Category: updates

Posted on

More Trouble with the Coil/Ignition Module/Whatever (Post #586) 9/14/2019

DontLeaveTheHouseToday

Ever jumped in your Land Rover and gotten this prediction?

Such a classic picture from  Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985).  Before Pee-wee took his bike out for a ride, he checked his fortune. You know the rest of the story….there’s no basement in the Alamo, Pee-wee’s prophetic words (YouTube), “There are things you wouldn’t understand, things you couldn’t understand, things…you shouldn’t understand.”

As Dottie (played by 80s icon Elizabeth Daily) replies “I don’t understand.” I know EXACTLY what you mean Dottie, I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s going on with my ignition system. I’ve tried many…many solutions to solve this problem.

The problem, when the engine gets warmed up the ignition module does something that causes the coil to overheat. And when the coil overheats, the engine stops getting spark and the engine dies, leaves you stranded, and frustrates you to no end.

At the time of this video I jumped on RangeRovers.net forum and saw several posts of guys dealing with very similar issues. Some of them have gone to replacing the distributor and dealing with all those issues. I’m not afraid to swap to a new replacement distributor.

Atlantic British lists the Pertronix Flame Thrower for 459.95$(US). Summit offers a Davis Unified Ignition 96920 in four colors. I’ve never even heard of this company, or anyone ever using their distributor. At 575.99$(US) I’m not sure about that.

I installed the relocation kit about 15 years ago when these issues raised their ugly heads the first time. I ran that setup until about 3 years ago when we tried the GM replacement experiment and the Lucas Ignition module Part Duex experiment (both failed). Three years before that, I replaced the stock coils with PerTronix Flame-Thrower Ignition Coils. I got good service out of those but ultimately they failed. I damaged the distributor so much sorting this out I had to have it replaced. A used distributor was installed. Mostly due to cost right at the same time I was trying to close a house and move back to my hometown.

I was chastised in some forum posts when I posted I’d just chuck the whole thing and replace it with a motor from a LR3 (Discovery 3, elsewhere in the world). There are thousands of Range Rover Classics motoring about on original ignition systems. So why am I getting these failures?

I’ve consulted people WAY, WAY smarter than me and we can’t come up with a reason for the failures. The frustration of not being able to take my Range Rover more than 2 miles from Okierover Base Camp is super frustrating.

I’m going to try a coil with high resistance next. I understand the coil for a 1971 Ford Mustang 351 Boss. 25$(US) at O’Reilly’s Auto has a high resistance. The 351 is a points ignition. And it’s a cheap test. If that fails…I’m looking at a Pertronix swap, or perhaps a diesel engine swap…I’m pretty sure either of them will be equally frustrating to get in place.

Ford-Mustang-Boss
Maybe one of the sexiest cars I’ve ever seen

As always your comments are very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

Posted on

Okierover.com (Post #175) 4/29/2010

No one visited OkieRover.com today. Not a single click. I blame myself.

Well, I blame my crappy spinal column actually. There is lots of work to be done. I just can’t do it. I did get to help a few email responders. But that is not the same as working on my Rover.

I guess if everything goes well at the doctor’s appointment in June I’ll get to be back underneath my Rover getting some jobs done. I hope to get a storage building so I can get the garage cleared out. That will speed up the jobs and allow me to work on her in the evenings as I won’t have to button her up every night. I can get the sunroof out and diagnosed because I don’t have to worry about a family of raccoons moving in.

Well, that’s all for now. Maybe some time soon I’ll be able to get some new content up on OkieRover.com.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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More of the same (Post #120) 12/17/2008


I haven’t had much to blog about lately. The Discovery still has a door panel off waiting for me to get a window regulator or the plastic wheels to fix the existing mangled regulator.

The Range Rover is still throwing codes for 69 position switch and 44 for a bad O2 sensor. And the exhaust still sounds like crap. The down turn in the economy has me on hold for now. Maybe after the new year comes around. My mother usually gives me money for Christmas, maybe I’ll buy parts with it this year.

Good news, the door lock on the rear door of the Discovery just magically started working again. It had a weird problem. When I locked the Disco, the latch would not go down. When I double locked, it would go down. But if I doubled it would not unlock when I unlocked the vehicle. Weird. But with the ultra cold weather recently, 11 degrees F on Monday, things have changed.

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Web Updates (Post #104) 9/15/2008

I updated the OkieRover.com site this weekend. I cleaned up some bad links. Mostly pages I didn’t have pages for. I will be writing some more in the coming weeks and will update accordingly.

There are some minor things on the Discovery that are now starting to annoy me. The rear door’s latch does not unlock when the doors unlock. Coincidentally it doesn’t lock when the doors are lock either. This needs to be fixed.

The passenger side window is now starting to derail when you roll it down. I had the regulator replaced under warranty before the 50,000 mile mark. It’s strange to me that it should already be failing now just after the 87,000 mile mark. I’m not sure how I’ll fix it. I’m going to study the Rave CD and see if it is something I can fix without replacing the entire regulator.

Also the secondary air unit is throwing codes about every other day now. That’s pretty annoying. I wish there was a way to take that system out entirely. You remember the trouble I had changing the plug wires due to the plumbing for that system. It hasn’t been the same since. I’m sure everything is plugged back in. But just in case I’m going to take a look at it and make sure.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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