David Sparkes

OK, I don't have ANY experience with Duck Oil, but I do have experience with Extreme Pressure 90 as lubrication on a forcing screw thread. Extreme Pressure is chosen because that characteristic indicates the oil is likely remain in place between the metal elements when the mechanical action will be trying to force metal to metal contact. Typically on a Track rod splitter, and on using a threaded bar in a chassis bush removing tool. Typically I oil the both the male and female threads as the tool is being put in place or assembled, I don't try to flow the oil into a thread already under load, although in the case of the chassis bush extractor I may oil the exposed male thread that has yet to enter the forcing nut. Where I had a choice, such as the chassis bush extractor, I use a fine thread, I/2" UNF, NOT 12mm, as I see the finer pitch results in longer engagement area between the nut and the bar. I will also use two nuts, turned at the same time, to further increase the length of thread engaged. Where I don't have a choice of thread, such as a bought joint splitter, I will add oil just before each use, so if I have three joints to split I will lubricate the screw three times. Regards.

This suggests to me that you have become so wedded to the power of a longer bar, heavier hammer, etc, that you have overlooked the benefits of suitable lubrication on anything being used as as forcing screw. The heat is from friction, which in turn demands more power to turn the screw, thus a galling thread etc. I recommend EP90, often found in anywhere that works with Land Rovers. Well, older Land Rovers 🙂 Regards.

I suspect the 'big drum directly behind the pedal' is a brake servo. The Hella UP28 is described as "a flexible solution for providing high pneumatic-volume supplemental vacuum", so the engine could be petrol or diesel, which engine do you have fitted? I see the Hella UP28 has a design life of 1,200 hours, which fits in with the pump only operating when the brake lights are lit. I cannot really answer your question, I was just trying to clear some uncertainty, perhaps others more familiar with a Def 90 master cylinder can help. Regards.

You also made it clear that you had no facilities or inclination to get mechanically involved yourself. You also made it clear the dealers were costing a lot of money. The alternatives involve finding knowledgable independent Land Rover specialists in your area, which in turn means input from people with experience of the area. Remaining 'invisible' shuts off those paths to a solution. I suggest you change your location information in this forum, and on RangeRovers.net, to include 'Reno, Nevada' as well as US. This basic information is then included in every post you make, enabling you to encourage input from people who know the area. Choosing a different car : although I have no personal Lexus experience, I have gained the impression they have a better reputation than Land Rover for reliability. In what appears to be a challenging area for auto-mobiles, the 'safest' advice appears to be selecting your vehicle based on what the locals use. Include the dealership availability in that assessment. Moving away from that buying pattern is always liable to be more expensive, I am merely emphasising the point, the choice is yours. Regards.

The 'US' is a big place. With your location only shown as 'US' it is difficult for any of us to give you any recommendations as to finding 'local' interested parties. It is also true that your wife fell in love with a high end import, they are always going to be more expensive to maintain than a home grown product. While I don't want you to give up on your search to satisfy the desire your wife has expressed it is perhaps time to throw some cold water on the flames she has ignited. While writing this I have recalled that there is a US centric web site called Rangerovers.net, but checking this memory before including it here I found you had already found the site, and posted the same question. On that forum you have used the name 'invisible'. If you carry on with that mindset I feel that no-one will be encouraged to help you. Regards.

No, it doesn't sound like a timing issue; that isn't pinking / pre ignition. As it is happening in all forward gears, but only during acceleration, my thoughts are around the engine + gearbox changing position while delivering torque. First look at the condition of the 4 engine engine / gearbox mounts, then look for polished metal work where the assembly is occasionally touching something. Check the fan blades aren't touching something (as the engine moves on its mountings). Do not neglect to examine the exhaust, structure as well as mountings. The obvious sanity check; has it inadvertently gone into Hi ratio four wheel drive? This might put the front drive shafts (and CV joints) under unusual stress. Regards.

I have interpreted 'large bulkhead outrigger bolt' as the ones securing the bulkhead to the chassis, two bolts per vehicle. My S3 parts manual shows the number as 336738. The LR Workshop site supports this, and shows the size as 1/2" x 7". Regards.

From the pictures, it seems to me that the fan is viscous coupled, whilst a snagging (slow moving) fan wouldn't help the cooling I think the VC will slip well before the pulley started to slip enough to melt the belt. Regards.

Two points spring to mind; That mass of melted rubber in the Vee of the pulley MUST be mechanically cleaned out before another belt is fitted. The bolt that passes through the slotted adjustment link MUST have a large diameter thick flat washer between the bolt head and the slotted link. Without it the bolt head does not have enough clamping power to ensure the bolt doesn't slide along the link, loosening the belt, which will then slip, allowing the belt to overheat and melt. I also agree that it looks as if the water pump is seized, so the belt has to slide over the pulley. This should have produced a terrible screeching noise before the belt failed. Regards.

