alfmech

anybody?

hi guys my car is a disco 1 300tdi auto i have a problem in as much as the top of the gearbox filler tube has sheared off level with the top of the mounting tab and vanished. i have searched high and low and cannot find a replacement short of spending over £100 for a genuine part from the disti which seems ridiculous, i even placed a want ad but no reply as yet. could i trouble anyone to give me the expact measurement from the top of the bellhousing mounting tab to the very top of the tube so i can fabricate a repair section and get the old girl filled with oil and back on/off the road many thanks alf

can anyone even give me an idea what its worth advertising for please? its now surplus to requirements and in the way lol feel free to pm with info or offers

sadly lack of time and facilities is going to prevent me even thinking of doing that despite it being a very good alternative, had i done the sensible thing and checked to see if it fitted rather than take someones word for it (will i ever learn?) i would have found the issues ages ago and maybe could have made something that was a reasonable impersonation of that

ok got it wrong again recently aquired a superwinch lr4 capstan winch after being 'reliably informed' it was suitable for my 2a, today i decided it was time to try and fit it before the need for it arises only to discover it wont fit a series even if i choose to use a decent sized hammer. called superwinch uk and spoke to a very helpful chap that knows these winches very well and he says its from a 90/110 and has no chance of working with its current configuration ie;- a-bar/fairlead and winch tray, as the alignment is totally out and the frame i have is for a coiler not a leafer. my question is: has anyone got a working capstan winch that will actually fit my series they might want to swap with mine that works fine just dosnt fit a series? other option has anyone got the correct tray and a-bar/fairlead setup for a series i can buy at a sensible price

still waiting to hear from a few but flux wouldnt even quote me the guy on the end of the phone was trying to convince me that my higher powered engine posed a far higher road risk than that of the original 2.25 petrol engine and would not be told otherwise, my answer? thankyou bye *click*.....NEXT!

i guess i just gotta go from one company to the next and hopefully find one thats sensible, i was actually trying to get him added to my insurance in the first instance i guess i will see what tomorrow brings

my 17yr old son has is just starting to drive and he wants to go out in my 88" 2a with me from time to time for practice and i would imagine will want to take it out if he ever passes his tests. just did the rounds of the normal 4x4 insurers and apart from them trying to tell me its a 110 defender despite me explaing it never has been such and repetedly being asked "are you sure you have the right details" roflmao then because it had a diesel conversion in its life(non-turbo) they are stupidly classing it as a performance modification then add his age to that and everyone is telling me they cannot quote me, i tried to get a quote on tiger.co.uk and their forms do not allow for engine change in their mod list but even if i go through the quote making no mention of the engine, the cheapest quote hits me for an extra £500 and thats with them imposing limited mileage £700xs etc etc etc does anyone know if there is such a thing as a reasonable insurance company i can try? or do i have to burst his bubble and tell him he isnt allowed to drive the old girl?

stop solenoid checked and working fine next tasks are new fuel filter to go in and bleed check the pickup for carp or break, check fuel lines for air leak, check lift pump spewing fuel when cranked and piriming correctly is there a particle filter on the injector pump that might need cleaning/checking? is there anything else i should check or should that cover it?

fired up my old girl this morning to go help a fellow 2a owner that was lying at the side of the road, she took a little more cranking to start than normal but when it did start seemed perfectly fine and drove fine, arrived at the scene after about 10mins and left it to idle while i looked at his and hooked up a rope to pull it with, suddenly she died snd refused to restart cranked over like was lacking fuel so assumed i had a lying fuel gauge so a quick phone call and some replacement fuel was on its way. after topping up the fuel and cranking for a while to bleed it up she started fine huge sigh of relief. hooked up the dead 2a and drove off.....1mile later it died again this time with a loss of power first then chugged to a halt poked about to check for faults nothing found, tried again and after a bit of cranking it sprang to life no apparent problems :S low and behold if the bugger didnt expire again after aproximatly a mile and refuse to start. thought bugger this for a game of soldiers and went to get the other daily shed of a bmw and pulled the other landy in with no furthur hitches then back again to mine and hey presto a bit of cranking and it started and scooted along for....yeah you guessed it another mile Grrrrr 500yds from home sat in a cranky 2a that dosnt want to go home off to grab the bmw again and drag the damn thing back now sat in my drive happily ticking over with no hiccups for last 40mins........WTF?? any clues anyone? all electrics appear sound no oil or fuel leaks nothing out of the ordinary stop relay working happily owner proper confused/embarrased

