BogMonster

Richard is that you in your youth then?

Are you sure it was not something else like the alternator bearing seizing? this might stop the engine if only idling or low revs, and if the belt wasn't turning it would also kill the power assistance to the steering. You'll find out soon enough if it was - it'll stop completely! 6203 bearing when it does... one of the most common faults with any of the bits driven off the serpentine belt.

Couple of bits of 2"x3" timber under the seat rails

Chris The door mechanism is a purely electrical thing so if the door won't open but you can hear the solenoid clicking and the window drops, the fault must be in the lock mechanism, nothing actually to do with the handle having fallen off. I don't recall any particular faults with these locks on the vehicles I have seen, sorry. I have seen a technical bulletin on the subject but it more or less says "if the latch is broken fit a new latch" - duh really useful...

I think he's just got some majorly different wings by the look of it

ABS/ETC lights usually indicate some sort of ABS sensor failure but not sure about the check engine light Try disconnecting the battery for a couple of hours and see what happens. If that fails and the lights are still all on, you'll need to go to the dealership. It is probably safe to drive but my advice would be common sense i.e. make sure all the essentials are working (brakes etc) before going too far!

I went to a bloke who makes up hydraulic hoses and he made me an extension HP hose for my Draper pressure washer, the fitting onto the handpiece was just a std hydraulic fitting, JIC or something.

Tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut The moderator is not impressed Don't let it happen again

How odd ... I always thought the engines were in the cars long before they were in the Freelander - I wonder why it had that?

Really begs the question Why..........? I think the relevant expression is "you can't shine Sh***" obviously nobody told British Leyland

How were you getting on with that snorkel then Nige?

I've love to get a 90 that shade of red but otherwise ... yuk an exercise in bad taste if ever I saw one Would have been better to spend the money on a headlight that was waterproof IMHO

Part numbers are ERR5261 (1.3mm) / ERR5262 (1.4mm) / ERR5263 (1.5mm) for the normal ones, and the thick one is ERR7154 which seems to be 1.6mm or 1.7mm depending on who you believe! - and mainly intended for use with skimmed heads, having done a quick search.

Look along the side of the engine you will see a place where the gasket sticks outside the head/block in a recess, there will be 1, 2 or 3 holes in it, this shows the thickness so you need a replacement with the same no. of holes in. Don't think a crank change will matter, I think it is to do with how far up the bores the pistons come which is more likely to be a function of the machining in the block manufacture rather than crank. If you put the thickest on you would just lose a little bit of compression. Not sure how much difference this would make. The thickest gasket actually has no holes in it, but is an extremely rare thing to find on an engine, most are 2 hole and a few 1s and 3s (on 300s at least - same gasket)

I have to say I'd never get anything other than Genuine exhaust if I could. Aftermarket cheapo ones are cr*p and never fit properly, and the poofy stainless ones are usually silly money. Genuine ones usually last about 6-7 years sometimes more, and you can't really grumble about that, plus they fit straight on - on my last 90 it took me nigh on 2 hours to get a non-genuine centre silencer to fit (4 bolts + 2 rubber mounts - should be 10 min job except I couldn't get a Gen one at the time) because the whole thing was out of shape, mounts in wrong place, wrong length etc etc. Too much aggravation!

It's so much less bother just living somewhere that doesn't have mobile phones, I've never broken one done over a couple of hand-held VHF radios though - which are a bit more expensive James - a kindred spirit. What did you write on the claim - "Display failure"?

Nah that's prob just when the diff ****s itself and then doesn't "differentiate" any more

I had a Metro Vanden Plas(tic) and yes it had 12" rims, 155/70R12 tyres, so that would be my guess too Edited to say "oh OK then" ... "posts crossed"

Yes they will fit then But be aware that the wider offset of many aftermarket wheels means there can be problems with tyres rubbing - for instance on some, even 225/75R16s will rub with std suspension (I know somebody that had exactly this problem a few years back) whereas on the "proper" Disco rims they will fit with no problem

I've often wondered about winch bolts... We worry about bolting towing attachments on with 6" thick backplates and loads of high tensile bolts and yet a winch (a normal winch, before Nige comes along to say his has 48 bolts fixing it on ) is held on with 4 x fairly short 3/8" bolts into alloy.... and with the geometry of the thing, most of the load is going to be on 2 of those. If somebody turned up for a marshal inspection with a towing hitch held on with 4 x 3/8" bolts they'd be told to b****r off I should think! As Dolly said the MM mounting bolts are helicoiled, though IIRC the two on the front aren't, as they are only supposed to be for the fairlead mounting.

What are the Defender wheels - alloys, ordinary Defender steels or something else? Any of them should fit anyway but Discoverys look a bit "odd" with the narrow Defender steels on, and if the wheels have 7.50R16 tyres on, the tyres will rub. PCD and hub is the same.

As I commented on the other thread I have just put Difflocks MT75 in my manual box and I was underwhelmed (had MTF94 in there before, I have also used Dexron type oils in my older 90's gearbox) Not worth 10x the price IMHO, cold change is a bit better (as per the claims) but the downside is the hot shift, particularly when very hot, seems a bit worse (though there really isn't much in it). I'd rather have a grumpy gearbox first thing in the morning than a grumpy gearbox the rest of the time

what are they going to call it - "the little bang"

Lots of dusty roads in Herts/Bucks then? No I thought not...

"The salesman said these Fedimas were so good you could walk on water...."