help v8

hi everyone im new to the land rover game and have just bought a 1989 90 3.5 v8 . im having a slight problem with the engine it runs fine for example a 2 hour journey and the later or another day drives half a mile and the engine seems tho loose power sudennly and then it slowly dies ? it also backfires ocasionaly . once the engine dies more often then not u can start it again and drive another half a mile before it does it again wats goin on .im goin to service it would that help.and theres also a small leak form the oil filter??? could someone help me 1m only 19 and feel i may have bitten off more than i can chew

First of all Welcome to the Forum, put your location in the post as you never know there may be another owner around the corner to you who can help.
V8's are a simple engine so get a Haynes manual for the 90 and carry out a step by step service.

V8's do like a pure ignition system so make sure the plugs, leads, dizzi cap, etc are all up to scratch.

If the problem was ignition the engine would misfire, not slowly fad away so the problem may be with fuel, something simple as a blocked filter.

I sure there will be more posts to point u in the right direction in finding the fault, don't give up as in the end u will have a

cheers mate for the advice i realy apreciate it / and any other peoples advice im in the swansea area by the way

I didn't ask, has the engine carbs of is it a Efi and is the engine hot or cold when you have your problem.

I had an issue like this, simply check the back of the ignition barrel for secure connections to the main brown and white cables. My 1985 ignition terminals had basically broke off but attached by a tiny bit of metal, new electronic bit was £19 for LR

good luck if its not that

my old man had this problem on his RRC we changed fuel pumps cleaned carbds the works and in the end it was the air filters that were blocked

discopaul said:

my old man had this problem on his RRC we changed fuel pumps cleaned carbds the works and in the end it was the air filters that were blocked

Click to expand...

A good point, air filter easy forgotten..The V8 gulps air.

Sounds like fuel starvation to me, new pump I reckon

Mine drove crap so I

freed mechanical advance weights seized-sorted by stripping distributor
Bogging down when hot on gas or petrol-sorted new leads/rotor and cap as original cheap crap.
Timed up engine with strobe.
Checked fuel flow

I would suggest drive it get it hot then the valley gasket under the inlet manifold look it has it raised?

If you want to chat mine is having new head gaskets, I've had similar problem with power loss/back fire. heads tipped and blew into valley when hot.

I would recommend compression test too

if its doing it on gas then i would suggest looking into the systems ecu if it has one, i had a leonardo ecu burn out and it had similar symptoms to yours.

in anycase it sounds like a good service will help!!!