hobson

Is it worth pinning that thread at the top of the Defender forum Ralph? it always seems to become very handy and popular this time of year! and it took me ages to find it in the search because of the title!

If you can find the code for the bearing you should be able to get one from a bearing supplier, i just got one from a local supplier (Southern Bearings) and not only were they good bearings (SKF) but were good price wise too. they even recommended a more suitable bearing for what i needed...

There's a thread in the tech archive by Western on how to adjust the cables for the blower and temperature. i've just flushed the radiator and renewed the coolant, as well as adjusting the cables and i've never had the heater work as well! (once the engines warmed up of course!)

I've just had an issue with the viscous fan spanner, i lost mine but didn't realise until the day i was taking it off, so i ended up using some old thick steel sheet we had on the farm and cut one out with the angle grinder! it took a while to carefully get the opening to the required 32mm and i had to give it a tap to get it on the nut, but it worked well! i don't expect it to last too long but really how often to you use them anyway? and here's a pic i took after making it, basic and not pretty, but did the job!

300tdi, i think it is an air lock, but i'm surprised as i did the refill exactly as described. have to wait until lunchtime to see if i cured it last night as my wife has the car now. will it do any damage if it's an air lock?

OK, this has been niggling me this evening so been out to check and not happy! i flushed my radiator and intercooler whilst doing the waterpump, all's well, but noticed earlier on getting back from shopping that there was a hissing and bubbling coming from the header tank, going on for a while after turning the engine off. i refilled the cooling system via the instructions in the tech archive: Take the cap off the thermnostat, refill the header tank until you can see the coolant in the thermostat, replace cap, then run the engine, and refill a litre. did that, but somethings not right. just been out and checked, took the cap off the radiator and found a fair size air gap at the top, same with the thermostat housing, lots of air. so topped up both openings and put caps on, to find the header tank is now quite above the fill level. so have i just moved the coolant into the header or something? it's been a long day. can anyone please tell me what's wrong?!

One of the main reasons i really like this site is because people leave feedback and results on here, if someone has a problem, wether the forum helps or not, they quite often let us know what the problem was and how it was eventually solved. or, if someone finds a better/more efficient way to do something they'll tell us to make our lives easier! to me, everyone putting a bit of input in, no matter how small, to help someone else, is what it's all about. Funnily enough though, i got a bit lost looking for the bearing place (Southern Bearings) as it's on an industrial estate, i must have looked a bit lost as a guy flagged me down and said "you looking for Southern Bearings? i can always tell by the car!" now does that mean the 110 looks like it needs new bearings?! or is it just a LandRover thing?!

Could you not have them done in pairs? have the worst corroded pair done first then the not-so-bad ones done when money allows? or if they're all bad just do them in pairs anyway... and make sure if you do get them done to cover them in waxoyl before putting them back on!

I heard once that paranoia is only hightened awareness! Last time i was up north, i got flashed and waved at to pull over by two Irish guys coming the opposite way, don't think they were travellers, but they pulled me to warn me the police and VOSA were doing spot checks down the road! i told him it made no difference to me as i'm not dodgy! they were fine about it, and although it was unusual, i didn't feel threatened. but i never did decide if them pulling people to warn them of checks was a good or bad thing....

Having got my waterpump and P gasket now done, i've noticed the fanbelt tensioner bearing is squeeking a bit, so going to replace it using the fantastic writeup by Les. But having just checked with my local bearing supplier to get hold of the bearing, i've been told that the code given for the bearing in the writeup is fine, but there's also another, apparently more suitable bearing, which has a higher tolerance to heat so will last longer. the code for it is: 6203-2RSH-C3 Thought it might be worth adding to the writeup...

Landrovers UK refurb them. we got our 110 from them. great to deal with.

I have a couple of friends who work in close protection and i showed this one of them... first he laughed, then laughed again then said "if thats a SAS vehicle i'm a f*****g monkey" and due to the replies and subsequent removal it's all looking a bit like one of those emails you get starting something like: "I am a Nigerian/Saudi/Congolese banker/prince/millionaire, and i have millions of pounds stuck in a foreign account, if you help me by depositing your cash into an untraceable account i'll give £100,000,00..." I especially love the part about going to Hereford to fire GPMGs and Barret .50 cals! because thats obviousley something they let people do, retired majors or not! one too many episodes of that Ross Kemp program methinks!

Thanks for the quick replies, got some new gaskets on order from Craddocks for tomorrow, but have just been and tried the pulley and there is some wobble, not loads but probably enough to make a gasket leak over time. will have to get a new pump too. Yep, fantastic service from Craddocks, new (bearmach) pump on order too, and not silly money either. might as well do the the lot while it's in bits eh? thats my 'nice relaxed tuesday' out of the window then! Thanks so much for the replies everyone

I noticed a funny 'empty coolant' smell today and having topped up a few times, discovered that it wasn't staying in the engine! so on investigation have found water leaking from the underside of the waterpump, from the gasket area. can anyone advise if it's likely to be just the gasket that needs replacing, or wether it's new pump time? i don't want to order a gasket and then find the pumps knackered. whats the best way to check it's healthy? Other than the belt squeeking a touch when wet, everything else is normal

I had the exact same problem last year, i ended up taking the rubber valve out completely, the theory being any water getting in, will come straight back out again!

