BogMonster

Greased lightnin' I meant to say (as you did) that to check it, you need to take the timing cover off, and once you get that far in it is a waste of time putting it back together again without fixing it! IMHO it is also a waste of time just putting a belt on and it might as well be done properly. Bearmach is a good place to buy the mod kits, others may do them as well.

look at http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=6943 and http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=12788 to get you started

It means the cam belt is misaligned and chafing on the pulleys as per the "infamous problem" how urgent it is depends on how much wear there is on the belt it could have just started or be just about to go ping you can fit a new belt as a temporary measure to buy some time but a better bet is to fit the relevant modification kit - there are two sorts according to vin number - I am pretty sure all the details are in the LR4x4 tech archive forum if you look in there

You can reprogramme any ECU to any engine as long as it is the right sort for the age i.e. pre 02 or 02 onwards. You do need a Testbook though and you need to take the rocker cover off to get the injector grades off the injectors. The only thing is that some twiddly functions don't work - I put an early Defender ECU in a Discovery for diagnostic purposes a few weeks ago and the Discovery rev counter didn't work, for one example.

Post up the part number on the ECU it will most likely be MSBxxxxxx or NNNxxxxxx that is a good place to start. The mappable post 02 ones are all NNN part number AFAIK but if you post it up I will check it at work and see what age it was fitted to. Though if it is a hybrid it could be a mix and match job.

Quite possibly but there is a facility to add your location when filling in your profile and it was a hint

Whereabouts are you then? Stupidity among UK suppliers regarding sending stuff out to overseas customers is regrettably quite common. You should try getting stuff sent here...

Those pipes can and do split usually on the inside of the curve IIRC so you can't really see it till you take it off. Rocker cover seal and the PCV valve Les mentioned are the other regular leaky bits in that area.

Having done some research to put accurate numbers on it, about 100 odd in the last five years. Which is quite a few in a place this size...

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh watch it Lessie - you big hunk, you

Yeah but if your aircraft can't stop the consequences are more serious when it runs out of road at 200mph If I had access to GTR I might well have just had a look and found that in fact LR do not have any technical bulletins at all on the subject. May be worth a mention...

I am pretty sure that is what is the problem Ralph, basically just metal fatigue due to the casing flexing around the mountings.

On the mod kit the crank pulley should have lips and the idler/tensioner should not have them.

Here you go Jim, with impeccable timing a cracked one came in today They always go just where this one has, first tell tale is usually a bit of rust and after a while the crack opens up with the flexing of the servo unit. This is a really bad one but any sort of crack means a loss of brake vacuum and braking effort - this vehicle felt fine until you tried to do an emergency stop and then you found the pedal didn't go down any more, locking the wheels was a bums-off-seats job twenty odd stone of me can do it but if it was a seven stone weakling or a diminutive lady driver it might be a different story! I'd also guess it pressurises the crankcase to some degree because I think the vacuum pump vents into the crankcase so if there is a vacuum leak it is pumping air into the engine, not a great idea really. This is a 2003 model 300Tdi Defender by the way, so only four years old!

Les, It's the injection control that is broken Seriously though if it is a Testbook/T4/IDS does it give a list of possible causes? Or is it just a generic "code reader" you are using? Usually the proper article gives you a bit more information on the possible problem. I'm not familiar with the BMW motor but some engines around that time use an injector pump which seemingly does the main injector pumpy things by itself but the injection timing is modified by the ECU - the L series in the Freeloader works like this I think. So it will run without the electronics working properly but not very well - could be something like that. I'm afraid I know nowt about the engines as there is only one P38 RR here and I looked under the bonnet for the first time last week

We were told by LR that they wouldn't supply them any more a couple of years ago and had to order all the bits individually which came to about £400 for the big kit IIRC - the Bearmach kit is a fraction of the cost. So unless LR have re-introduced the kit as a genuine part (probably not as the "official line" is that all affected vehicles will have been covered by now) I doubt you will find one anywhere.

What Phil says is spot on, those are LR's recommendations. In our workshops we change the rotor and oil every 6k and the full flow filter at 12k because new oil is the best investment you can make in the long term health of any engine.

On yours, the idler or tensioner should have had guide lips on the edge though. If none of the pulleys had lips on then whoever last changed the belt with the previous owner is a tit and put it back together with the wrong combination of bits!!!

Have you got photos of the failures Will? I seem to remember seeing some from way back when but just wondered if you could re-post them if still available...?

Bearmach do them STC4095K for the big kit for early vehicles incl timing case etc and STC4096K for the little kit for later vehicles which is basically belt and pulleys.

Sorry I forgot to go and check. Will try and remember to have a look later on - but we may not have any lying around, it isn't something we keep as it is no use for anything!

hmm I posted this yesterday but it disappeared! Fitted to all Defenders here? always has been (excluding petrol engines obviously)

bit of wood on the floor in the hole is a common solution to a flat floor drill a couple of new holes and alter the size of the clamp to suit

I'd not be sure how long an LT77 will last with either upgraded engine option, bear in mind the later R380 boxes are stronger units with bigger internal bearings etc than the early R380 never mind the LT77, presumably this upgrade was partly to cope with the extra oooomph of the Td5. Probably depends on driving style and usage but any LT77 box is going to be getting on a bit now?

There should be slots in the floor as stated, the clamp is basically a bit of stud bar (probably M6 I think) with a hook bent into one end, this goes through the slots in the floor of the battery box and a metal bar goes across the top of the battery with a hole in each end, the stud bar goes through this and tightens down with a nut. If you can't get a proper one it would not take long to make!