crwoody

There is a fair amount of backlash in all the differentials although half a turn seems a bit much. I assume you're checking it with the handbrake on so the rear output is locked and the front prop off - or a front wheel off the ground?

Surely the weight/mass of the propshaft is irrelevant so long as it's balanced properly and not being stressed outside it's design parameters ?? If on the other hand it is out of balance, it will surely eventually destroy pinion seals and bearings.

Looking good - nice to see it in action, amazing how level the car sits with both axles crossed like that.

Great looking job there, nice solution with the flexible exhaust section. To be honest, that was one of the reasons I never got around to fitting it myself, I could see that mods to the exhaust were needed and just thought - "I'll sort it tomorrow" and inevitably - tomorrow never came. Beginning to wish I'd just got my backside in gear now

Quote "If the Alternator is no good it wont matter" Indeed it wont matter at all - however if the alternator is working properly, the unregulated output can rise to 18 volts or more and you're seriously in danger of frying the cars electrics, especially if it's a later one with various ECU's, these electronic modules can be quite sensitive to over-voltage.

As Mo says - pinion seal is a likely contender. I had this on mine once and emptied the rear diff on a run to Newport and back. Made a hell of a mess on the back door and buggered the diff in the process.

The last time I had to do this (on a Disco 1) I used a smaller drill, about 5.5mm I think, and a stud extractor. To keep the drill centred, I used the same drill bit to drill through the centre of the head of an M6 cap head (allen) bolt, until the head separated from the bolt, this left a nice centring guide which is a decent fit in the hole in the flange.

You need to put a voltmeter across the battery and check the voltage while the engine is running. You should see around 13.8 - 14.2 volts when charging and about 12.5 with the engine stopped (may be less when not charging depending on age and condition of battery.) Any less than 13.8 volts charging would suggest the alternator is U/S but there could be wiring issues that can affect it too so don't condemn the alternator straight away if it's outside of the limits above. Edit; must type faster

Burn out the rubber bush and then take a hacksaw to the metal outer sleeve and cut it most of the way through, should be able to knock it out then with a chisel.

I had to replace mine recently and ended up removing the dash top to get to it, some have said it can be done through the hole left if you remove the ashtray but I think you would need tiny girly hands to get in through there. Taking the dash top off is not a big chore though, but it helps a lot if you have a flexible extension for a Pozi driver to get to the 3 main fixing screws (PZ3) and four screen vent screws (PZ2) on top.

I think you'll find the Vented discs are thicker than the Solid ones so the vented disc caliper needs to accommodate the extra thickness. I know there's certainly a big difference between the vented front and solid back ones on my 90.

".. There isn't nccesary to solder different colour cables? .. " Cables of the same colour are connected together, but the groups of cables of different colours are separate from each other, like in the photo. If you take the blue connector apart you will find it connects the cables as I've described - not all together. Edit; You might want to disconnect the battery before doing this too, you don't want any more burnt wires

I'm pretty sure it is, I got some once for a SIIa I had and there was no distinction between models, same stuff for the rear window channels too I believe. Biggest problems you might face here is firstly getting the old one out and then to find something to attach the new one to.

The "little rectangular blue box attached to black loom of the ECU" that you refer to is I suspect the header - K109 where a number of wires are connected together. These can be a pain in the backside as there are a mixture of live, switched live, earth and other wires that are connected together in groups within the header, that is to say, all the black wires are connected together, all the brown/green wires are connected together and so on, the important thing is that these "colour groups" are electrically separate from each other and this is when the problem occurs. It's possible that a leakage path may occur between different connections within the header and develop into a dead short. The best solution here is to simply remove the header, just cut off all the wires of one colour group at a time and join them together externally, preferably by soldering and covering with suitable insulation. Of course, I could be barking up the wrong tree here, but to be honest, it's worth doing anyway, especially if there's any likelihood of getting water in the seat box, the sealing is almost non-existent.

Depends how you define "rattling noise". A CV joint seems likely from the way you describe the symptom but that makes more of a rhythmic "click - click - click" noise in time with the rotation of the wheel.

You could always try Opie Oils : - http://www.opieoils.co.uk/ I've used them for a while and never had a problem. Pretty good on price and frequent special offers, and if you sign up as a member you get some extra discount too. I should add that I have no connection with this company except as a satisfied customer.

Not sure about the "Puma" Defender but the Td5 has the ECU under the drivers (right) seat and the battery under the passenger (left) seat. Ventilation is important though, otherwise the battery box will fill up with potentially explosive gas, which I believe can also be very corrosive. Also, since it's very unlikely the box could be made completely airtight, most of the excess gas would find it's way into the passenger compartment. So if the box is sealed it would need to have some kind of forced ventilation to outside. It's own snorkel perhaps Edit; just beat me to it there, must type faster.

Hazard flasher switch most likely.

Ideally you could do with one of those high current discharge testers I've seen used at battery places, however you could do pretty much the same test by monitoring the battery voltage with your multimeter while cranking the engine for maybe 20 seconds or so, you may need to get someone else to turn the key! You might also need to disconnect the fuel cut-off solenoid to prevent the engine from starting while testing. The battery that maintains the highest voltage while under heavy load would be the one to keep - so long as they are both fully charged to start with.

The Defenders in general are quite low-geared compared to the Discos, that's why some people stick Disco transfer boxes into their Deafeners to improve the comfort and economy at higher speeds, maybe that's already been done to yours? I tend to find I'm often in fifth at not much over 30 and it will drive quite happily like that, need to change down for a bit more oomph - going up a hill or whatever but generally quite smooth, (it's all relative ) The Td5 does have a different sound to it though, being a 5 pot instead of 4, so maybe that's something that you'll need to get used to. A rev counter might help to give you a better idea of what's going on under the bonnet, it's relatively easy to fit the right one.

I've changed mine from a MSB to NNN because the original one went faulty, I can't really say I noticed any difference to the anti-stall performance

Dodgy wiring and connectors, voltage regulator ?

Losing it I think - unless you had the centre difflock engaged at the time. Mind you, You'll still need to lift a rear wheel to grease the rear prop, but not necessarily at the same time as the front one.

Mine's been doing this ever since I got it - about 5 years now, still the same, never got any worse, maybe changes a little bit with the weather but that's all. In terms of urgency, it's way down the list, maybe I'll look into it if I ever have to change the clutch. Clive

A faulty alternator on it's own would not prevent the engine from starting, it would however result in a discharged battery which of course would prevent starting. Perhaps you have a bad/loose connection on an earth lead from the chassis to engine, this could give the appearance of a faulty starter motor.