hobson

I live and work on a farm so am pretty familiar with red do's and don'ts, basically you can only use red for agricultural use, there is stipulation to use the vehicle on the road but only within a mile and a half of where it's registered to go from one piece of your land to another. Usage of red for clearing snow/cutting grass by use of a public road is also not allowed, a farmer near us got a fine last year for using his topper to cut the school playing field for free, so they don't mess about. And for those with the attitude of 'ah it's ok they only impound/crush the vehicle' VOSA can fine you whatever they think you've used in back revenue, which could be a lot, and once you've been done for it, you can bet your boots they'll be round checking regularly. Also it's not just a case of dipping tanks, along with the red dye (which on it's own is easy to remove) they add a UV marker unique to each refinery, they then have a filter which goes over your exhaust and can tell what is being burnt and how many parts per litre is red, this means dual tanks and regular flush-through's won't work either. Even for me who could have the old 'oh i must have used the wrong jerry can officer' excuse, and probably get away with it, it's just not worth it.

I've seen a Durite VSR which sounds good, cuts in at 13.3v and cuts out at 12.8v, does this mean it will cut out and not overcharge the leisure battery? The car gets used most days so charge shouldn't be too much of an issue, even when camping it'll not be hammered by too much usage, i just need something simple so we can leave stuff on for a few hours and not kill the starter battery!

Can anyone give me a simple guide on how to setup a split charge/vsr system please? I tried this ages ago and it went wrong as the relay burned out, though it was a cheap setup... I basically want to install a leisure battery, which can run fridge/cooling fan/laptop etc but be charged when the vehicle is running, either from the main battery or from the alternator, all the standard vehicle wiring will be left alone as much as possible as i don't want to disturb anything, so i'll be running a couple of new 12v sockets directly from the leisure battery to power extra appliances. Electrics are the work of the devil to me, so please make it simple!

Ahhhh, thats that settled then, 395587 must have been on my old 90. Thanks a lot for straightening that up

If it's not on too tight you can loosen the nut and give it a whack with a lump hammer, that often loosens it. But don't whack the thread without the nut or you'll mushroom the end. If you're not in a rush a puller is the better option.

I'm sure i read about a chap in the states who'd put a Dodge Viper V10 in a defender, which was great, but he was having problems with it eating gearboxes, transfer boxes and engine mounts. Sounds like a fantastic project though! I'd quite like to see a Cummings Diesel V8 in a landy.....

Thank for the reply Ralph, it's a 1995 Defender 110 300Tdi CSW The bit that's puzzled me is that when i took them out i put all the bits in a box, and then stored the box, so they should all be the right bits!? but i'm sure i remember seeing the part: 395587 (diagonal fitting) but in the box i have MRC9361 (truck cab fitting) So the ones i have (MRC9361) do the same job? Perhaps the diagonal ones were fitted to my old 90...

I'm refitting the rear seats on our 110 and could do with some pictures of the seatbelt mountings, i'm sure i've got bits missing but i've checked the parts manual and it seems i may have them. Has anyone got any pictures of the mountings? or does anyone fancy doing me a huge favour and taking a few please?

Sikaflex is great stuff, sticks anything to anything! a chap who we used to know who built motorhomes used to use it a lot. Wear gloves when using it though, it's a nightmare to get off skin, i even tried a belt sander, still didn't get it all off.

I used to have our three in the workshop when they were younger, they had beds in there too! but they're just too big now, they need an acre or so when they play fight or they cause utter devastation! I've had to have words with my wife when she's 'popped in to see what i'm up to' with them as there's usually/swarf/wire/sharp offcuts on the floor. Hope your lad gets better soon, bet he's getting plenty of extra attention! he must be loving it! Here's our three looking all well behaved...

It's a very sad day today, i've been putting off the inevitable for as long as i can, but we're having to sell our beloved 110 300tdi I'm in the process of putting the old girl back to standard fit as we stripped the back to give more room for expedition kit. First on the list after the repaint, is fitting the rear seats back in. I think i've got most of the bits in storage, but was wondering if anyone has a guide to putting them back in? i with think the emotional turmoil it'll be easier with some instructions...

Best upgrade i've had on lighting were the +90% bulbs, i got a pair from Autobulbs Direct for about £25, made a surprising difference, they even have +100% now. Definite upgrade for a fraction of the price of emerging technology, i think LED is great, we're replacing bulbs in the house as they go and most of my torches including the high output one i use for shooting are LED, but for normal people using it in vehicles as a main source of lighting is still a few years away i think, unless that lottery win comes up!

