Ian J

Hi, Thanks for the prompt reply. I was less concerned with turning the voltmeters on and off with the ignition as I have that covered. But I wanted to make sure that I understood what the behaviour of the two meters would be. i.e. Ignition off - both voltmeters off Ignition on / engine not running - each voltmeter displays voltage of its respective battery Ignition on / engine running - both voltmeters display the charging voltage from alternator (that is, both will read the same value) Correct? Ian.

Hi everyone, Apologies for bringing up an old thread, but a Google search brought me here! I am in the process of installing a second battery in my Defender via a simple split charge relay. I had planned to fit dual voltmeters in my MUD dash console, one for each battery. Then it occurred to me that as soon as the engine is running, both voltmeters will show the output from the alternator. Correct? Is there any advantage to having a voltmeter on each battery? Presumably with the ignition on but the engine not running I will be able to see the voltage of each? To complete the picture, my plan was to hook each battery up to its voltmeter via a relay each, triggered with the ignition turning on. Thanks in advance, Ian.

Hi Rob, Thanks very much for the reply - does the fuel solenoid not cut off the fuel completely? I'll certainly check it out as I'm getting to my wit's end! I would have thought that the engine would stop altogether if it was power to the solenoid. Having said that - could it be partially opening/closing and so restricting the fuel flow? Hmmmm.... it's certainly something I've not looked at yet - and that in itself gives me a little bit of hope! Cheers for now, Ian.

A quick update - this hasn't gone away I've replaced the fuel hose from tank to lift pump, and also the return hose. I've taken the top off the fuel tank and had a good look around inside - it's clean as a whistle in there. The loss of power is very random - I drove from Basingstoke down to Southampton and back the other day without a problem. Yesterday I drove to work and back twice - on the second return journey I was just pootling along at 30mph and I lost power. I crawled at 15-20mph into a bus-stop. After 5 minutes I started the engine again and it was perfect. It's so frustrating as 99% of the time the engine has plenty of oomph! I wondered if there's anything on the turbo side of things that could cause these kinds of symptoms? I'm running out of things to look at! Ian.

There are apparently two different threads - so you might find your old sender won't fit in the Disco engine. Steve Parker sells new senders with both thread sizes which can be used if this is the case. I forgot to take the old sender off my engine before it got taken away, so it's on my "to do" list! Ian.

It's more likely that this is "galvanic corrosion" - which occurs when aluminium is placed next to steel, and an electrical current is passed through it (don't forget, the entire vehicle is the earth for your electrical systems). Ian

Cheers TrickyDicky - a couple of things for me to investigate tomorrow! Ian.

Hi everyone, Whilst (I think) I understand how the turbo wastegate operates, I was wondering if it's possible for the wastegate to get stuck open? I'm pretty certain my turbo is performing as it should - plenty of power most of the time - every now and then I'll lose all power. I'm investigating all options - and it did occur to me that it could be turbo-related. By just looking at the turbo, is it possible to ascertain whether the wastegate is open/closed? How can I ensure the mechanism isn't sticking from time to time? Thanks in advance, Ian.

Hi Mark, Now that's interesting (and not in a good way!) I took the top off the tank to check the pick-up pipe the first time it happened - there was no filter on the pipe, it's just an open-ended metal pipe going into the fuel. I hadn't even realised there was meant to be a filter on it! Ian.

Then it's definitely worth a look to make sure that (a) the rigid tube hasn't collapsed and that (b) the hose clips are nice and tight. Out if interest, where would I get little sections of brass pipe in small enough diameter to fit inside the fuel line? Ian.

Hi Peter, It happens even with a full tank. One of the things I plan to do when I've run the tank quite low is take the lid off and have a look inside to see if there's crud in there. Having said that, this problem started right after I fitted the 200tdi - whilst the previous 19J engine was a fuel-hungry, oil-burner, it never exhibited these symptoms. When I did the conversion, I joined the rigid fuel pipe from the tank, to the rigid fuel pipe on the injector pump using flexible fuel line and jubilee clips - I'll check these are nice and tight. As you say, it feels like a fuel problem - it's like it's being partially starved of fuel. But the intermittent nature does make it tricky to diagnose! Ian.

Hi everyone, I know this has been covered before, but I'm rapidly running out of ideas. The background: 1988 Ninety into which I put a 200tdi a couple of months back. The engine starts without smoke, and most of the time runs sweet as anything - bags of power, etc. However, on almost every trip now, at some point it will suddenly lose all power. At this point, it'll tick over quite happily, but simply will not rev properly - in neutral with my foot on the floor the revs start to rise then drop, rise then drop - in gear it simply will not rev at all, and I'm lucky if I can get up to 20mph. If I stop the engine and start it straight away, chances are it'll still misbehave. If I wait 5-10 minutes and then start it, all is well with the world and you'd never know there'd been a problem. Things I've done: Flushed intercooler, replaced lift pump, replaced fuel filter, lubricated and freed the pin under boost diaphragm. The intercooler pipes were brand new when I fitted the engine (aluminium tubes with silicon joints). The fact that it's intermittent, and the engine doesn't display any symptoms when it's running properly means I'm at a loss as to what to look at next. I've tried to be systematic - only changing one thing at a time, and then driving the car until it misbehaves again. Any ideas what to look at next? What could cause the engine to behave like this? Thanks in advance, Ian.

Hi Les - thanks for the very prompt reply! The wing is already off - it was the only way I could see how rotten the footwell was, as from the inside it didn't look too bad.... from the outside things looked rather unpleasant! That's a very nice job there - I reckon I'll stick to my original plan and waxoyl it all prior to reassembly. All the best, Ian.

Hi everyone - I just found this thread and the pictures above are exactly what I'm in the middle of doing at the moment. I've cut out all the rot from the footwell and have a repair panel ready to weld in. Looking at the repaired picture above, that's obviously been welded in place inside the vehicle - my question is, what was done on the other side? I was planning to also weld round the hole from the engine side, as otherwise it's going to be a fabulous moisture trap and will probably rot again in double quick time. Make sense? Thanks in advance, Ian.

Hello. My 1988 Ninety has just failed it's MOT If it had been "nuts and bolts" I'd have been happy to get stuck in and sort it, but it's failed on corrosion to both footwells. I know from doing some searches that these can be replaced/patched up depending on how bad the rot is. Unfortunately my welding skills are just about non-existant, so I'm after recommendations for finding someone local who could come and help me patch them up. I have no problem with doing all the preparation work. I'm just north of Basingstoke on the Hampshire/Berkshire border. Thanks very much in advance, Ian.