john.maddison

Picture of the oil pump failed in the timing case and the wear to the upper big end bearing on Nr.1 piston. The pistons are 40 thou over sized and given the stamp on the block I believe the cylinders were bored out to accomodate. I've ordered a 40 thou oversize KS piston ring to try in the bore and check the ring gap in the bore. As noted before the existing big end bearings are marked with 010 so I'm presuming that these are 10 thou oversized so next step, assuming the rings fit the bore OK, will be to order a set and check the clearance with a bit of plastigauge. I'm presuming that I'll need to hone the bores before rebuilding - something I've never done before so any advice welcome! The Nr. 1 cylinder seems to have very clear hone marks still and no lip at the top or bottom so it seems in pretty good condition.

Haven't got that far yet but hoping to get No. 1 piston out this weekend to see what they're like. I'll post an update with more information in due course.

Sorry for the delay in responding and thanks for the interest. The vehicle has 194,000 on the clock but the block is a genuine LR replacement of indeterminate age. Assuming just the block was changed then the pump is probably original but who can tell. I've attached a couple fo photos and will put the 'in-situ' ones up next week. One of the teeth of the outer ring jammed in the case and I guess at this point the flats on the pump were ripped off by the crank. There doesn't seem to be much damage to the crank nose. Having taken the head off I see that faintly stamped on the top of the block is .040 - it would be good to know what this means as I intend to fit new rings but don't know what size to use - I suspect over size by .040" is what I need but I really have no idea at the moment. Any other ideas how I might work it out? The bores look pretty good with very little if any step at the top. The cam lobes - particlarly the one for the vacuum pump were pretty worn.

Last year I took our 1994 Defender 110 CSW down to Rome over the alps. At the end of the long pull up hill the oil warning light flickered on. Once the engine had cooled it went off and we had no problems on the return journey to the UK (apparent from a cooked alternator!). Ihad no problems at all for the rest of the year until the warning light came on permanently preceded by a small clunk. I immediately stopped and check the oil level which was fine but appeared at the bottom of the dip stick i.e. not plasetered all over it. After stripping the engine down found that the oil pump had suffered a catastrophic failure with the outer ring failing completely and the broken remanants jamming in the timing belt case. The case is split and needs replacing and I need to check for damage to the bores etc but what I'd really like to know is what is likely to have caused total failure? Is it simply a case of it being old and worn beyond tolerance causing the teeth in the rotors to jam? Has anyone else suffered a similar problem with their 300tdi?

Being a newbie to the Defender game I noticed an oil leak from the drain at the bottom of the cambelt case. When I bought it I was advised the cambelt had just been changed and had been fitted with the flanged crank pulley and shoulderless tensioner; I'm not sure if it had already had the newer style of modified pulleys fitted or if this was the first time. The engine is a 300tdi on a 1994 110CSW with engine number starting MA. Not having enough confidence to do the work myself I bought a good quality kit including all seals and the modified pulleys to replace everythign on the assumption that the belt would be contaminated. I supplied all this to a very good local independent to fit. All went well (with the usual problems removing the damper pulley etc!) until it came to refitting. It appears that the original cambelt front cover is being used. Looking at this closely you can see the original groves left by a misaligned belt (presumably without the shoulders on the crank pulley). The seal supplied for the cambelt front cover sits proud of the case and prevents the case being shut onto the casing. At some stage someone appears to have forced a thicker seal (probably for a new style belt kit) against the crank pulley stripping it completely and scoring the front of the toothed crank pulley. The cambelt cover is stamped HRC 2510. I have a seal that will fit exactly the front cover but I am concerned tha tI now have a mis matched set of pulleys and front cover. My question is whether the original front cover can be used and if so what modifications are needed or must a new front cover always be fitted.