Help! At my wits end with my beloved disco TD5

Hello.

I'm new to the group, but I'm hoping you lovely people in the know can help me with my car. It's a discovery TD5 on a 04 plate. The poor old girl has been through the wars, but she always gets me home. Until last night that is.

We took my step son to a boxing competition about 50 miles from home (the back end of nowhere). Drove out there fine apart from the battery light kept coming on for about a minute and then going off again. I had noticed that my battery might need looking at earlier in the week as my lights seemed dim. Mentioned it to the other half and thought no more of it (sorry I'm a woman). Anyway, came out to the car after boxing. It started fine. Reversed out of the parking space fine. Then went to put it in first gear, it felt like it was in gear but it wouldn't move just rev. Then the dash lit up the blackpool as christmas. My other half turned to off left it for a couple of minutes and then tried to start it again. It didn't start. Just clicked, I believe this was the starter motor trying to work.

So, I've called the AA (this cost a fortune, but that's another story). The AA man put jump leads on it and got the car running again. While he was checking around it (found a worn wire down the side of the engine, don't know how this is related) it started running lumpy, like really lumpy! AA man said a lot of smoke came out the back end. I didn't see this but it was really foggy. He turned it off and told me I had a major engine failure. He said the turbo had gone and my engine had seized and I need a new alternator and a battery. He also told me I had no oil in my engine, but was holding the dipstick showing me at the time. It was at the lower level, but there was oil in it. (I do check it)

I'm honesty not convinced he knew what he was doing. He spoke to me like I was an inconvenience and I don't think he realised my other half was sat in the car with the kids. His attitude changed as soon as he saw him.

Now the questions I really would like to ask are,

Could a flat battery cause all this destruction?

Could a flat battery cause the clutch/gearbox/selector (or whatever else it could be) to stop working?

And the big one. . . . Is it worth me sorting it? I've had this car (daisy) 2 1/2 years. She had a new clutch and flywheel when I bought her (from a trader). I really like the car, it does what I need it to do. But we've only just got it back on the road after a write off and I'm now starting to regret buying it back from the insurance company to be honest. I don't know if it was the right thing to do.

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

First off welcome to the Landyzone. Well what a problem you are under. First give you battery a good long charge or have a battery tester check whether it reach is sad end. Next is to do the basics in looking around the engine bay for oil leaks and frayed wires such as earthing straps or wires leading to the engine loom injectors. If the battery is okay then there an issue with charging and that's where the alternator need checking or replacing. Always check the oil by doing the three check rule. 1 to clean 2 to check 3 to confirm.

Lynnette said:

He said the turbo had gone and my engine had seized and I need a new alternator and a battery.

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Well, if he said that, he sounds like a plank. If the engine had seized and turbo had "gone" then not much point in worrying about the battery or alternator......

Is it an AUTO?

As above, get the battery fully charged and get it checked. Then if the engine starts check the voltage with the engine running and see if the alternator is working correctly.

Ref the chaffed wire, after it was restarted by jumping was it running smoothly until the AA man found the chafed wire? or did it restart running lumpy@ what colour is the wire? can you determine where it goes to? is the chafing fresh?


Good luck and welcome to Loonyzone.

Cheers

Sounds to me like he was an absolute cowboy.
It also sounds like your alternator has packed up or the wire coming from it has corroded or broken.
I would buy a multimeter,jump start the engine and read the voltage when it's on tickover.any less than 14 and it's alternator trouble.

Thanks for your replies.

I think I'm going to get another battery tomorrow. As I think the suspension issues may have been due to the battery been on its way out. Then the last few cold nights have just finished it off.

It's a manual gearbox.

The wire was a light blue colour. One of 2 down the left hand side of the engine sd you look at it. It looks like the engine cover may have rubbed it. But it doesn't look like a new chaffed bit if you know what I mean. It just goes into the side of the engine.

The car ran smoothly until the AA man started looking at stuff. I didn't see him touch anything tho. He pointed out a air in take in the same area that the plastic cover on the connector was rattling a bit. I didn't really take a huge amount of notice of him as these things seemed quite trivial at the time. I just wanted him to get it started and sort out the gearbox/clutch issue so I could get the kids home. Its a little scary in little villages when the street lights go off at 12.30!

Hmm, that's a bit of a list

Starting at the beginning. Dash going haywire does indicate probable alternator fault so that would cover battery/starting issues.

I don't know of any reason why that would prevent drive but I'm no fan nor expert of electrickery ......Transfer box in neutral?

Difficult to say about turbo/ engine seize without some idea of what was going through the chaps mind.

Lynnette said:

As I think the suspension issues may have been due to the battery been on its way out.

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Suspension issues? Did I miss something in the original post or is this something else?

As it is a manual, I do not see how the battery can have any affect on the gearchange.

Lynnette said:

The car ran smoothly until the AA man started looking at stuff. I didn't see him touch anything tho. He pointed out a air in take in the same area that the plastic cover on the connector was rattling a bit.

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Rattling cover on the connector? which connector? may be something is loose and needs reconnecting, have you checked the engine bay for any loose connectors?

So , did he get it changing gear correctly? Doe sit now drive?