for what its worth i had similar issues with mine years ago and ended up a combination of sticky valves and diabolical timing setup by a moron (me ) valves freed up themselves luckily after a bit running and timing setup by ear rather than timing marks, worked fine afterwards so might be the same for you, my engine had been unused for about 10 years when i had the issue though so cant guarantee it applies

never been i have to admit been saying for years i am gonna go but real life keeps getting in the way so i will try again to get there this year

ok general concensus says shove an mot on it first which makes sense. i think i may be able to get that done somehow will creep round a muckyneck m8 and see how much to do the last bits to get it through mot do these usually sell for reasonable money when mot'd? or am i just dreaming of breaking evenish?

i have spent a small fortune trying to get this beasty fit for offroad and been cursed with ill health throughout and now the boss has decided it needs to go as i wont be able to use it when its finally finished anyway. it seemed like a wonderful idea when i first started out but my main duty has to be looking after the boss who is disabled and not impressed with the sums of money "wasted" in her opinion basically it started out as a standard scabby old 90 with na diesel lump it had had virtually everything either replaced or rebuilt and now sports 300tdi with new turbo fitted 4spd auto box new filters and gaskets manual transfer box rather than viscous all props modified and fitted with new joints and bolts 2" lift with front and rear dislocation cones repainted in green (not sprayed but still pretty smart no filler so still supporting a few dings) chequer plate all round most of wiring replaced after bonfire behind dash on initial startup which set me back months new brakes all round new swivel seals all hubs treated to fresh oil/grease nas lights extra heavy duty bladed nato style bumper raptor dash pod with illuminated switches 2x spare sets of wheels with tyres one strictly off road shabby and one set half tidy with good tread plus the naff set its been sat on while rebuilding all chassis corrosion dealt with heavy duty tank guard steering guard x-charge split charge relay wheel bearings all round dual anderson connector jump start points safari snorkel full axle g/box etc wading kit with raised pipes(pipes need routing) a frame balljoint rock sliders 2x numax cxv-x 1000amp batteries (brand new) isolator switches for winch etc c9500hs winch (brand new with remote and wander remote) rear heavy duty recovery point poly bushed cb stereo the list goes on and on the question is what to do now? how much do i ask for it? shes not quite ready for mot as a few more bits need bolting on and adjustments on brakes need to be made though it starts on the button and drives moves happily under its own steam, my time is taken up either looking after the boss or trying to get my own health sorted so its getting silly trying to spend half an hour here and there every other month if i am lucky i have close to 3k worth of recipts sat here and with the initial stitchup purchase price i guess she stands me in at just over 4k i dread the thought of advertising it on fleabay too many oddballs and toerags that want to scam everyone plus i worry about someone rocking up to "have a look" then popping back at night and helping themselves your input for a very depressed ex-wannabe off roader would be helpful

could it be something simple like different length actuator rod? new one being to long and keeping the clutch engaged reguardless of pedal, different length slave cylinder bore causing same problem?

sent the head to local engineering company and now feel the need to sulk for their response 8x guides worn excessively 2x inlet valves need replacing very slighy distortion requiring refacing recut and reseat alll valves £225+ the dreaded they agree the guides were worn more than enough to pressurise the vital fluids out of the engine sadly insufficient slush fund to afford this rebuild so will have to shelve the idea indefinatly

finally got the replacement lump alive today after swapping out the injection pump that refused to put any fuel out then about a week of cranking to get the damn thing going, its a bit smokey but sounds a lot healthier expected i think the pump timing is way out due to the smoke but at least it runs i never realised what a pig these engines are to bleed air out of till now at least i can take my time and sort my engine out properly now and hopefully have a sweet long lasting engine at the end of it, already stripped the head a little carbon behind the valves and tiddle poor valve seating but nothing too scarey yet will clean it all lap the valves back in and reassemble it then take a look at the bottom end, is it worth going the whole hog with regrinds/rebore etc or just check and replace unservicable components?

