1995 4.0 With Insane Electrical Problems and Speed Issue - Satan's Rangie

[Nulogc]

Okay so I bought this 95 4.0

This isn't my first round owning a rangie, but I had a classic before
and thought I could handle a 4.0, boy was I wrong

I'm starting to think this car was made by Satan

First off, you're not going over 50mph no matter what, it did run 75
for one afternoon, but that along with the joy it brought soon faded

I've unplugged the MAF sensor and that seems to help it not pop and fart
so much, but it still runs like a dead dog. Uphill is a killer, not good in the
Colorado mountains. Won't get over 2800 maybe 3000 rpms unless its parked
in the driveway, then I can rev it all the way up to 6k

I thought I had bad fuel pressure, so I pushed on the little bike tire looking
thingy on the fuel rail and got sprayed down, so I'm thinking this is not the problem

I changed out the spark plugs and checked the wires, everything seems OK
Air filter is a nice clean K&N

BUT There's this insane problem with the electrical stuff inside the car
I've come to call it "the beeping" I don't know if this is related or not but
here goes

It used to be like this:

Rangie was fine during the day with the heat on low, turn on the lights or
the heater fan above about 2 clicks and the Dash computer starts resetting,
all the gauges go off and on at random and the damned thing beeps.

Sometimes the beeps are rhythmic, sometimes they are not, it's just random
but it is enough to make someone crazy driving 5 hours in a snowstorm

Well I decided the best thing to do was to open up the center console, the
dash, and a couple other holes and look for loose grounds right ?

Well after my "exploratory" surgery on the rangie, the beeping is back with
a satanic flair. It doesn't stop doing the nifty reset thing on the dash now,
the needles all bounce up and down, the beeping may or may not happen
if the computer manages to boot all the way up to my "do not exceed 35"
message

This happens when I'm going down the road and I'm thinking it's related to
the first issue

Now that I've replaced the stuff I can afford, I am thinking it's the BECM

I have NO IDEA, and am ready to burn the car alive and drive a stake through
it, so if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated

Oh Yeah and the Reverse lights flash on and off to the beeping, but only if
the lights are on, and the tail lights never go off

[gordo]

try posting this one on rangerovers.net bullentin board. There are some pretty knowledgable folk over there. My only advice is check every ground you can find!

[jrandsu]

I kind of had the same problem with my 97 4.6. Long story short, I replaced the major grounds and also the positives. The one that made the biggest impact was the one going to the starter. That 01 or 02 sized wire was all corroded inside the connector where you could not see. I cut the connector off peeled back an inch of insulation, and everything started to work all at once. The beeping went away, the pinging and loss of power going uphill, all went away. The rover really needs a good electrical to keep it running well. Check your connections!
JR

[SafariDave]

I've seen my mechanic re-ground and rewire the p38's like crazy. They become full of Gremlins. The computer manages everything. I had similar ground issue which knocked out my tranny on my DII. It had no power. They had to re-ground my battery. Then Re-set the computer for the tranny and it was good again. But it needs to be re-set with the LR computer by an LR mechanic. It takes 5mn to be done. Good luck.

[SafariDave]

By the way keep an eye on the coolant/antifreeze they are notorious for headgasket leaks. So make sure you never go low.

[ArmyRover]

I wouldn't worry about this to much guys he's got the thing for sale on craigslist for $3500 or $4500 I can't remember how much. He's not trying to fix it right now he's trying to unload it.

[Nulogc]

Well I had it for sale b/c it's my only car and it's kinda hard to haul the family
around in it with the way it's running, thought I'd get a classic or something
I knew more about.

I did change my mind about selling it after the surprise snowstorm we got
yesterday, but you understand you gotta have something reliable right ?

I'm going to change out the grounds and positives today and see what
happens... I put the ad up when I didn't know if I could fix it, one of those
acts of necessity, nothing personal

Having read all the kick ass responses from you guys, I'm going to give another go before I give up on getting her right as I really love the car.

So thanks to all of you who replied, I will post my results this evening

I plan on liquid glassing the coolant system when I get done with this to
stop any seepage from the head, although it doesn't appear to be low
or losing antifreeze at the moment, it can't hurt

[SafariDave]

Just keep an eye on the antifreeze. Don't dump stuff into it. Have an LR mechanic check the tranny computer system, So that it's running properly. A bad ground or a short will make it run with no power.
Good luck!

[Nulogc]

Thanks Dave ,

I just began inspecting the connections so I'd know what to pick up

The wire from the Alternator to the Starter is corroded, badly

Like I stripped 3 inches of insulation off of it and it's black as night,
all the way through and full of black junk, like carbon

Sanding the wires revealed no copper, barely a shine after 15 minutes

I'm going to start by replacing this one, as the other terminals all show
copper.

I think the transmission and differentials are good to go though, I did
find a receipt for a replacement a year ago at denver LR

[Nulogc]

Does it need to be reset anyway ? The tranny computer with Testbook ?

[SafariDave]

It needs to be reset yes by a LR computer at an Indie LR shop or dealer. It will also show if you have any codes in the tranny computer. Then they can re-set it.