philak

What the heck is NA and NAS? I'd assumed it was North American spec but it seems like almost every other defender is NA or NAS in the UK so can it be that?

Thanks for the extra info Grant. It's a fascinating subject to get into and interesting that the turbo engines appear so reliable .I'm guessing that devices like waste gates/actuators don't see a lot of servicing in many defenders and would therefore start going wrong , causing other engine problems as you describe. I've always thought of turbos in general as being somewhat fragile, probably stems back to the early F1 turbo days when the Renaults were lucky to finish races.

Grant, its the constant pressure of the system that i was missing . I was picturing the turbo working directly off the exhaust ( a very short route) and thinking the inlet side should be as short as well for maximum efficiency ie to maintain boost generated by the compressor, but i was thinking of it in terms of on/off pulses instead i suppose. Therefore it seemed odd to have this relatively long route through the piping and intercooler. Having seen the pics and all the replies i'm getting it now. Cheers.

Sorry Jim, that was a typo about the exhaust manifold. I meant intake. TD5 power.....thanks for the clarification and thanks to woody for the article. The diagram is just what i wanted and it shows the quite lenghy route the intake air travels.

Quick question and sorry its a bit basic but it's stuck in my head and i can't find an answer anywhere (and don't have an engine to look at right now). I've read the Haynes manual and it's no clearer to me. Exhaust gas drives turbine>spins shaft>spins compressor which then a: forces air from the intercooler into the intake manifold or b: forces air through the intercooler then into the exhaust manifold.(edit...meant intake) Is is a or b? I can find plenty of pics of turbochargers and plenty of intercoolers but no diagrams of how it all plumbs together. If the answer is "a" does the air input to the intercooler come direct from the air filter? If the answer is "b" doesn't all the extra piping and intercooler core create a lot of lag and drop of intake pressure? Cheers

Yes thanks Western, and thanks to everyone for their input. This site is an invaluable source of info. Phil

Thanks Western. That site doesn't show the 6 equating to any engine type either. Looks like it should be an F for a 2.5 Tdi Diesel engine . I'm not misreading it off the VIN plate though as i have a copy of the MOT which says the same. The oil seep is from a hose that , from memory , went into the rocker cover or just underneath it. Though it went into a cannister directly from there but without rechecking i could be mistaken. On the pic of a 19J engine model in the Haynes manual its in the vicinty of what's labelled as the brake vacuum pump .

Have just been looking at a 300TDi engine where the cambelt has been changed. Should i actually be able to see the cambelt or shouldn't it have a cover? The Haynes manual i'm reading clearly shows a timing belt cover so are the timing belt and cam belt not one and the same? Excuse my ignorance. There is some oil seepage (sp) from a hose connecting to something about halfway along the rocker cover on the left . I presume this is the engine breather but i cant find a pic in the manual for that engine type where its labelled. If anyone has a good , clear pic of a 300 TDi engine in situ i would love to see it. I'm sure there are a few of this site but my searches have'nt thrown one up yet. Finally, i have a chassis number and referencing this site http://www.lrfaq.org/FAQ.3.Chassis_Numbers.html everything seems to be right except the 8th character is a 6 , which doesn't equate to anything in that link. Cheers

Thanks for the tip western but i'm definitely looking for a diesel. Thanks for the reply Woody, reassuring to know it's probably not a death rattle if i come across it again. Phil

Still on my search for a Defender 90. Sat in one recently with the engine running , gearbox in neutral and there was quite a noise when depressing the clutch pedal. I asked the dealer if it would be the clutch release bearing but he said it would be the spigot bearing. He also said they all make this noise and that it would go away after driving 50 yards down the road.Given that the truck in question only had 31,000 miles on it none of this seemed right to me. Surely it's the clutch release bearing that would be making this noise and wouldn't it be unusual for it to be worn after 31000 miles? Cheers.

I'm certainly not buying the first i try as i must have looked at 30 already without actually driving any of them! I either see big £ signs or rusted chassis members on everything i look at (although the rust is probably superficial i'm being overly cautious as major rebuilding is not my aim). It's also been donkeys years since i stripped anything down so it wouldn't take much paint /underseal as camoflague to disguise something bad. As a basic rule of thumb im finding anything X reg (2000/2001) "looks" fairly solid underneath but when i look at the weekend trip threads i see plenty of older vehicles doing just fine. As i say though, at this point i don't have the time or facilities to do too much work on a truck , i need something reliable and solid for now so the hunt will continue. I'll spend as much as i can reasonably afford to get the best i can at the moment. Phil BTW i read that there is a members' vehicles section somewhere but i can't find it?

