Tanuki

The big RR diesels are used for generators in locations where the 'local' power just can't be trusted. Oil-changes are arranged by taking a sample of the oil every week and sending it to the testing-lab; within a couple of days they analyse it and tell us what the level of metallic contamination/reserves of the various protecting-agents in the oil are. They keep a history and can forward-project the time to the optimum change date. Changing the oil on-the-fly involves a set of new oil-filters, two tanks, and a pair of 2-way valves. When the engine-tech pulls the levers basically the engine's scavenge oil-pump pumps the old oil out of the engine - when the oil-pressure has dropped to zero for a few seconds he hits the valves that connect the pump intake to the 'fresh' oil-tank and does the same with the valves that switch the old and new oil-filters. For a short period the old and new oil filters are running in series - then when we have full pressure with the 'new' oil we bypass the old oil-filter and switch to the new one. Then they take out the old oil-filters and fit new ones in readiness for the next changeover. The old oil filters are sent away to the labs and analysed for any bits of 'shrapnel' that could hint at a future bearing/piston-ring failure. --Tanuki. Is it reality? or is it Prozac?

Look at pretty much any vehicle with an electric fan as standard: the sensor is in the outlet-side of the radiator. Same goes for the big half-Megawatt Rolls-Royce turbodiesels I work with professionally. Forget how hot the water is when it comes out of the heads - provided the radiator's cooling it adequately [to maintain a bulk-coolant/overall block-temperature around 90-95 Centigrade] you're doing just fine. Same goes for oil temperature: on the big diesels we look for an oil temp between 95 and 150 Centigrade. A hot engine is an efficient and long-lived engine. I'm talking here of engines which run for months at 85% of their rated-horsepower. And we even do on-the-fly oil-changes on them at this load without shutting them down . . Must admit though, when we crash-start them from cold and hit them with 70% load within 5 seconds I get a little bit nervous. Never had one fail - if it does we get a free replacement - that's the sort of product-confidence I like. --Tanuki. " The last Tormentor General was one Thomas Bainbridge, appointed to the post by Oliver Cromwell in 1642. With his creative punishments he played a major part in the Massacre of Drogheda in 1649 but on the restoration of the Monarchy in 1661 Bainbridge was arrested, found guilty of high treason, and executed by being lowered head-first into a barrel of toads".

The MOT electrical test of towing-sockets only applies to the Euro-type 13-pin variety. Your traditional 7-pin version only has to be present, and secure. --Tanuki.

As well as the cat, consider a partially-collapsed silencer box: I've dealt with a couple of cars (of the '10 years old low mileage one careful owner' variety) where lots of short journeys had filled the silencer-box with water and the baffles had rusted/shifted internally to the point where virtually no exhaust-gases could get out ! --Tanuki

Are you using the ex-Disco ECU with the ex-Disco engine, or are you trying to use the original Defender ECU with the Disco engine? On a TD5 the injectors need to be coded to the individual ECU for it to run properly. --Tanuki.

If there's any hint of water in the diesel on a TD5 you need to drop the tank and give it a *proper* clean-out. I mean dropped, drained, then rinsed-out with something like Acetone or 99% Ethanol that absorbs water, then dried off with an airline and rinsed out again with fresh, uncontaminated Diesel. Same goes for the entire fuel-system: in-tank lift-pump, fuel-filter [in the rear wheel-arch on a 90], pressure-regulator on the side of the block, fuel-rail, fuel-cooler... A set of TD5 injectors are truly horribly expensive and water-contaminated-diesel _will_ trash them. Don't bother swapping ECUs until you are 101%-sure the entire fuel system is clean. If you do swap ECUs you will need to re-code the individual injectors to the ECU - which is a lot of hassle! --Tanuki. Dingo, Otter, or Weasel - which Beast is Best?

0800-887-766 (my AA roadside assistance). or 145.150MHz - the input frequency of the local 2-metre amateur-radio repeater. --Tanuki. Microsoft Windows Confectionery Manager has detected a new Chocolate Cheesecake. Do you wish to eat it now [Yes][No]

If you've got a few hours, dab some "Nitromors" oil-based paint-stripper on the gasket-remains. This will soften the bonding-agent that's holding bits of gasket to the head/block surface. Then scrape off with a *soft* scraper (hard nylon or aluminium, *not* steel - you do not want to scratch the mating faces!) blow out with an airline any oil/particulate matter from the area where the head-bolts go into the block, and swab down with Isopropyl Alcohol or Acetone to remove all traces of residual oil/grot before reassembly. A clinically-clean set of head- and block-faces is essential before reassembly: likewise you do not want anything down the head-bolt-holes that could affect the bolt torque. --Tanuki. "It's like having a whole saturday-night-town-centre-after-the-clubs-have-closed experience going on inside my skull. Except without the vomiting, the kebabs or the sex-pest minicab-drivers".