I loved the idea of LED headlights ever since i saw them available in a Landy mag last year, but at £1500 a set, i nearly passed out! That said, i quite like having crappy Land Rover headlights, it's one of the things that gives it character and makes it a Defender! i'm going to be very careful changing all the bits on mine as various technologies improve, before you know it we'll be driving square looking Ford Mavericks with a LR badge! It's like buying a series 1 and moaning about not having soundproofing!

I've always used Anchor Supplies, works out about £60.00 including delivery for a 5l satin, there are other places which advertise cheaper, but usually when you add VAT and delivery there's not much in it, do a search and see if there's anywhere close you could pick it up from, it might save you 10-12 quid on delivery. HTH

Painting in the winter is a nightmare unless you have a heated booth, even thinning the paint it never seems to go on right, really you need to do it somewhere above about 10-15 degrees. Paint is also a sod to dry in the cold, it 'blooms' where it kind of sets but doesn't harden, you'll know it's bloomed as even after a week you can still dig a fingernail into the paint. Satin is easier to work with as it doesn't show up the imperfections as much, i think you can buy matting agent to dull it down but it might be easier to just get another tin. As for rollers, i used the compressed foam ones, don't use the ones that look like wool, they're for emulsion! A spray gun might help, depending on your skill in using it, a good roller job will look a lot better than a bad spray job, but again, it's getting it to dry and harden properly in the temperatures, that's the main problem. Just a thought, but when i paint in the winter, and providing it's a smallish area, i use a red heat lamp we use for the chickens to get it dry, i put it in an old office lamp (the ones with a long adjustable neck) so you can get it into position, you might get away with doing it panel by panel that way,,,

I got one of those posh smart chargers, it's a 16amp Ring one, it puts in just the right amount of charge the battery needs and can charge over a longer period, it also has a 'recondition' setting for when they get really low. I've had pretty good results with it, thought the batteries which have gone really low tend to drain faster, but I use about four different batteries (for chicken fencing, Defender, van and one spare to swap about) so it was well worth the 50 quid i think it cost.

As far as i was aware, taking our 1995 300tdi defender into London costs a rather laughable £100 a day, this comes from me entering the reg number into the Transport For London site earlier this year. Seeing as we never go into London, it's never been an issue, but we want to go and look at a car for sale in NW9, which is outside the congestion charge but inside the LEZ, so after entering my reg number into the TFL site today, it says i don't need to do anything! Can anyone make sense of this?!

I rebuilt my workshop last year but the surface is already a bit of a mess, so i need to re-cover it. I saw on a tv program somewhere that you could buy a thin, hard melamine cover to sit on the top of the workbench which could be replaced as needed, but i can't find any. my ideas were: Stainless would be lovely, but expensive. Hardboard, cheap but not very durable Plywood, see above anyone got any other ideas?

Really, your tyres would have to be pretty loud for you to get a pull for it, and i can't see many policemen checking if your tyres have the relevant markings on them, as long as they have good tread. I would think this is only going to be a problem either at MOT, or maybe several years down the line when the current 'too noisy' tyres have all been sold. Anyway, if you currently have a new pair of old pattern MT's or krawlers, who's to say how long they'll last?

For the last few weeks our 110 300Tdi has been eating diesel, granted most of our driving is short runs, but it's using a lot more than it should. The only problem i'm aware of is the exhaust blowing from between the mid-box and tailpipe (it's on my to-do list) but i didn't think that would make it eat fuel at the rate it is. I've not seen or smelled any diesel leaks either. Has anyone got any suggestions of things to check? or does it just need a good tune-up?

I think it was an Allmakes one, it certainly didn't come in a blue box! So the hole is like a pressure release? it was flowing onto the fanbelt and getting spun around the engine bay, it made it a pain to see where the leak was coming from.... I'll be getting a proper LR one tomorrow...

Can anyone tell me why there is a hole in my water pump?! it wasn't there when i fitted it last year! and it's now letting water leak out! After two P gaskets, water pump gaskets, core plug, thermostat gasket and even new rad/thermostat plug, it's this hole where the lek is coming from! Is it supposed to be there? and if not what on earth has happened? it doesn't look like it was threaded....

I've also taken off the thermostat housing, the gasket on that didn't look too good, there was water on the surfaces of the gasket itelf, so wether that was transfer or it was the gasket leaking i'm not sure, but i've just got all the bits needed so fingers crossed it'll be up and running soon... Thanks again Les

Thanks Les, so you definitely think it's the core plug? is there anywhere else you think it could be leaking from?

After some internet trawling i found that it could possibly be the core plug (no doubt it'll be the one behind the water pump!) as i found a post by someone who had the same symptoms as me and it was a pin size hole. So while i'm doing one, is it best to do them all? and how many are there? Thats assuming it IS the core plugs?!