Tanuki
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Posts posted by Tanuki
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Be aware that most tyre-fitting places will charge you significantly extra for 'cleaning up the mess' when it comes to fitting new tyres to your slime/foam-treated wheels.
And it pretty much renders a tyre unrepairable if it _does_ get significantly damaged. I'd prefer to be aware [through the hassle of a flat] that I've got a damaged tyre, rather than have some slime seal the wound only to have it open up again when I'm doing 80MPH.
--Tanuki.
"I have a vision of a gradient, hiding in a bush, leaping out on some unsuspecting Land-Rover. And getting Squashed"
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I certainly wouldn't want to trust a 'welded up' crack in a Diesel block - the pressures and stresses are just too high.
OK, perhaps if it was 'metal-stitched' and then sleeves were pressed into the cylinder-bores... but the cost of doing that [you would need to remove the engine from the vehicle and totally strip the block before carrying out the repair, then pressure-testing afterwards before reassembling] would probably be greater than the cost of a replacement engine!
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As a reference-point, my 2001 90TD5 averages 24MPG, this being a mix of around 20% urban/slow-50MPH-A-road use and 80% motorway, where I tend to inhabit the outside-lane in BMW-chasing mode.
Any Defender - let's face it - has the overall aerodynamics of a medium-sized industrial estate. If you're cruising at 80MPH, expect to pay through the nozzle.
--Tanuki.
"Radclyffe - fetch the toads, we're going to play Wind in the Willows."
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Brake-bleeding tip: if you're suffering with "trapped wind" do this.
Pump the pedal like mad until it goes hard.
Push it down, then wedge it down with a piece of timber between the pedal and the seat-box.
Leave for 24 hours.
Then do a thorough bleeding.
Under sustained pressure for a day, trapped air will dissolve into brake-fluid.
Then you bleed-out the aerated fluid.
Trust me - it works!
--Tanuki.
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I took the cheapo-approach to this: a trip to the local aquarium-supply place got me a couple of metres of clear 'air-bubbler' pipe and two pipe couplers.
Intercept the washer-pipe at a convenient point between the pump and the nozzles.
Cut washer-pipe.
Wind the new couple-of-metres of pipe tightly round the metal heater feed coolant-hose that runs above the exhaust-manifold [mine's a TD5; there's a heat-shield between the manifold and the coolant-pipe].
A couple of cable-ties will hold the ends of the new windy-pipe in place.
Use the 2 pipe-couplers to connect the ends of this pipe to the cut washer-feed.
Job Done.
--Tanuki
"Badgers are part of the problem not part of the answer"
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I would agree with the suggestion to replace master- and slave-cylinders together.
If the fluid has been left in the system for so long that the master-cylinder's gone 'soft' then it's invariably gunged-up, cloudy/lumpy and moisture-contaminated to the point where it will have messed-up the slave too.
While you're doing the job, do it properly.
--Tanuki.
"I'm going to excommunicate you with my bishop and trample you with my horsie." --Chess.
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My trick to difficult-brake-bleeding issues is as follows:
Pump the pedal like crazy until it goes hard.
Wedge it down with a piece of wood between the pedal and the seat-box.
Leave overnight.
Then repeat the bleeding-process.
How it works: The solubility of air in brake-fluid increases significantly when it is under pressure. Wedging the pedal down and leaving it for a while under pressure means any trapped airbubbles will diffuse and dissolve into the brake-fluid.
Then you bleed-out the aerated brake-fluid the next day.
Trust me - it works!
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"Dim headlights" suggests your vehicle is blighted by that late-1980s horror - a dim-dip unit.
Job One is to bypass this. It's never been a legal requirement, but introduces a hell of a lot of stupidity to proper headlight-function.
--Tanuki.
"WARNING: Pony comes unassembled in box with head detatched. You may wish to not open the box around children if they may be frightened by a box with a decapitated horse inside."
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Electric fuel-pump: look for a Facet "Gold-top" but you will need to fit a pressure-regulator too [i like the Malpassi 'filter king' with built-in filter] to stop it blowing past the float chamber needle-valves and flooding.
Also, if you use an electric fuel-pump you need to fit a speed-sensitive relay and/or an inertia-sensing switch to cut the fuel-pump power if the engine stops or you're involved in a shunt.
Nothing good has ever been written about being unconscious in a pranged vehicle with the fuel-pump still pumping fuel over a red-hot engine.
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My 2001 90TD5 has from new occasionally made a "mooing" noise when steering at low speeds: usually when reversing into a car-park space.
I consider this an endearing quirk, rather than something to fret about.
--Tanuki.
"Open your wallet and repeat after me - 'Help Yourself'."
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Personally, I don't like electric fans.
One thing to note: the thermoswitch to trigger the fans should go in the radiator *bottom* hose, not the top!
