v8bertha

Oh crumbs... I hadn't thought of the whole liability issue, i.e. if the tyre is too badly damaged then Mr Insurance may take a dim view in the event of any claim. But in the case of a slow puncture? As well as plant machinery, I run tubeless on my mountain bike and have some goo in them that seals really well. But I guess the loadings, tyre construction etc etc are completely different. If there is permanent repair stuff, I'd be interested to hear about it. Thanks for your input chaps

Chaps... a question for those with rubbery knowledge! I was having a conversation with a mate of mine t'other day and he mentioned that he'd had a slow puncture and had put that Tyre-Weld stuff in to cure the problem. A year later he's still running round on that same tyre and has had no problems with the tyre since. I was under the impression that this stuff was a "get you home" fix and that it shouldn't be used as a permanent solution... But I don't know why I thought that! Does the goo cause any lasting damage to the tyre that means it should be replaced ASAP or is using this stuff as a permanent fix a viable option? Cheers Dan

Hi Gav, welcome to LR4x4! There are lots of posts relating to insurance on here, mainly in the international forum. They will provide you with a whole bunch of company names. NFU are good, but unless they have changed their policy recently I think they have a minimum age limit well over 17... which will be a bit of a bugger for you! Get yourself a nice old series... Series 3 being the most "refined" . Earlier models will benefit from being tax exempt too which brings the annual running costs down a tad. But be prepared for some slow motoring... and getting cold, especially during the winter months. Personally I think everyone should be made to drive an old series on the road for a part of their lives, it gives you a much better understanding and a greater respect for older, slower and larger vehicles. Good luck! Dan

As Mr Bean says, have you made yourself and your feelings known to the relevant people in the Freelander club? If not then how would they know to approach you for help? Go on... be a devil... volunteer your services to them, dare ya! If you do I may even join up so I can see what its like for myself.

Having been involved in clubs for many years one of the hardest things I've found is to get people to help out. Most members only join clubs for one reason... that reason will vary from person to person, but rarely are people interested in joining in and helping out. So when somebody does volunteer you generally take them up on their kind offer with a hearty pat on the back and a hope that they are actually able to do what they have volunteered to do. In the case of a newsletter editor the major difficulty is getting stuff from the members to include in the mag... if they don't send stuff in then you have to make stuff up which is when you get uninteresting stuff included. The AGM is generally a very important time in any clubs calendar, its when the members get to have a proper say in what goes on. Whilst I agree that 5 pages probably is a bit much, the minutes of the meeting still need to be published. I'm not a member of the freelander club (being involved in 2 clubs is more than enough for me) and I haven't seen the mag, but I think you are being a bit harsh. I agree with you about the sections that should be included, but rather than slag it off, why not offer to help out and make it more interesting for all the other members? Dan

This is something I've considered doing on the Camel Freelander now that the cold weather is settling in. It has a webasto unit fixed to the bulkhead, but it doesn't seem to do anything! What sort of battery-juice-ampy-current things would be drained by having an auxiliary water pump to circulate the water and then have the cabin heater come on for half hour to defrost the windows?

Congratulations on your purchase!! I'm still running the stock Camel setup on my 110... it uses HD rear 90 springs in the front and the 130 setup on the back with the little helper springs. A friend of mine replaced his springs with genuine ones and although slightly more expensive, you know what you are getting! I've been running Old Man Emu shocks in the Camel for the best part of 5 years now and can't fault them. Having been suitably abused on some pretty horrible roads they are still good and firm. By comparison I drove a friends Camel that used Pro-comp shocks and the truck felt all spongey and squidgey. Bushes wise... use genuine if you are fitting rubber. Again they are more expensive but at least you'll only have to do them every few years instead of months. If you don't have a press to hand then Polybushes could be a worth-while investment. After getting the old bushes out, just lube up the Poly's with a bit of oil and squidge them in. Despite their slogan, Britpart are not well known for supplying quality parts. Have a search around the forum for Britpart related propaganda. could save you some dosh in the long run. Looking forward to hearing more about your 110 Dan

From Chassis number JA020995 onwards, you need ESR1579

If it's diesel it will be the TD4. Do the old reverse-round-a-corner trick to see how siezed the viscous feels. Mind you, if you are not used to it it will feel seized anyway! Check the tyres for scrubbing and uneven wear. A siezed viscous can be sorted for around £300... have a search around this forum for the multitude of threads relating to this. However, if its left it can cause a hell of a lot more damage. £5k is within the ballpark for a 53plate TD4. Dan

PRC3359

In which case the 200tdi snorkel connected to a longer bit of pipe should solve the problem!? James/Giacomo, I think a little bit of ingenuity may be called for here as you are attempting to fit standard components to a non-standard setup.

I've no actual experience of the problems you are experiencing... But IIRC the 200 tdi Safari Snorket fits on the left hand side of the vehicle, whereas the 300tdi one fits on the right hand side. As the TGV is loosely based on a 300tdi, maybe the 300tdi snorkel would be better suited? Of course this assumes that you have used the 300tdi style air box rather than the original 200tdi.