Initially I too was attracted to the green one, but the longer I looked the more the yellow shock absorbers and coil springs jarred my eye. Neither are of the age of the body style, certainly they do not fit with a Series era car, mechanically sound or not. Regards.

Regarding ball valves, fittings into the tank etc, I've formed the views that while ball fittings are 'straight through' the hole in the ball is rarely the full diameter of the pipe it's attached to. Also, while 'compact' is sometimes desirable to fit into the space available, this is often achieved by the use of 90 degree bends, whether plain or tee joints. When used on end of tank fittings these also minimise the likelihood of accidental mechanical damage. However, both are restrictive to flow, and therefore degrade pressure at high flow rates. My solution is to go as big as possible by removing whatever adaptor / reducer is in the tank outlet, these often use some form of thread-lock and can be very challenging to remove. I then go to my local compressed air specialists who keep a box of usable but redundant fittings, taken from systems they have updated. I can buy these for peanuts, selecting the largest diameters that fit the tank and each other. I can then make up a christmas tree of large bore fittings than can distribute air in the direction(s) I want, and only at the end do I fit a reducer down to the flexible hose I want to use, currently 3/8". Regards.

I can buy into both comments. Decent training is good, although can seem expensive. Training people is a specific skill, whatever the topic. Just because some can handle their car doesn't mean they can pass on that skill to the trainee, especially if the trainees car is not similar to the model the 'trainer' is used to. Regards.

Thank you Mike & L19, I think the OP has been given enough information to make an informed decision, I know I have!! I also agree that reading the ground is the essential first step, but it can take experience and practice (and mistakes) to become proficient 🙂 Regards.

The rope idea is good, but this rather assumes that the car can gain enough traction, once off the waffles, to move both itself and the stuck boards. All we know is that there is ~250 metres of suspect ground, and we 'could' deduce that if the moorland is soft enough to 'need' waffles then there is little firm ground to knock against. I also noted the sets available in the forum for sale section, partly why I suggested more than one set might be a viable option. I do appreciate that we do not have a precise idea of the circumstances of use. Regards.

The main point I note is how heavy they can get when all those holes are full of mud, as well as having to overcome the suction of the mud when trying the lift them. Once they are full of mud, where are you going to 'store' them in your vehicle? Are you sure there isn't an alternative route that avoids all or most of the soft ground? Will one pair be enough? Regards.

It was part of the development story of the Dunlop air suspension for the 38A that they found two O-rings essential to stop leaks. The then standard single O-ring design couldn't meet the 'no leak' criteria. Regards.

The 'executive summary' has to be No, and Yes. No, There were no correlated side effects. By the time I stopped using the vehicle it was showing signs of (what I understood to be) the standard signs of VC decay. Had I still been enthusiastic about the 38A I would have changed the VC, regarding it not as a failure but as a long term service item. I have seen a photo of a VC split apart, but I suggest only Ashcrofts could make an assessment of the failures seen on exchange items. More detail. I bought the vehicle privately in August 1999 at 58,000 miles. The differential failure occurred in June 2004 at about 143,000 miles. I stopped using the vehicle in November 2009 at about 163,000 miles. My understanding, then and now, is that there are several stages of noticeable signs of VC 'wear'. One is that on low friction surfaces the ground will be noticeably disturbed when making full lock manoeuvres, even at low speed. As full lock manoeuvres at low speed on a low grip surface (grass) were normal when leaving or accessing my property this is what I noticed. I have no record of date or mileage. The second is that the tyres show asymmetric wear, the UK Offside rear being prone to cupping. I didn't notice this, but didn't go looking for it either. There seemed to be no effect on tyre change intervals. As I believe this cupping is due to uneven power (torque) delivery, and the asymmetric suspension, I do not think this uneven wear pattern is affected by whether the vehicle is Left or Right hand drive. The third effect, if the appropriate service is not carried out, is transmission lock up. Drivers and owners without Series LR experience will notice the vehicle rising as it is driven, and becoming heavy to steer, especially in supermarket car parks (for example). The vehicle will settle down when left overnight, only to rise again the next day. That example was from a Classic owner. I advised removing the front propshaft, with caution as a front wheel will spin as the tyre adhesion breaks on being jacked up. The owner reported back that the wheel did spin, but didn't shake the axle off the jack head. The improvement in steering was immediate (the wife could go back to doing the shopping). He later advised that while the vehicle no longer rose while driving, it hadn't completely settled down to its previous height. I was puzzled at the time, but later realised that the tension imposed by the lock up may well have bent the 'ears' by which the Classic radius arms are attached to the chassis. I had no contact with the owner so couldn't pass this thought on to him. Nor did I think he would have attempted rectification. I had no information about whether he changed the VC. Regards.

