Land Rover Repair: Engine Issues, land rover discovery, discovery series ii

Question
I have a 2002 Land Rover Discovery Series II.  Shortly after refueling last week my "service engine soon" light popped on and the car began to shutter.  It was fine on the interstate, but at slower speeds and stoplights it would really shimmy.  My mechanic thought I may have gotten bad gasoline and suggested I try a fuel injector to dry up any water that may have gotten into the tank.  I did this, refueled, and the light went away and the car ran better.  But now that I'm almost out of gas again the problem has resurfaced, only worse than before.  Any thoughts?  Thanks so much!  -Matt

Answer
Hi Matt,

I had a similar problem with my Disco.  I had broke from my tradition of fueling my own vehicle one afternoon.  I pulled into a full serve and let the service attendent gas up my vehicle.  I must have been distracted ... ahem ... anyway, she put regular fuel into the tank instead of super.  It was not long after that I noticed the noise increase and some shimming.  When I got home, I was able to pump out much of it but it took awhile for the engine to return to normal.

In your case, perhaps the bad fuel is lying on the bottom of the tank.  I would fill it up with the highest Octane I could find.  Sunoco has 94 Octane.  Do it quickly and see what happens.

Best of luck,

JohnMc