Just bought a 2001 Disco II - Lots of questions! Please help!

[Brillo Pad]

I just purchaced my first Land Rover (2001 Disco II with 122K) and I'm having a lot if issues that I'm sure have more to do with me being stupid than it does with anything being wrong with the vehicle...

First and formost, I had to replace the battery right away, and about 15 minutes after doing so my service engine light came on. I took it to autozone and got these codes:

P0734 - "The PCM has detected an incorrect gear ratio condition in the 4th gear." Any ideas what this issue requires?

P0174 - "The PCM has determined that during testing, the fuel system for bank 2 was too lean. (Bank1 identifies the location of cylinder #1, while bank 2 identifies the cylinders on the opposite bank)"

Regarding the 2nd code (P0174), I did realize after the fact that I had filled the tank with regular unleaded gas. I've been driving a beat up Jeep Cherokee for years and it hadn't occured to me that nicer vehicles required better fuel. Could this be the cause of the problem?

Other issues:
I have the oversized Hella fog lamps but can't for the life of me figure out how to turn them on. I see the foglamp button on the console to the left of the stearing wheel, and also another foglight button labeled "2" but this doesn't seem to do anything...

If I pull out the factory stereo, are there RCA plugs on the back of the stereo that will allow me to hook up a subwoffer/amp?

Thanks for any help you may be able to offer. Sorry to be so needy!

 

[joey]

First issue, you need to clean your MAF sensor... if you don't know how, a quick search here will help. This should clear you codes.

Fog lights... the botton to the right of the steering wheel is for the rear fog lights (basically they look like an extra brake light, but the work great to slow down the person that travels to close at night).

I would turn on the lights and check all the switches I am not sure which one they would be wired to.. it depends on if they were factory or after market.

RCA jacks... not sure one what they do on the D2, but it already has a sub wolfer on the rear door (part of the rear speakers)

 

[Brillo Pad]

Thanks so much for the help Joey! I've cleaned the MAF sensor and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the SEL will turn off after a few cycles. I've already learned a ton of info by browsing threw these messageboards. Very glad I found it!

 

[Brillo Pad]

So just wanted to follow up with this incase anybody cares... Joey was absolutely correct (not that I ever doughted). It was the MAF sensor. First I attempted to clean it by using MAF sensor cleaner, then went to Advanced Autoparts and cleared the codes. The light went out for 2 days, then popped back on. I had the codes read again and at least now the "incorrect gear ratio" code was gone. Huge releaf that I wouldn't need to do trans repair on newly purchaced LR! So, still needed to remedy the other two codes having to do with "running lean on cylindar 2 (don't remember exact code - see first post on this thread for referance). Finaly bit the bullet and purchased a new MAF senser. The sensor is expensive as hell to get it from Landrover dealor or even from Atlantic British (5 - 600 dollars), so I took my chance on buying it on ebay from a seller in South Africa for about $100. BINGO! got it three days ago, installed it right away and the Service Engine light turned off yesterday!!! Very happy and again thanks much to Joey and all the other previous posts on this message board that helped my figure out what and where the MAF sensor is/does along with a lot of other stuff I've learned in the past few weeks.

- Mike

 

[Disco Squared]

So just wanted to follow up with this incase anybody cares...

Follow up is always a good thing, that's how we gain knowledge on our Discos
Thanks Brillo

 

[Brillo Pad]

Turns out there more to this story. Yesterday and today I started noticing an issue when taking off from a stand still. Seemed that I needed to smash the gas pedal to the ground to get any action until LR shifted into 2nd gear, and then got way too much action. This was pretty dangerous driving around Fairfax, VA tonight during rush hour trying to merge into fast moving traffic.
I was starting to get pretty nervious that first gear was starting to slip and my transmission was on its way out... This past weekend I helped a friend tow some appliances in a small trailer, but no real heavy lifting so I would have been pretty suprised if that caused the transmission to take a dump.
I figured it couldn't hurt to swap back in the old MAF sensor sense that was the only thing that had changed before the 1st gear slipping issue. Surprisingly That seems to have fixed the problem as now I can take off quickly from a stand still - which is good, but I don't understand why the "good" MAF sensor that turned off the SES light seems to have a larger negative effect on the performance of the vehicle than the supposedly bad MAF sensor that just pops out a few bad codes but doesn't affect performance... Do I need to get the computer recalebrated once the new MAF is installed? Are there any other adjustments that I should make? Seems like kind of a waste to have a perfectly good/new MAF lying around while the old one is still kicking out codes. Any ideas... anyone?

 

[joey]

First, parts do fail... I am not saying that is what has happened, but it can.

Just curious... are you running a K&N type oiled air filter?

 

[Brillo Pad]

No, I though about it, but then I read some previous post (It might have been yours) about how sometimes the high flow K&N airfilters can allow build up on the MAF so I just went with a standard Airfilter when I swapped it out with the old one...

 

[joey]

Do you have a decent code reader? If so, you can read what the MAF is reporting... this would be a good thing.

If you don't have a good code reader.... I would consider buying one if you plan on keeping the Disco or for any future vehicle that you may want to work on.

When I say a good one... I prefer one that can show graphs or at least do more then show you the codes.

I use http://www.autoenginuity.com/ I have it for my PDA as well as my laptop... works better than some, not as good as others... just one that I liked and was in my price range when I bought it.

And no the Land Rover specific stuff will not help unless you have a lot newer model i.e. 06 and newer, and even then it just can query and reset codes, not like it is testbook.

 

[Brillo Pad]

I've been thinking about looking into them. I guess I'll look a little closer. Thanks again.