richardthestag

I am going down to re-wire dads series 11a 2.25 petrol this weekend it is 12v neg earth and the loom is so old that lights etc are intermittant. The only thing that has been good is the starting. Now that has stopped. I'd like to prove that the damn thing starts before I rip the old loom out + I need to drive it a couple of hundred yards to the barn and would be easier than towing it. Couple of questions please; Assuming that the points gap is correct and that the feed from the coil to the points is ok, I can run a seperate proven wire if this is bad.... If I run an ht lead from the coil with a plug on it (earthed against the engine block) and flick the points open and closed I should get a spark yes? If I don't can I run 12v direct to the coil from the battery i.e. is there any nasty hidden ballast resistors etc. As the starter still turns the engine and with a 12 volt feed to the coil it should start yes? Many thanks for your help. Richard

Crikey that is a whole lot of advise, many thanks indeed.. So standard engine, lots of offroading (though not competatively) and many steep hills near where he lives (north devon) shouts overdrive then? If so do I chance my luck with an e-bay job or is there a more guaranteed source for reliable units? If I do end up with a snotter what are rebuild costs like? Thanks again for all the advise Richard

Hi All My dad has a 68 IIa SWB and wants to improve the gearing. Apparently 55mph balls out and going deaf is not good for him. I have been looking at o/d converstions which seem to be readily available etc through e-bay but a bit on the pricey side when compared to an Ashcroft recon transfer box with trick internals. http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/part_35.html I heard that overdrive units are a bit on the fragile side, is this true? I guess that they cannot be tested off the car and that only a full strip down will identify any problems? However on the plus side they look pretty easy to fit? Has anybody got any advise / experience of tranfer box vs overdrive that could help us? p.s. did a transferbox change on my RRC a couple of years back and although it was heavy it was pretty straighforwards so again I am guessing that the series IIa shouldn't be that different. I am also trying to pursuade him to buy freewheel hubs to cut down a bit on the road noise / fuel consumption. Are they any good? Cheers Richard

I'll add to the list of genuine cap and rotor (from Land rover stealership themselves) as nothing else worked for me. Pattern rotors even look rubbish!! Pattern caps can be blue and carp at the same time hense going to LR parts counter!! Secondly when I had problems starting my high mileage range rover I found that it would flood really easily and if that happend it would be a right PITA to get started. If the plugs are wet, it is flooded and will be a b'stard to start.. Bit of a stoopid question but I guess that you never heard it run, not saying matey is a liar but if you haven't might just be worth checking for an ECU (high value and nice and easy for Farmer to shift on e-bay last year sort of thing), that might slow things down a bit Also worth checking that there is no aftermarket immobiliser fitted, i.e. break to the low tension circuit, unlikely if you are getting a spark I know but worth running some ecu diagnostics - never been in ecu diags so can't offer advise. My starting problems were rubbish pattern ignition parts and subsequent flooding - got there in the end though. HTH

I thought they all clonked on the props. my RRC with 46k on the clock clonks slightly when moving from reverse through drive with my foot on the brake pedal. the 180k snotter that preceded it clonked very loudly indeed but once clonked it was fine until changed direction again. if you get my drift. The autobox in the high mileage snotter wasn't that great so I did a fluid and filter change, world of difference and smooth a peanut butter (non crunchy stuff). IIRC service shedules state gearbox filter and fluid changes every 30k, more frequent if you go deep wading i.e. the next day sort of thing. Also worth checking that the UJ's on the props are in good order I saw one where the yoke was slapping around inside an empty end cup. It was so knackered that all the needle rollers in the bearing had fallen out. That'll clonk quite a lot!!! as already said high / low could just be down to lack of exercise. while you are doing the filter change get a can of oil with a long spot and work on the ends of the rod that connects the high low knob! to the transfer box. It is a right PITA when the pin drops out of the knob end <snigger> as it is sooo difficult to get too. HTH

You don't say whether petrol or diesel either.. My 3.9 is pumping warm air after about a mile. My FiL has a diesel that is still icey cold after 8 miles but eventually starts to warm up. HTH

Tinleytech Bourne CAMBS, sold me a kit for my 3.9, don't know if they do installs but they were a world of information and help. you should be getting about 72ish litres into a 90litre tank, that means you got about 4.5mpg which is centurian tank territory, are you sure it is not leaking!!! if it smells at all then it is leaking and will not help aside from being dangerous. I am guessing that your setup is open loop i.e. does not automatically adjust itself by taking a reading from the lambda sensor in the exhaust. Normally fitted to Cat'ed cars. Mine is closed loop i.e. an lpg management system (ecu box of tricks) takes readings from the lambda sensor and the TPS, it then uses the info to adjust a stepper motor on the gas feed into the mixer ring on the plenum input. round town I have yet to get any worse than 13mpg and on a run i'll get nearer 16mpg. If yours is open loop it needs to be manually setup, mixure can be set on the reducer (big round LPG thingy connected to the cooling system) and there should be a valve with a threaded nut that sits on the rubber gas feed pipe that goes from the reducer to the mixer (fixed to the plenum chamber inlet). Your reducer should have a manufacturers name on it which will help identify the mixure control. HTH Richard