Thanks Mike, i think i was slightly confusing County (as in trim level) with Station Wagon but it's clearer now. I'm looking then at the advantages or otherwise of a Station wagon over a Hardtop then and aside from those you have already given. (I'd be looking at a 90 btw so 3 doors.)

Having completed the insurance search to get an idea of costs, i'm now searching for a Defender. Aside from visibility , what are the pros and cons to getting a hardtop over the County SW. Does it change the tax bracket from the County version , is a hardtop more secure? The windows on the County look as those they may be a bit leaky over time too? I'll probably only be driving with 1 passenger most of the time but wouldn't mind the occasional extra one or two seats. I think i have seen hardtops for sale with rear seats? If it's been covered before i did try a search so please just link to a thread if i didnt find it. Cheers Phil

Thanks for the welcome Dr Goon. I'm in chippenham and there is an NFU branch at Kington Langley, about 5 miles from me. Even though they said they were closing at 1pm today they called me back with the quote at 1:15. My take on "green lane cover " is that the insurer understands the nature of Rupps, Boats and any other variations of old rights of way. From my biking history i know that many insurers don't have a clue what you are talking about when you mention this stuff so i am instantly more comfortable talking to one who says a policy covers green laning. Should the worst ever happen hopefully they wont be stumped if i can't give them a road number like the A4. It may not mean much in practice but i still feel more comfortable dealing with people who sing from the same sheet.

NFU is indeed good.Only had time to call my local office rather than pop in but it's like dealing with a different world , one of 20 or 30 years ago.Personal service springs to mind and the price is good too. I'm down to £195ish now and that will do me if i can find the right Defender.

Thanks again all. I've talked to Sureterm again today and the price has somehow now come down to around £250, the policy specifically inclding green lane cover. Seems like i was either mistakenly given wrong info by the first agent i spoke to there or else they saw me coming ! I'll try the NFU as well though.

Thanks for the replies. In order : All the brokers i have spoken to say they can take into account my driving history and give me some NCD (typically 3 or 4 years) BUT ONLY if i have stopped driving the company car. Don't ask me for the technicalities behind this but they all said it and giving up my job isn't a viable option unfortunately I haven't tried Adrian Flux yet or the NFU ( but although i live in Wiltshire i wouldn't class it as the countryside....does it need to be to get insured by the NFU?). I'll call them both today. As my original posts said i did get a quote from Sureterm on a limited(5000) mileage policy and that was still £506. As for specific off-road insurance several companies offer it (incl the Sureterm quote and Land Rover Insurance) as long as you are NOT competing. From biking off road i know it can be a grey area as to where road insurance stops . For example some greeen lanes would be covered, others not, and whilst i'm not so worried about car damage off road i am concerned about liability to pedestrians etc. Is this being overly careful? YAS, i live in a low risk area and my bike insurance is very cheap. Without comparing like for like though its hard to say why your insurance was only £100 at 19 years old. That's pretty unusual from what i've read here and in my own experience ,unless it was a £1000 car insured for only Third party or something similar? Cheers Phil

As the post says i'm new here and new to Land Rover in general. I'm looking to buy a Defender 90 , purely as a weekend recreational vehicle as i have a company car. Therein lies the problem it seems. Even though i've been driving for 30 years and do roughly 35,000 miles a year for work with no convictions or accidents in the last 6 years, and have 7 years NCD on motorbikes, the last 15 years in cars have all been with company vehicles so i have no NCD to use. Not really a problem i thought as i rang the first of many brokers, how much can they charge a 47 year old for a £9000 vehicle that does 0-60 in 16 seconds and won't go over 85mph? The answer seems to be an awful lot, Land Rover Insurance wanted over a grand , and most companies won't even contemplate specific off road insurance, even though i don't want to compete off road. Sureterm will do it for £500 ish but that's with a strict 5000 mile per year limit. After searching threads on here i saw a mention of Elephant.com and tried them out . Even entering 0 years NCD they still came back with a quote of £290. The online forms make no mention of off roading though so do people here have specific insurance that covers them off road or are most of you paying through the nose? Do people insure for general road use and not worry about off road insurance? I can't believe at my age, with my experience and clean licence, that im going to get stung like an 18 year old trying to insure a hot hatch.Unreal. Phil