It’s time to focus on the 1998 Land Rover Discovery 1 I have, albeit, earlier than I expected. Having dropped it off for an oil change at the local shop, an issue arose. It wouldn’t start. He called me up and a few days later I had time to go by. Surely, something minor, it was driving perfect.
Has spark, has fuel, everything one would expect. Maybe some blown fuse? Nope. Could it be the crank sensor? Nope, not that. Is it getting enough power from the battery, yup. You just crank it and she doesn’t start.
At this point, I’m at a loss. What the heck. Luckily, my friend has a small shop at his place and he is gracious enough to help me fix all these on-going issues in the collection. After I had it towed to his place in York, PA, a few days later, the verdict is in.
Sometime during its prior life someone spliced the wire (poorly) from the wiring harness to the crank position sensor. As a result, it was causing it not to fire.
As you can see from the picture above, the work was done very poorly. It lasted for some time, but it starting failing on me. Given the extent of documentation I had on this Land Rover Discovery, it has some notes to prior wiring harness work. I suspect during that time, this was wired into the vehicle in this manner. I made the decision to run a new wire, the entire length. No splicing. I’m hoping nothing else crazy exists with the wiring harness and thus far, Caleb hasn’t noted anything.
Of course, one repair is never enough on a Land Rover! I asked Caleb for his advice on a weird ticking noise coming from the truck. Turns out, it’s nothing major, but has an exhaust leak.
Upon further investigation, it was noted the exhaust manifold stud is broken and the exhaust manifold isn’t attached properly. I was able to source a used one for $60, but it will take a few hours to put on.
That’s all the updates for now on the ’98 Land Rover Discovery 1 and I hope she’ll be back on the road soon.
