StuWhitby

Take a ruler: 8.4.1Fluid leaks You must check for fluid leaks on all vehicles other than Class 3. You should do this with the engine idling. A leak of fluids such as engine coolant, screen wash and fluid required for Selective Catalyst Reduction aren't reasons for failure. You should fail a vehicle if a fluid leak creates a pool on the floor within 5 minutes that's more than 75mm in diameter or if there are many leaks which collectively leak fluid at the same rate.

Err, kinda. The Mi16 had an oil pressure (temperature? can't remember) guage which, when you turned the ignition on, would show you the oil level, which just looked better and better. Turns out that the sensor had been wired the wrong way, so a healthy oil level really wasn't. It did mean I found out what was going on when all of the dashboard warning lights going on when cornering hard meant.

Thanks all, I'll take the time to check the steering this weekend. Historically I've generally been using the Landy for shortish runs or occasional longer trips or towing. It's now a commuting vehicle though (100 miles/day) which makes a difference to what you'll do to make things livable. Location is northern Aberdeenshire (just off the A96 near Moray). I see other people have this in their profile, but apparently I don't have permission to edit mine! I don't see the location in the standard pages either, and I'm not linking in to anything else (Microsoft account). Yep, after-market Moto-Lita steering wheel, which I love - it's a 3 spoke wheel with 2 of those spokes at quarter to three, which is a great place to rest your thumbs when driving. You get used to not having the cancel, but I'll take the plastics off soon and see what's there. Sadly, I bought this particular one after seeing it in a rebuild blog on pistonheads (4 years down the line) where the pictures of the rebuild are all now gone. All looked good from the blog, but tbh that doesn't tell you whether it was actually put back together with everything in line and leak free, or that someone else hasn't messed about with it since. The guy who serviced the turbo (John at Turbo-RS near Newcastle - cracking service btw) was asking if someone had it off previously due to misalignment, and I could confirm that it had been rebuilt, but not that it hasn't been messed about with since. Personally I figure with the steering something's got to be near siezed (was thinking about it in depth last night on the drive home). I think the first thing I need to do is go looking for grease nipples or disintegrated boots (probably all of them). The body roll itself is fine, I'm just used to something more sporty historically where weaving at speed wasn't an issue - I've gone through 205GTi, 405Mi16x4, Morgan, Civic Type R, Supra and now a 200Tdi. Which is the only one of them that so far hasn't been crashed, apart from the 405 which died due to the engine being mostly in the sump. No crashes in the Defender yet, though that reminds me - I need to repaint the Audi sliders on the side of it...

So I've had my 1991 Defender 200Tdi SW for about 18 months now, and I figure it's time to start fixing some of the things that have been bugging me. I've got work to do on some of the rattles, but there are a couple of other issues where when I've asked I've just had people look at me and say "It's a Defender" as if that answers absolutely everything. But I'm sure they're issues, so... Steering. I'm guessing that a healthy 200Tdi would generally straighten up if you turned and then took your hands off the wheel while moving. Mine simply keeps going the direction it's been pointed and needs a heavy hand to get it back in line again. There's about a 45 degree area of play on the steering wheel before it gets properly heavy. Trying to weave anywhere at speed can be properly dodgy - especially with the body roll thrown in Is this normal? I tried a 300Tdi that steered really sweetly at one point, so I'm hoping not. Power steering pump needing replaced? Indicators. No auto-cancel. I'm guessing there's a bit of plastic on the side of the steering column broken or similar. Or do they simply not have an auto-cancel? More indicators. What's with the trailer light flashing once when I put on the indicators, whether there's a trailer connected or not? Diff locks. I don't feel anything when I shift the selector knob sideways, and there's no diff-lock light coming up on the dash. Could be just exceptionally smooth and the bulb's bust, but given that "It's a Defender" I think it's more likely just not to be doing anything. Can someone confirm that there should be some sort of clonk when the locks engage? Rear lap belt. The mount for this currently comes up from the floor in the rear on a twisty bracket. That bracket sticking out of the floor is horrible, but I'm guessing that's bolted straight to the chassis. Is it possible to shift this to the back of the rear seat box without compromising the belt's integrity? Smoke on startup. I get a puff of black smoke on startup, and heading downhill when cold there's white smoke (engine retarding, not under power). I've had the turbo rebuilt last year, but while it cut down the smoke a lot it didn't get rid of it entirely. It doesn't seem to be using water at any notable rate though, and temps are normal as per the guage. Is a head rebuild the most likely fix here? Is it better to simpliy replace it with a gasflowed one rather than have a local garage rebuild it (I still need it to get me around - can't afford the downtime to do it myself I'm afraid) Any thoughts welcome. Cheers, Stuart.

How will you be able to tell under the mud?

From what I can tell the problem in the UK isn't with the washer fluid freezing. If it was doing that it would do it in the pipes and in the bottle, and it's not doing that. The difference between somewhere like the UK and Canada is that in Canada during winters it never gets up near freezing, where in the UK it's up & down between about 4-6 during the days and -5 at night during an average winter week. Sounds like we have it easy, but what happens is that in the UK we get frost condensing on stuff every night, so every morning there's a new layer of pure ice sitting on top of the washer jets. The washer fluid may be liquid, but the pump doesn't have the power to push it up into the ice to melt it. That's why we end up with frozen jets here despite using pure washer fluid, and picking that ice out of the jets isn't practically possible. Heated jets would be the best solution IMO. It shouldn't take much to melt the ice on top. Or maybe just a squirt of de-icer straight into them. My wife was very thoughtful when she met me and bought me a "Danish Design window scraper". It's stainless steel. Danish designers get drunk lots...

Ironically it's the hazard switch that's cheap and the heater switch which costs the big bucks...

Thanks for the info guys. Still don't think I can justify the prices for the originals from "standard" parts suppliers. Even the eBay ones are expensive right now for ones that are cracked. I'll dismantle them a bit more and see exactly what's needed just to replace "the switch" rather than any of the gubbins behind it that would involve messing about with, especially as my windscreen's now cracked and I'd like to swap it out for a heated one (right now it's a mile of driving with my head out the window when it's properly frosty) which could do with a switch around there too.

So I pulled the cover plate on the switches by the door on my Defender 200TDi at the weekend as 2 of them weren't working. Turns out that every one of the switches behind there in my car is broken and held together by insulating tape, so I figured it'd be a few quid each to replace them. However, while the cost of the interior light switch is around 20 pounds, the cost of the rear screen heater is over 50 and the hazards 12 (or 103 for genuine LR - I assume due to lack of stock for such a huge discrepancy). I'm no electrical guru, but I figured that a switch was a switch - at least for something that's "on/off" like these ones are (or are they?). Is there an actual difference between them or should I just go with replacing the lot with a blanking plate and a set of toggle switches off Amazon for under 3 quid each? Any replies much appreciated.

Great article. Enough to make me decide that I'd give it a go, since my driver's side wiper has now decided to fall off rather than pushing any snow. However, calling s-v-c to order this they're also looking for the exact distance from the motor to the first wheelbox. By the sounds of things you were flaring the drive tubes yourself, but I don't have access to do that without taking stuff to the garage... or is your recommendation in that case to put in the new motor and take all the measurements at that point to avoid error? (s-v-c will also sell a 1.4m tube to be cut to length as part of the kit).