Disco M & S flashing on dash changed battery now cut out whilst driving Any ideas?

Hi im Lee and im a new user to this forum.
Ive had a couple of series Landrover in the past and with a expanding family decided on a Disco 2.

I purchased a Discovery 2 several weeks ago, its a 2002 pre facelift diesel Autobox.

Brought the Disco and had no problems driven 250 mile on motorway then changed all oils axles , autobox , transfer , brake , coolant , engine , fuel , air only thing i didnt do was change glowplugs , drove around 600 mile with no problem.

Went to the car after sitting for 2 weeks and the M & S lights were flashing on the dash looked on this website and thought it was the battery loosing charge,
tested battery and it was only 40% charged anyway decided to treat the girl and buy a new battery.

New battery on and all the lights went off drove it around 100 mile, started her this cold and frosty morning with no problem.
Went out 4 hours later to use and the M & S lights were flashing again.

Left for 5 minutes and the lights went off, decided i needed to take her round the block 1 mile round trip and it cut out on me 300 m from home whilst driving.

She would not start she was trying but wouldnt fire.
Anyway left 5 minutes tryed again and fired first time , i took her round the block again and she made it this time.

what could the problem be ? sorry for the long post trying to give you excatly the way its happened.

Thanks in advance

Go to the 'introduce yourself' section and introduce yourself mate

Thanks first time ive used still finding my way around lol

first of all check connections at the battery clamps and the main earth(follow the lead from batt negative)... if all good turn on the lights and crank it so...if the lights dim measure voltage with engine running...you must get around 14.5 V unless the alternator is gone.

by the way what AH and CCA has that battery you've bought

Thanks for info

Just been to the car and started first time no problem.

The battery was 90ah and 700 cc i brought the one that was rated more than the spec for the car.

Earth is good and very clean took it off anyway and clean connectors with wire wool. I thought that this may of been the problem myself

Alternator reading was 14.4 v

I did all this yesterday after it broke down on me

I also had a 0.3 milliamps on when engine not on, thought id check see if i had a big drain somewhere.

Would it be worth connecting to a diagnostic machine or is there more i can do?

Ive heard about oil on the ecu plug havent checked yet but it looks easy to do?

Thanks Again

leec1 said:

Thanks for info


Ive heard about oil on the ecu plug haven't checked yet but it looks easy to do?

Thanks Again

Click to expand...

The 'oil in the ECU plug' problem is dead easy to check and clean.

The ECU is located under a large black plastic cover, next to the battery. You need to be looking at the LHS of the engine bay as you look at it.

Remove the cover and you'll see the battery and in a separate compartment the ECU and wheel jack.

To remove the ECU you need to remove the battery earth cable (for safety) then remove the small Philips screw holding the ECU in place. Once done, withdraw the ECU - the cables are thick so you'll need to jiggle them out - then you'll see two plugs: one black and one red. The red one is the one you're after.

Remove the red plug and you are likely to find oil in both plug and socket. If this is the case it needs cleaning, the way I do it is as follows:

1. Remove both plugs and the stand the ECU - end on - on some kitchen towel to soak up the oil;

2. Using aerosol brake and clutch fluid, wash out all the oil in the plugs and leave to dry;

3. Now take the ECU and wash out the sockets in the same way and stand on more kitchen towel to dry.

4. Once dry, reinstall.

OK, so where does the oil come from? It comes from the injector harness which over time starts to leak. There are two remedies: first is fit a whole new harness (30) or second fir new harness rubber O-rings (2 off, about £2) the choice is yours, both are known to work.

After you have rectified the problem there will still be a residue of oil that works it's way through for a few weeks, so just keep cleaning the plugs until no more oil appears.

Cheers
Dave

leec1 said:

Thanks for info

1. The battery was 90ah and 700 cc i brought the one that was rated more than the spec for the car.

2. I also had a 0.3 milliamps on when engine not on,

Click to expand...

