While investigating a misfire, my local Land Rover independent advised that the camshaft on my 1983 Range Rover was badly worn. They have fitted a new camshaft but the engine does not feel right to me. The V8 engine is the carburettor version with the 9.35:1 compression ratio so presumably should have the ETC6849 camshaft. What would the effect be if they had mistakenly fitted the camshaft from the lower compression V8, part number ERC2003 as was, now ETC6850? How would it feel to drive with the wrong cam?
It would actually feel slightly more powerful at the top-end. The ERC2003 cam is the same cam as the SD1 and gives similar power-band characteristics to the car. The ETC6849 cam was a softer profile with less duration, designed to give a slightly wider spread of torque across the rev range, especially at lower rpm's. To be honest, most people really wouldn't notice the difference unless they drive hard regularly. Badger.
"Badger" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com...
Thanks Badger, it sounds then as if it is not the camshaft that is the problem. I have a favourite long test hill, that it used to romp up at an indicated 70mph with more acceleration in hand in third (it has the 4 speed LT95 box with the higher ratio transfer box). It then went off for an annual service but, when I picked it up, it had a misfire that kicked in about
50mph on my test hill, and I then struggled to get to the top of the hill, with it coughing and spluttering and refusing to respond to opening the throttle. I had to back off the throttle to nurse it to the top of the hill, then it recovered and drove ok at speeds up to 50mph on the flat, but with an occasional beat missing, as if it was not always firing on all 8 cylinders. So, it went back to the garage for them to remedy the problem.. My suspicion was that it was probably something simple that they had changed as part of the service, such as a poor quality replacement dizzy cap or rotor arm. But, whatever the problem was, they found it hard to identify, and the car was with them for ages, with different diagnoses appearing from time to time, such as the need to change the camshaft then, when that did not cure the problem, they decided it must be a carburation fault causing fuel starvation so they stripped and cleaned the carbs. I'm not sure what else they have done, but I do know that they fitted new HT leads just before I collected it (which is something I would have expected them to have done at the outset, along with substituting a new dizzy cap, rotor arm and condenser). Now, despite all that they have done to remedy things, it struggles to get to and indicated 70mph on the hill, and also struggles to pull more than a true 80mph on the flat (markedly less than before). I've only just got it back from them after a long time, so have yet to have a good poke around to see what's been done. But I did notice that when I lifted the bonnet after my test run home today, that they have indeed fitted new HT leads - one bank of which have been neatly tied together with a cable tie so they are tightly touching each other, and also that the main lead from the coil has been also neatly tucked out of the way using a cable tie around one of the LT leads. So, first job for tomorrow is, I think, to separate and re-route the HT leads in case they are cross-firing and that is causing the power loss. The only other thing I can think of to explain the power drop is that they might have leaned the mixture off for the MOT that they had to do as it had been with them for so long.. Any other thoughts would be welcome. As you can imagine, I am far from happy, and envisage some fairly difficult conversations about the bill (which I have yet to agree on and pay).
V8s do eat camshafts but the deteriation is usually slow so if it passed your hill test days before the service it won't have been the camshaft.
It sound like a fuel starvation, timing/advance or breathing issue. Think through what they would have disturbed on the original service. Is the timing set correctly? Perhaps a vacuum advance pipe was pulled off or damaged, or a fuel line kinked. Were the air filters fitted properly. Did they fit a new fuel filter that is faulty/wrong.
What carbs are fitted, if Stromberg check for a split diaphragm, these get damaged if the mixture adjusting tool was not inserted properly.
What distributor does it have electronic or points? If points check new ones were fitted properly along with the condenser, a new dud one of them can cause the problems you describe.
Best of luck, please let us know what it turns out to be.
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