The DMF is a way for manufacturers to get driver-acceptable levels of NVH [Noise, Vibration, Harshness] in a vehicle which has rather few large-capacity cylinders and which produces lots of torque/BHP. The alternative to a DMF is to use a big, heavy, traditional flywheel - but that makes the vehicle heavier, and makes the engine feel much more lethargic because the engine's got to accelerate this dirty great lump of metal (it also makes manual gearshifts slower because you have to wait for the heavy flywheel to slow down!). Treated properly, I don't see why a DMF should fail. #1 cause is driving like a taxi-man: expecting the engine to 'lug' hard at low RPM: the DMF is then working its friction-pads off trying to keep everything smooth. In my truck-driving days I was taught to only seriously load the engine when it was in the rev-range between peak torque and peak BHP, and never to use full throttle until you were at least 3/4 of the way up the curve to peak-torque. Build the power up slowly until the engine's happy - only then can you turn up the heat. Drive around town at 35MPH in 5th on a typical Land-Rover product and you'll trash the DMF; the big-end and main-bearings won't be happy either. A free-revving engine loaded lightly is a long-lasting engine (and transmission). --Tanuki. "The human body hits terminal velocity after about 5 stories of falling. So jumping off anything more than that is really overkill."

I generally prefer chains to ropes: it's easier to shackle-up a tow with no slack when using a chain. A good 1.5cm steel hawser with ferrules on the end is also always in my kit - great for hauling tree trunks out to somewhere you can dismember them. Thick is better than thin - there's less stretch in it. Stretch is dangerous if it gives-way! --Tanuki.

Fresh-ftom-the-bladder urine is a great way to provide local defrosting-heat. Us males are even provided with a convenient tool with which to direct the warming stream... --Tanuki. "My Hovercraft is Full of Eels".

IMHO if you have a seized caliper, remove it and either do a full recondition [replacing all pistons, honing the caliper-bores and replacing both the inner fluid-seal and outer lip-seal] or exchange/replace it. The various ways to shove the corroded pistons back into the caliper-bores *might* work - temporarily. But they're 100% guaranteed to bugger-up the seals and it's only likely to seize again - or worse - fluid-leak-fail in the near future. Sod's Law is that it fails when you make an emergency-stop: nothing good can be written about that "my brake-foot is hard on the floor and we're not slowing" moment. New/Exchange calipers are cheap. They're quick/easy to fit. And a hell of a lot easier than explaining to your insurers just why your brakes failed. --Tanuki. "If you can't catch it you can't eat it"

I used to run a Lightweight that had been fitted with a 5-bearing 2.5, 3.54 diffs and an overdrive: it could happily be cruised at 75MPH all day with about 2200RPM showing on the revcounter. Would do 70MPH in direct-3rd, which was good enough to frighten a few of the Escort XR3i brigade on long uphills. Same goes for the 2.0 MPi petrol Discovery I had a while back: it was significantly faster than the TDi Disco s the rest of the team chose. You just need to adapt your driving-style. A petrol engine generally has a broader and overall less-peaky torque/power delivery than a similar-capacity turbodiesel. I'd rather have 100BHP available between 2000 and 5500RPM than 150BHP between 1500 and 4000RPM with an 'aggressive' rev-limiter calling an abrupt halt to fun at higher RPM. Have you thought of a 2.5 Petrol with the comp. ratio pushed to about 9.5:1 and a decent multi-point injection system ? (Megasquirt/Megajolt) ?? That could work out rather well. --Tanuki.

It's not perhaps an old and redundant "venturi" from a cheap LPG conversion kit is it? Your mention of an oil-hose connected to it worries me - if the 'aluminium ring' *is* a venturi then you don't want the breather hose connected to it!

What's the ambient temperature? The glowplug cycling of a TD5 is controlled by the ECU and unless the ambient temp is really low the glowplugs won't be energized. [Note: the operation of the glowplugs is *not* necessarily indicated by the lighting of the 'glowplug' light on the dash! In really cold conditions the glowplugs may continue to be heated *after* the engine has started as part of an emissions-reduction scheme] Are there any other symptoms associated with your non-starting? Fuel-pump noise perhaps? --Tanuki.

In really bad weather, in addition to the usual stuff I always carry: [1] Fully fuelled-and-chainoil-filled chainsaw [because my only 'could not get through' event in the last five years was due to a fallen tree] [2] Two-way VHF radio on the local farmwatch channel [mobile-phone coverage round here is hopeless] [3] 'Optimus' petrol-stove, matches, a jerrycan of water, a kettle, and plenty of Not-Poodles/coffee/sugar/tea/chocolate. [4] Ordnance Survey maps of the area. --Tanuki. "Buying 'Carbon Offsets' is the 21st-century equivalent of buying Papal Indulgences - a salve to the consciences of the deluded for having committed a fictitious sin dreamed up - rather conveniently - by the indulgence-peddlers themselves. A 'Sin of Emission', one could say..."

