gripper

if you don't have a gauge just mark a line between the block and 1 of the 6 points on a bolt head as each point is 60 degrees. as you turn it so the next point lines up with the line on the head then you know it's correct plus you can see if you forget which you've done.

my mates one in his 200 is a plate of ally chequerplate and is held in with rivnuts and passes mot no problem.

welcome paul, still haven't filled in hometown yet though.

the doughnut is only fitted to the 300tdi and not to the 200tdi so you wont't have that problem, the doughnut is fitted in place of a uj on the rear or the rear propshaft the 200 has a normal uj so no problems with it, many people change them for a 200 prop and diff flange to get rid of the rubbish thing. i have a prop and flange to fit but can't be bothered at the moment, some day i will, probably when the doughnut fails.

veg and bio tends to clean the fuel system out so it should be cleaner than with just diesel

yes you can, you need a live to the switch and an earth to the switch, 2 wires from the switch to the motor in the door, you'd need to look up the wiring diagram from an early discovery but it's easy enough, i did it on my last 200 no problem at all.

so does my 98 300tdi, 1 line to each front and 1 line to rear which splits in a T piece to each side.

mine had loads of play and went through lots of oil too, it also had white smoke when the turbo kicked in when it was cold, had to replace it.

have the 2 plugs got a release catch on them? it may have broken on one allowing it to come out without the catch being pushed in, they can be awkward to push so use a screwdriver if you can reach it.

cheers, i'll take a look at their site.

the ones on the front of my 300 are wipacs too but they do fit on the bumper however it is very tight to get to the bolts underneath so a bar is a good idea, axlechorus i notice you have no grilles on yours either, have you lost them or just removed them as 1 of mine fell off and i'm looking for another, if you have 1 spare would you be willing to sell it?

the white/red wire from the ignition switch is the start position, tap a wire into this and run it to the starter solonoid, then find a switched positive wire and tap into it to run it to the stop solenoid on the fuel injector pump. that will bypass both functions of the immobiliser, that's what i have done on mine and it all works fine.

i prefer round on the bumper, square on a light bar above the screen but it's each to their own, whatever you prefer the look of. can't beat a big pair on the front, 8" is a good size. my old 200 tdi round 8" on front square on bar above screen my current 300 tdi again round 8" on front with a couple of small round ones on roof rack so you can see both ideas

just what i was going to suggest, would be far easier and you can get whatever spots you fancy plus the wiring is already there although you may need to lengthen the wires a bit.

if you disconnect the wiring on the back of the alternator (insulate it when you do) then try the meter in line again to see if the current drain has stopped and the charge light has gone out, try starting the engine (with the battery charged) if it stays out then it would definately point at the alternator, then leave it overnight to see if the battery holds it's charge, if that solves all your mentioned problems then either fix the regulator/rectifier/diode pack or replace the alternator.

loose wire like mine, intermittent not working till i move it.

better to bleed them manually if you can it's better than an easi bleed, have you remembered there are 3 nipples on the front? i think that's right. also my mate lost his pedal last week whilst laning, there were no leaks anywhere it turned out to be the servo. try it with the vacuum pipe removed.

the link won't work on mine but i presume it's for the electric window relay box underneath the dash on the passenger side, these are common for dry joints inside but mine seems to have a dodgy wire going into it as if i move the wires the rears work again.

that's pretty much all you can do really, possibly use a bigger chain and padlock.

have a read of this http://members.shaw.ca/jbarge/tires.html

don't know what size without making any mods but trimming of the rear arch is such a simple job and it allows much bigger tyres, do a search for camel cut, i run 235/85 r16's as many others do which is a defender size meaning you won't get stuck in the ruts left behind by that size tyre.

i'm sure they don't run through it, as far as i know the immobiliser only cuts power to the starter solenoid, fuel stop solenoid, and possibly an electric fuel pump but i think that last one is only on v8's as tdi's have a mechanical lift pump.

i don't know i haven't tested them although the glow light on the dash still works, i think the immobiliser only cuts power to the stop solenoid and possibly fuel pump if it is electric, plus the starter relay. to by pass it i found a switched live and ran a cable from that to the stop solenoid and tapped off the white/red cable from the ignition straight to the starter solenoid, this bypasses both functions and the car starts and runs just from the key, i only did this as my remote plip has stopped transmitting and as soon as i can get my new one programmed it will be back to how it should be. don't forget the immobiliser kicks in after a few minutes after the key is switched off anyway, mine varies in length of time so that may be whats happening to you.

that's the socket just under the letter A, top left terminal is white/red which activates the starter, i actually bypassed it and ran a cable straight to the solonoid of the starter so it by passed the spider imobiliser,do this before it goes into this terminal if you are bypassing it then run a switched live feed to the injector pump stop solonoid as this also gets bypassed if the immobiliser is kicked in, of course if the immobiliser isn't on then you will be ok just using this socket, top right is the yellow wire and the white is the bottom left, nothing in the bottom right. i think the white is the return from the switch when it's on to power everything but i'm not certain. probably best if you can get an ignition switch for it then just plug and play or fit some spades with wires and try that. remember that the brown wire you have is permenant live so use that if the yellow wire doesn't have power at it.

looking at your 2nd pic i would say the brown wire is the feed to the ignition switch and the green is just the feed to circuits with the key in the 1st position such as the radio, the white will be for the next position with all the dash lights etc on and the white/red is for the starter solonoid. do you have any power to anything or is it all dead apart from non ignition dependent stuff like the clock and side lights etc? you can see where the plug goes in your 1st pic, there is a single green wire plug top of fuse box and just below that is where the white plug with the 3 wires (white/red, white, yellow) plug in, the plug has been removed. the 30 amp green fuse at the right is above the plug socket so you can see where it is.