Pastycrimper

Hi All, My 1997 110 Defender had a replacement 300tdi engine from Turners Engineering after about 50,000miles (It was originally owned by Northern Electricity who blew the original engine up). Given that many parts are engine number related rather than VIN related I figured I'd best take note of my engine number. I *thought* from wikipedia that 300tdi numbers began 16L or 23L however mine is 21LU2613R. Is the 21L a different "type" of 300tdi engine????? Is there any useful info that can be learned from this number much like reference sites for VIN numbers? Cheers Ziggy

Hi Western, Sorry forgot to mention the useful! Its a 1997 Defender 110 300tdi......this problem is occuring with all lights off and the engine running. Ziggy

It wasn't raining at the time but it has been very wet suddenly down here in Kernow....actually, thinking about it, at times it probably was raining/drizzling yes.......

I was driving along yesterday listening to Test Match Special on LW and every now and then chronic radio interference occured (admitedly not that unusual on long wave). It wasn't until I had the radio off and was waiting at a junction that I noticed my headlights (and sidelights) were flashing on and off, along with the advosry light on the dash. Note the lights were switched off! At home I just sat in her parked on the drive still running with the lights off. Every now and then I'd hear a relay go crazy and the lights flashing on and off. It was defintely this which was ruining my radio pleasure! Anyone know what this is? Surely if the headlight stalk switch is off, the relay cannot be actuated!??? Looking at the wiring diagram I notice two relays a dim/dip relay that seems semi-isolated from the stalk switch........which I am guessing can be actuated regardless of the stalk switch position??? This has never happened before - the only things I have done recently are drive with a trailer attached - could a short/damage in the trailer hook up cause this? I also cleaned the engine but I made sure that the wiring was protected. Note that if I switche the headlights on using the stalk everything works fine as expected. Could do with sorting this as I keep freaking out drivers in front of me during the daytime who think I am obsessantly flashing them and then look to see a massive LR with Bullbars - probably think I'm a roadrage loony Thanks Ziggy

The stub pipe has definitely not snapped off - the press fit is just not fit if that makes sense. There is about 8 - 10mm of space before the stub pipe hits the rim. I was thinking a small bead of araldite and then solder the top........I also have Holts fire gum - would this be suitable? Cheers Ziggy

Thanks Les, Your photo is exactly what I am talking about. I am assuming that you have replaced the complete alloy cover plate assembly with a new one - any idea of the part number or where to get one. You suggest its just bolt off bolt on - did you need a gasket. My other option is as you suggest, and to try and seal it in......araldite yo think or is there a more suitable sealing compund? If you think it was originally a press fit stub, it seems that stub diameter is about 0.5 - 1mm smaller than the hole so how it ever press fit is beyond me. Does anyone think that driving the 300tdi with this stub loose for a while could have knock on effects??? Thanks again Ziggy

Having poked my finger into the hole it feels like about 8mm down there is a rim/butt for the pipe to sit on. So I may have been wrong about 4mm. I don't see any feature for fixing the pipe in the hole although I did notice when I withdrew my fingers that there was some material that could have been some king of gasket compound or araldite equivalent (it was like a thin brittle paint - so thin it could have been between the plate and the pipe as a seal. Whether the rim down the hole is part of the snapped off pipe I'm not sure yet. Looking as Les' post below I may just buy another plate and bolt that on.

OK while tidying and re-taping the wires round the engine bay (300tdi - 1997) I noticed that the bottom end of the engine breather hose going to the rocker cover directly above (ie the short breather hose not involved with the filter) was loose. I assumed it was a broken hose clamp or torn/split hose. However upon inspection the hose clamp and connection to the pipe end were pefectly secure and in fact the steel pipe was disconnected from the engine breather case! Surely this pipe is supposed to be fixed to the engine for the hose to clamp onto. It slots into the hole about 4mm and sits neatly but is by no means sealed. I now realise that allthough not leaking much oil its all been very oily lately underneath which presumably this would explain. Would it even explain the occasional puffs of black smoke out th exhaused - always on startup and occasionally on gear change? Thanks Ziggy

BRILLIANT - Cheers Nige. I love the way any thread that loosely is based around Britpart ends up being full of laughs and jokes.

I've been using Coopers filters. Anyone got any complaints about these? Are there any other filters (aside from Britpart!) that should be avoided?

Well I totally agree. I don't touch Sh*tpart as a golden rule - I had just never seen something like this. I like your ebay search method! I think I'll just try wacking a load of harddrive magnets that I've got on my filter. Although that said surely the filter removes such fragments anyway? Does anyone know what the minimum particle size the oil filters normally remove?

Hi All, I was just shopping around for a complete service kit, and while browsing noticed the Britpart Filter Guard (example here) which appears to be an adapter that fits onto the oil filter specially designed to remove tiny metal fragments. The theory sounds sensible although a) I typically stay away from Britpart things and b) Surely if these were so great there would be much more discussions on the forums - I can't find any threads on it either here or with other 4x4 forums. Is it worth it? Or is it just a pointless gimmic that doesn't really do much? Thanks in advance, Ziggy

BRILLIANT!

