Land Rover Repair: Land Rover Discovery 2003 Fuel Problem, land rover discovery, combustion ignition

Question
My 2003 Land Rover Discovery will start fine, yet stall during idle. Once it stalls I can restart it and let it idle, yet it will idle rough. If I go to drive it, it seems like its only getting 30% of the gas it needs. I have it at a shop right now and they have no idea what to do. They think it is the fuel filter, as do I, yet from my research it seems that the fuel filter is only a mesh fabric in the fuel pump assembly. Could this really be causing this problem? If not do you have any idea what it could be? Thank you for all your help.

Brian

Answer
Hi Brian,

it's rare to have the fuel filter fail. Yes, it is integrated into the fuel pump and a pain to service.  I'd consider checking the combustion ignition sequence first.  A common problem with Series II Disco is headgasket failure and there's no telling which way it goes - coolant into chamber or exhaust gases into coolant.  Then there is a valve problem (carbon deposits) that can affect your engines performance.  Like the headgasket, valve jobs are expensive too.

The crankshaft and camshaft position sensors are also common to fail - but in the case of these two sensors, when they go you can't start the engine.  The throttle position (TP) sensor also fails frequently and can give you a rough idle.  Perhaps this ...?  Perhaps it's an intermittent electrical fault - fuel relay?

I'd start by checking the ignition, timing, cylinder pressures, move on to wires, plugs, alt, battery.  Make sure the ignition system is working correctly.  

Best of luck,
JohnMc

try www.discoweb.org to connect to other Disco owners who can help.  This is a great site to use for researching mercurial problems as yours.