Intermittent now permanent non-starter.

Good evening everyone,
I said hi a couple of weeks ago as a 'newbie',just to let you know I'm in for the long haul.Quick synopsis.Bought Discovery 3.9 V8 EFI 'es' about a month ago.Bought it with 'Intermittent' starting fault from a 4X4 garage (They's taken it in part exchange).Took it for a test drive,loved it,bought it.Went back to collect 3 days later after taxing etc....wouldn't start and hasn't started since.
The garage had tried to sort the problem but weren't prepared to spend to much time on it,plus as the fault (up until me buying it) was intermittent they had no joy.As a matter of course they had changed the plugs,Stepper motor and air sensor and possibly a new set of 'ht leads.So after having 'Leroy' trailered home and trying on a number of occasions to start him I managed to engage the services of a local auto electrician who has in the past breathed life where all else have failed.Twenty minutes later I was told to get a new rotor arm and dizzy cap and 'we' would get im' started.Duly done and still no start and he hasn't been back round since.So left to my own devices I have changed the 'amp',coil and the main ht lead.You can hear the fuel relays kick in when the ignition is turned on.It turns over fine and tries to start just can't maintain it.As it 'tries' I assume it's not imobiliser/spider related.After trying to start for a minute or so you can smell the fuel and it won't even try and fire until you've left it for a short while.I've tried with/without the ballast resistor.I've cleaned up the connectors on and around the coil.I'm hoping there is something blindingly obvious that I'm missing without going into the more detailed fault finding of checking each and every wire etc.Any ideas?.Like I said I'm in for the long haul 'Leroy' isn't going anywhere unless he's being driven by me.

I would see if it will start on carb cleaner and if so its starved of fuel, if not then prob flooded
I'm not so clever at electrickery controlled motors but would start with the TPS and then ask someone else

Thanks for the reply,the forecourt had used 'Easy start' at some point in the past with some success,however,once I went back to collect it was a no-go even with the 'easy start'.I shall search/check regards the tps.Thanks

Not sure if this pic helps with identifying the engine (I've already bought and sent back a crank sensor that doesn't exist on this one)Always learning,well trying.

PM DR Evil. He is the forums resident expert on getting fooked v8's restarted.

redhand said:

PM DR Evil. He is the forums resident expert on getting v8's fooked .

Click to expand...

corrected for the sake of accuracy

Will I have to perform a sacrifice?....PM,the penny has just dropped.Thank you.

Well I've removed the TPS and checked the ohm value on the connectors whilst it was out of the vehicle and they don't come anywhere near the spec in the manual but it could just be me not reading the meter properly,they were nowhere near 1050 that it stated.So the thought is get another one to put on and try it out.However,the TPS is a 'serpentine' one which doesn't seem to be readily available.Even the local breakers took a sharp intake of breath.Any suggestions?? The connector is square (not round)and has brown,green and blue wires: and I did think about using the round connector type and just cobbling the wires together but apparently the calibration is different.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/attachment.php?attachmentid=42642&stc=1&d=1362415886
This is what came off..

FOUND ONE:rofl:Yay...Should be here in a coulpe of days.£33+p&p on E-bay.Finally,I've been seeing potentiometers in my sleep....Let you know what happens when I put it on.

Rover 14CUX Hot Wire Mass Flow EFI: Service and Troubleshooting

Fuel injection

RPi Engineering - V8 Engines

have a read of these too, mate. helped me understand what the gods on here are on about!!! I'm not an expert either but stick around they'll be here soon....

Thanks for those links...I have a nice collection building up under 'Leroys' bookmark page.The aim,apart from actually getting to drive him,is to learn right from the start.So much.....

If I'm stating the obvious I apologise, but people get very worried and stressed when a car won't start thinking it could be anything, but in reality it's one of three. You're trying to start a fire and a fire needs fuel, oxygen and a source of ignition.
So either: -

You've got no fuel
You've got no ignition
You've got no air (compressed)

The trick is to find out which one.

Take all the ignition leads off and crank the engine for 15 turns. Are the plugs wet? they should be.

Take an ignition lead off, put a spare plug on it and rest it on the inlet manifold. Does it spark?

Use a compression tester to check you've got good compression in all cylinders.