I think this is relevant, as it involves only using one centre diff output. In 2004 the rear diff in my diesel powered 38A broke. As designed there was no traction control on either axle, but there was 4 wheel ABS. To minimise the chance of collateral damage I removed the rear propshaft, then continued my daily commute, about 50 miles a day, so 250 / 300 miles in total. This 2WD running lasted about a week while I ordered a replacement differential. I naturally kept my speed & acceleration demands to a minimum, while keeping up with traffic. The biggest impact was on traction, the front suspension was in no way optimised for traction, as a front wheel drive car would be. It was very easy to spin a front wheel exiting junctions, especially if the tarmac was wet. The handbrake didn't work effectively on slopes, as the VC slipped slightly. I didn't do any flash things like measuring oil temperatures, just drove it sensibly within the new parameters. I changed the differential and things returned to normal, the broken diff (cross shaft in three pieces) was sent to Ashcrofts as part of the exchange. Regards.

Looking at the video and comments on Reddit, there was some slight criticism of putting a vehicle on a 2 post lift when the vehicle had a heavy snow plough unbalancing it. It seems to me this was the root cause of the incident. Note the video appears to come from an internal security camera, so that initially there seems to be no action. By default the sound on the video playback was muted, solved by a click on the appropriate button. Regards.

Yes, by an overnight soak in EP90 (after first blocking the drain hole with an 'obvious' piece of PVC tape) Regards.

Common in the UK? I'd say no, but I am so convinced it's a good idea that I have modified two vehicles in this manner. It's just a pity that both have become garden ornaments, so no reduction in wear or reduction in servicing effort can be claimed. Greasing via spinning UJ? If anyone can write a convincing argument about how the oil is forced upwards, against gravity, through the small hole, then between two flat surfaces (the base of the swivel pin and the base of the bush (or the Railko washer), then upwards between the side of the pin and the inner face of the bush, I'd be interested to read it. My point being that until someone understands how the original system worked it's rather difficult to claim any change is an improvement. Regards.

Assuming that, because I started the thread, the 'David' is me, I have to point out that I don't have the problem, I was merely relaying the problem that a stranger had posted on the forum of the Series 2 club, as I thought this forum was more likely to produce a sensible result. There has been no feedback to the post on the Series 2 forum, so I think you need to read the intermediate answers and suggestions in this thread, follow those links, but also try wider searches in the wider LR community. I suggest you don't lose sight of the fact that an answer written 6 months ago may have been overtaken by events, especially as it becomes clearer that the market for an after-market centre console grows bigger. Don't expect something that looks like the original LR design, new designers always think they can improve on any original design. Good Luck.

Yes, I'd thought of using a 'building site' yellow 240 to 110 volt transformer. I have done it in the past, but the big snag I found with a block heater is the lack of circulation. For any coolant heater to be fully effective there has to be circulation pump. The only possible alternative is to run a low power heater all the time, from when the vehicle arrives home with a fully warmed engine to when it's driven away with a block that is just off the chill. If the heater is powerful enough to keep the coolant warmer than that the coolant around the element will just boil. There must be circulation, which is why the pumped Kenlowe could manage with a 3kW element. Just a pity the pump was pants, sticking while not in use during the summer, and not powerful enough to 'unstick' when powered up the next winter. Regards.

If you are not allowed to drill holes in the floor I do not see how installing a subframe will help, in terms of overall stability. I can see that a sub frame, with suitable corner bracing, will keep each leg positioned correctly in relation to each other leg, but overall the stability of the lift will still be severely compromised, unless you are allowed to secure the subframe to the walls. I would be concerned about lift stability with a 2 or 3 ton car 6ft from the ground, and no external stabilising connections. Regards.

Yes it's normal, in a generic style for diesel engines with any sort of electronic control. Basically, full battery voltage is applied to the plugs, and the dash lamp is lit, this is pre-heating. The dash lamp is darkened but battery voltage is kept on the plugs. As the engine starts the voltage changes from 'just' the battery value to the alternator value, which is what you have seen and reported. This is 'post-start heating', it's purpose is to improve the burn, giving smoother running and less exhaust smoke while the engine is cold. Generally it's all controlled by time rather than temperature, although extreme cold may extend the pre-heat and the post heat periods. Regards.