I've also heard of brasso being used. But, an old friend of mine works for auto windscreens and told me (ages ago) that screens had a coating on them to reflect the glare or something, apparently you can tell if you hold a sheet of white A4 paper on the inside, then look at it from the outside, if it looks bluey/greeny then it's coated. so if you polish a screen with something abrasive, aren't you just going to polish of any coating? leaving funny looking 'white' spots?

I'm not saying that the above is true or false, but it makes sense, i know that Coca-Cola cleans things REALLY well because of all the chemicals in it (not that i'm saying it's harmful of course!) i know people who use it to clean all sorts of things from golf clubs to car parts. and i know just how good it is as my wife used to work for Barr Drinks before the plant closed and she tells me they used to use coke as a degreaser and cleaner in the industrial machines. and because she's witnessed first hand what goes in it, she now won't touch the stuff, and frowns when i have the very occasional can! Even if state troopers did use it, they'd have to keep it quiet, i can't imagine a huge company like Coca-Cola endorsing their human-consumption product for use cleaning up blood can you? If anyone wants to test it, get a glass of coke and leave an old 1p/2p coin in it overnight, see what happens. But back to the OP, there's a company called Oiltechnics who sell oil cleaning products to the navy etc, try them, but my guess is by now the stuff is either cleaned up or really well soaked in, so the best thing you could do is burn off any remaining and paint over the mess.

Also bear in mind you can get +90% and i think even +100% brightness bulbs. i have the +90's in our 110 and they do make a difference, they're brighter with whiter light, and they don't put the wiring under any strain. i got ours from Autobulbs Direct, ordered from them several times and always good service, even get a free t-shirt for my workshop wardrobe sometimes!

Thanks for the replies so far, i was thinking that i might be able to wire the switch through the centre of the wheel as it already has wiring through the centre for the horn, which isn't used... i like the idea of having it mounted on the existing lever, but i'd rather keep the original wiring and new stuff seperate as it'll make it easier to fault find.

I've been doing something dangerous tonight; thinking. i have two Wipac 55w spots on the A-bar, which i have wired to the battery (via a relay) rather than to the high beam, as i can't see the point in having both on as i get better visibility with just the spots. the problem with this is that i have them wired to a switch on the centre dash panel, meaning i have to reach over to turn them on/off when cars are oncoming, fine when i'm on a field or little used road, but not so great when on a busier road. so i've had an idea: seeing as i have a Mountney type steering wheel, could i use one of the holes to mount an on/off switch for the spots? which would then be easily activated by my thumb. obviousley i don't want it too close to the rim, and it'll probably need some type of warning light to let me know when the spots are on, but i think it's do-able. any input and ideas please?

please forgive my hijack and daft question, but i've been thinking about fitting a leccy fan, so from the inside, does it need to suck or blow?

Mine have a gap like that and were professionally fitted. it makes it easier to jetwash around them, but you do get stones stuck in the gap now and again....

It's all too easy to visit a site and not think about the people who make it all work, and this being independent is far better than the other enthusiast sites. So what would be an acceptable amount weekly/monthly/yearly for everyone to donate?

I've got a load of these as interior lights in the back and front of the 11o, they're self adhesive strips from maplins. the chap there said they use 1 watt of power, so however you use them they're unlikely to have any effect on a decent battery if the vehcle being used every few days. i've had my led's on all day and left them on overnight several times and have never had any issues with battery drainage. HTH

I greased and checked mine a couple of weeks back whilst under it doing the waxoyl touch-up. but a lady who has her horses at the farm had a different and nearly very expensive experience: she came in to farm last week in her disco 2, asked if i knew about cars as she had a worrying vibration through the steering, reluctantly i said i'd check it for safetys sake. drove it up and down the lane and around the yard a few times and there was indeed a very nasty vibration accompanied by a harsh metal-on-metal grating noise. i checked the brakes, had a quick look under it but couldn't see anything obviousley wrong, so based on the vibration told her to get it checked as soon as possible. just as she started the car and moved a few feet there was a loud crack/bang/rattle. i shouted at her to turn it off and looked underneath.... ....to find the UJ had completely disintegrated and had shattered into several bits and was now hanging off, there were clear wear marks where it had been grinding away due to lack of lubrication and wear. i explained (and i think she realised) how lucky she'd been that it hadn't happened on the road at speed, and fortunately for her she's in the RAC who came to the yard the next day and fitted her a new prop. Moral of the story? listen to Mr Anaconda and check your prop!