the spark will jump a good 10mm, but is not a strong white spark. Any iodeas????

Have u checked the battery pos/neg supplies at through the coil? Don't use a digital multimeter use a bulb and a bit of wire.
Remove the white wire on the positive terminal of the coil and check the voltage to earth with the bulb, If you find the bulb is not illuminating brightly u may have an iffy immobiliser, then try running a temporary feed from the battery positive to the positive terminal of the coil and then crank the engine.

Tha above is assuming that u have a 'spider' immobiliser system fitted to your vehicle in your part of the world, which we have here in the uk.

Hi Discool. Thanks for that, had already tried a wire direct from battery to positive on the coil, with no success, also the immobiliser has been taken out, but quite how I do not know. All sorts of wires been cut and joined, fuses bridged etc. A great bloody mess! Have tried to find a replacement condensor, without success. Three hours spent driving around every little and large spares place in town and not a single condensor to be found....... things are a bit different in this neck of the woods. I thought maybe bad earthing, so tried an extra earth from battery to motor, but no joy. Will persevere..... maybe a case of beer will bring inspiration.... normally makes me rather clever!

Hi, yes I bet it's difficult getting parts where u are. Theres not much to the D1s ignition system stopping u getting a decent spark at the plugs, u do have an ignition amplifier unit bolted to the panel by the coil that has been known to fail but I believe it's either working or not so a spark or no spark, if you are getting at king lead and the plugs then maybe start looking elsewhere.

But basically if you have petrol and a spark at the engine it should as least cough when trying to start.
If the idle control valve at the rear of the plenum stuck open that can give bad starting,