Land Rover Repair: 97 disco wont start after engine clean, engine cranks, fuse box


Question
QUESTION: John,
I sprayed the engine of my 97 disco 4.0 at the spray wash and now it won't start, I've let it dry for over 12 hrs.(I'm in Arizona over 100 degrees) The engine cranks , but wont turn over.I've checked the ignition fuses both under the hood and fuse box. Any ideas?

ANSWER: You probably have water in one or more engine connectors, shorting them out.  I'd take apart every connector on the fuel injection - including those down under the engine - clean them out, pack with dielectric grease and reassemble

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QUESTION: JOHN,
A litle more info about the vehicle. It has 132k.I changed wires and plugs 30k ago.I did as you suggested to the best of my ability, but could only check the connections at the manifold. That did not work. I had it towed to the local garage( not a very state of the art place) They got it running(barley) They told my wife a hose was disconnected and that it was probably getting too much air in manifold. My son and her drove the vehicle home and it died down the road. It ran very very rough. The garage suggested putting new plugs and wires in to start out. When I got look at the vehicle, I got it started but it would not stay running. I pushed it home to my garage where I could look at and seen they had blocked a hose that comes from the valve cover to the intake manifold with a spark plug.After hooking it up properly the vehicle started but won't idle or run  below 2500rpm.It seems to run smooth and consistent at 2500 or above , but real rough and it will die out below that.Could it be the connections to the fuel injectors as you said earlier, another guy  said maybe a fuel pump, but this doesn't make sense since only the engine got wet.I am only a half assed mechanic with limited abilities, is there something I can check before having towed to LR dealer.Should I start with plugs and wires like the mechanic said? Any help would be appreciated
Thanks again Scott

Answer
I really cringe when I hear "took it to the mechanic" stories like yours.  Blocked a hose with a spark plug???  If that is the kind of work you get locally I'd suggest hauling it to the dealer because more such efforts will probably just dig you a deeper hole.

I stand by what I said originally, and I really suspect that the well meaning but inept work you're getting will just add to your problems.

Plugs and wires that were replaced 30k miles ago should not cause a failure to start today, after washing the motor.  You really have to approach this logically . . . I wet the engine, and now it won't run . . . what would be affected by water?