Far too many people put the switch in the top-hose. The fan then comes on much too soon because it's sensing the temperature of the water coming out of the heads, not the bulk-coolant temperature.
No current-production vehicle fitted with electric fans has the sensor in the top-hose/radiator-inlet-tank.
You should aim for a bulk-coolant temperature around 90-105 centigrade. This gives good engine efficiency, low fuel consumption and prevents the buildup of sludge/mayonnaise in the oil. A hot engine is an efficient and long-lived engine.
Pretty much all Land-Rover products are overcooled for UK use anyway: back in my days of driving a SIIA I blanked of the bottom third of the radiator, and even when towing a 3-ton flatbed trailer it showed no signs of getting hot-and-bothered.
--Tanuki.
"Badgers are always the problem and never the answer"
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Won't it need a hookup to the autobox? My 2001 TD5 Defender [manual] has a circuit that tells the ECU whether I am in high or low ratio on the transfer-box, and I'd imagine a slushbox needs some similar feedback to the ECU to control the torque at the instant the autobox is changing-ratios.
--Tanuki.
"Badgers are always part of the problem and never part of the solution".
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Smoking-under-throttle is a sign that there's too much fuel for the available air.Which generally means a restriction in the intake system.Check the air-filter. Is it old? Disconnect the snorkel-plumbing and everything ahead of the air-filter intake then see what happens.[Personally, I dislike permanently-connected snorkels: all that extra pipework must impede the air-supply. If you must have a snorkel, make it a connect-up-only-when-needed-for-wading thing].One other thing: I've had experience of a Mercedes turbodiesel where a collapsed set of baffles in the silencer-box caused horrible amounts of exhaust back-pressure. Massive amounts of black smoke and sloth-on-Valium performance were the results. That one baffled even the Mercedes main-dealer!--Tanuki."do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon"Have plodded through various jobs recently,but one has me completely vexed.Since transplanting a Disco 200tdi into my 110 I've always been troubled by black smoke,which wasn't present when I floored the Disco before cannibalising it.I kept my original 110 inlet manifold and turbo as funds were prohibitive,sealed up the ludicrously expensive hose from wing to air filter (ESR184)and the pipe from filter to turbo,fitted new silicone hoses,cleaned out cyclone breather again,although rubber O ring is missing,so there is a dribble of oil on head,checked the airproofing from snorkel top to turbo really.I'm pretty sure the pump hasn't been tweaked,so I'll leave that.What else should I check?I'm thinking possibly either intercooler has a split somewhere or oil contaminated or turbo boost pipe from fip?Anyone got a part number for this pipe?Sorry for such a long winded post,but I'm pulling my hair out with frustration!
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Not too far away, but have just finished off the thick end of a bottle of Beaujolais!Its not too late
! Unless you're miles away! -
See http://www.speedograph-richfield.com/I read a while ago that it was possible to have the speedo's altered to suit new gearing/wheels+tyres, can't remember where but it was aparently a company in Coventry...its on my list of jobs to do to google into it...
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Alas I read this too late, or I'd have dropped by.
--Tanuki.
"One of my lifelong passions has been converting vegetarians back to meat, usually by the judicious application of the aroma of slowly frying bacon."
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What mileage has the engine done? How old is it?
I tend to 'life' things like water-pumps at 5 years/60,000 miles, whichever comes first.
--Tanuki.
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Personally, I like oil/water heat-exchangers for both engine- and transmission-cooling, coupled to a big water-radiator up-front.
That way you can get the engine-oil and transmission up to proper temperature (100-105 Centigrade) quickly from a cold-start by sharing coolant-heat with them, then only when bulk-coolant temp is 95 centgrade or above does the thermostat open and the radiator come into service.
Hot is efficient; hot promotes both low fuel-consumption and long-life. It's also worth noting that if you're fitting a thermoswitch to activate an electric fan on the main radiator, this should go in the radiator *outlet* not the inlet.
Run with 50% antifreeze and a 15PSI pressure cap on the radiator and you can happily go for days with the sensor in the top-hose to the radiator reading 115 degrees - thats what we used to aim for on the late-1970s Escort RS2000 rally-cars.
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My 2001 Defender TD5 had a similar issue: turned out to be the turbocharger wastegate was sticky. Sometimes it would stick open - resulting in no boost at low revs and an engine without enough torque to pull the skin off a bowl of custard; other times it would stick closed causing the engine to overboost with anything more than a whiff of throttle at around 1500RPM which then triggered "limp-home" mode on the ECU and gave sloth-on-valium can't-exceed-70MPH performance.
Lots of manual wiggling of the wastegate actuator accompanied by applications of molybdenum-sulphite powder to the bearing sorted the problem. DO NOT use oil-based lubricants on the wastegate-arm bearing: the heat will cremate the oil to a sticky mess and make the problem much, much worse!
