Turbocharger

Thank you for the concise description of what goes on underneath, I had always wondered. I know I've got plenty of mass down there - a flywheel, torque converter and a flex plate. Is it really £100 for a flat disc of metal with ten holes in it? I'm incensed, I could make it myself. Hmm.

I'm not sure what my transmission is made up of. I know the flex plate is a V8 part, but as I understand it the Tdi auto doesn't usually have a flywheel as such. I have a solid flywheel, then a spacer machined to bring the t/c closer to the flex plate by about 50mm. The chap who actually did the install suspected that the gap was too large, hence the washers. However, the photos show that the snapped half-moons around each bolt are now standing proud which suggest that the plate wants to be closer to the t/c than the washers allow. Maybe that would give a 2-4mm gap? I'll have to see once I've ordered a new plate. Any idea how much ££ this latest rattle will batter my flexible friend by? Yellow taxi is free and an engine crane will be forthcoming - can I get away with dropping the gearbox back 6" or so and slipping the new plate through the gap? The bottom of the bellhousing is removable which will help access:

No, the flex plate was second hand. Is this a normal way that they fail? I presume the engine has to come out to swap another one in? I can buy new (or rotate it 45degrees and redrill it?) but I can't hook the engine out at the roadside in London so it'll be a yellow-taxi breakdown up to my parent's place.

Well, the diagnosis was sound, see here. I've made a new thread to separate topics. I used a new screwdriver, some Freeze-Release and a blowtorch to unseat the screws. Now I'll be replacing them with hex-heads and not dogging them up quite so tight.

As I mentioned in my other thread, my autobox is making a rattling noise. After using some Freeze-Release (my new best friend and the testis-canus of un-stuck-bolting things) on the stuck screws: I pulled the round plate off the bottom of the gearbox and poked a torch inside. The torque converter is bolted to the flex plate, which bolts through an adaptor to the flywheel. There are four t/c to flex plate allen-head bolts, which have come loose once before within 25 miles of installation. The chap who installed the gearbox stitched a hole in the bottom of the bellhousing to give better access, and put four 10.8 hex head bolts in instead, doused them in Locktite and torqued to f very tight. Today's investigation of these four bolts shows: It seems the flex plate has fatigued around each bolt, which explains why it rattles but still drives. I'm not sure how far it'll go though (I've stopped driving it) but I've got to work out how to a fix it, and b stop it happening again. Is this a common failure, or is there something special on my car like a misalignment issue?

I want to remove the plate to get access to the torque converter - I don't have a half-moon plate because the (V8) box is bolted up to an adapter plate which is bolted to the manual 300Tdi flywheel housing. Internally, the torque converter is bolted to the flywheel so access is rather limited. Consequently, to make access easier there is a 5" lump of the bottom of the bellhousing which is removable courtesy of stitch-drilling and cutting, held in by two bellhousing bolts, two of the three stuck screws and a pile of chemical metal. I hope by pulling this off I'll be able to see what's loose and rattling inside. I've done nearly 1000 miles on the box, the rattle has got worse over the last 200 miles to the point that I'm scared to let it tick over. It gets faster in time with the engine up to 1500rpm then fades out; by 2000 rpm under no load it's almost gone. The car still drives fine. Any thoughts? Could that still be the box oil pump? I don't know a lot about the auto innards.

I have to ask if a set of tyres and some sill bars etc wouldn't be enough for a family offroader. There are people who compete in RTVs etc with less and a Disco is a pretty capable vehicle on its own. It depends on your 'family', I guess

I've seen comp-safari motors taken off trailers without any ramps. For a perfect dismount, leave the brakes off the trailer and towing vehicle too

After a horrific rattling banging screeching sound coming from the bellhousing of the shiney newsecondhand auto box, I'm suddenly in the market for a tool which can undo the three flat-head screws which hold the round blanking plate on the bottom of the bell housing. A screwdriver and screwdriver + spanner can't shift them (it just 'cams' out) and my impact driver now has a spirally flatblade bit. I want to buy some decent bits that aren't made from the metal of the monkey, but all I can find is the market-stall tat like this: Any pointers for tools, or alternative methods to remove three cheese-head screws which are stubbornly held in with chemical metal or similar?

