2003 Disco M and S lights flash when I start the vehicle?

[jarover]

Hi,

I have a 2003 Disco and when I start it, sometimes the Manual and Sport (M) and (S) lights flash and it drives very sluggish. It goes out after 3-6 restarts. The dealer changed the battery but it's still happening? anyone have this problem. The dealer says they have never heard of this.
Thanks

[Skarloey]

Hi There I also have this problem with a Disco II 2002 we have 86miles on the clock any body else have this issue, and how do you fit it.

[02disco2]

I had it happen once on my Disco2. It happened after I washed it, after I restarted the vehicle, it never came back on. This was 10K miles ago. There weren't any fault codes stored either.

[scoobymick]

Originally Posted by jarover

Hi,

I have a 2003 Disco and when I start it, sometimes the Manual and Sport (M) and (S) lights flash and it drives very sluggish. It goes out after 3-6 restarts. The dealer changed the battery but it's still happening? anyone have this problem. The dealer says they have never heard of this.
Thanks

This is a very common problem,it can be caused initially by starting the engine and engaging D or R too quickly. It would normally register a fault message along the lines of "can timeout error",all this means is a gear is selected before the engine management has been able to determine gearbox status and it gets itself all confused bless it.Under these circumstances the gearbox goes into a fault mode.The only other thing I personally have found is a poor connection where the multi-plug connects to the auto box.If the pins in this plug are ok,I would suggest making sure there are definitely no error messages within gearbox or engine management and ensure you allow a few seconds between start up and putting it in gear and see how it goes.
Mick.

[jarover]

Thanks guys for all your help, I will look into it.

[Norwestdisco]

This sounds so familiar. I have had this problem on my 99 disco. Found out to be a fault with the alternator and earth lead. After changing the battery a few times and then the alternator the problem was fixed with a new earth cable on the alternator.
You would think the dealers would talk with each other to solve these common faults instead of trying to invent the wheel all the time.

[adigerol]

Ok, I know that this is an old post but, I just ran across it. I had that one time, right after I got my DII, turned it off then on again, never came back. I leafed through my manual, it is listed there, it's a tranny/transfer case thing. I do believe the previous posts were correct that engaging the tranny too soon after start will do that. Nothing serious, unless it's always on.

[BIRD]

It must be nice to get the M on the dash board! I have had my truck for a year and the only time I see the M is when I start the truck. I would ask the stealership, but I know it would be a wast of my time.