1. so is yours a V8 then? ...cos the original one on the Td5 was 110AH 800CCA

2. i think you mean 0.3 amps which means 300mA and that's big... the drain must not exceed 0.1A(100mA) in the first 1.5 hours(while the SLABS ECU is under power) and around 0.05A(50mA) after that as long as there's no parasitic drain there

Think I'll check the milliamps again as for the battery it had nothing on it telling me. I went to halfords and the even lesser one was recommended I still have the receipt if it is a 110 one.

I just went of the chart for a Td5.

Should have known better than to go to halfords.:-(

Thanks for the info gunna try take alook when I check the Milliamps drawn

Lee

Update to post

Drove around 20 miles today with no problems , saw the posts and decided to check the Ecu, on looking the red plug had some oil in it not as much as ive saw in earlier forums but still enough.

I cleaned the red and black plug and also decided to spray up into the ecu and let the cleaner drain down.

I took it for a drive and cant believe the difference it seems to be alot more responsive and running alot smoother than when i brought it, is this possible?

I shall be ordering a new harness and replacing very soon, are there cheap versions that should be avoided?

Is there anything else that could be causing me problems on the Disco that could be relating to the problem.

Ill be checking my milliamps once the neighbour gets back and i can get my tester off him.

Many Thanks

go for genuine or at least OEM loom if you want it to last

Here's a selection of prices/qualities:

Discovery TD5 injector harness | eBay


Dave

Update

Tested the battery today and it was drawing 17 MA when left.

Started the car then turned off and did the test again and it was drawing 160 MA

I tested a 1 hour later and it was back down to 17 MA

Also the alternator was reading 14.4v and went up to 14.6 when accelerator was pressed

Does this sound about right as sierra you said 100 MA

Car is still running well and have ordered OEM loom and gasket hopefully get monday and replace
thanks for advice sierra and big lad

Kind Regards

it seems right as for up to 1.5 hours after you turned it off the SLS is active so a greater drain is normal

Thanks

Is there any preventive maintainance that should be done or things that should be done on a Disco 2 to encourage a longer life and reliability ?

Im new to the Disco so the only problems i no of are the ones i can see on this forum and google.

Update and advice needed !

After cleaning the ECU out and it seemed to run alot better i have now done 700
mile in her.

I ordered the injector harness and fitted around 70 mile ago.
Still got abit of oil for a while but now stopped the problem of the oily plug.

Anyway today im working away and needed to go on the motorway, the car ran fine for 15 mile then all of a sudden a loss in power , revved the engine more the revs went down then up then down then cut out.
Onto the hard shoulder i went and opened the bonnet, nothing wrong that i could see.
Tryed starting her again and she started but not very reluctantly,
carried on and it happened around 4 times in a 40 mile trip this was alot worse on hills she just seemed to give up and cut out.

Everytime she didnt want to start, but once left for a while started after pumping the pedal quite alot and turning over alot.
Whats the problem is this fuel related ?
Id also like to say that on cold mornings she takes quite a few turns to start,but if i turn off and turn on twice it then starts first time.
Im thinking glow plugs and or fuel pump on the way out.
Driving around town its fine its just when you seem to press the pedal down to overtake or when going up hills labouring.

Please help ive got to get something done this week as im now in bicester for work until friday then need to drive back to portsmouth.

All help is greatly appreciated

Lee

fuel pump????

Could it be the Wastegate solenoid ?
Just saw it on the Disco 2 website?
Just thinking that it cuts out when under load or trying to rev to much so the ECU cuts it out for safety to the engine.
Could this be correct?

Thanks

Nice Disco cumbria and loving the bike rack

i had a flat spot on this car, i replaced everything, wastegate, MAF, etc but when i cured it finally i put a
Fuel Filter Air Bleed Valve TD5 (Genuine) WJN500110 Island 4x4 - Specialists in Land Rover and Range Rover Parts and accessories for all models. UK and worldwide mail order.
on and a new fuel pump, Fuel Pump In-Tank Discovery Td5 (VDO) WFX000280G WFX101080 ok ever since