Buzz

A new rad is on its way, I'd over looked the stat so I'll have a play with that, aswell as the fan. Cheers, Lynall. Buzz.

It will kick down when being driven around town, so it is working, but it is on my list as one of the things to have a fiddle with. I've read the section in the workshop manual about setting it up, so I'll give it a go when its had its mot. Bogmonster, when flushing the rad I didn't get much out of it at all, but I take your point that it could well be down on performance, and I think it could well be past its first flush of youth! So I'll stick a new one on the list. The power loss starts first, and the temp starts to rise after you've started to push the engine harder to try and maintain speed up the hill. So I'm not sure about the rad being the cause, but it could well be making the situation much worse by not being able to cool the engine when its under a high load. Thanks for the advice guys, Buzz.

Hi Imspanners, thanks for your advice. I haven't replaced the lift pump, but a new one was fitted just before I bought the car and I still have the old one, which appears to be in working order. I hadn't thought about trying it with the MAF disconnected, I'll give that a try next time I'm down the workshop. The autobox has a kick down cable which is connected to a lever on top of the EDC injector pump, which is operated by a cable connected to the throttle pedal. I'm not aware of any connection between the auto box and EDC system, I'll have to have another read of the workshop manual. Thanks, Buzz.

Hi, I have a November 1995 300 Tdi Discovery Auto fitted with EDC, and could do with some advice from people with EDC experience. The discovery will cruise at 70mph on the level no problem, but when you reach a incline it starts to gradually lose power, at the top of the incline your doing 50mph. When you reach the next incline the disco starts to do it again, but the power loss starts earlier and is more noticable. You can floor the throttle but it makes no difference, the auto won't kick down, so you just sit there slowing down till you reach the top. The disco slows down and down till 50mph when the auto box kicks down and the engine revs increase, the engine sits there revving away but there is no speed gain at all. The more you try to force the disco up the incline, the only thing that increases is the engine temp, it gradually rises until you creast at which point it comes back down to normal pretty kwick. At the next incline the engine temp climbs earlier and faster, this has forced me to pull off the 70mph major road onto the smaller local roads and the temp comes back down to normal and the disco drives just as it should, not a care in the world. It appears that the ECU backs off the power when the engine temp starts to rise, even only a slight temp rise. I tend to do 99% of my own work and have been working through a list of things I can think of, heres what I've done: EGR removed & plug disconnected New top intercooler pipe Inlet manifold cleaned (full of marmite) & new gasket fitted Turbo waste gate checked, boost pipe from turbo to boost sensor checked. Cat removed New silicon intercooler hoses New standard fit, up rated (brunel) intercooler New engine temp sensor (previous owner suspected it, as temp guage and infa-red temp probe disagreed) Replaced 'P' gasket (slight trace of anti freeze around old one) Visually inspected AFM & air intake pipe. New air filter New diesel filter & forte diesel treatment Diesel sedimenter cleaned, new 'O' rings & drain tap fitted Timing professionally checked (found to be correct) Valve clearences checked (all correct) Engine oil & filter changed Rad removed, inspected & flushed (leaves removed from between air-con rad and engine rad) So far it appears that none of this has had any effect on the fault. I got the engine running again at the weekend, and found the alternator started to overcharge the battery (18v) so this was promptly disconntected. Then ran the engine and had fun trying to bleed all the air out of the cooling system, on a short test drive, the MOT's due, it still seems the same . When the disco was road tested after the intercooler install, it was noted that the engine will not over fuel, even when flooring it from a standing start. Any ideas on anything I've overlooked? I'm considering removing the EDC pump and installing a standard pump. Has anyone removed the EDC system? Anyone know the pitfalls? I'm thinking I'll need to swap the injector pump, injector pipes, remove the AFM to get it to work. Sound right? I'm hoping that the (one) EDC injector will work as normal standard injector. I'm not sure how the ECU will behave with major sensors disconneted. I'm thinking that I'll need to keep the ECU to keep the temp guage, immobilizer, and speedo working. This seems to be the best course of action for me as I need to make the disco reliable, as I will be taking it on expeditions abroad, and don't fancy being stranded on a mountain as the throttle position sensor has just failed, and left me with idle only! I'll be very grateful for your advice, sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you guys as much info as poss. Thanks, Buzz.

Brunel, very skillfull, knowledgeable and experienced plus good service. I've had a 90 and a disco done so far, money well spent. Buzz.

Hi ED, I drove Hannibal's trail last august from Italy back into France, it was a great drive and one I plan to revisit. The trails surface is very distinctive and I reconised it as soon as the mag dropped on my door step. We were on our way back from Italy after exploring the Susa region as recommended by Dan. I'd also recommend looking at www.4x4valdisere.com if your french is any good. Club 4x4 des Aigles have exclusive acess to an off road course up a mountain behind Val d'Isere. Whilst our group were there we joined the club and spent a memorable day exploring all the tracks, the place is huge! Our guide also organised a buffet lunch laided on by the club outside their mountain top teepee, an excellent day. Good luck with organising your trip, I'm off to the Pyrenees this summer. Buzz.