The code for the locking whhel nut is normally stamped in the end of the "key", and sometimes in the locking wheelnut aswell. IIRC most tyreshops have special tools for removing locking wheel nuts, may be worth popping in and bribing the YTS monkey with a five pound note!

Hi Ken Have a gander round the site and search for Britpart related topics. You will find that their gear is not held in high regard. It may involve a bigger initial outlay, but genuine spec goods or even proper branded LR goods will almost definately save you money, time and aggravation in the long run. Dan

Yup, loved it! When I went they were only showing off the fancy new automated bits of production line for the D3 and new RR. But Gwil Berry who lead the tour could see that I was itching to get down to the Defender production line, so he took us down there. Much more low tech with hammers all over the place!! It was nice to see where my 110 was born! D

Thats groovy! (oh eck, what does this say about my taste!! ) But a tad expensive!

I must admit I nearly fell off the sofa when they said they hadn't opened the tents before!! And the fact they were relying on their GPS was oh-so-scary! Led me to wonder how much driving experience they actually had, not that driving a dirt road is difficult but there are factors you have to be aware of. Rolling the vehicle so early on just proved the point IMO. I hate to be critical of this sort of thing because I think everyone should be encouraged to make at least one big trip in their lives, but I don't think they did themselves any favours. They seemed to me to be well equipped but inexperienced and unprepared. Lights on the bull bar or on the roof... really doesn't make a whole heap of difference. If they were on either would have made a massive difference to his ability to see into the night! I'd be inclined to agree, especially if he was going too fast. Assuming the speed was that great, I don't think the roof tent would have made much difference, they were going to roll anyway. Obviously the tent will raise the centre of gravity, but had the speed been more suited to the conditions and given that the Land Cruiser is quite "squat" compared to a 110 for example I can't see that it would have been a major contributing factor. I somehow doubt they would have escaped so unscathed. One of the reasons we insisted on having a vehicle with a cage when we started preparing for our trip all them years ago. BTW, do old Land Cruisers really fetch that sort of money?

You are indeed sick... just like the rest of us!

I've happily run mine without a fan before... just don't make it work too hard and make sure your rad isn't clogged full of brown stuff!

Done... and I'd guess this is the story that started the vote: 4x4 Drivers being persecuted It'll be interesting to see if anything comes from this publicity.

We shipped our 110 over to Baltimore from Felixstowe back in 2007. We used a company based in Hull called Kingstown Shipping, spoke to a chap called Steve. They specialise in shipping cars primarily from the USA to Blighty, but had no problems doing it the other way for us. At the time they didn't have an agent in Baltimore so I had to make my own arrangements with a company there called Dartrans who were pretty good. They did have an agent in New York, but their advice was not to ship there as customs are a bunch of jobsworths!! I'm lucky enough to live in Southampton so was able to pop into the offices of quite a few shipping companies, all of which were more than happy to provide a quote. However all the quotes were for shipping from either Liverpool or Felixstowe... which considering Southampton has a massive container port which is right on my door step was a bit of a poo, but hey ho! RO-RO is definately cheaper, but we shipped in a container for security reasons. The car contained all our gear which we didn't want going missing. I'm not sure how much of a problem theft is on RO-RO services these days, but as this was our holiday of a lifetime we weren't prepared to risk it. Remember also that if you are shipping in a container you will have to include a complete manifest of all the bits in the car too. Good luck!

I'm inclined to believe its "one-of-those-things"... Jens old 300tdi disco had this problem, if it sniffed water the alt light would illuminate... anything from a faint, homely glow to a full-on blind-a-thon! Our 300tdi camel 110 on the other hand, which uses the same alternator as the disco's gets a regular dunking and has yet to show any problems... and before anyone asks, yes, the bulb is still in the dash! As Fridge says the brush packs are easily removable and fairly cheap to replace. Take yours to your local motor factor (Partco and the like keep a stock) and they should be able to find a match. Its certainly cheaper than buying a new alternator!

101's init?

Not sure on the configuration of a 2005 Freelander... but I think the year change was 2006, so this should apply On early freelanders the outer half of the caliper slides in and out on guide-pins. The pins have a rubber boot to keep crud and moisture out. On both of my early freelanders when I first did the brakes I had to unseize the bottom pin to allow the caliper slide in and out smoothly. Clean up the slide pin/guide thing and dunk it in copper slip before re-assembly and you should be fine. It seems the bottom pins are more susceptible to seizing than the top ones. Kits are availabe for not-a-lotta-cash... http://www.lrseries.com/shop/product/listing/11828/3362/5/STC1910-BRAKE-CALIPER-GUIDE-PIN-KIT.html (used as an example cos their website is easy to navigate!!) I expect the rubbing noise was just the pads rubbing on the lip around the discs. Dan

Check the injector harness. I know TD5's have issues here and they need replacing periodically. However, I don't know if the symptoms you are experiencing are consistant with an injector harness fault. Injector harness linky thing