rincewind23

Hi all, I've got a 90 with a Disco 3.9 v8 in it, and since this is an engine question I've put it here. The guy who owned it before me decided to replace the radiator but keep the oil cooler bit.. Now I'm looking to fit a Mocal oil cooler. When I removed this cooler, one of the pipes into the timing cover is 'normal', the other has a strange hole/plug end: My question is: Can I just plug the existing holes and use a sandwich plate to take off to the oil cooler? Or do I need to use this special connector as pictured? I've done some research online but the results are inconclusive. I think I have an intermediate serp timing cover, and I've seen reference to this pipe bunging the 'easy way' for the oil, but nothing as to whether I can use a sandwich plate instead. Cheers, Kev.

Hi all, I have just uploaded episode 3 of my Defender upgrade videos at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlR9JeYZhdA If you like it please subscribe to my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS32K2jJ7MRADgT1VwFQ9rA I'm sure I haven't done everything quite right, but I'm hoping people find it interesting. Constructive criticism always welcome

I manage to get three flanges off (the castellated nut on the front one refuses to move despite penetrating oil, heat, and an impact wrench!) cleaned up and bolts replaced. When I drained the transfer box before removing the rear flange there was only about a litre of oil (before I dropped it all over the floor!) so it's a good job I did this - I think it's supposed to be more around the 2 litre mark.. Thanks again for all the replies, I'm certainly learning a lot!

Thanks for letting me know I need a new flange. I'm not feeling flush enough for one of your superflanges yet, but maybe some time in the future if I ever decide to overhaul the diff I'll treat myself I also wasn't planning to replace the seal, but if the flange is shot chances are the seal is also shot already. Is it FRC8220 I need? Looks like the flange is 236632 and shield is FRC8154.

It's a 1988 CSW. I know it's a CSW because you can still see the decals underneath where a previous owner just resprayed over everything.

Scotts, There are indeed only four spines on that flange - that's the one I managed to get off from the rear diff. I don't know how many splines on the front flange yet, It's raining hard and blowing a gale here so I haven't ventured out to try again yet.. Is that unusual, then? I bought this Defender (with a 3.9v8 Disco engine) as-is, and I have already had plenty of surprises from it..

Thanks Mo - I have a ton of other leaky things to get to - sump, sump plug, oil takeoff, power steering, transfer box, bank account... - I wil throw it all back in and hope it holds until I've got to everything else. On a related note, how much rotational play should there be in the flange? My front one has enough play that an impact wrench won't get the big nut off, it just shakes the flange back and forwards

Thanks Western - I already have the correct nuts and bolts (including the slightly longer ones for where the prop connects to the handbrake). I also bought the special tool which made it marginally easier to undo things

Thanks for all the replies - I thought I had read that the bolt head should face the diff casing - obviously it's easier to put them in the other way (no need to remove the flange) so that's what had been done before. a 14mm socket/spanner had been used by a previous owner and had mangled the heads, so replacing them was a no-brainer and I want to put them the right way round. Mo, I checked and there are a couple of scores on the flange - the larger one in the photo I can *just about* feel by running my nail across it if I'm really concentrating to notice it. Should I replace something else to prevent this getting worse, or is it just a bit of grit that needs cleaning out. I nearly forgot - the shield popped off nicely once the rust seal broke. I'm going to respray the flange then press it back together with the bolts in place before reassembling.

Hi all, I'm currently replacing the u-joints on both prop shafts on my Defender. While I've got them off I figured I would clean up the shafts and replace the nuts and bolts attaching them to the transfer box and diffs. As I understand it from reading up on it, the bolts should go in the diff flanges and the nuts on the propshaft side. I *think* from what I've seen that the thin plate stopping me from getting the bolts in (see pic) is a mud shield and I should be able to get this off with a press, but I wanted to check with people who know before I just bend something and need to buy a new one..

Sorry for the delay in replying; we moved house (and I towed a trailer for the first time to transport my kit car so I feel like a grownup!) ' You could remove the takeoff plate & delete the oil cooler, tidy plumbing ' Excuse my ignorance but is this ok to do? Was it not put there in the first place for a reason? Also I'm switching from 14CUX to Megasquirt so I should be able to pull a signal from there for a VDO gauge. Or at the very least check it with the laptop..

Good to know, thanks. I have an issue where the engine is a Disco engine but the gauge is a Defender gauge and it always runs off the end of the dial but the temp is fine. I don't know if I can fit a Disco gauge in the Defender dash. It's on my TODO list (and it's a loong list right now.. whoever had it before me did everything half-arsed..)

Hi, I've got a Discovery 3.9 v8 in my Defender (hence posting here). The guy who had it before me replaced the radiator, but the new radiator doesn't have an oil cooler. It turns out what he's done is cut the oil cooler part out of the original radiator and leave it in line. It looks horrible, rattles around and the hoses are getting in the way of a couple of other things, so I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a good oil cooler? I've been looking around and I'm thinking a long, squat one to fit under the current radiator may be the way to go, but figured people here may know better. Cheers, Kev.

Hi again, I'd like to close this topic out, and thank everyone for their input. I managed to get it to driving with the stupidly high fuel pressure, but it was running really badly. After a decent (10-15 mile) trip I pulled all the plugs again, and two of them were clean. Not wet, not sooty, not sandy, just clean. I guessed that change of fuel pump (to the external one with no filter) and the fact there was no other filter in the fuel line may have blocked the injectors. I swapped them with a couple of injectors from my kit car and it started running properly (at normal pressure)! So whatever the initial issue was, swapping bits around caused a different problem. Needless to say I now have a separate inline fuel filter, and there seems to be a ton of carp in the fuel tank that must have got through before I fitted the inine filter. Looking at the original in-tank fuel pump, it looks like I may have ripped the filter bag around the input of it, which may have let carp into the injectors in the first place. All I can say is, it works now.. Thanks again, all!

I have checked; there are no air leaks to the plenum, the hose is good and tightly connected at the plenum and at the MAF. I checked the vacuum tubes. The FPR tube was a little loose so I swapped it out for one that fits tightly at the FPR end, and is secured with a jubilee clip next to the idle valve. The vacuum advance to the dizzy had splits in the boots at both ends, so i've replaced those with some tight fitting tube. I put the original FPR back on and managed to get it to run for a couple of miles, before it went back to misfiring. I managed to get home before it went totally dead and now it's back to the original 'idles ok but revs poorly' state, even after leaving it overnight to cool down. I pulled the plugs and cleaned them yesterday; they were all very sooty, but 2,3,5,7 and 8 were starting to get sandy brown at the tip from the bit of good run I got. 1,4 and 6 were still fully black. I doubt this will indicate the fault but I just wanted to include all the info I have..