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Took a look this morning... Both cills need replacing Both inner arches need welding up Both rear arches need welding up - big holes when you open the rear doors Chassis had a long hole about 6" by 1/2" Gearbox was very wet Boot floor was surprisingly good, the seam on the left was crusty and there was a little hole about the size of a 5p on the right Otherwise general condition was good, but the front bumper had been pushed in on the offside I walked away - just interested to hear what you would say it was worth? 1997 / 300tdi manual /160k / no mot or tax

Thanks for the replies - I guess a bit of rust is to be expected? I had to do a good bit of welding on the last one. The boot floor wasn't too bad and didn't need a full replacement but did need patching. I also had to remove the ABS pump and weld the inner wing up below it. I'm not fantastic at welding but can do a bit to get by. Do they exist with no rust?

I'll hopefully be going to see a discovery tomorrow, I'm not completely new to them as I had a 1995 300 tdi Auto a few years ago. This one is a 1997 300 tdi Manual. Obviously I'll be checking the boot floor and the cills, along with the general condition of the chassis/body but is there anything else in particular which I should be checking?

Again based on Eberspacher experience, the low voltage won't cause a flame out it would just shut down. Out of interest how easy was it to fit the Rover 75 unit? I nearly bought one of these a while ago but it was just the unit itself - is much else needed?

Not sure if it's the same as the eberspacher, but on the eberspacher it doesn't cut out when it overheats but it backs off to almost nothing then cycles between full power and almost nothing. Mine did that when the aux pump failed. On the eberspacher the flame out is nearly always either glow plug needing replacing (most common) or the gauze is clogged up. Both easy fixes.

The original 2a engine had exactly the same starter setup with the solenoid mounted on the starter motor. It was a 1970 engine and all tallied up age wise etc. I've only ever seen the remote solenoids on the petrol engines. We swapped the bulkhead at the same time though so it's exactly as it was in the series 3. Got the lovely job of swapping the bulkhead back to the 2a in the future! It's all patched up now just needs painting along with the bonnet - been putting it off partly due to the amount of work and partly due to the fact I don't have any doors for the 2a and don't know if the S3 doors will fit with the wrong hinges.

Unfortunately I don't like Honey, so don't know what it smells like. I do have a dog called Honey, but it didn't smell like her either

I'm not sure if Les means I should buy a new one or just go with a 5 year old one? His messages seem a little cryptic - if only he could be clearer

My worry is that the starter motor may actually be fine and it may be something else

Am just waiting for a replacement. The only problem is the 'known good' part! I've got an offer of one which has been sat on an engine for the past 5 years without being started. I've also got a possible offer of one which was working well - it's on a series which is about to be broken, but would have to wait a few weeks for this one. I expected to see an obvious fault with it- - but at the end of the day there may be nothing wrong with it, it might be something else wrong

No funny smells etc, just a bit of dust in the end cap.

Pictures attached:

It only does the free spinning bit when you try and short it, if you turn with the key it either tries to turn the engine very slowly, or it it just clicks and you have to release and turn again. Probably about 60% tries to turn / 40% just clicks

Right, I tried further testing - left the best battery on charge for days - at thi spoint it's good enough to turn the engine over very slowly. Hooked up jump leads and used my inlaws discovery - no difference it just doesn't want to turn over, you get maybe 3 turns before it gives up. He tried all the same sort of things as me including the screwdriver to short the starter motor, and a jump lead direct to the starter. He did however comment on the fact that when the starter didn't engage properly and the motor just spun freely that it didn't sound good. He came to the same conclusion that it was probably the starter motor, as I've never touched it on the series (which I've had for about 6 years) I decided to pull it off. So it eventually came off after a bit of a struggle due to lack of space. But... It all looks good to me, I've pulled it apart and everything looks in great condition, bushes all look good etc. So are there any particular bits to look at? Any bench tests? Oh - forgot to mention before that we fitted a series 3 5MB engine to this 2a so it's got a 1980's engine and the starter that it came with - no idea if it has ever been replaced.

To be honest from previous experience I think when it does start it will continue to start afterwards. Problem with bump starting is that my drive slopes down with a flat bit at the bottom. The Land Rover is at the bottom on the flat bit facing up. I'm currently wanting to start it so I can drive forward, then turn it around and drive back down and drive into the garage. May have to tow it up the drive then bump it down? Although it's not a huge drive so may hit the house before it starts!

Damn I had a spare starter motor in the garage and sold it a year or so ago as it had just sat there for so long! So what would the recommendation be? Can they be serviced? Or replace with 2nd hand or replace with new?

