Boydie

Unless you have a very strange car, the brake light switch isn't in the brake line system, it's a mechanical switch operated by the brake foot pedal and accessible from under the driver's side and screwed into a bracket, it could be that it's just sticking and it just needs a squirt of WD40, if it's stuffed, replacements are not expensive or are they hard to replace . Correct me if I'm mistaken but I don't know of any Land Rovers with a hydraulic brake light switch, maybe the latest Range Rovers and Equipes ---- maybe ??

The problem with switching to a silicon brake fluid is that you need to replace ALL the existing rubbers in the system, seals and hoses as they can otherwise deteriorate at a rapid rate, the two fluids not being totally compatible. I would stick to DOT 4.

Nigel, I would definitely advise the S/S pistons with genuine seals - not the ones in a Blue Bag !!! Good brakes are the cheapest form of life insurance I know of

FLUKE, AND GET ONE WITH A THERMOCOUPLE TO CONFIRM TEMPERATURES.

We ran a Haltech in the works Daihatsu Charade Rally car, a brilliant bit of kit, to make it comply with the International Group N regulations - "the resistance of any computer may be altered but the computer shall remain as standard" we had to cut the PCB in half bend it over and rejoin all the connections with wires and then fit it into the original case. The main advantages of the Haltech were, no rev limiter and fully adjustable fuel injection periods. To achieve this we clipped a carbon monoxide gauge (sniffer) to the exhaust pipe outlet wired to its indicator gauge sitting on the dash and plugged in a laptop computer to the Haltech and while I drove it up and down the motorway my engineer adjusted the fuel ratios in all gears at all rev ranges to a perfect 14.7:1 ratio using Avgas 110 octane fuel. As the idle was a bit iffy due to several original Daihatsu sensors being disconnected we increased the fuel for the 0-850 rpm range to assist in starting and again, added more fuel to assist in cooling the pistons in the 7500 - 9000 rpm range. We never had an engine failure in over 4 years of competition and it went like a rocket leaving Suzuki GTI's in its wake. Once you have yours wired and running you will have a great time getting it right.

I would love to but the return air fare from Sydney Australia to Nairobi ?

Yeah, the wire levers have a horrible habit of popping out of the plastic lever(s), only solution is to dismantle the facia and reconnect them

Easy fix for this is clean it up with degreaser so that it's totally clean of any oil and then cover the end of the shaft and surrounding box with red high temperature silicon. The usual cause is that the shaft wears the alloy case into a slight oval allowing oil to leak out past the O ring, long term wise you are up for a new/replacement box, either that or you recondition the one you have by having the current bore machined out, a steel bush pressed into the box and then machined out for the shaft and "O" ring, Ashcrofts can do this for you if they are local to where you are.

On the subject of rat poison,and I'm NOT a greenie by any means - I shoot feral animals as a sport - however if you use poison ensure that you look for and find the carcase and burn it. 99% of poisons remain in the deceased animal's body, along comes a native scavenger, crow, rook, raven, pole cat, stoat or badger whatever and eats the dead rat and it too ends up being poisoned, remember the catastrophic effects of DDT on England's birdlife? A cat from the SPCA is far more effective, so long as it's a fairly mature male or female and has been desexed, don't let it into your house, give it a bed-box and water & food bowl and toilet tray in your shed with an opening so it can come and go and you will have a happy low maintenance mouse and rat killer for at least 10 years.

Thanks for that EJ, that makes sense, I was told as per A but never knew why and on some things Land Rover, you don't ask, you just do .

Guys, BUY A CAT - I'm no feline lover, I despise the bloody things but they are one of the most efficient killers going. Hint, do NOT feed it in your house, give it a bed box in your shed and feed and water it there. Your rat and rodent problem will be solved forever, oh, and PLEASE have it desexed.

If it were my engine, (and I'm totally anally retentive and fastidious) and, if on removing the head I found that two or more of the cylinders were that badly coked I would drop the sump, remove the big ends and push the pistons out and fit new rings and give the bores a very light hone, but thats just me. EJ is right (of course) it's "A" but I don't think it really matters too much so long as they are new gaskets. While the injectors are out get them ultrasonically cleaned. By the way. what caused you to need to replace the head gasket in the first place?

