Help greatly appreciated

Hello, im hoping someone could point me the right direction. My newly rebuilt 4.3 runs really great.....with the Airflow meter and Stepper disconnected, if a little rich, connect them up and it seems to run on just a few cylinders on one bank. The manifold fron 2,4,6,8 goes cool, 1,3,5,7 is as normal, the oil is full of fuel (changed quickly), plugs mostly wet with fuel a few sooted up. Ive changed the stepper and meter but its still the same, Rover guage indicates all is well, ive checked for air leaks but have found none......my added problem is my abilities with a Multimeter are no match for the Spanners and Calipers, im seriously thinking of installing some Downdraft Webers lol. KInd regards, Neil

If a complete bank is dropping out, id say ecu or engine loom problem.

Not sure why it would come back to life when you disconnect the maf tho.

I think you have answered your own question- Id suggest a short to ground on the injector "ground" wire (yellow / white) the faulty side. This will cause 4 injectors to stick open and provide constant fuel. The ground wire is switched to ground by the ECU, so it should never be shorted to ground all the time. You will pick this up with a test meter across the injector connector- it should be 0 volts across the injector with the ignition on and not started- BUT- I think its part of the 12 volt supply that also runs the pump- so look for it in the first few seconds when you first turn the ignition on, as it may go off with the pump if the engine is not running. Otherwise borrow a "noid" light from someone that displays the injector pulse as the injectors fire. The looms have been known to rub through and short out.

Update...ive put a Noid light on injectors and am getting a really fast dull flash on all, id say it was almost constant. Looking at Noid lamp tests on you tube they seem to show a really bright slow pulse at idle...so i think im on the right track? Putting my meter across ecu pins 2&13, 2&11 (Both Inj banks) and 7&25, 32&25 (Fuel&Coolant sensors) i get nothing so i will now start hunting for the short to ground. Before i do does anyone know which one of the earthing points these use? Worth a check.

Thanks for that. Ive spent a bit of time on it this evening.....running the meter across the inj connector with ignition off i get 0.00...turn key to ignnition on and i get between 0.010 - 0.012 across the full 8. Tried Noid light again..ignition off = no light, ignition on = no light, cranking = no light, as soon as she catches very dim, ALMOST constant light...as the engine revs drop off to stall the light fades.
Rover gauge again shows no fault codes all seems well, Map 2 displayed (but this section did take a min or so to populate, can't remember it doing that before...fuel and coolant temp all ok, pump ok.
I pulled the ECU plug and again checked pins 7 & 25 (Coolant) with ign on...this time i got a reading, along with pins 32 & 25 (Fuel) I think i probed them the wrong way around last time (i said electrics weren't my strong point), but no matter which way around i tried i still got nothing from 2 & 13 and 2 & 11 (both banks).
Last night i dissconnected the pos lead from the battery and ran a bulb tester from it to the terminal....i had light...as i was leaning in through the open n/s door i pushed the interior light door switch as that was the only thing still working, when i did the light dimmed then started pulsing accompanied by a clicking noise which seemed to come from under the center console, then the alarm went off.
I checked the earth to the N/S head..all seemed ok here, i have done a full body lift chassis refurb and have tried to be very careful with the earthing points....every thing else works.
My plan tomorrow is to remove the Plenum and Trumpet base so i can get a good look at the wiring you mentioned...joy!

Great, i disconnected all the injectors but left the noid light in number 6...turned it on the starter, no light, but as it spluttered the noid lit up dimly as before. Running the meter as you said again gives me the same result as when i ran it between the inj plug terminals 0.010. As soon as the weather breaks i will start checking the earths and wiring.

Thats basically correct, so you cant have an injector bank shorted out then, so I would not spend more time on this avenue of diagnostics. Take 2 steps backwards. On the V8 Bank thats running cold, remove a plug and see if its wet- least this will prove the injectors are firing. Assuming it is wet, and that is why you have loads of fuel floating around, that only leaves ignition. This would be odd, to loose just one bank as the coil, dizzy cap, rotor supplies spark to both sides. This would mean you have 4 plug leads in the wrong order on one side only (??) or faulty leads. Id get a strobe on each plug lead and check you have a decent HT pulse across all 8.