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My Disco hates water - help

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:16 pm
by little rusty
Hey guys

Whenever I hit a decent puddle to splash into the engine bay or get about axle deep... disco spits it and loses power... turns off... takes a while to get going then runs like crap... i get alot of clunking and banging under the car too - sounds like mud flicking off along the highway at speed but it isnt!

Now, i know its water hitting something and cutting the electrics, but I though water didn't conduct enough to short a system? Alos, my mates disco with a higher coil than mine (I have dual battery set up in the way) doesn;t suffer anywhere near as much. I know the clunks are little misfires too.

The dizzy, maf and air filter look dry but just dont know why it wont burn cleanly... also, what is likely to cut power like that?

I have the coil and amplifyer module under the air filter...

anyone sorted this out before?

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:35 pm
by bigbad
wtaer wont affect 12v as much as it will the HT side of things, so most likely getting water on the coil or the dissy, they also get condensation in the dissy cap after getting wet, sometimes needs drying a few times.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:16 pm
by firey69
hit you ht leads with wd40 along with your coil and dizzy should keep 98 percent of water out of the way works really well and its cheap
that will help eliminate the ht side if theres another problem learking round

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:32 pm
by dont_follow_me
I have the same thing happen to my V8 disco, not always but sometimes.

my problem is that water gets in the distributor cap. just take it off and dry it out and its fine. The cap doesnt fit very well and it only takes a small gap for water to get in. I have been told that it helps if you run a bead of silastic around the top edge of the distributor and then clamp the cap on. It just helps to seal the joint. I havent done mine yet but have to soon

cheers

let her always have the last word...anything you utter after that is the start of a new argument :roll:

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:12 pm
by stirlsilver
Before heading out 4wding, I seal up my distributor with a latex glove.

Cut the fingers off, the tip of the thumb and a bit of the wrist section of the glove and then fit it onto your dizzy by passing the vacuum advance actuator through the thumb.

Here is mine... Yes I know it's dirty, I was out in Bunyip state park on sunday so I haven't had a chance to wash it yet!

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I got through this without the engine even spluttering:
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:27 am
by chimpboy
What do you expect, it is English after all.

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:30 pm
by little rusty
Is there anything a rubber glove cant fix?

I have checked the dizzy cap everytime and looks dry - out and in. My only query is if water is getting onto the electric module or inside the dizzy? What about the pissy little amplifyer module (Mitsubishi item) mounted on the side of my ignition coil?

will try the rubber glove idea! Even if it doesn't work it should get a laugh or raised eyebrow!

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:55 pm
by dont_follow_me
I guess being pink, it would scare the man water away :finger:

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:45 am
by cpmurray
Go on a spraying frenzy with the silicon spray, it works a treat. Even spray inside the distributor cap. After getting stuck in a rather deep hole, my engine would play up over 2500RPM, would stop and start fine though, turned out that the dissy cap was full of moisture and that the silicone spray meant that it only broke down over 2500RPM.. It's simple, easy and lasts a few trips. Also spray the coil, that is the culprit some of the time.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:33 am
by mickrangie
also if you want to get serious drill and tap a hole in the side of the dizzy and run a low volume of compressed air in to when you want to go swimming. Worked for me for years. I found it was the water hitting the radiator that was the problm not water getting into the dizzy. the dizzy has hole in the bottom of it and when the water hit the rad and turns to steams it creates condensation insid the dizzy. thats way it only take a squirt of water in the right direction to kill the v8!

Mick

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:42 pm
by little rusty
hole in the dizzy? nice one landrover...

thanks for the hot tips... will check out this weekend and find a puddle big enough befoer they all dry up!!!

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:13 pm
by kitacooch
mickrangie wrote:also if you want to get serious drill and tap a hole in the side of the dizzy and run a low volume of compressed air in to when you want to go swimming. Worked for me for years. I found it was the water hitting the radiator that was the problm not water getting into the dizzy. the dizzy has hole in the bottom of it and when the water hit the rad and turns to steams it creates condensation insid the dizzy. thats way it only take a squirt of water in the right direction to kill the v8!

Mick
Yeh a fish tank airater is perfect for the job, mounted in-car turn it on when you going to get wet