any disco 1 experts out there? crank but no start

[ryancr500]

I recently picked up a 1997 Land Rover Discovery 1. I had been sitting for over 5 years. before attempting to start changed the battery, drained the gas, changed the fuel pump, fuel filter, upper cylinder lubrication, spark plugs and air filter. It Cranks over very strongly but no start. fuel pump not activating, no power to inertia switch. I can hot wire the fuel pump to get that going but I don't think there's any spark. Any ideas? It ran when parked. Somewhat thinking it could be the immobilizer but nothing I have tried can get me any further.

[red90]

Immobilizer.

[ryancr500]

I've tied everything online to reset the immobilizer... nothing's been working!

[bsa_m21]

Under the glove box is a small green plastic box. This is the alarm box. It and the ecu are a matched pair. Pull it out and open the box to check for corrosion. I’ve seen several where that stopped things from working. Also pull the cover off the ecu (it’s under a plastic cover behind the engine fuse panel. Pull the connectors and check for corrosion there as well. If the steel case looks badly rusted, it may be corroded inside.

[ryancr500]

thanks Martin, I'll have a look at that.

[bsa_m21]

FYI - Cdn and USA trucks didn’t have the European immobilizer, a small electronic part behind the centre console. We had the ecu/alarm combo. If one is bad, you need to swap then in pairs. Doing immobilizer resets will have no effect as we don’t have one. Without the dealers Land Rover programming tool, there’s no way to re-pair them.

[ryancr500]

Ok, May have figured out problem. The Rover was parked for about 10 years, last started 5 years ago. Im not sure what happened exactly, but I know the fuel pump was totally kaput. Previous owner tried to start it and it turned over but didn't start. I changed the fuel pump and filter and could only get fuel pump going with a hot wire, but because it didn't have spark, it wouldn't run. Fuse in engine bay good. Power to fuel pump relay was good. Inertia switch was fine. I pulled the ECU out and cleaned contacts.... noticed one of the contacts was missing a 'pin'.. happens to be one of the main power sources of the ecu. Question was how to fix it??? ... well I opened it up and found the pin that should have been there but wasn't. I ended up soldering a piece of wire to the pin on the inside of the ecu, drilled a hole in the side and fed a wire front inside the ecu to the wire on the harness.... ignition!! Still not running smoothly, but at least I have some progress
Cheers and thanks for the suggestions,
Ryan

[harv]

Good find Ryan.