It's a diesel - I know Easy start is bad but it's a last resort! Just had another quick play in the dark. I connected jump leads across to just the wires so no battery on my landrover. I then connected a jump lead from the negative jump lead to the starter motor earth wire. I also connected the positive jump lead to another jump lead which I connected to a long screwdriver which I used to short the starter motor. Half the time it just spins the starter motor which happily spins away. If I catch it right it tries to start the engine and will turn over perhaps two or three times then just can't turn any more - the screwdriver then just glows red and melts. The revs barely change if at all on the car supplying the jump. It has done this in the past and the car was unable to jump it then but at the time I had a Discovery as well and that would tend to give enough juice to jump it, but if it's not even affecting the revs of the car supplying then I wouldn't have thought it would be that would it? I gave easy start a try with the screwdriver starting the car, but it just wasn't turning fast enough to start even on easy start

I've tried the negative jump lead in a variety of places to get the best connection with no difference. Will try the positive too - gone dark though now Have got a slight issue with the starter motor (or ignition switch) which has been like that for a year or so. When I turn the key from the orange light to actually starting some times it just clicks, I then have to turn back and then forward again and it usually starts to turn then. Not sure if that is related?

Won't start with just jump leads connected and no battery in place. I'll give the screwdriver trick ago although last time I did it that way I lost most of the hairs on my arm when the big sparks ignited the easy start!

To answer a bit of my own post. The batteries weigh approx 130kgs in total, the local scrappy is giving 40p per kilo so about £52 - does that sound about right?

I've not had time to do anything at my Land Rover (series 2a) - don't think I've started it since early this year. Anyway I've tried a couple of times but can't get it to start. The main part of the problem is the Battery. I've got 3 of the big 620 type 96amp /700amp cranking batteries, but I think they've all had their day now. One of the batteries charges normally - takes a good while to charge and the charger reports all OK and fully charged - but then this battery seems to die as soon as I turn the key and then that's it all empty! Another battery just seems completley dead and the other one appears to be OK and tries a few times to start the engine but fails then gets too weak to continue. When I've tried I've hooked our diesel car up to give an extra boost as well as using the batteries fully charged but still can't get it to start. I've turned it over by hand a little which is very tough to do just to make sure nothing was seized. I've tried a bit of easy start but am doing this on my own so have to spray it in the intake then run round and turn the key. Is it as simple as I just need a new battery and all will be well? am I just not getting enough current over the jump leads? (very heavy duty jump leads for starting lorries) As a final note anyone know how much scrap batteries are fetching at the scrapyards now? I'd heard you could get quite a bit for them. I've got 3 of these big ones and 2 little ones, may help to go towards a new one! Or does anyone know how to revive them a little, the water in them is all about 2/3rds none are empty. Or any tests etc?? Thanks!

I used this a while back when purchasing something - it was the service offered by the other party. It was a bit of a pain to be honest, it was a corner shop. When I went in the gentleman in the shop couldn't speak English, after a bit of waving arms etc I got the gist that I'd have to wait for someone else, 10 mins later another lad came in who could speak English but didn't know anything about the Parcel service. He was however able to speak to me and the original gentleman. I then found out I'd have to wait another 10 mins or so. Eventually someone else turned up and was able to get my package. I'd avoid if at all possible in the future!

Still thinking of doing this (the thoughts crop back up every year!) Has anyone else managed to get one running yet? I had to do a little more repair work on the one in the galaxy so know a little more about it now. My unit was firing up but was getting up to about 350*C then cooling down to 60*C then heating up etc, it was just stuck in this cycle and not doing much heating. It turned out that the coolant pump had failed, there is the main waterpump on the engine then there is an electrical pump as well which is there to stop any hot spots when the engine is switched off and to pump the coolant round from the aux heater. Repairing this motor fixed it and it now runs properly. So I can confirm it does have it's own pump! Well sort of. They don't appear to have an ECU the control board is all built in. It need three conditions met to startup: Engine Running Outside Temp below 10*C Coolant Temp below 85*C The Engine running is checked by using the battery warning light wire from the alternator (D+) it gives the same voltage as the main wire when running but 0v when not running. The outside temp sensor can just be replaced with a switch so you can run it whenever you want. Coolant temp is built into the unit so no worries with that one. Other than that it needs 12v, it needs ground. It has an output which supplies power to the dosing/metering pump when it's required. The only other connection is a diagnostics K-Line which I'm told if you connect up to an OBDII socket with live and gnd, then you can carry on using the VW Diagnostics software (free) to clear faults etc. So all sounds doable - just trying to find a cheap secondhand unit to test

From the specifications it should be 16" for the wheel, plus 75% of 265mm = 198.75mm (7.82 inches) then add this again for the other side and you get: 31.64" As an average, but it doesn't work so well with off road tyres as you can then have really deep treads which add to it - or some manufactures take this into account and make the sidewall a bit less to compensate.

I tried what you suggested and took both breathers off, one on each rocker cover, the one on the right is just a small pipe which goes into the top cover bit of the plenum. I covered each inlet hole, and put each pipe into a 2 litre pop bottle. I then started the engine which ran perfectly fine, then I revved the engine using the cable under the bonnet, the car smoked at the usual time and there was nothing in the bottles except warm air, not a hint of oil. I left it running a while and still no oil at all, it just turned the left over pop at the bottom into steam. Someone also said to take the filter off and put my hand over the air intake to see if it stalls, it did stall straight away so I presume there are no leaks further down.