v8bertha

Chaps, Just a quickie... My 110 has been SORN'd since January. I'm looking to re-tax it at the beginnning of June, however I have a sneaky suspicion the MOT runs out sometime in June too. Does anybody know if there is a minimum amount of MOT required to tax the old bus? Cheers Dan

VCU bushes? you mean the bearings that sit either end of the VCU? There shouldn't be much side to side play at all, maybe a millimetre at most. Look for cracking in the rubber, if it shows obvious signs of perishing then they should be replaced. Another thing that can cause strange noises from the middle of the car is the damper that is bolted to the VCU. The rubber can split on these causing all sorts of nasty noises. Many people just do away with them, but you'll need to separate the VCU from the prop to remove it. Likewise the rear diff bushes should hold the diff pretty steady. It depends on how much leverage you apply as to how much it moves, but if all the bushes are in good nick then you shouldn't be able to move it much. If these bushes are severely knackered then the diff will bang on the floorpan and subframe.

Go to your local LR specialist. They should be able to supply accessories from the likes of Allmakes and Sh#tpart. Alternatively wait until one of the "Sodbury Sortouts" that happen throughout the year. I believe there is one this weekend at Beaulieu in Hampshire. A sortout is basically a car-boot sale for old unwanted Land Rover bits. The biggest one is held twice a year at Newbury showground. Or ebay!

Nope, no dipstick... there is a filler plug on the side of the gearbox. Make sure the car is on level ground, then remove the plug. Stick your finger in the hole and see if you can feel the oil level, it should be up to the level of the filler plug. IIRC the gearbox takes about 2.2 litres of MTF94 from empty. Pop into your local LR dealer and they will be able to sell you a 1 litre bottle like this. Here's a pic from an MG forum (they use the same gearbox) Good luck and welcome to Land Rover ownership, it won't be long before you are intimately familiar with the oily bits Dan

Not sure how much difference there is between a TD4 and an L series, but I was able to change the gearbox and clutch on mine without dropping the IRD fluids. There is enough room under the car to support it meaning you can leave all the pipework connected Obviously you'll still need to pop the driveshaft out of the IRD so it can be moved. You can also leave the drive shaft attached to the hub, therefore you don't need to remove the driveshaft retaining nut. Just pull the shaft out of the gearbox and tie it up out of the way with a bungey or other suitably elastic twangy thing. Is APlockheed better than Borg & Beck? Well, that depends on who you speak to. Both make good quality products. In fact I think B&B are oem suppliers for the L series clutches. Having said that, the fingers on my B&B clutch cover went weak after 12k miles meaning I had to do the job again just over a year later. I read somewhere that S##tpart "Heavy duty" clutches are actually Valeo... another reputable make, but 'cos it comes in a blue box it'll be a lot cheaper! Hope this helps! Dan

If the pedal feels the same all the time then check the oil level in the gearbox first.

Another vote for Terry

Gold stars ain't like club card points ya'know... cookies have to be earned through hard graft or bribery!!

Well, its been sat on the driveway in bits for far too long... but this long weekend saw me finally get around to attacking the Freeby and getting it all back together after a few other problems. The electrical problem was finally traced to the ignition switch, so well done Fridge, have a gold star! I removed the switch and took the back off it to see how it worked. Once in I could see the contacts and so with a small bit of very fine wet'n'dry I gently cleaned each of the contacts. Seems to have solved the problem Bizarrely another electrical fault materialised at the same time... When turning the lights on the tailgate door would unlatch turned out to be a bad earth at the back of the car behind a trim panel.

Hello Mr Newbie... Oil level would be my first port of call. These boxes seem to be prone to problematic reverse selection where they just pop out of gear sometimes, but if its crunching then you could have a slightly more serious problem. If its not the oil level, then I'd flush out the oil that is in there and put some fresh stuff in. Make sure you use the correct oil (I think it uses MTF94... I'm sure a responsible adult will be along soon to correct me if I'm wrong.). Next I'd check the hydraulics and the metal plate that the slave cylinder fits on to. The plate has a tendency to bend, eventually one of the lugs will snap off and your slave will be merrily dangling in the breeze. Its a 10 minute job to change and only costs about a tenner. The hydraulics are a sealed unit, if they are buggered you simply replace the whole thing. Anything after this is a gearbox-off job really. The clutch could be dragging slightly (problem I've recently had with mine 12k miles after fitting a new AP/Borg & Beck clutch). Once you get the clutch cover off you will see blue-ing of the cover plate. Unlikely that your fork is sticking as it was only recently changed, although this is apparently a common problem on the PG1 gearboxes. Anything after that you'll be getting into gearbox internals really. I've just fitted the correct gearbox to mine, so have a 1.8 petrol gearbox going spare if you want it. Good luck! Dan

