T.Paasch

There clearly wasn't any lock tite in the threads, cause I could screw out the three bolt ends that where still in but without a head with my bare oily fingers...

285/75 R16 BF Goodrich All Terrain. I don't off-road at all. But the car was previously owned by a plantation, so I don't know how much or how heavy work they used it for. They said it was mainly used to drive around and check the fencing was OK...

I haven't checked how tight they are, but they are in place.

I had the sound again, and this time it stayed. It was surely coming from behind this time. I jacked the rear wheel up and turned it by hand, and could clearly hear the sound coming from the rear diff. I took out the rear half shafts, but the sound was still there (the splines looked fine). Removed the rear propshaft, and the sound was gone. Rear diff then... Today I took it out, and in the housing I found 5 bolt heads and 2 thread studs rattling around. All 5 where bolts holding the crown wheel that where decaptivated. The gears actually still looked good, the bolt heads apparently haven't gotten into the gears, just scratching the outside. The sound came from one of these bolt heads being stuck between the housing and the crown wheel. Changing direction obviously previously had gotten the bolt head unstuck, but this time it stayed there. So my first front diff was destroyed by a bolt head that broke of (probably rattled loose, unscrewed itself until it hit something inside the diff to bang its head of). And the rear diff had the same problem - a screw unscrewing itself, and one more, and one more, and one more and one more... What suddenly makes these screws go loose after 150.000 km - is that a common thing? Regards Thomas

Yesterday I made a few tests: 1. lifted one rear wheel free from the ground, put the gear in neutral and tried to spin the wheel. It spun nicely and there wasn't much slop when changing direction before the prop shaft turned as well. So rear diff and half shafts seem fine. 2. Then I put it in reverse and tried again. The prop shaft was able to turn about 45 degrees from stop to stop, when turning the wheel back and forth. 3. Then I got under the car and turned the wheel with one foot while checking on the prop shafts. And there wasn't much play between the front and rear prop shafts on each side of the transfer box, so I suppose the transfer box is OK too (in terms om axel connections). So the rotation of the rear prop shaft translated more or less directly to the front prop shaft. 4. Then I sat the rear wheel down and lifted a front wheel instead. I can rotate the front wheel about 8-10 cm on the perimeter before the prop shaft starts rotating. But I guess that's normal with some extra play in the front due to all the links between the front wheel and the prop shaft. So nothing alarming there. What stresses me out is that I don't know what to do to provoke the noise to happen. And when it comes, it goes away again when I stop or reverse, so I can't investigate it or show it to my mechanic...

The mechanic say they had all out, cleaned and inspected. It would be tempting to try another mechanic if it happens again, but as long as the current mechanic replaces under warranty for free, it's hard to make that decision 🙂

Hi By end of January, my Defender 90 TD5 started making some noises from the drive train. Some times some loud "kronk" noises and at some point some gear noise. Always speed depended and no matter if the clutch was engaged or not. I vent to my local Land Rover expert, and it turned out the front diff was broken. Some bolt inside had it's head broken off, and many of the teeth of the crown wheel where damaged. So I got a new front diff installed. Two weeks later, the new diff has started crunching it's teeth. So the new diff was switched again, this time it took some time to get a new one, as the first shipment was lost. But two week later I was rolling again. Another two weeks later the new (second) diff started leaking oil at the gasket where the prop shaft is attached, and as the diff oil was all black already, the mechanic insisted to change the entire diff once again (still under warranty). The third diff arrived fast, as the earlier shipment was found and the diff was on stock, so it got installed and once again I could drive away. Now - two weeks since I got my third diff, I again had that loud gear noise you get when two gears don't line up. As earlier it typically starts shortly after I start my trip (before everything is warm) and typically start while turning. Again speed and not rev dependent, so everything points at the diff once again, again again...! I stopped, reversed and vent forward again and it disappeared. And I could continue my trip. But now I guess it's just a question of time before it happens again. And the worst thing is that I completely lost my trust in my car. The original diff had run 150.000 km, so I can accept the it failed. And one production fail would be bad luck but also acceptable, but now I'm looking at my fourth diff in 2 month, that just can't be right! Does anyone have any ideas to if something could cause that? (No off-roading) Regards Thomas

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think the low coolant level was the problem, leading to airlocks in the system. I ran the Webasto while driving to and from work for a couple of days, to make sure there is water circulation and movement, that hopefully would make the air bobbles in the system go away. It seems to work. Now all is working as expected again. 👍

Yes, as the engine coolant is what makes the "original" heater work on the Defender, the Webasto is attached to the engine coolant system. I guess that's the normal way. This way it also heats the engine - which is a good thing in cold conditions 🙂 Coolant was running low, but I don't know if that some how could have traded air in the Webasto circulation pump. After the few minutes it runs, water in the coolant reservoir is steaming hot.

Thanks for your comments. If you see the first status from the Telestart, that was while the heater was running. It's connected to an Auxiliary Battery, to make sure the main batter isn't drained. It worked fine last winter, so I guess the wire gauge should be fine. I'll check the wiring that all is good. I have had a Webasto in another car some years ago, and when the battery was low, it didn't want to start at all. I was wondering if it would cut out if the circulation pump didn't work properly (or air was in the system), which I guess would lead to high temperatures in the coolant fluid? Regards Thomas

Hi I have a Webasto Thermo top C in my 2001 Defender TD5. I also have a Telestart installed. When I start up the Webasto, all seems OK. The fan starts, the heater starts, I hear the fuel pump ticking and and warm air is blown into the cabin. But 1-2 minutest later the fule pump stops ticking and the heater turns off. The Webasto fan runs for a while to cool it down and then it's quiet. The fan in the car is still activated, and is now blowing cold air into the cabin. After starting the Webasto, I send a "Status" message to the tele start, the response was: Heater: Started (25 minutes remaining) Aux output: OFF Temperature: 17.0C Battery voltage: 12.99V Sending the same message after the Webasto stopped but the fan in the car was still running, I got this answer: Heater: Started (23 minutes remaining) Aux output: OFF Temperature: 17.0C Battery voltage: 12.93V So my first conclusion is that the battery power seems to be OK. Funny thing though is that if I start the engine, the Webasto keeps running. I tried connecting a battery charger to the battery, but that didn't keep the Webasto running. Does anybody have a any suggestions? Where is the bug? Regards Thomas

It looks like there are some out there, line this one for instance: https://www.dieselpartikelfilter.net/pkw-partikelfilter/pkw-nachruestfilter/produkt/10778-partikelfilter-lr-defender-land-rover-defender-td5-90-110-130.html But it looks like it requires a 15P engine, which I guess I don’t have, with my TD5 being from 2001. The engine number can’t be read, so I don’t know for sure.

I live near Copenhagen, and starting 1st of July 2020 Copenhagen and other larger cities in Denmark require Diesel cars from before 2007 to have a Diesel Particle Filter to be allowed to enter the city. Does anybody have any experience with DPF on a Defender TD5 and/or any suggestions to where I can find one?

I have now checked the waist gate. I basically did like in this video: https://youtu.be/fS3ZfUsXOs8 After removing the actuator I could easily move the lever, but it didn’t move back by itself. I drowned it in WD40 and worked it until it did and reassembled everything again. I just had a 40 km test drive on the highway and testing some of the up hill junctions where it usually is coughing , and so far it fells like there surely is an improvement. No more coughing and it did 130 km/h like it’s supposed to do. So thanks a lot for the tip Paime!!!

Hi Paime Thanks for the tip. I’ll check that out after Christmas and let you know.