drove home from work tonight wondering what that odd burning smell was. decided to ignore it as you do when you cant be bothered with things. on the way my rev counter started playing up, kept dropping to zero then boucing up again. i thought it'd snapped the wire at the end again, it happens every 3 months or so.
then when nearly home the oil light came on & the engine cut out. bum i thought thats what happens everytime the timing belt snaps, which has happened twice so far. then after about 100yrds it started again, so i went o0o0o not the cambelt them. engine then cut again & stayed dead so i coasted to a halt.
on opening the bonnet & looking blankly at the thing muttering about bloody stooopid landrovers i noticed the wiring loom burning nicely just under No4 injector. blew it out & muttered a bit more. went in the boot & started digging in my electrical toybox, found a length of wire with a spade connector on the end. plugged it onto the fuel solinod & cable tied the other end to the battery terminal. engine then started & i drove home.
ive not stripped it down yet as im busy consuming beer & basicly cant be arsed. but it would appear that the rev counter wire wore through & shorted out. this set light to the insulation & took out the solinoid & oil pressure switch wires. charge lead from altenator seems ok, it was still charging but i will of course inspect before i use the car again.
so do i now qualify as a owner of genuine Lucas electrics?

I remember seeing on ebay someone selling a jar of smoke, for reinserting into your electrics, after you'd let the smoke out of them

Sugest you need a few jars of smoke.

Taping the wires up short term will suffice, but you'll soon have to replace the lucas smoke, which is quite easy with these kits.

The Tdi is especially easy to do as there is no ECU to fiddle with.

yeah i remember seeing that kit in the past as well, i ordered two complete kits. i also run a 1978 MG with lucas electrics so you can never have enough smoke in stock. i do however park them far enough apart that that cant learn tricks off each other while fighting for attention.