Ignition system overhaul

Whilst working on the clutch system I could not resist to dig a litter deeper. I removed the cap protecting the spark plugs and ignition leads. And noticed that there was a spark jumping of ignition lead #1, this also may have explained the ticking noise I heard earlier.

I had also been warned by the Land Rover dealer during a complete checkup of the vehicle that these leads were not original Land Rover parts. Since I needed to replace lead #1, I decided to replace the entire system with all original Land Rover parts.

I ordered the following from the local Land Rover dealer:

• 4 Spark plugs
• 4 Ignition leads
• 1 Rotor Cap
• 1 Main lead
• 1 Rotor Arm
• 1 Rotor plate

The installation was pretty simple, not much you can do wrong. Except of course for the correct lead placement order. Like suggested in the Haynes manual I did this step by step leaving the old system in place and replacing one by one with the new system. The contact points inside of the rotor cap looked pretty worn and corroded so a full replacement paid off I guess. The new leads where also noticeably thicker than the old ones.


Oddly enough the correct order can't be directly found in the Haynes nor the official Land Rover workshop manual. I later found out that the cylinder numbering starts with cylinder #1 at the cam belt side and stops with #4 on the rotor cap side. The numbering for the ignition leads on the rotor cap can be found on the rotor cap itself.

I was told by the dealer that gapping of the spark plugs was not necessary and that there was a risk of breaking the plugs doing so, so I did not bother.

Video of the engine running with the new leads (pretty boring actually...):


Mileage: 153229