Land Rover Repair: 1999 dico II engine sputtering on exeleration, jockey pulley, service engine soon light

Question
john,
I have a 1999 dico II that is giving me an engine problem, "I think". I've had the dico for @ 3 years and its got 90k miles and i love it more than the dog. No major repairs except jockey pulley and new radiator and water pump. Now the "service engine soon" light keeps blinking and my truck seems to sputter. I mean when this first started to happen when i was approaching a steep incline or was traveling about 65 to 70 miles an hour and let off the acceleration and you could feel the truck down shift and then loose it - start to shake like it juist went to 2nd gear and it needs to be in 4th ( if that makes sense)Now its doing it more frequently at slower speeds everytime I drive it. I really would like to fix the problem myself if I knew where to start.
any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Josh

Answer
Hi Josh,

yes...the '99 is one of my favourite model years too!

Take your Disco to a local parts store (Advance auto in US) an ask them to check the OBDII code.  This will give you a general idea about whats going on.  With a OBDII reader, they may also be able to reset the SERVICE ENGINE light.  Someone with an AUTOLOGIC reader could also perform this procedure too.

Once you have the code, ask around for suggestions.  Write back to me and I'll try to find more info you can use to determine what to do next.

Best of luck,

JohnMc