C.J.

BM. WHAT would I do without your help and advice? I'll do just that in the morning. At least I'll have wheels for the day then. I'll nip into the LR specialist tomorrow, get it checked out and have the SRS light knocked out while I'm at it. Cheers fellah!

The ABS light came on this afternoon. Switched off and back on again and it stayed off. 2 miles later, I had to apply the brakes and the pedal started juddering accompanied by what sounded like a relay clicking somewhere under the dashboard. Light back on again. It was quite scary as the retardation felt like it was down a good 50%. Limped home with great care with the totally uncomforting realisation that even the handbrake would be of no use in an emergency. Loathed to take it out again now tbh. What now I ask, apart from many £££££££££'s I guess?

...which in turn rots the boot floor. AGHHHHH!!!! I'll see if I can check these two items mentioned above without blowing the diff., or creating terminal turbo failure.

I'll get me coat then.

Just what he says. Saved me a fortune already thank you very much.

Gettin' better by the ninute this. TWO friends now! Let's blame the earthquake ey?

Great. At least I've got a friend now though.

The resevoir is full. The front washers and headlight washers are spraying, but the rear one isn't. Not even a dribble. I can hear the pump merrily whirring away when I press the button, but no water spray is forthcoming. Looked underneath for tell tale signs of water dripping from a split pipe p'raps, but no. Nothing. Any suggestions anyone? Dodgy clock spring p'raps?

All sorted, and mainly due to our friendly helpful 'Boggy' and Les. I followed all your instructions slowly and carefully. Thanks VERY much lads. It's well appreciated. I discovered, after sitting down quietly, inspecting and thinking logically for a change, that the little plastic 'tit' with a spring inside it that seems to press against the back of the steering wheel to release the two halves of the clock spring, wasn't in fact pressing in to do it's job. Hence the grinding /rustling noise. Don't know if the end of it was missing, broken off or just worn away, but I carefully cut a piece of firm foam to glue into the recess in the back of the steering wheel to 'build it up', to enable the 'tit' to do its job....and it worked!! Made my bloody day it has. Just got to get the SRS light knocked off now.

It's creaking/crackling when turning the wheel in either direction tbh. It does sound like the tape., and it's very noisy Considering opening the two halves to see if it's got twisted or something, or is this p'raps NOT a good move considering my track record so far?

Well it is working...well the horn is again, so it must be ok. Trouble is that it sounds like a paper bag is being screwed up evry time I turn the wheel now. Took it back off, checked everything is fitted properly but to no avail. Give me strength.

Hiya Archie. Tdi or petrol? Manual or auto? Same age as mine but with slightly less miles. Just DON'T twirl the steering wheel in your boredom, if you ever have to change the steering box....PLEASE!

I was just going to start a thread about what I considered to be excessive fuel consumption on my '96 300 ES Tdi auto. 22 mpg seems to be the average for me. Mainly stop start all day long around town though. No tell tale signs of black smoke overfuelling though. Guess it's not too bad after all now, after reading this lot. Still horendous though. Thank goodness for Makro.

Following the totally unecessary self inflicted vandalism of the clock spring on my Disco, I managed to get a 2nd hand one from Equicar 4x4 in Wolverhampton. Now I noticed that the two halves have some silver tape to presumably show it's all lined up correctly. The silver outer tape on mine broke, presumably whilst I was 'twirling' , but I notice the outer silver tape on this 2nd hand one is also broken. I've had to re-align the two bits back together again to enable me to get the wiring and 'lug' attached to the clock spring for the air bag through the hole in the steering wheel. Just spent an hour and a half fitting it too. Is their anyway of checking it's not knackerd before I go the expense of having the fault code for the air bag light extinguished? The part has got a 30 day warranty, but will they believe me if I send it back broken...if it is?

Managed to get a 2nd hand one for £50 delivered with a 1 month warranty via an online part search outfit called 1stchoice.co.uk. Well worth a try for those 2nd hand bits you may need. Very efficient system. Been bombarded with emails this morning, with various prices ranging up to a staggering £250. That particular one wanted £100 for the ring and £150 for delivery! This has been a costly mistake for me that will NOT happen again. I'm embarrased to admit what I did tbh, but it'll p'raps teach me a lesson going public.

Nah. Tried all that first. Boggy. You were sadly correct. Stripped it down today, and the tape has snapped. To put it mildly, I'm pretty damned annoyed with myself. Have placed an ad in the classifieds section for a 2nd hand one, and franticly searching through LR specialists. A few on flea bay for other makes and models for about 30 quid. Why is this one so damned expensive?

30....+....ISH? 22 here, and that's driving according to the 'how to get extra mpg out of your car for grannies ' manual. Good job I'm lucky enough to have a bio diesel garage outlet right here on my doorstep @80p per litre. I've checked the speedo/milo courtesy of Tom Tom, as I thought that the 265/75/16 tyres may have been giving me an overly pessemistic reading. Astonished to find that the speedo is absolutely bang on accurate right up to 70 mph.

GULP! Anyone got a 2nd hand one for sale? Anyone breaking a 300...apart from me that is. What is the exact manufacturers description of the required part then? I assume it's the plastic thing that's attached to the back of the wheel? I sometimes even amaze myself JUST how stupid I am. At least the wheel is dead straight now Boggy. Fully expecting the engine to blow now though.

Disconnested the battery to re-align the steering wheel, and predictably the radio has gone off requiring the code to be tapped back in. The'bible' gives me all the guff on how to do it, only mine hasn't got the RR3316 that it twitters on about. The only ID I can find on mine is RDS EON. It doesn't even look like the 3316, but it does look like Rover radio of sorts. It asks me to tap in the code 6504 using the pre-set buttons. Great, only I haven't got a "0" button. Am I just being my usual stupid self, looking for the difficult solution?

If that's the case, I bet you didn't break it through sheer ignamaramousy like me, useless duffer that I am. Fix one item and break another I suspect. Good job i'm not a brain surgeon or you'd end up losing a leg.

Job done....ish. still not straight, but better. Needs to go around another spline I reckon. I'll do it again in the morning. The SRS light is on, and horn isn't workin' since I had the steering box done. No apparent broken wires visible, but me twirling the wheel in my boredom whilst my mate was huffin' and puffin' underneath whilst it was disconnected from the box has obviously done some wiring damage further inside the steering column I suspect, yes?. Bloody numbskull that I am. The car hasn't been 'front ended' by the way. Thanks for your help Boggy. I wouldn't have tackled it without your instructions, and was amazed how easily the wheel came off. I had a lump hammer ready tbh!

It's currently pointing to about '10 o'clock' instead of 9 if you get my drift, and it's really getting on my wick. Can the wheel be removed and re-aligned with no danger of the air bag going off in my face whilst removing it to straighten it up? 1996 300 Cheers.

I like my Disco in the main, apart from this ruddy auto box. Sluggish, damned thirsty and doesn't exactly fill me with confidence off road either. Just how feasible is it to swap the auto to a manual, or would it be a better and more economical option to just change the car?

Nah. Back to cruise liner mode again. Strange their are no oil leaks. Fitting a new box next week, then it'll be time to fix all the other usual faults....no cruise control, no air con, locks that don't unlock, and 2 n/s doors and a tailgate that have to be 'pursauded' to open with brute force. Who said Disco's were fun? My initial 3 grand purchase is now knocking on the door of 4.