[newbie] '97 300tdi central locking.. and stuff.

Hiya

Bought myself a 1997 300tdi disco a week ago and come bearing questions.

The central locking light (key inside a car icon) is showing on the dash when the car is running (leads me to believe the immobiliser had been disabled as it shouldn't turn on with that light on?)

The drivers side door lock/catch thing also sometimes drops a millimetre or so when you close the door, rendering me having to open the passenger door to lift the lock up to open the drivers door again.

When the door is open and the keys are out, The red light for the alarm on the dash is illuminated and when the door is shut the light then blinks.

The radio also doesn't function, power is to it and there are 4 numbers on the screen

Not sure if all the above are related.

If I lock the car via the fob, the locks shut as they should but then the alarm will give a couple of (very loud) bleeps every couple of minutes or so

Any tips appreciated and I have had a lurk and read stuff similar to this regarding spider etc but nothing seemed to be quite the issue(s) I'm having

Cheers!

Here's a picture of it too for good measure.

No rust, serviced every year since new, I'm 2nd owner, 150k miles and bought for £900

Hi ,

Start with the easy thing, the door latch tab. ( I assume you mean on top of the door ). If when you unlock it jumps up a bit then drops and sits slightly lower than the others, It sounds like the door spring, they are dirt cheap , a couple of quid, but can be a tricky to change.

There are a couple of write up on line to show how to change them.

Here is one, https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/disco-door-springs-how-to.101126/

Cheers

You also find , which you may have read about when finding out about the spider. that the little alarm box can suffer solder fatigue, it is awkward to get to, but it is worth getting it and seeing if any of the joints / contacts etc need to be re-soldered.

Do you have the owners manual / worshop manual?

Cheers

Hi,
Looks nice!
Can't help with the central locking light (key inside a car icon), as I've never had that with either of my two discos during ownership, but the door lock is easily solved.
It's a little spring inside the door lock. They break and then allow the 'button' to drop, or not quite raise enough to unlock the door when you unlock it.
A replacement five door set is now available on fleabay for £4.49. Item number 161768818369
I don't know how hard they are to fit. I bought a set a year or so ago. Haven't gotten around to fitting them yet

Neilly has it! Spider might have been bypassed... Door springs are just a fiddly time consuming job - but its worth doing, and with luck, the new ones will last another 18/19 years !!!

One of the last of the D1s I see, being a 1998MY. You got a bargain for £900 I would let mine go for that, but it's done a lot less miles that's why I still own it.

1. The key inside car icon should extinguish when the fob is placed near the ignition switch, also when pressing the unlock button on the fob. If you can start your engine without the fob being present is a good indication that the immobiliser has been disabled, how that had been done, u tell us.

2. The door pin dropping backdown halfway after unlocking therefore relocking is a symptom of a broken lock spring.

3. Mislock as it's called is indicated by a double bleep from the alarm sounder, either u have an iffy door switch, but then the interior lights will stay illuminated, or bonnet switch to cause a mislock.

Also, if, your tdi has an auto gear box the vehicle doesn't have a 'spider' to immobilise the vehicle.

And finally, WELCOME to the Forum




Sent from my iPad Air in Madeira.

Wow, thanks everyone for the super quick and informative replies

Discool, the interior lights do stay illuminated even when the light switch is in the middle position (should switch off when doors are closed)

It's a manual so assume it does have a spider and there has been some previous issues - does sound like the immobiliser has been disabled though

I think the door pin is causing some problems as it does occasionally fall down a bit when I close the door which stops me from opening it again, however when I do press down on the pin it does lock the other doors and then unlocks them again - not sure why that happens

Update/

I managed to fix the radio! I assume that because the immobiliser has been been bypassed that it's made some weird stuff happen.

Also fairly certain the battery had been disconnected by the person I bought it off (the actual owner had passed away and his daughter was the one who sold me it)

Put in the code and it works!

I'll order the spring as that's the next easiest thing to do and then try and work out what's happened with the immobiliser!