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Angle-grinder and Fire-Axe! In my experience you'll need either/both to separate the 'hockey stick' arms from the rubber bushes on the axle.
It's quicker/easier to cut and replace than to spend frustrating knuckle-bloodying hours trying to drift/pull out reluctant bolts from bushes.
And new bits always go together in a really-satisfying way.
--Tanuki.
"Badgers? We don't need no steenkin' Badgers!"
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Parts are cheap; my time is not. My approach is always to think "do I really want to have to repeat this job again in a years time because I cut corners doing it the first time?"
While you've got it in bits, replace *any* parts you're not 100% sure about. Then you can forget about them for the next decade.
New bits go back together far more easily and satisfyingly than old bits.
I'd recommend fitting a new swivel-seal and using semi-fluid grease if the top bush is a roller-bearing, EP90 if it's a Railko.
--Tanuki.
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It's gotta be the master-cylinder not allowing the fluid to freely flow back into the reservoir when you take your foot off the brake.Or it could be the servo not releasing properly. Either way, you need to investigate the bits close to the pedal, not the bits close to the wheels.--Tanuki."If your answer includes Badgers you asked the wrong question".Just looking for 'been there, had that, and this was the problem' responses if anyone does....
Driving the lightweight last night and it became apparent that half way through the journey performance became somewhat sluggish... eventually it was the case that pulling up to a junction I didn't need to press the brake pedal to stop
Pushing the pedal did make it stop faster though, but the pedal was absolutely solid, normally I would have maybe half an inch of travel at the top of the pedal before anything happened and then a very good firm pedal.Never had aproblem with teh brakes, in fact it was MOT'd just the day before, and passed with flying colours! 
Got home, (about 3 miles) to familiar scent of warm brakes, and thought 'so which wheel is it?' checked the passenger front for heat 'ow fecking ow!' then checked the others with two more 'ow's and 2 more shiny finger tips, last one I had learnt, and spat on it, it dried quickly.
I'm happy with the notion of a brake sticking, simple job, drum off and check out the springs and cylinders, but for all 4 the only thing I can think it the master cylinder.... ? Or maybe something mechanical? The thing that makes me doubt the MC is that it was new (Lockheed or whatever is genuine) and most if not all the wheel cylinders and definitely fluid was changed at the same time.
Bizarrely this morning however, they had all freed off and it drove normally
Any ideas would be great!
Cheers,
Pete.
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To bypass the dim-dip function there are a couple of connector-blades you need to link together on the socket where the dim-dip thingy would have connected.I forget exactly *which* blades, but basically you get a couple of these:http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/terminalsnonins/photo/Mb6.jpgand link them together with a 3-inch length of suitable cable - then shove the ends into the right holes on the connector.Wrap the entire thing with a good dose of self-amalgamating tape and the job's done. 20 years ago I earned myself plenty of beer-tokens doing this job on Ford Granadas, Vauxhall Cavaliers, Rover 800s etc.--Tanuki.Right scrap the last post.........
Got another relay (YWC10050) off a mate, put that in and no difference so I'm guessing some one has by passed the dim bit, how do I check that and redo it? I know it's not a legal requirement but just be nice to have it back as standard.
Or have I missed this bit out when i did the light wiring up grade (used the info off this forum site for that)???
Cheers Mutley
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Thanks Tanuki - I'll try that tomorrow... I've got access to a fiberoptic scope, so I'll take a look down in the tank (nice not having to drop it). Any advice on an easy way to monitor fuel pressure while test driving? Don't think the Nanocom will display that... I've got a new filter on already... There's only 40k miles on the engine, so it's still relatively new...
Anyone have any ideas on the fuel map differences between 90s and 110s?
A fibrescope will be useful to check the tank's insides for cleanliness.
If the pick-up strainer does get clogged you can usually hear the in-tank fuel pump screaming as it tries to pull fuel through the blockage.
I forget where my workshop monitored the fuel-pump pressure - all I remember is that it was jumping about all over the place because the system was getting exhaust-gases in the pipework - the injector-seals were leaking, and the fuel-pump can't build the right pressure if it's pumping air/exhaust-gas.
--Tanuki
! Unless you're miles away!
Pushing the pedal did make it stop faster though, but the pedal was absolutely solid, normally I would have maybe half an inch of travel at the top of the pedal before anything happened and then a very good firm pedal.Never had aproblem with teh brakes, in fact it was MOT'd just the day before, and passed with flying colours! 
converting from diesel to petrol... the hard way
in Series Forum
Posted
Might need to change the pistons too to get the compression-ratio right.
I gather that "a Diesel camshaft in a petrol engine" is a decent performance-modification for the 2.25 engine - in which case you're already half-way there!
--Tanuki.