Engine light flashes, won't crank, white smoke

[rubicon]

03 Discovery
34k miles

The low fuel light came on, so we pulled into a BP station. I filled it up with silver(midgrade) gas. About 5 miles down the road, the engine light began flashing and the car ran really rough. I pulled over and shut it off. I waited a minute and tried to crank it.
It would turn over but never would start. White smoke came out of the exhaust.

Any ideas? We had it towed to the house. We'll have it towed into the dealer in the morning.

Is it bad gas? or something worse?

 

[joey]

either water in the gas, or worse you blew a head gasket.

 

[rubicon]

The guy at Bear Valley (where we bought it) said to never run the gas tank below a 1/4. He said if you run it lower, it could pick up some trash out of the bottom of the tank?

I checked the oil, looks fine. Will I know by looking if I blew a head gasket? Everything is dry under the hood. I am an idot when it comes to cars, but I have a feeling I will learn a lot with this one!

thanks.

 

[joey]

Sorry for the late response... Head gasket will put oil in the water IIRC, I may be mistaken, but normally a cracked head will allow water into the oil.

White smoke can also indicate a cracked head, but if it were my money I would still bet on bad gas.

 

[TangoRed]

Hopefully its bad gas. I've in GA too and have been looking at Bear Valley's inventory. Are they nice people to work with?

 

[rubicon]

update

Well, we had it towed to the LR dealer in Knoxville.

Turns out the Coil went bad??? I don't have all the details, because they weren't finished yesterday. HE said the coil going bad cause some of the plugs to foul. They checked the gas and said it was fine.

He said they saw it needed a new front hub and replaced that while the were at it. I have been nervous about warranty work at LR dealers, but I give the knoxville dealer two thumbs up.

Bear Valley is a pretty neat place. I have read on here about several different experiences that people have had. We drove down and traded for an 03 Discovery back in September/October (for my wife.) I liked it so much, we went back in October/November and traded my jeep for an 04 Discovery.

Pretty nice folks to me. Go check em out.

 

[joey]

Never heard of that before, but glad it is getting fixed.

 

[rubicon]

Thumbs up to Land Rover Knoxville. The ol 03 Discovery is running great today. They even fixed some other things that they noticed while fixing the original problem. Best car dealer I have ever dealt with.