Quick update on this thread... I managed to get the gearbox off over the long weekend. The first thing I noticed was that 2 of the clutch cover fingers were slightly more pushed in than the others. I marked them up with a pencil and removed the clutch. On the cover plate there was obvious blue-ing that lined up perfectly with the two fingers I marked up. So I think I have found the problem, the clutch wasn't disengaging properly because of the fingers and it was constantly biting, which explains all the problems perfectly. There was nothing wrong with the clutch fork mechanism. Unfortunately its over a year since I fitted the clutch, so its not under warranty any more, but a new one is winging its way to me so I should be mobile again by THE wedding... finger crossed, then I can escape!!

And another idea for you... I had this smoking issue on my old 300tdi 110, but it was only noticeable in low box. So for example you'd be descending a hill in 2nd low using the engine braking, then you'd get to the bottom and give it some beans and I'd get a big cloud of blue smoke that would clear after just a couple of seconds. It was more noticeable at altitude. I never got to the bottom of it as I sold the vehicle and it was a fair few years ago now, but I vaguely remember a very clever spanner-wielding friend saying something about turbo seals? Oh, and that's a lot of oil to be burning!

Freelander clutch hydraulics are a sealed unit on the L series and the 1.8 petrol and can't be bled. The TD4 has a slightly different setup by the looks of things and having had an issue on Jens TD4 yesterday where the pedal only came up half way, I have a feeling I'll be getting intimate with that soon too Interestingly enough, a few pumps of the pedal seems to have solved the problem on the TD4 although I'm sure the problem will return at a most inconvenient moment!!

Are you are talking about on motorways? If so this is a courtesy use mainly by lorry drivers. It can be quite difficult to judge when the arse end of your trailer is past the vehicle you are overtaking, so the overtakee flashes the overtaker when it's safe to pull in.

These aren't Land Rover part numbers. I'm assuming they must be Karsons, therefore you'll need their catalogue to be able to cross reference the numbers. Good luck!

It's quite an easy job to do, but you will need to line up the bolt holes on the prop with the holes in the diff drive flange when you re-assemble. If the back wheels are off the ground its a lot easier as you just rotate a wheel until things line up.

Thats the old crank handle doo-dar. To remove the pulley you'll need to remove the bolt as you said with a deep socket.

Fab day bought 4 bacon & egg rolls, 2 cups of tea and a portion of chips, totalling over 20quid!! bumped into a multitude of people and had a great day.

Could you not leave the pedestal and rocker shaft in place, just remove the bolt and then use that as a guide for the drilling? We did it to a friends 90 while on holiday in France a few years back. Just go at it with a certain amount of caution, make sure you catch all the swarf, and all will be fine. There is another type of thread repair kit thingy, an alternative to helicoils, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are called These was post not so long ago that mentioned it. Found it! http://www.timesert.com/

Well, I've had my "loose" one on for a few months now, and in the main I am still pleased with it. Given the use that the car gets (98% on road, 1% in the garage on axle stands and 1% in the fun stuff!!) I think I made the right move. As I said before I can reverse round corners without that familiar Freelander drag. Handling doesn't appear to have been compromised. Off road its now even more useless than it was before (or maybe that my driving skills!). I've managed to get it into some nicely rutted areas at a couple of play days, but when stuck it became obvious that the VCU isn't doing anywhere near as much as a normal one would, however this is to be expected. Slippery grass hasn't caused me any problems yet. Unfortunately I didn't get to drive it in the snow, so can't comment... you'll have to wait 'til winter As with most thinks in life, this is a trade-off. And given the use the car gets I think it's been worth it.

It's a bit like a bi-annual pilgrimage for most LR enthusiasts, people come from all over the country/Europe. Although over recent years the event has been watered down some-what. We generally go even though we don't actually need anything . This year we are selling off the last of the "George" bits, and associated tatquality second hand merchandise so will have a stall. Looking forward to catching up with a few people. Dan

D'oh! I just bough one off ebay today... mind you, I think I got a bit of a bargain... £60!

Thats an interesting idea... if that turns out to be the problem I may look at doing something similar. Cheers

Here's a link to the form for those who can't be arsed to navigate there manually --> Clicky linky thingy <--

now that sounds interesting... did you get any knackered bearing noises? I haven't heard mine making any, but sounds cheaper than replacing a gearbox!!