Disco II TD5 cuts out when put handbrake off

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discoqueen

New Member
Posts
25
As the title says, today my disco always cuts the engine off when I take the handbrake off. The car also cut out whlle driving and the whole dash went blank - it took a couple of minutes before I could start it again. Car starts OK and will happily sit there ticking along!
Any ideas why this is happening?
 
discoqueen said:
As the title says, today my disco always cuts the engine off when I take the handbrake off. The car also cut out whlle driving and the whole dash went blank - it took a couple of minutes before I could start it again. Car starts OK and will happily sit there ticking along!
Any ideas why this is happening?
Click to expand...



I reckon the handbrake mechanism is shorting something out when you take it off.

Strip the centre console to check.
 
It sounds like a bad earth to me.It sounds like your landy is using your handbrake as an earth. Try putting a jump lead straight from the battery and onto the engine/gearbox. If this cures it you'll need to add another earth strap or two.
 
Many thanks for your replies - forgive my ignorance but why would it suddenly need an earth? is the handbrake wired up to the electrics?
 
Normally, the engine has an earthing strap to the chassis and the negative on the battery is akso connected to the chassis. If these fail, electricity will try and find the next easiest route, and unfortunately on Land Rovers, the next easiest is through the handbrake cable. I extreme cases it can melt the inner lining of the cable meaning new cable!
Cheers!
 
Graham Carter said:
Normally, the engine has an earthing strap to the chassis and the negative on the battery is akso connected to the chassis. If these fail, electricity will try and find the next easiest route, and unfortunately on Land Rovers, the next easiest is through the handbrake cable. I extreme cases it can melt the inner lining of the cable meaning new cable!
Cheers!
Click to expand...

^^^^he is spot on worth looking at^^^^^^^
 
As Ratty says, and if that makes no difference try connecting the earth from the neg battery terminal to a good body earth!
 
After I fitted a new abs sensor the handbrake warning light came on (handbrake off) and stayed on until I had travelled a few miles which suggests to me that the ECU has an effect on it.
 
I have no warning lights on tho - but went under the bonnet today to find the active cornering enhancement fluid is low - can this be the problem?
 
haven't tried it yet - ****ing down with rain today and loaded with the cold, but will try tomorrow. I got a new battery 4 months ago but was from local car assessory shop and not Land rover specific. When it was fitted it was a much smaller battery than the original one and since then If I use the wipers/lights then the radio will cut out (or vice versa) looks like the battery cannot handle all the electronics!
 
discoqueen said:
haven't tried it yet - ****ing down with rain today and loaded with the cold, but will try tomorrow. I got a new battery 4 months ago but was from local car assessory shop and not Land rover specific. When it was fitted it was a much smaller battery than the original one and since then If I use the wipers/lights then the radio will cut out (or vice versa) looks like the battery cannot handle all the electronics!
Click to expand...

Once the engine is running the alternator is responsible for supplying the power to the electrical accessories. It sounds like it's had an earth fault that has been gradually deterioating.
 
Last edited:
Discoqueen, you asked if ACE fluid is low is this a problem -- YES
Top it up with fluid from Landrover, about £16 litre , and then inspect sysrem to find the leak. It is a sealed hydrolic system like brakes, and shouldn't go down. If your warning light comes on stop an dont drive any further. The damage to the system will be very expensive. Do a search, there is a fair bit of info around about the ACE system.
Paul.
 
The earth is fine - but when i had a look underneath there is oil (which I guess is the ACE fluid) coming from the handbreak/gearbox area. Does anyone know if the ACE pipes are around that area?
 
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