Land Rover Repair: Early running difficulties, temperature gauge, odd noises

Question
Hi John. I have a 97 disco petrol V8i, which has done 86k. I seem to have developed a problem with my disco. It starts fine, idles fine, but when I move out onto the open road it has problems accelerating to highway speed. The engine light comes on, and it runs rough until the temperature gauge reaches the "normal operating zone". No odd noises occur, but an odd 'oily" smell may be there. Once the temperature is in this zone, she runs fine. Have owned her for 5 months, and this has only recently started to happen. First it only happened in the mornings, but now is starting to happen in the afternoons as well. Can you help?

Answer
Hi Daniel,

So your Disco starts fine, idles ok but once engaged it has difficulties until its fully warmed up.  Could be temperature sensor problem.  The oily smell could be a leak, it could also indicate a problem with oil circulation.  Do you know what 'code' was present when the "check engine" light came on?  Most auto part shops have a OBDII reader that can help you with this.

There are a number of components that can cause this kind of problem.  The best way to tell is to have the engine tested by a diagnostic machine.

At this point, a full diagnostic test would give you a good notion of the state of your Disco.  Unless you know the original owner, a dealer can tell you what work has been done and perform the diagnostics for you.  You can elect to have the entire Disco evaluated OR have them focus only on the power problem you are experiencing.  My suggestion would be to focus on the current problem and if the diagnosis and repair is not that expensive, then evaluate the rest of the vehicle.

The mileage is low so I hope the problems are not too complicated.

Best of luck,

JohnMc