thanks to everyone for the input so much more food for thought than expected lol the crown on no 1 is actually me wiping the crud off badly, the pistons after meticulous cleaning are thankfully spotless i need to strip and clean the head completley and check as snagger quite rightly suggest valves, seats and guides and then stand in a corner and slap myself repetedly for not realising about to breather to manifold (what a prat!) though in my defence just slightly, since i got the car it has been setup like that and only recently has this issue occured i have to admit today i cheated and was offered another used lump to chuck in her for the VERY short term while i bugger about with the other engine, its a bit of a smoker but will hopefully just about keep me moving in the meantime the replacement lump comes with manifolds the right size and with relavent connection for low pressure on the inlet manifold, a choice of filler caps one with a valve affair built in and one without, the dipstick is identical to mine so thats fine and i had already replaced the o-ring before getting worried about it keep popping out at least when i rebuild the current lump to my satisfaction i can at least do it properly then pray no more problems like this thankyou all again for the helpful advise and information and i am gonna get to the bottom of this and make it work properly even if it kills me

well i have the head off and still no clarity the pistons seems good with no visable damage the bores are for the mostpart un scored/marked the usual lip at the top but nothing unexpected when the head was removed the water sloshed into the bores and that stayed there for quite some time without dissapearing untill i dried it myself i then turned the engine till all the crowns were halfway down the bores and applied some very thin machine oil to the crowns and bores which as i type is still sat there unmoved so it still has some ring integrity i guess :)head gastket pretty clean no apparent blow marks or splits now to the head itself:- number 3 as seen in the picture has suffered previous damage i assume prior to work as there are no corrisponding marks anywhere else to suggest impact as pictured each of the injector inserts appears to have cracking in it, is it likely the inserts being cracked could cause this problem?

oh that is bad news indeed i will pull the head off over the weekend and have a looksee, can you tell me if the 12j manifold is even remotly similar or is it a completly different setup? i ask because the exhaust hasnt long been replaced and i would like if possible to retain some of the original look of the old girl without bolting on too many 90 bits anyone got a gwo 12j they wanna part with for beer tokens?

i called our local motor factors and the guy on the phone is adamant that the engine i have must be a 12h or 17h engine, i was under the impression the diesel engines were all J numbered and petrols were the H ones. i have searched all over and can find no numbers that i would class as engine numbers,there is a large letter J on the block towards the rear kinda below cyl 3-4 and under that much smaller are the digits 815 or 81s cant really tell clearly but the look more like casting numbers rather than engine codes, i have taken a couple of pics in the hope one of the oracles here can give me accurate info so i can at least find the right parts when i need them

Thanks for the input I will try and investigate at the weekend, yes I am positive about the oil level as I am having to check it so frequently not a stupid suggestion at all it's always worth a try lol thanks anyway.

Yeah I doubt anything will turn up that dosnt need a ton of money worth of bits to make it work though, I think I will have to stick with the 2.5l n.a lump

hi guys i thought i would ask here before taking drastic measures with the old beast my IIa has a land rover 2.5 naturally asthmatic diesel lump in it which has done good service untill recently, now it has become determined to spew oil everywhere no matter what i try, i have cleaned the rocker cover breather, fitted a catch tank to it to save some of the mess no servo and the servo pump is blanked off but now its started popping the dipstick out when the engine is labored and spitting oil everywhere the engine seems to run sweet enough and always starts first time no excessive smoking water loss so no issues there just the oil ejection is becoming a major problem no apparant spewing of vital fluid on tick over is this likely to be a ring issue or something more major? then i have to address the biggest issue rebuild or replace? i know the non turbo lump is a little ummm how shall we say ummm gutless! but tdi lumps are somewhat expensive and hard to find decent ones and the series isnt a hard working car (general bumbling about and occasional dragging people out of ditches or water) so i think the non turbo is sufficient for my needs i make up for the lack of power with gears and overdrive to get to ramming speed anyway lol if i could get my hand on a known good 2.5l non turbo engine cheap enough and local ish i would think about swapping it for convienience sake just a one for one swap with no more modding to fit

i might be a little backwards on this but have you checked throttle postion sensor and looked for air leaks, my old 3.9 used rev like a sod if there was and air leak, probably dosnt apply but its a thought