Sheffield

At least they seem to admit to all the costs, unlike some other programs which ignore labour costs. Wheeler Dealers for instance.

Many thanks.

May I ask the collective what size the thread on a wading plug for the bell housing on a discovery 1 300TDI Auto, please? I thought I had one, but what I have is too small.

I live in France, and in the past I have had parts for our Discovery 1 from the Uk, from Paddocks for one, but recently when I wanted two shock absorbers I found the transport costs had increased greatly. It was cheaper and quicker to have them from a company called "Best of Land", in France. It is the first time I have used them, but it seemed to go well.

The plate is held by two bolts, one larger diameter than the other. The pin screws into the hole vacated by the larger bolt. If you use the other hole to fix a bit of spring plate to bear on the head of the pin, it will push the pin into the whole in the flywheel as you slowly turn the engine.

If I recall correctly the 300TDI on autobox vehicles has a cover plate at the rear of the engine. This is a small plate held by two unequal size boltrs. Remove the plate and fit tool LRT-12-044 into the larger bolt hole to lock the flywheel. This tool is different to the manual gerabox tool

Is it a manual gearbox or an auto? The injector pump on our 1998 TDI auto started making a noise just before the throttle potentiometer failed.

I agree fully with all that has been said. I am glad to be reaching the end of my life rather than just starting, as it seems to me that the future is not at all rosy. But mankind is fundamentally a selfish nasty creature who always wants more than he has. Not surprising really; we are descended, so I am told, from a couple who did not know when they were well off, stole the one thing they were told not to touch, and lied about it.

Interesting that no one seems to have suggested a first generation Discovery, which is just a RRC in working clothes. If you can find a V8 auto, change the seats to RRC ( which fit straight in) they are as nice to drive as a RRC. And very simple to repair.

How would you reduce the compression ratio to suit? Have a steel plate cut to go between the head and the block? With electronic ignition systems taking a signal from some where sparks would not be too difficult, but how would you inject and control the fuel? Perhaps use some thing from the earlier 2.5 petrol engine?. It would be an interesting project, which might provide an engine with the capability for a very long life.

What you appear to be saying is that the idea of making one good vehicle out of two with problems is no longer permitted. Regardless of the unclear legal situation it seems to me that provided the seller sells the chassis without identity, and tells the DVLA the vehicle is scrapped, and the buyer uses the chassis to rebuild an otherwise good D2, keeping that D2's identity, nothing has been done that is morally wrong. I doubt if officialdom would be interested, even if they realised what had been done. So, back to the origianl question, I think the chassis does have value under the above circumstances.

I agree, if looked after they are fine. in the last fifty years i have owned three Land rover vehicles, and had to be recovered once only. My present one, an ex Police Discovery 1, whcih i have had for nine years, has never let me down.

As proven by the Brands chart. Hotpoint and Indesit are part of Whirlpool. Add them together and they go to the top of the list, giving a different chart. Atatistics can say what ever you want them to say.

Is not that part of the issue?. Once upon a time a car maker either made the parts himself, or purchased from an identified source such as Lucas. Now most of the parts they use are made by someone else, who is not always known to the wider world.

I am not defending Britpart or the cheaper end of the supply chain, but was trying to illustrate the situation from the "mass market" point of view. Take some one who likes his Discovery, but is not a Land Rover enthusiast who spends a lot of time on the internet. He looks online, or goes to his local garage, and finds he can pay £300 for a Land Rover part, or £60 for a non Land Rover part. He sees or is told the non Land rover part has a 2 year warranty. What is he going to do?. Is it surprising so many people go Britpart? And what about the garage trade? They can sometimes do parts and labour for around the same as the cost of genuine parts. If there was a reasonable difference in price genuine parts would be defendable, but 500%? Land Rover once said they were going to support the "classic" market for spares, but nothing useful seems to have come of it. I have also suffered with Britpart parts, but I understand why they have come to dominate the market.