I've just purchased a second Disco for some parts that I feel I should have - spare gearbox and transfer box, front seats, rear door and bonnet. The car is in VG condition, it has been very well maintained (1 only lady owner) has never been used for towing and it has only 369784 kilometres on the clock -- thats an average of 13,000 per annum (7,800 miles) and has a blown (original!) head gasket. The engine has always had coolant in the system and I have it's full comprehensive service record. The car was traded-in as is for a new Disco and was disposed of by the dealer to the local wreckers from who I purchased it. It has full A/C. no sunroof(s) and spotless interior. It has an ARB steel bull-bar. Let me know if you are interested in buying any parts, as I said, mainly Australia only. My contact number is 0497 792 357 or email me on this site, if you're an O/S member and you are desperate for a specific small part, MFU, Spider, Original Radio. etc. and you are prepared to pay for the airmail postage up front then sure, I'll post it to you.

Just a second thought, it could be steam gurgling up into the header tank, you may have a minute head gasket leak - like a volcano, tiny rumbles of steam are often a warning of worse things to come. If it is, check all aspects of your cooling system first, levels, air locks, circulation, pump, thermostat, coolant leaks etc. etc. etc. BEFORE you resort to replacing the head gasket.

"Assume" makes an ass out of U and me. Lift the bonnet and get you wife/GF/mate/neighbour to turn the motor off while you are observing and listening. You should get a clearer idea of where the sound is coming from, it may take a couple of attempts to track it down but it's a far better method that trying to trace it from the drivers seat. My 'umble guess - I think it's more likely to be a very dry/stuffed electric fan bearing rumbling until the fan blades stop turning. The A/C compressor will cease to rotate the moment the engine stops turning. It could also be the mechanical thermal fan that needs to be replaced.

I would say that you will need to buy a set of the thinner hubs, (prefered safe option) either that or have the existing ones skimmed in a machine shop (not ideal)

Copy what Teabag said, if all your fuses are good then check the MFU (Multi Function Unit alias multi f**ked unit)) located on the rear of the drivers footwell fuse panel. Look for cold joints, these things are soldered robotically by dropping molten solder onto the connection, often they don't properly join.

Just a wipe of clean engine oil is all that is required, too much and you end up with, initially, a smoky engine

Clamps, and weld a rod or bar to both (assume two each side) so that the weight is spread over as much of the gutter as possible i.e. from clamp to clamp

Copy that, I've got to do a full service in the next day or so as the 10,000 kilometer mark came up while we were away, I'll remove the transfer box cover plate and end cover and have a squizz to see if I can see any problems

If you can run a secondary earth from the alternator to the earth terminal on the battery

After years of trying various things the solution I came up with that actually works is I relocated the condenser and it's fans to the underside of the roof rack. I've now traveled all over Australia in all levels of temperature from -8* to 52*C and my radiator never ever goes above 90*C. If you run the A/C your economy WILL suffer, mine (Disco 300Tdi) goes from about 12L/100K to around 16L/100K - it takes about 8 hp to run the A/C compressor when its on full demand for cooling - instead of running your A/C try winding down your windows and install a roof rack that completely shades your roof - as in a tropical roof - it works wonders in keeping the cabin, and you, cool.

Following or rather during my over the mountains trip to Melbourne (as detailed in trips) I've developed a high pitched gear whine which is predominant in 4th and 5th but also noticeable in the lower gears when climbing steep rocky dirt roads -- of which we drive over 500 kilometers. I've noticed that the whine seems to almost completely vanish when I power off. Any ideas as to what I should look for ?

