brett1066

I would definitely be checking the turbo - when my 300tdi lost power it was a buggered turbo. If the hoses are all good, check for any excessive play in the turbine wheel. Other wise you may have to adjust the wastegate. If you don't have one, may be worth fitting a boost gauge so you can see exactly what the turbo is doing. Not sure on the cost in the UK, but I picked one up here in Oz for about $80, took all of 10 mins to install it.

Well I finally replaced the clutch, and all seems good now. Ended up having to gap the engine from the bell housing - was going to go down the gearbox route, but when I went to remove the exhaust I discovered that it was rather rusted and removal would entail replacement, which I couldn't afford. So engine out instead. Not sure on the technical terms, but the metal housing around the springs had snapped in several places. New clutch and she seems happy enough now. Thanks for the advice from everyone. On to my next project..... never a dull moment with a Landrover :-)

From one of the members on the AULRO site...... the coke bottle cooling system fill. first prep your bottle, ok, this ones not a coke bottle its a coles budget 1.5l water bottle but near enough remove the cap and then the little security ring that normally holds it on. Dont ask, just trust me its a pain to fish it out of the cooling system later. cool now fill it up and invert it into the expansion tank and it'll go glugity glugity glugity as it puts a measured 1.5l into the cooling system by changing water for air. By this stage you should know how much goes in your cooling system and at what concentration you need to have your coolant at. so with the first 1.5-3 l of fresh water in the system add your concentrated coolant to get the dosage level you want. Of course this does assume that when you emptied the system out you had the forethought of flushing the system with distilled water until it was flowing cleanly before dumping all the distilled water out that you could. now add more water and eventually you'll hit an equilibrium point when that happens pull the bottle out fill it up again and make sure that the water level is higher than the next highest point in the cooling system (the heater hoses in a tdi deefer) then start it up, give it 30 seconds or so at idle while you inspect for obvious leak then give it high idle with a blanket over the front of the grill to retard airflow. and you'll notice this. the concentrated coolant heated by the engine circulating up into the water bottle. (ok coke bottle if your doing it right) sometimes its got plenty of bubbles and the level will drop below that of the highest point, if it does just refill the bottle and tip it in again. when that stops bubbling air in keep the revs on and check by hand the temperatures at the thermostat housing (dont do that on the TD5, you will loose an arm to the belt use the port on the top of the engine on the passangers side where youd expect the thermostat to be) top and bottom radiator hoses, and the heater hoses, have the heater on flat out so you can check that its flowing correctly as well. Once the engines warmed up you'll notice a fairly rapid change in the color of the water in the bottle when it looks like its changed as much as its going to remove the bottle, cap the cooling system, cap the bottle and then move the vehicle to a dry patch of concrete to check for leaks let it idle for 5 minutes or so then take it for a drive checking the engine for leaks at the 10, 50 and 100Km marks be sure to vary your driving over the range to expose the system to the full range of operating conditions. when you get back the system should have purged any excess coolant and now be at the right level, grab a paint pen and mark the side of the expansion tank and use that as your warm coolant level indicator, then in the morning while its cooled down mark the bottle again for the cold mark. done and dusted, as a bonus you have about 1l of ready to use premixed coolant in a convenient bottle and if you had any contamination in the system you'll have signs of it in a ready to analyze container.

The slave is working when the clutch pedal is depressed - ie the piston moves, so I think I can rule out a hydraulic problem. Have ordered a new a clutch, already have the clutch fork, so looks like sometime in the next two weeks I will be replacing the clutch...sigh..... Any tips or tricks that people have will be greatly appreciated. Am planning on moving the gearbox using an engine hoist through the door and accessing the clutch that way. Not sure if that is the best way, but guess I will find out.

Okay people, I need some advice. After having replaced both the clutch master and slave cylinders I still cannot get the car into gear when the engine is running, so before I try and tackle replacing the clutch, is there anything else it could be? The symptoms - cannot put the car (94 Defender 300tdi) into gear when the engine is running. Engine off, can select all gears regardless of whether I depress the clutch pedal or not. Can start it in gear, get a lurch and then car stalls if I take my foot off the clutch pedal. Things I have tried - replaced master and slave cylinder, and have bled the system several times, both via gravity and reverse bleeding. Clutch pedal is 140mm from floor, free play on pedal feels fine (about 5mm at pedal), pedal itself does not feel any different to how it always did. Will look at replacing the hose going from master to slave in the next day or so in case it is that (but I doubt it - I am getting rather disillusioned with the car at the moment and the way my luck has been of late I think I have a more serious problem). Oh yeah - no fluid leaks, either at the master or slave, but the original master cylinder that I swapped out did have a perished internal seal. Is there anything else that could be causing this? Really want to make sure I have eliminated everything else first. Any tips on replacing the clutch if thats what I need to do? Part of me would like to walk away from this and get someone else to do it, but I don't because 1 - then I won't have the satisfaction of knowing that I fixed it and 2 - can't really afford to pay someone else to do it. Really need to get the car back on the road though, it has been nearly three months for variuos reasons and I am running out of favours from friends running me about everywhere, let alone the missus and kids being sick of me being in the shed all the time. No mug on the tools but no tradesman either - pulling the gearbox or engine out to get at the clutch is well and truly taking me out of my comfort zone, so any tips or advice will be a great help. Cheers Brett