The cyclone seperator has a diaphram inside it, and if this splits it can allow the engine to suck the oil out of the sump. Apparently this can also happen if you refill a tdi too fast after an oil change. My 90 sucked a litre of oil out of the sump, on two seperate occassions, and deposited it in the intercooler allowing it to run on the oil and smoke loads. Fortunately it didn't runaway too much, mainly it held its revs during gear changes. On both occasions the engine had just been started form cold and I'd driven less than a mile, the oil was thick and cold, and yet the engine still managed to suck it out of the sump! After the first instance I checked all the breather system, including the seperator, then covered 3500miles till it happened again. On advice of my local land rover specialist, I've now replaced the cyclone seperator, the engines had a thrashing since and so far its behaving its self. So it may look fine and not be blocked, but you can't tell if the diaphrams split, so if in doubt replace it, its much cheaper than a turbo! Buzz.

Hi Mark, thanks for your comments, I'm glad you had a good day. The weather conditions did make it very difficult to get around, but theres lots of plans in the pipeline to improve and develope the site to make it even better. I think 5 vehicles managed to get all 30 punches, which was really good going, with the first vehicle collecting all by 13:15! Cheers for coming, and hope to see you again soon. Buzz KORC Marshall

I've wittnessed this at a punch before. The guy ran his wire rope straight under the middle of the 90, out the back and anchoured it too a tree. Then he preceed to lower himself over the edge of the drop to reach the punch. As the wire rope wasn't attached to the rear of the 90 in any way, the rear did get extremely light. I just stood back and waited for it to flip onto its roof, down the hill, hanging from its winch rope. Luckly for him he reached the punch without it flipping, and as far as he's concerned its a "neat little trick". As far as I'm concerned that was extremley dangerous! I don't think he had an understanding of the forces invovled, or a clue about the possible outcomes of his actions. He's the kind of guy that when you tell him your opinion he'd say......... nah its fine, i've done it loads of times......... Some people can't be told, you just have to let them learn form their mistakes. However, for a club to allow that to be published as a "tip" for all their members to follow, that is really scary. Buzz.

Congestion charge or pollution charge? It started at £5 and wasn't going to increase It was a central london zone, but now its spreading out west. Give ken an inch........ Oh, and hasn't he set a great example of how to cut Co2 emissions with pointless / time wasting trips to Cuba! Note: he says he'll introduce the £25 charge (tax) if re-elected. I think we londoners should show him the door. Buzz.

Sorry to hear about that Peter, I'll spread the word in Essex and keep my eye out, although its probably most likely to resurface at the sortout. Buzz (Brentwood LRC)

Signed, 31935 now. Long liveTop Gear, one of the best programs on telly. We're all just jealous that we can't play with their toys! Buzz.

Hi, I have a November 1995 Disco 300TDI Auto, that has an engine ECU and a EDC (Electronic Diesel Control) mounted on the diesel pump. Apparently the EDC unit helps the 300 Autos to pick up at low revs, basically improve the peformance of the engine. I've been informed that it is possible to remove the EDC diesel pump, if its faulty, and replace it with the standard diesel pump from a 200 or 300 TDI (non EDC), the vehicle won't go aswell but its cheaper fix. Another interesting point is that the 300TDI ECU EDC Autos have 123BHP. Buzz.

Sad day . Unfortunatley we knew it was coming, but that still doesn't detract from the fact that this is discrimination against vehicle users of public rights of way. Their the government, which means they can do what they want, even if that means ignoring the findings of the independent assesment that they commissioned. This independent report found that recreational use of public rights of way, by mechanically propelled vehicles, wasn't causing noticable damage to the rights of way network, but hey why let that get in the way of their quest to satisfiy the ramblers. So they've ignored the report and focused on anything that will help them ban vehicles from RUPP's, same thing this labour government with most things really, ignore the people that the legislation will affect and press on reguardless because obviously they know best. Idiots. So now we are banned from all RUPP's, Banned from any applications for BOAT's and back dated to Jan 2005! and are probably the only group of people in the country that are presumed guilty of an offence until we prove our innocence when challenged on a BOAT. This country's a JOKE! Ramblers are Satan's children. Buzz.

I have a genuine X-Brake fitted to my 90, and i'm very pleased with it. Even though I, note the 'I', managed to break it! Whilst competing in a punch safari, winching up a steep, tree root covered hill. I managed to snag the disc on one of the roots which had found its way past the chassis and the guard. The winch forces managed to bend the disc by about 5mm, so that with every rotation of the disc the caliper moved back and forth on its mounts by 5mm. This damage to the disc still didn't prevent the X-Brake from working, or me from completing the safari. The poor caliper must have been flying back and forth underneath the 90 as i tried driving down the road, after the event. Still after all this abuse the caliper has survived without damage, and lives to fight another day. I contacted Simon and informed him of my acheivment! Even though the disc's failure was completley down to me, he suplied me with a new disc free of charge, now thats customer service . Top Bloke! So the X-Brake has been on the car for 2 months and i've had to work on it once, because I broke it! The old drum handbrake used to break 2 or 3 times a week, all on its own, and i was forever working on it! I have 2 X-Eng products fitted to my 90, and i would recommend them to anyone. Well engineered products, by an excellent company. Keep up the good work! Buzz.