Jim - you're welcome for a blat in my 300Tdi - ZF4HP22 Ninety if it'd help make up your mind. It's not as quick as it was but still plenty to hustle along country roads and motorways.

I've been laning for nearly ten years now, mostly self-taught in a cautious way. I've been out on my own and in groups - sometimes on local stuff which I know well and sometimes being stupid in remote locations. The most important thing is common sense, as everyone above says. Going solo there's no peer pressure to dive in, and there's no face lost in walking ahead or turning back if it looks like you won't get through. Be careful to walk far enough though, I once walked a short, sharp descent and found it would be quite possible downwards, slithered down it and then found half a mile on that I couldn't go forward (deep ruts) or back (too steep to get back up). While not stuck, I was still knackered. God bless the high-lift winching technique. Experience tells you when 'easy' becomes 'hard' - sometimes much earlier than it looks too! If you have confidence in your experience or your common sense, go out alone and play safe.

Vapour? Pah. I've got a working Ninety (ish) and I've been heard to spout plans for a rear-engined space frame carrying the same registration but I've not even started taking the donor apart yet. Surely that's the ultimate vapour build? Excuses include "needing the car for transport", "only being able to work in the street", "getting a welder to get the feel of", "still working out the final design", "working up a presentation so I can apply to companies for sponsorship funding" and "not quite sure where the maglev and warp drive will bolt in". I do already know where all the cupholders will go. It's hard to justify taking the Ninety apart when it does a reasonable job as it is. Really it just needs to be a bit less breakable.

I work in engineering for the biggest bus company in the UK, running workshops in different bits of the country to maintain and repair enough vehicles for full service each morning. The nice parts of my job are playing with cool bits of kit like CRT filters and hybrid buses, and dealing with the shop floor guys who make it all happen. The hardest bits are keeping on top of everthing that comes with being a site manager when I'm in some of the oldest industrial buildings in the UK, and dealing with the shop floor guys who make it all happen!

"I'm Spartacus!"

Pah. If the engine is healthy then it'll start fine - you need a lardy mate or a very slight slope. At Uni when I was too poor to buy a new starter, I'd park facing out of a space in a car park with a slight rise on it - open the door, heave ho and get up a fast walking pace before diving in, knocking it into 2nd and the 300Tdi would burst into life. Can't say I've done it so much since I went auto though...

... "don't round the bolts off"? Not a lot of help, heat can make your life slightly easier but I'm afraid you're in for the long haul there. Don't bother trying to grind them off, trust me - even when you spend forever with the world's tiniest grinder and come out successful with no head on the bolt and grinding dust in your hair, you'll find the caliper won't come out because the bolt stub holds it. Obvious now, not then.

A step-sister for me? Seriously, congrats Dave - if you keep breeding you'll weigh down the West Country and tip the rest of us into the sea!

Back on topic, last week's lock-stop saga ended here: with wheelnuts and sockets strewn across the pavement and rather too much attention from passing locals (who I think were just upset to see me generally)

Garage? Pah.

Vambo, Where in London are you? I'm renting in Kensington and I hate working in the street. I know exactly what you mean about having to hide everything when you run back upstairs, and the paranoia of not keeping anything in the truck in case someone's watching you arrive with a hefty toolbox and go back inside without it. Parked between a 911 GT3 and a Bentley Continenal GT, it certainly makes you sweat when the bumper's at the top of a hi-lift jack as the back door swings open and you hear the spare tyre shift in the back...

On the tyre debate, I've usually considered that to finish first, first you have to finish. Since I can't afford to fill my axles with unobtanium bits, smaller tyres have always been the preferred choice and I've always finished an event. Usually last, but never DNF. Except I just bought some 285/75 MTs. Anyone care to run a book on my CV joints?

He'll harness the the starving hippies to a vehicle then entice them offsite with chips.

What's washing?

If you don't want to cut holes in the bonnet, how about lifting the rear edge (or trimming the down-sweeps) so they don't meet the wings so tightly? Done properly it could be quite neat and should give plenty of area to push the air out.

Matt Neale should be back shortly with his tales of Glastonbury car park mud. Speaking to Lyn yesterday, it seems the organisers had ticked the "4x4" box on the hire sheet and got a load of 110s with road tyres and no winches. Fun fun fun.