My guess is you'll fine one of the above is missing. This narrows it down massively.

Find out what you're missing and then we can find out why it's missing and how to get it back.

I know the above sounds overly simplistic but it is the holy grail of getting cars to start.

Don't forget that you need to get air in and fumes out of any fire. If your exhaust is blocked for instance by a collapsed cat this will also prevent your car from running.

It's good advice,thank you.One of the problems I've had is coming into the problem after everyone else has had their paws on it.I had to assume that the previous owner(4x4 garage,wouldn't spend any more time on it as it was a p/x) had done the stuff they said (leads,plugs,petrol,air sensor,stepper motor)Then the problem turned from intermittent to permanent(Kind of makes me think it was something on its way out).It has run,just not for me.Once the TPS arrives I shall fit it and if there's still no joy I will go right back to the beginning and take your advice..

Time for an update.So I fitted the throttle sensor,put the battery back and hey presto....nothing.Same as before.So I dutifully put the battery back on charge and tried to think outside the box.I felt as though I'd exhausted the electrical side (probably hadn't) so I thought I'd look down the 'fuel' system side.Bear in mind that even though it hadn't started,it had tried and there was a strong smell of petrol after it had been cranked over for 30 secs or more.I toyed with the idea of checking out the sender unit first.However,before I did that I thought I would treat him to at least half a tank of fuel.Found a 5 gallon contanier up the garden,cleaned it out and filled it up plus two more one gallon containers.Added it to the tank along with a small dose of redex (this was about 3-4 days ago) My thinking was that when I 'test' drove it the petrol light had come on and it came to my attention that the garage had had 'Leroy' for the best part of twelve months...chances are they hadn't put any fresh petrol in and the two gallons I put in on the forecourt probably didn't touch the sides and therefore there was either 'rubbish' at the bottom of the tank that was restricting the flow or the old petrol was just dead.So battery back on and the fuel gauge showing three quarters full this morning I attempted and succeeded to start him.....Yay...Not firing on all eight cylinders just yet and didn't want to idle...but I don't care...there may well still be an intermittent starting problem....and I still don't care...Leroy rocks.

twack said:

Well I've removed the TPS and checked the ohm value on the connectors whilst it was out of the vehicle and they don't come anywhere near the spec in the manual but it could just be me not reading the meter properly,they were nowhere near 1050 that it stated.So the thought is get another one to put on and try it out.However,the TPS is a 'serpentine' one which doesn't seem to be readily available.Even the local breakers took a sharp intake of breath.Any suggestions?? The connector is square (not round)and has brown,green and blue wires: and I did think about using the round connector type and just cobbling the wires together but apparently the calibration is different.

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Is that 1050 ohms? Or could be read as 1.05k ohms on a multi meter?

What did your reading come out at?

warrior said:

Is that 1050 ohms? Or could be read as 1.05k ohms on a multi meter?

What did your reading come out at?

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Hi,forgive me but I can't put my hands on the manual at the mo but if memory serves me right it was 1050 Ohms.It could show as 1.05k if the meter was set to that spectrum,I guess.Mine has about 4 settings.Anyway my reading off the throttle sensor came out somewhere near 5.94 ???.So whatever the setting on the multimeter the reading still didn't tally.The replacement came out nearly the same,so a process of elimination led me to think they were both ok...There is some logic in there somewhere...I think.
I fired him up again this evening just to make sure I wasn't dreaming...not firing on all eight yet...but still sweet.

Keep it up mate it will work

Hi everyone,
Thought I would update you all.Threw caution to the wind about a week ago a took Leroy for a couple of nervous miles....came back in one piece.Took it to my good 'mechanic' friend and left him with him for a day.Collected today and was told to just keep driving to blow out the cobwebs.Put some air in the tyres which eradicated the pull to the left and away I went,looking for any excuse to drive.The V8 sounds amazing.Now I can enjoy trying to sort out all the niggly things like central locking and rear windows not working.....I look forward to it because if it gets me down I'll just turn the ignition and sit and listen...If I can find out where to put some photos I will do shortly.
Thank you for all the help/suggestions and look forward to being part of more discussions as this amazing vehicle takes his place amidst our family.Be well.

Good news. Enjoy!