Interesting comments & observations... I don't honestly want to change from 750-16 to radials, because all my 'heavy fleet' uses 750-16 and this standardisation means I can freely interchange LR wheels with trailer-wheels. Having had spare-wheels stolen from trailers in the past, these days I don't allow a spare on any of the trailers but use the one off the LR if needed. Switching to radials on the LR would just complicate issues. [what are the legal implications of running radials on one axle of a twin-axle trailer and crossplies on the other? Or a single-axle trailer with one radial and one crossply? Is it influenced by what the towcar is running? And how do modern euroboxes get away with the "Space-saver" spares?] My acquaintances in South Africa seem to like the General SAGs - at one time they were OEM fit on Defenders over there. And as to noisiness - well, I'm quite used to the pleasant whine of Avon Rangemasters and Goodyear G90s; there are occasions when a good dose of tyre-noise is rather useful to tell you what's underfoot. A couple of SAGs are arriving at the weekend. Will report back in due course. If they're useless they can always go on the trailer. --Tanuki. "It's like having a whole saturday-night-Manchester-town-centre-after-the-clubs-have-closed experience going on inside my skull. Except without the vomiting, the kebabs or the sex-pest minicab-drivers".

What's the collective view on General SAGs ?? My 90 needs some new 750/16 rubber and the local tyre-place offered me "Security" brand ones [which I gather are Chinese] at a suspiciously-low price, or General SAGs. My usage is predominantly road-biased - which makes me suspicious of the "security" ones - will they handle regular 75-80MPH-for-3-hours motorway usage? Occasional off-road capability is needed though - to drag a 3-ton flatbed trailer off muddy showgrounds, yank out treestumps, and haul a 2.5-ton boxtrailer through my forests when harvesting firelogs. It seems that the Avon Rangemaster - my traditional choice - has supply problems. --Tanuki. So, Starfleet-commander Domestos. What news of the Federation's sworn enemies the Toilet-Ducks?

I kinda think your battery's past it. A good test is: Hook it to your battery-charger and give it a good charge, until the charger switches to 'float' charge mode. Disconnect battery-charger. Leave dip-headlights switched on for an hour. Check battery-voltage: if it's less than 12.5V battery's had it. [Headlights+sidelights take around 120 watts. That's 10 amps @12V. An hour of this is 10 Amp/Hours. Which is less than 20% of a Land-Rover battery's capacity. If it can't handle this kind of load it's well-and-truly buggered] --Tanuki. "If an Egg should fall upon a Stone, alas for the Egg. If a Stone should fall upon an Egg, alas for the Egg. If an Egg should fall upon another Egg, alas for both Eggs!"

90, 110 or 130? Must admit, I get through both pads and discs at quite a worrying rate on my 90; it had three replacement front-sets and one rear-set fitted (at LR's expense) in the first 2 years. The OEM vented-discs warp, and the standard pads - for the last decade we have to use the stupid 'asbestos-free' greenie-nonsense - just don't handle consistent high temperatures properly so after enthusiastic use the binding-agents break up and the pads crumble round the edges. Be careful about increasing the braking effort on the rear wheels - particularly if you do much towing. Dynamic weight-distribution under heavy braking with a trailer often defies simple, instinctive analysis and leads you to need all three lanes of M4 to bring the resultant mess to a stop. Trust me on this! --Tanuki.

"Whining" and "gurgling" fuel-pump noises plus starting-issues were the symptoms of failed copper injector-seals on my 2001 TD5 Defender. Fix this quickly - or the combustion-gases and carbon that get past the seals will trash the fuel-pump. And that's a £500 fix. The seals themselves are pennies each, and a couple of hours labour to replace. --Tanuki. "Badgers are never part of the answer but always part of the problem"

On my 90CSW I once had a heater-blower-problem. Investigation showed that the local mice had packed the intake-pipe and inside of the fan with nuts and berries. --Tanuki. "BADGER!!!"

When it comes to terminating it, you're gonna need access to a serious ratchet-crimp or hydraulic tool. --Tanuki. "Badgers are often the problem but never the answer".

Alternator brushes? If they're worn and making poor contact at higher RPM, they could be generating a waveform at the alt's "W" terminal that the revcounter can't handle. --Tanuki. “One dollar can save a life - the opposite must also be true!"

It sounds to me as if you've got a torque-converter issue: it shouldn't smell 'hot'. Get a stall-test and a code-reading done on the transmission - that will tell you if you've got a seized impeller in the TC (which stops it 'torque-converting' properly and will give reduced acceleration/reduced top-speed/poor fuel-consumption as well as overheating). Properly set up, a D2 is quite lively - with a 'sensibly sensitive' kickdown/downshift that lets the engine rev freely and keep the boost up even on relatively light throttle. --Tanuki.