While I agree with what has been said, I feel we must also ask if Land Rover's parts policy has not been a factor. I wish to purchase a new master cylinder for the Discovery 1. The internet offers me one for less than £50, ex vat, while there are two more at just below and just above £70. A Lucas one seems to be £170. The price quoted for the Land Rover branded one of over £310. Faced with that choice I suggest most people would not buy Land Rover. We may question the quanity of the £50 one, but is LR 6 times better? I suggest that had LR parts priced more reasonably there may not have been quite such a move towards the likes of Britpart. They do after all offer 2 year warrany, which would put a lots of minds at rest.

I am not sure about the "one shot" grease, if you want to keep the vehicle for a long time. Not only is it not as good a lubricant as oil, but if the seal not sealing fully and would let oil out it will let water in. With oil you can check the level, and change the oil from time to time, flushing out any water. But how do you check the grease, for condition or quantity withiout dismantling the hub? Land Rover had good reasons for introducing the grease, but if you are prepared to look after your vehicle I suggest you stay with EP90 oil.

I fear Britpart just supply what most of the market requires, which is of course, cheap. I can not blame them for that. My complaint with Britpart is the variable quality of their parts. Some are good, some just about acceptable, and some poor or even unusable. The problem is knowing which is which before I buy.

Yes thank you. I found nine bolts, rather than the 10 listed, but after that it came off easily using a sharpened wide blade . What I found underneath is not as bad as I feared either.

As part of a refurbishment of a First Series Discovery, I wish to remove the rear off side side panel. The Discovery is an Ex Manchester Police 5 door made in October 1995. The instructions tell me to expect the following fixings. 6 self tapping screws in a vertical row in the rear door (tailgate) opening, by the hinges. They came out without any problems A nut and bolt holding the bottom of the [panel to the mud flap frame. I changed this to a stainless steel nut and bolt with plastic washers some years ago and it came out without a problem. A bolt at the front bottom of the panel at the front bottom of the wheel arch, by the rear side door. This bolt seems to be missing, and nothing holds the panel here. A vertical row of four self tapping screws at the front of the panel behind the black plastic trim. These are in fact rivets, but again no problem. A rivet holding the rear speaker frame. And 10 6mm bolts acessed from inside. But I can only find 8 bolts. 3 in a horizontal row under the side window, 3 in a vertical row in the rear corner, by the tail light cluster, and 2 in a horizontal row above the side window. I have found what may be two more holes in the two horizontal rows, filled with sealant, but without bolts. Is it possible 2 have been left out, or are the missing 2 bolts hidden and I have not found them? Any advice will be gratefully received.

We are now being told that wood burningstoves are also bad, and we should feel guilty about using them. If we abandon them, and we should not use coal or gas perhaps we should add further to the electrical load with house heating. Would that the Greens and politicans produced a sensible plan for the future, and stuck to it. The real problem is that there are too many people on the planet, far more than it can sustain. The only solution I can see is a good war, or some infection that can not be controlled.

This is curious, as it does not cost any more to punch a large hole as a small one. i could understand less paper, for instance, but can see no reason for a smaller hole, except perhaps making use of tools already set up for some other application. perhaps it is to do with the way the byepass valve is produced.

My wife and I are with ADAC, and they have been fine for the two occasions my wife has needed them. Cover all over Europe for a lot less than the AA etc wanted. Although it is call Germany to get help they speak English happily enough if you ask.

I would not use a nylock nut on an exhaust flange. I would use two stainless steel nuts as a main nut and lock nut and to cover as much of the stud as possible. This might give a chance of getting it off again without a battle in the future.

There is a hugh market for work horses, but it is mostly satisfied by Japanese pickups and similar. They can do what most people require, and given that many are just leased for 3 or 4 years they last long enough. The Defender is really over engineered for modern day requirements. and just too expensive. LR have turned their back on that market, and make more money selling high value vehicles to the well healed.