Will be interesting to see! You were right I think to mention those who have Landrovers on "dedicated" farm policies - I wonder if I had approached NFU direct without mentioning my Dad whether things would have differed (probably yes I think). He has had his renewal and said he could definitely see the effects of last years anniversary....i.e this year is more expensive but only really by the ammount that last year was cheaper. However overall the quote hasn't gone up that much BUT of course he has the full farm cover [The farmland itself (public liability etc on the cornish coast path, one jcb, one tractor, 2 LRs, a car and numerous buildings]. I suspect as Nick says that they are going to "protect" these customers and that just private LR owners are probably going to suffer (as has been shown byu this thread). Best Ziggy

Thanks Nick. I've looked behind the centre controls, which is quite a confusing given that its undergone two previous owner mods and trying to work out whats what is interesting. Northern electricity originally had a PTO engage switch and light. Even though these are wired they are all dead with or without ignition so I am presuming the 2nd owner disconnected this elsewhere when he removed the pto. He then put a split charge in and I can see that he has wired an extra 12V socket and the original cigarette lighter to the leisure battery all of which I have traced. There is a bundle of unused terminated wires neatly insulated aside which I am guessing was the original wiring. I've checked these, and definitely a green one and green/purple one go live on ignition. There is also an orange/white but this is feeding the bulb in the cig lighter (??I guess this may have happened in the second mod). I'll run it from the green wire which has a steady 12.4V across it. This leads me to another question - presumably there is another voltage regular (an external one) aside from the one within the alternator. I've just put a new alternator on and when running holds a steady 14.8V across the battery, yet the green wires and others are presumably all fed by another voltage regulator maintaining 12V (else why would my green wire be 12V?). If so where is this v regulator? Ziggy

Thanks for the welcome. Re ign lead. Instead of running my split charge relay from the D+ alternator feed, I want to put a manual switch on my dash which activates/switches the relay. I figured if there was a free ign wire (either in the fuse box or 12V cig lighter panel then I could run this to my manual dash mounted switch which in turn is wired to the split charge relay. Thus I control when the split charge is on or off but also because it will be fed off an ign circuit if I accidently forget to switch it off after parking at least I know the relay will be disconnected and batteries not in parallel - not ideal for starting mind but I'm pretty good at remembering these things. On this note many have asked why not automate it from the alternator D+ feed - quite simply I have had bad experiences of this and I like the ability to have control over my charging system. Cheers Ziggy

Interesting..... Having just got my first Defender I decided to enquire with the NFU first - primarily because my Dad has his whole farm, his JCB and 2 other vehicles insured with them. They have always been very good - for example when Dad got his 1978 SIII it cost £21 to add me as another driver (on his policy). So I got my Dad to speak to our local NFU office on my behalf - I outlined all of the MODS (intercooler, winch, sloar panel loads of stuff). They spent a LONG time discussing with the underwriter to th epoint where I had to get Dad to harass them - I figured they took one look at the mods and were just going to up everything. They eventually (after 9 days) got in touch with me personally as my Dad had said it was a policy to be in my name. I received a quote for fully comp including all my MODS for £365. So I am thinking that the reality here is: 1) They do NOT look after existing customers - I'm guessing mine is cheap because I am a new customer. I bet next year it will go up massively. Neither does ANY insurance company. This is really annoying because (just like phones as someone mentioned) what we probably need to do is research, get the lowest quote and change each year - which when there are MODs and special things beocmes a real pain in the ar**chops! 2) As another link showed - the insurance industry as a whole is rasing premiums across the board - they say they have been losing money for years. It is all just nonsense. FYI I am 32 and have never had an accident or claim since passing my test at 17. My citroen 2litre HDI was insured last year with direct line at £220 per year, this year they want £389 - thats direct line and no landrover. I just logged onto swiftcover for the car and they offered £225.....hence its all about NEW customers I reckon.

Hello everybody, Thought I'd start with and introduction and also to say thanks. I have been trawling these forums for weeks and have found the answers to MANY questions. At last I have got myself the Landrover I've been looking for so I thought I'd best join officially and then I can begin asking myriads of questions. Anyway, brief history: Grew up and now live again in West Cornwall. My Dad has always had SII and SIII petrol landrovers for as long as I can remember which includes many childhood memories of replacing half shafts etc. We have just gone from having one Landy to 3 in the last week! YIPEEE. We still have a 1978 90 Pickup 2.25 petrol which is our trusty battered farm vehicle - sadly the chassis is so far gone that this stays on the farm only and we haven't reMOT'd it - but for a farm vehicle she still rocks. Recently we got a SIII 2.25 diesel 90 with Bizarre tipper conversion off a friend which aside from the electrics is a beauty - I reckon a paintball club or an outdoor boot camp place must have had it as its been painted MOD colours and has loads of strange buttons fixed to the dash and strange wiring (definitely NOT an MOD landy though). I however have long dreamed of a 110 camper conversion and ow I have her! She's a beauty 1997 300tdi 110 (Special vehicles) which has been converted inside in marine ply and done really well. I've attached pics of our current LR family. Anyway I also have a quick starter question. I need to run a wire fed off the ignition feed. I'm wondering if there's a free terminal in the main fuse board that I can run a wire from that is live only when the ignition is on? All the best Ziggy (Ps I'll get pics of the interior conversion up soon)