Jode

But the TD5's an interesting challenge - all those electonics, needing to buy in a nanocom or hawkeye.. I'd stick with the TD5 if I had the choice, if only for the 'fun' of it.

What else is a poor girl to do when she's with a group of bored mates, sitting in a coach stuck on the M6 in a traffic jam...?

When LR launched the defender they sung its praises for a variety of improvements, however one item - running dry drive shafts/drive hubs - was a definite step backwards. The series landies run the drive flange/hub in oil, whereas the defenders have an oil seal that prevents diff oil getting to the hub. A popular upgrade down-under is to remove the "new" seal and replace the stub-axle-to-wheel seal with that used on the series vehicles.

Changing the timing belt isn't very hard, but you need some special tools (such as a beam-type torque wrench, crank locking tool to allow you to take the crank damper bolt off and put it back on, timing pins for the injectin pump pulley and the flywheel). Difflock.com has a really good write-up on how to change the belt out - you should at least read it before deciding to take the car to a garage.

The 300 TDI is very sensitive to overheating, so you may want to invest in a low coolant level alarm. You can fit the Range Rover expansion tank cap with low coolant sensor, however you'll need to bodge up wires into the cab and to a "spare" instrument panel light for your alarm. There are a couple of variants on the web regarding how to dfit an alarm or warning light.

Did the pump come locked up with its advance set? Now that you've got a spare I suggest that you strip and rebuild it yourself, if you're reasonably handy with tools. I can send you a strip and rebuild article that I found for a similar Bosch pump (there ARE some differences, however) if you're keen - all at your own risk, of course; PM me if you want it.

Welcome to the forum! Your landie looks like it's in very good nick. As you're now driving in permanent four-wheel drive, you'll need to acquaint yourself with the LT230 transfer box; this Ashcroft video is brilliant for gearbox/transfer box info:

How can you see if the parts are "genuine" or not? LR doesn't literaly badge the parts as far as I know, they badge the package the part comes in. And most parts they buy from others (seals from Corteco, steering bits from Adwest, glo-plugs from Beru, etc.). I recommend that you loosen the injection pump fittings to the timing cover, pump to bracket as well as the pump bracket to block bolts, and then re-tighten/torque as set out in the workshop manual. To do this you'll need to set the engine to TDC; you'll also need to either lock the timing gear to the cover so that you don't loose your timing advance, or else you'll need to reset your advance once you've refit all of the pump fixings. You'll be doing well if you have a trained vervet monkey that can get at some of the bolts that you will need to torque. And replace the camshaft seal - ERR3356 - while you're in there. I don't remember if it's accessible without pulling the rear cover off (hope it is, otherwise there'll be yet more work to do...).

Lesedi Motors? Now ask why I do all my own servicing.... Definitely replace the timing belt and idler pulley (and belt drive sprocket if it's the old moldel without the shoulders). The modest cost isn't worth saving if you end up breaking the belt and bend push rods and possibly con rods.

There's a good chance you'll leave the slave push rod in the fork/housing, but as it's likely the fork that needs replacing this won't really matter. You'll need to either slide the gearbox backwards or the engine forward to be able to get at the fork for replacing; you may want to consider changing out the release bearing while you're at it.

I hope lubed with brake fluid (or rubber grease) only!

I used contact cement.

Have you fit the core yet?

That'll likely be the switch at the door. These can be tempermental.

"It's a Land Rover"....

It's odd, isn't it. They had a perfectly good set-up for the hubs, with diff oil migrating out along the half shaft and lubing the drive member splines, and what do they do but put an oil seal in to stop this when they launched the Defender....

And welcome to the forum!

There is a very good article on adjusting fueling on the bosch pump that was posted on the aulro.com website (I think it's in "the good oil" section of the technical page). In my view this article is essential for anyone wanting to fiddle with their injeciton pump.

A good idea - makes it easier to remove them in future. I don't torque the plugs - I just use a 10mm box spanner and tighten them good and snug.

If the engine is "running away" at idle then the idle is incorrectly set. The lr workshop manual for the 300 TDI shows how to set the idle - if I were you I'd do that first in order to eliminate THAT issue. If it smokes regardless of engine rpm and the smoke is grey-black the timing is probably badly retarded. If however it smokes only under acceleration then the fuel screw on the injection may have been fiddled with, resulting in increased fuel delivery. If it looks like retarded timing, you should checke the pump lift at TDC - if this is not set correctly you can align all of the timing marks behind the timing cover and you'll STILL be running off-timing.

You gauge is connected before the intercooler. Sounds right with the oil pressure - as you rev it the pump spins faster so the oil pressure will increase, when holding a steady rev it will level out, and when the oil is hotter your presure will drop as the oil is then more viscous. Is that a variable speed turbo you've fit there?

Before fiddling with the head you'd be well advised to do a compression test: warm up the engine to normal operating temperature, remove either the injectors or the glo-plugs (depending upon what adapter your compression tester uses), fit the tester to each cylinder at a time and crank the engine for say 6 revolutions, then record the compression. All cylinders should be within 10% of each other. If any cyliner is low then squirt in a bit of oil (say 5 squirts from an oil can) and re-test, if the compression goes up you probably have worn rings/cyl liner, if no change then suspect burnt valves (probably exhaust).

1. Did you drain the sedimentor (if one's fit - I think they were standard for the deffer 300 tdi)? 2. Injectors given a clean recently? 3. You may have a split in the LDA diaghram. 4. But if it's hunting I'd suspect a split in the air cleaner hose.

The brass bits that straddle the cam follower "wheels".

On our 300 TDI rebuild I found three (IIRC) followers that were mashed. Plus one slightly out-of-true pushrod.