ashtray

I agree also. Just fitted a decat pipe and "cherry-bomb" (straight through but slightly silenced) centre pipe to my td5. Sounds the nuts now, and not too intrusive either. My mate had the same setup on a 300tdi. They sound pretty good too, turbo whistle is awesome :-)

would cherry work?

well i think on my td5 dash it would look awesome! Gd Work!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Campingaz-86182-BlueCat-Heater/dp/B000ZJ97C8 :-) I have used one to "preheat" my landy before, make sure it doesnt fall over though. Works brilliant in a tent!

cooling tower gearboxes...?

put an ammeter between the earth terminal and the earth clamp with everything switched off, anything 0.5amp is too much and will drain it if left for a couple of days. But make sure you don't operate anything within the vehicle. Most multimeters have an in-built fuse that blows at 10 amps and they arn't the easiest thing to get hold of, or cheap if i remember. Our meters at work have an external trip fuse which operates at 7.5amps just to eliminate blowing up the meter. I work on mercs and when you remove the key a lot of the 50 odd control units are still "awake" so finding current draws can be a real pain in the arse. And you cant just unplug everything until the load disappears as this can wake up other control units. Oh and there are shared fuses that usually have about 5 things running off of them. NIGHTMARE!

I have seen batteries before losing cells. One minute it will be a good 12.5V, the next a poorly 4V. Batteries usually last 3-5 years in my experience in the trade. Anything over this and your battery has had a good life. Make sure you haven't got any quiescent current draw issues whilst your there which could be causing your battery to go flat. You state that yours is a petrol so due to its age and simplicity there should be no residual current draw from the battery unless you have an alarm fitted.

http://www.redbooster.com/

that looks pukka that! Tbh i have no idea what the council will do, most likely the cheapest possible solution i.e corrugated plastic...

i would but the roof is bowed. it would pool up and bring the roof down on my landy! I think the only thing stopping the roof pooling up and coming down is the holes! Horrible stuff asbestos, it was inspected when i originally complained but a not so keen builder turned and just said "nah i aint touching that, its buggared!" and thats all ive heard so far. it would normally be £50/month but for the 6months since i've moved in its been free so i cant complain too much!

mine is garaged. but still gets a soaking every night.. Holed asbestos roof. Phoned the council up, they will inspect it and until then its rent free, 4 months later and i think they have forgotten about. now I have another dilemma, leaky roof or free garage...?

Ive had my viscous removed from my td5 since last winter! no problems with overheating at all. warms up slightly quicker in the morning and is "marginally" better on fuel. I have taken it up some pretty steep inclines for long periods at slow speed high revs and no issues so far!

As far as i can remember you cant, the Engine Control Unit reads the transfer box speed to register a speed. if this doesnt match engine speed and factory setup it switches off. i have cruise on mine and i love it, i use a 200tdi disco window switch to operate it. a recommended fit for long journeys, easy to wire up too!

Is there any definitive way of testing these mounts are worn out, my 90 is very vibey, much more so than my mates 55plate. mine is an '03 90 with 76k. Whats the average life expectancy of these in miles/age? Thankyou Ash

Well I've spent the best part of an evening randomly poking and pulling on things underneath, and I can't find anything really standing out, apart from the flexible joint in the down pipe creaks when bent. I can't get the cat to rattle by hitting it but do u reckon this could be the noise? It's a very harmonic tinny rattle, and it happens almost precisely at high revs, doesn't necessarily need to be under load but is more apparent when going up through the gears. It sounds like gears rattling to me, almost like the clutch bearing is chattering? But it does it even with the clutch down Cheers Ash