Well, Julie and I are back at home, unpacked and doing two weeks laundry the trip to and from Melbourne was great, we New South Welshmen always recon that the best view of Melbourne is in the rear mirror but that's a given we don't refer to Victorians as Mexicans (they reside south of the border) for no good reason. . Okay, the route down; first stop Gunning, just north of Canberra great free camp site next to the river and free hot showers and toilet facilities. (very civilized) we next drove down by-passing Canberra to Cooma and then camped up on the banks of Lake Eucumbene, one of the sixteen dams formed when the Snowy Mountains hydroelectricity system was built, The Snowy Mountains Hydro scheme was an incredible engineering achievement following WW2 to "kick start" the Australian economy as well as giving viable employment to well over 100,000 men and some 500 women (mainly kitchen staff and cooks) of post war European migrants , they were housed in tent camps in summer temperature that were over 40*C and in winter when the tents were, at times, covered in snow, up to 4 meters of snow falls were recorded!. 121 men and boys aged from 16 to 66 lost their lives in the construction, mainly in the tunneling operations. The system today produces 4,100 megawatts of power. The scheme began in 1949 and was officially completed and handed over, fully completed in 1974 - 25 years of construction. Of interesting note, the first 4x4 used were, naturally, Land Rover series, The first Toyota's used were by the American construction company Kaiser in 1958 due apparently to LR not being able to meet demand and supply An original series 1, supposed to be one of the first used is on display at the Tumut Museum, by the look of it absolutely no restoration or cleaning work has been done to it, it looks as if it was driven straight from the work site into the museum. LR's were the preferred work horse as the early Toyota's suffered from not having a low enough gearing for the mountainous terrain. The system includes 145 miles of tunnels of 50 feet diameter blasted and hand dug out of solid rock, some of these tunnels are over a kilometer below ground level and all had to be formed and then lined with wear resistant concrete 6 feet thick reducing the final tunnel diameter to a "mere" 38 feet. The waste rock was dragged out of the tunnels and used to back-fill the dams, one of which The Adaminaby took 58.5 million cubic feet of this material and stands 400 feet high and 1737 feet long, just 23 feet short of a mile! Seven independent power stations are stationed at various locations fed by water from the dams and during "off peak" periods over night several of the turbines are powered by the other stations and reverse their drive and pump the water back up to the top dams ready for the following days power needs - clever hey ! The other "by-product" of the Snowy scheme was to divert 75% of the water that would normally run down the Snowy river and out to sea to the Murrumbidgee River which runs inland to supply irrigation water to far away Griffith and Leeton in the MIA (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area) which has, as a result, become the garden center of Australia producing some 55% of vegetables. 30% of table and wine grapes, 15% of fruit and 85% of rice - all for local consumption. All the water from all the dams eventually flows into Lake Eucumbene where it can either be released into the Snowy River, Murrumbidgee River or pumped back up to the highest dam, the Kosciusko dependent on daily needs. Anyway, I digress, we camped up that night in the middle of the Snowy Mountain Wilderness along a creek and I over-indulged in a bottle of Balvenie 15 yo single malt. The following morning we set off bright and early (I have never, ever suffered from a hang-over regardless of the quantities of alcohol imbued ) and we arrived in Melbourne at Julies sisters around 4.00 pm.I should add that the daily temperatures during this part of the trip varied from 28 - 38* C -- nice and warm. We left Melbourne on Wednesday 29th and camped up at Lakes Entrance on the southern coast of Victoria, hot and very windy and the following morning set off north along the Snowy River track - rough narrow and gravel 80% of the 250 kilometer long track with elevations going from 80 to 1680 meters above sea level, we passed though a hamlet of three huts called "Seldom Seen" - (very appropriate naming) - and camped that night on the banks of one of the many creeks that feed into the Snowy River. The following day we drove up and dropped down through rugged mountains that still were recovering from the 2009 bush fires that destroyed 45% of this wilderness area. The heat generated from these fires caused electrical storms to form over them and the lightning strikes caused 5 more Forest fires as far as 60 kilometers away the vortex winds caused by the updraft of heat literally tore fully grown trees out of the ground. And so we returned home via Barry to visit some pals and have a belated new years barbecue. Total trip, 2850 kilometers over 6 days of driving. and averaging 11,2 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers, average temperatures on the three days driving home were around 36*C. Elevations experienced were, as I said 80 up to 1680 meters above sea level in a little over 250 kilometers distance as the crow flies. However the only downside to all the steep climbs is that I now have a whine in the gearbox that is most noticeable in 4th and 5th - and any ideas as to the cure or cause would be most appreciated, I'd hazard a guess that its a bearing. I took several pictures and GoPro videos and I'll post these in my gallery in the next week or so. I'll advise when I've done this.

Well, it's that time of the year again. The Disco is packed complete with Zodiac inflatable and Honda outboard and we leave tomorrow heading south with the ultimate destination being Melbourne to spend a few days with the outlaws and enjoy some Christmas cheer, and some alcohol :-) . Places of interest on the way there or back will be the National Art Gallery in Canberra to see the Tom Roberts paintings exhibition, and I want to explore and camp on 70 mile beach in Victoria. To each and every one of you I hope you all have a great Christmas and a happy new year, stay safe and keep those dear to you close, I'll be back on line after the 4th of January