Ref the click you got from the starter, if it does it wiith a good battery then this is normally either the connector ( lucar) which goes to the solenoid on the starter has got dirty / loose and needs cleaning, or the starter solenoid contacts are wearing ( £13 to fix).

Cheers

I don't know of any reason why that would prevent drive but I'm no fan nor expert of electrickery ......Transfer box in neutral?

That sounds right. As I was trying to pull away, it felt like I was putting it in gear but it was just revving like I had it in neutral.

neilly said:

Suspension issues? Did I miss something in the original post or is this something else?

As it is a manual, I do not see how the battery can have any affect on the gearchange.



Rattling cover on the connector? which connector? may be something is loose and needs reconnecting, have you checked the engine bay for any loose connectors?

So , did he get it changing gear correctly? Doe sit now drive?

Ref the click you got from the starter, if it does it wiith a good battery then this is normally either the connector ( lucar) which goes to the solenoid on the starter has got dirty / loose and needs cleaning, or the starter solenoid contacts are wearing ( £13 to fix).

Cheers

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He didn't get it changing gear. We came home on a low loader. (about 2:30 this morning)

Rattling cover was on a connector (thingy) on the air intake near this light blue wire on left hand side of engine.

We have a guy up the road from us that re conditions starter motors and I think alternators.

I didn't think there would be a link between battery and the gearbox problem, but I just wanted to check.

Lynnette said:

He didn't get it changing gear. We came home on a low loader. (about 2:30 this morning)

Rattling cover was on a connector (thingy) on the air intake near this light blue wire on left hand side of engine.

We have a guy up the road from us that re conditions starter motors and I think alternators.

I didn't think there would be a link between battery and the gearbox problem, but I just wanted to check.

Click to expand...

As you look at the car from the front , the air intake in on the right hand side. Is this where the rattling cover was?

As BB has mentioned, check your transfer box is not in neutral , will it try and drive if you try and select 2nd?

Cheers

Sorry, suspension issue - after accident the car was sat at a bodyshop for a while waiting for insurance to agree on stuff. when they started working on it the suspension de-flatted. They couldn't get it sorted, so took it to a land rover mechanic. He charged me a small mortgage, couldn't fix it and recommended a coil conversion. He pumped the bags up and disconnected the leads so it couldn't adjust.

I drove it like this for a couple of weeks, then bought 2 sensor arms. We put these on and it pumped itself up and has been ok ever since.

Sorry expected you to be a mind reader - the story of this car has been a long one, but until now nothing mechanical.

neilly said:

As you look at the car from the front , the air intake in on the right hand side. Is this where the rattling cover was?

As BB has mentioned, check your transfer box is not in neutral , will it try and drive if you try and select 2nd?

Cheers

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Oh well it was a black pipe towards the back of the engine that he was pointing at.

I shall check the transfer in a minute. I might look like a total tit if that's the case.

Lynnette said:

Sorry, suspension issue - after accident the car was sat at a bodyshop for a while waiting for insurance to agree on stuff. when they started working on it the suspension de-flatted. They couldn't get it sorted, so took it to a land rover mechanic. He charged me a small mortgage, couldn't fix it and recommended a coil conversion. He pumped the bags up and disconnected the leads so it couldn't adjust.

I drove it like this for a couple of weeks, then bought 2 sensor arms. We put these on and it pumped itself up and has been ok ever since.

Sorry expected you to be a mind reader - the story of this car has been a long one, but until now nothing mechanical.

Click to expand...

Oh Dear, it sound as if you have been thru the wars on this Disco.

Do you have a bunch of short planks working on cars around your area? A bodyshop that cannot fix cars and a landy specialist who cannot diagnose suspension problems..

While you are there can you get a picture of where the blue wires are?

Good luck.

Cheers

yes I will.

i feel like I've just been taken for a bit of a mug as I'm a woman in a male environment. Horrible stereotypical thing to say, but basically I've been charged a lot of money for not a lot of work.

Whereabouts in the country are you? I'm sure people on here could recommend somebody reputable or help.
Don't buy a parts until you have diagnosed what is wrong.The Land Rover man shouldn't have charged anything if he can't fix it he shouldn't be in business.

I think it might of been in neutral. Do they bounce out of high/low sometimes?

Not normally.

But I suppose you could knock it out, mine feels quite stiff.

Cheers

pictures of the wire and pipe the AA man was on about from left hand side of engine as you look it from front of car.

They don't look like wires to me, more like the two pipes from the EGR valve to the EGR Modulator unit down on the left hand side. iirc they are blue, I pulled the EGR off mine a couple of years back.

+1 on what @brian47 says ,

They do look like the EGR pipes. although the pic is not that clear ( or maybe that is just from the beer I drank last night...) Any way you look at it , it should not have a whole in the pipe......

Do they got to a small unit on the drivers side wing? and to the intake manifold at the front of the engine. If you have a read here this is what is known as an EGR delete / blank the pipes go to this , if they are what we think. Look at the second picture in the write up, these may be pipes 1 and 2.
http://www.alivetuning.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EGR-bypass-kit.pdf

also,

Have a look here, go to minute 34:15 and this may be what you are looking at.

also 6:34 on this one.


Cheers