I broke my last Rangie for spares and can probably help. The screen is dead easy to remove, get the two A-post/windscreen pillar trims off and disconnect the heated screen electrics if fitted. Pulled the push in black beading out of the outside of the windscreen rubber. This makes the screen rubber really soft and flexible. Working from inside the car I started at the top corner and simply pushed the glass outwards gently, once I had pushed around the top and down both side the top of the screen was clear of the frame and I lifted the screen off the car leaving the screen rubber in the frame. I never put one back in but suspect replacement is the reversal of removal process failing that get the rubber back on the screen and then use car wash liquid and a washing line. Once the screen and rubber are back in the black beading seems to lock everything into place. Don’t forget to remove the rear view mirror, mine has electrics for map lights!! Once the screen is out you can fix your screen top rail which I think needs to be welded in, take measurements before cutting the old rail off else you may not get the screen back in. HTH Richard

You don’t say what autobox / transfer box you have. My old 92 RR Classic with BW transferbox used to chippup on overrun at speed. I.e. 60mph and lift off the throttle and it would go chippup chippup chippup etc. It confused me because it sounded like it came from the depths of the passenger footwell. I initially thought some relay was playing up but couldn’t find one. The car ran ok otherwise then one day 20k after I bought the car and as I was pulling away from traffic lights BANG! The engine was still running, there was a horrible grinding noise and the car started to roll backwards. The transferbox had lunched itself, I never established what part of the box had gone put proved it because when the hi-low lever was in neutral and the gearbox in drive there was no noise. There was absolutely no drive through the transferbox but it did sound nasty. I bought another 2nd hand transfer box and fitted it over a weekend. Drive came back and chippup went away. A mate of mine had a Triumph 2500 automatic that the flex plate had broken on. That made a clicking noise until one day it lunched itself and broke the bell housing!! I helped him strip that and it was a mess. The flex plate had cracked halfway between the crank bolts and the TQ bolts right the way round. I guess that when it finally said enough was enough the weight of the TQ no longer attached to the end of the crank allowed it to vibrate and knock a lump out of the bell / TQ housing. The rest of the car was quite nice (this was a long time ago) we found a scrappy 2000 complete with manual o/d box to put in but never quite managed to finish it before mate lost heart and sold it as a project. This chap had a broken flex plate on a Rover p6 this is what they look like; HTH Richard

Newbee here I have been running a couple of RR classics over the last 4 years or so. The first one died when the cooling system pressurization got the better of the plastic rad plug while I was on the m40 at speed. Combination of dead engine, lots of rust, high mileage saw the end of that vehicle. So I hunted down a low mileage rust free unit. And found one too…. Trouble was that it hadn’t been used nor serviced for a while and I had similar problems to you. Using my learning’s from dealing with the higher mileage snotter I was able to fix the problem really easily; New GENUINE cap and Rotor GENUINE=PRICEY but Pattern doesn’t work, oddly they work fine on My Triumph v8 in the Stag!! New Plug, and leads (as has been mentioned routing the HT leads makes a difference and cuts down on lots of misfires) New engine flame trap and breather pipes Checked vacuum pipes to plenum (not forgetting that little buggr near the stepper motor (air bypass valve) New Fuel filter New Air Filter I also removed the plenum cover and cleared out 12 years of accumulated carp from the inside and around the trumpet base. While the trumpet base was off the engine I checked that the inlet manifold was torqued to the heads. I cleaned up the surface of the inlet manifold and sealed the joint between inlet manifold and trumpet base using blue hylomar Removed the stepper motor from the plenum and cleaned with carbcleaner. Sealed the plenum cover to the trumpet base again using blue hylomar Checked the air hose between airflow meter and plenum inlet for damage, holes etc Did the whole lot in a single day and it ran a treat. When I start the engine from cold it revs to about 1200 but settles quickly to 750. when warm it idles at 500ish rpm. Very smooth too. Sometimes the engine idle is very low, so low in-fact that the tacho doesn’t register but it still runs and doesn’t stall. I agree OP should invest in manuals, they do answer soo many questions and more quickly. Plus I find them great fun to read. Mine are devoid of oily finger prints and are regular bed time reading.. Crikey did I write that out loud? The Haynes “replacement is simply a reversal of removal process” is not too bad, I also bought a RR Classic CD manual from my local LR part supplier which is great. Simply find what I want print it off and go to the Garage. HTH Richard