Replacing fuel pump

phunter

Well-known member
Thanks for trying to help me. I do have new cap and rotor from rovers north. I threw away the old cap and rotor so I don’t have them to try. A mistake I will learn from.

My next thought is to see if I have spark at any of the plug wires. I only tried one with no spark seen. If some wires have spark then maybe new plug wires are needed.

I don’t know how to test the amplifier or the distributor assembly. I would think these areas would be the next to consider. i hate to give up and get it towed. Hoping to read more no start threads first
 

rlynch356

Well-known member
You already found the problem, the rotor is bad since you have spark from the coil to the distributor and no spark from the distributor to the plug.
Just because it’s new does not mean it works.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
A land rover is one of the few vehicles where an expensive new part is possibly less reliable than the part being removed, which is where a good bit of the reliability reputation comes from.

Have arguments all the time with friends that ask me to diagnose stuff over the phone and then argue "no it can't be that, it's new". If you have a new problem after installing a new part.....just saying. If your truck has a distributor-best advise is only use red rotors, @ this point the rest are trash.
 
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phunter

Well-known member
A land rover is one of the few vehicles where an expensive new part is possibly less reliable than the part being removed, which is where a good bit of the reliability reputation comes from.

Have arguments all the time with friends that ask me to diagnose stuff over the phone and then argue "no it can't be that, it's new". If you have a new problem after installing a new part.....just saying. If your truck has a distributor-best advise is only use red rotors, @ this point the rest are trash.
 

phunter

Well-known member
Hoping to get red rotor ASAP. Sure hoping this gets it running. I did not know that good spark from the coil to the distributor confirms the distributor and amplifier are good leading to the rotor being the issue. I hope to sleep better tonight. Thanks
 

Z.G

Well-known member

phunter

Well-known member
The red rotor button finally and and to my disappointment still won’t fire. I guess a new cap and wires is the next step.
Hoping this is what I need.
I definitely have consistent spark from coil wire to distributor both with an arc and using test light.

provided you guys agree the cap and wires are next parts to throw at it. What cap and which brand of wires ???
Thanks for any input.
 

rlynch356

Well-known member
Cap is the next thing, if you are not getting spark at the cylinder leads but are getting it from the coil to the distributor. its 1 of 3 things.
1) Rotor Button (most likely culprit)
2) cap - I have had issues with all of them, I would just go buy one from auto zone, oriellys, Napa - they all sell the same blue caps. you can order Lucas from RN or AB. but honestly I haven't seen any running difference with them. I have had this cause the same issue as well.
3) you distributor is shorting it to ground.

These guys have all of those parts (and the source of the "red rotors" - https://simonbbc.com/lucas-35d-v8-rover-v8-type-distributor-from-powerspark-d2-or-d29/

for ignition leads I usually use these guys... http://www.kingsbornewires.com/Defender-Discovery-Range-Rover-Morgan-SparkPlugWir-p/ign 785.htm but powerspark are fine too if you are ordering from them

I do replace the leads when I do the yearly tune up, if the cap and rotor are doing fine I leave them alone now and only replace when I have to.

NAPA cap https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECHEP78?partTypeName=Distributor+Cap&keywordInput=distributor+cap
NAPA spark plug wire sets - https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BEL...ark+Plug+Wire+Set&keywordInput=ignition+wires
 

phunter

Well-known member
Thanks for your informative reply. I’ll be getting a cap right away. If it does not work then I’ll need to research how to alleviate a “shorting to ground “ issue
 

phunter

Well-known member
The new cap came and now I have consistent spark . Easily seen on an old plug.
After several times of attempting to start the truck, it finally caught and ran . It sounded like it wanted to run as soon as new cap went on.
I let it run around 3 minutes. The engine sounded okay and no check engine light. I turned it off and went to bed happy.



Thus evening - once again - sounds like it wants to start but won’t until maybe after 20 attempts with pumping the pedal. It did finally run and I let it run a couple minutes. No backfiring or chugging just hard to start. Where to go from here? should I let it run longer as a way to make it easier to start.

A big thank you to everyone that was kind enough to respond and got me this far .

Hoping someone is willing to carry me to the next step
 

rlynch356

Well-known member
Oh good... I would start with checking and resetting the timing on it to 8-10 degrees before top dead center and see... (normal spec is 6 btdc) but 8-10 works better for me.
You need a timing light.
loosen the distributor hold down nut, 9/16ths wrench
Pull the vacuum advance line and clamp off
Start truck, with a timing light check where it is at and adjust using turning the distributor slowly.
the timing Marks are on the flywheel, I would clean that off before you start
 

phunter

Well-known member
Thanks for the reply. I have some reading to do in order to learn how to reset the time. I have no experience with a timing light and this process.
i was hoping for a simple fix.
 

phunter

Well-known member
Thanks for your reply. Any chance could be the new champion plugs I installed. I did not use a gauge to check the appropriate gap before installation. I thought they would be set already. Maybe this is is another rookie mistake. Do the champion plugs come preset?
 

rlynch356

Well-known member
normally not, but they could be fouled, I would pull #1 and have a look. The gap is normally .035 out of the box which is in the range for our v8's (normally I set them to .040 with a normal distributor).

this guy has a good video on replacing the rover V8 distributor (just pretend the MG V8 is a Defender and its the same motor)
the video goes through replacing the entire distributor which I thought was pretty spot on - if you just want to see the ignition timing stage it starts at 18:14
 
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