Josh NZ

Check your earth connections. Clean them, replace the earth leads if they look too far gone and see of that makes a difference. A lot of those systems you mentioned share common earth points. Many complaints about bad electrics on LRs are solved by sorting the earths. Let us know how you get on! Josh

A series leaking oil? Who would've thought! It probably wouldn't hurt to pull the head off and renew the gasket if you've got the the means (atleast you know it will be good for a while longer!) The oil out of the bellhousing will be the crank seal. It can contaminate the clutch and make it hard to drive so best changed sooner rather than later I would have thought. The oil blowing out of the rocket cover could be a blocked breather for the crankcase ventilation system, worth looking into. The Haynes book'o'lies or green bible will be invaluable. Hope that's enough to get you started Josh

Are the replacement parts genuine LR or of comparable quality? The sparks should be blue and fat. Your Ecu might be thinking that there is more air going in than is actually going in and injecting more fuel. Maybe your air flow metre is playing up? I'm not overly knowledgeable on EFI systems but there are plenty on here who are! HtH Josh

I also agree on Loctite. I only use the Sika products because I have easy access to them

Working on an educated guess (which can be the mother of all you know whats!) It will see a fair few vibrations so something relatively flexible would be a good bet. Sika would surely have a product in their range that would seal, flex and stick. We used Sika concrete panel sealants on our sites and they can hold entire concrete tilt panels in place if you don't cut it before you try remove the panel! But there are so many types around. You might get some good info off a sales rep from the various companies if you feel like asking round. HTH Josh

OT sorry! I'm in Riccarton! I'll have to keep an eye out for you on the road. I'm out that way looking at a skippy this weekend!

I have a 13bt motor in my BJ71 Land Cruiser (JDM spec). Coupled with the H55f trans it goes like clockwork. Why are you limited to the R series transmissions just out of interest? Did the 3L-T (Hilux 2.8td) come out with the R series trans? They are a great engine capable of interstellar distances. The 2L-T and 1KZTE motors are very good too but as mentioned, have head cracking issues which pretty much kill them. The problem (I think) occurs due to a hotspot between 2nd and 3rd cylinders which can be alleviated by fitting a larger diameter exhaust and alloy rad. Or that's what I understand anyway. Otherwise the good old B series diesels are a pretty safe bet. Very unstressed engines and just keep on chugging.

I thought the XC part of the reg meant it was registered at the Solihull offices by LR themselves. A vehicle with some sort of special history perhaps?

A lot of the contractors we use at work drive Landcruiser flat decks as their company fleet cars. They all run on BFG LT/235/85/16 ATs which says a lot when you consider that they pull 3+tonne trailers all day everyday, plus go off road to get to some sites during winter and they get huge mileage out of those tyres. I asked one of the operators one day when I was pondering over what tyres to get for my LC and he said they've had no complaints whatsoever. (They used Tonys tyre service who I think are just fantastic too) The Mickey Thompson tyres.. I've heard good things about them but haven't seen many trucks with them fitted to ask anyone. Hope that helps Josh

Check for play in the wheel bearings? Jack up the wheel and try and rock it vertically and horizontally. Just a suggestion. Josh

Almost definitely a synchro problem I would say. I've had exactly the same problems with other trucks and that was the diagnosis

There's a series 3 manual in the part number request section of the forum isn't there? On retroanaconda.com?

That's unbelievable! You couldn't even give away a catflap door if you tried round here. It's the rear swing away doors that go for stupid money. I should send a shipment away to the UK... I have 5 or 6 kicking round somewhere!

I ran 265/75/16 BFG MT on my stage 1 v8 for a year. The truck was used all round town plus all my off-roading exploits as well. I ran them at 34 psi and they were very good. On a contrasting story I just about died one day in an old truck of mine (Mazda bounty) which was on 235/85/16 BFG AT. I don't think the size had anything to do with it but one day in the pouring rain I was driving at 80kmh on a brand new asphalt road. Approaching the traffic lights I braked lightly and the front wheels locked up! I slid straight through the intersection! I've also experienced a few hairy moments on AT tyres on corners in the wet but thankfully nothing too bad. I run 31-10.5-15 on 34psi Bridgestone Dueler MT on my Landcruiser 70 that I'm using and currently nothing bad to say at all! Little on the noisier side but very very good!

Sounds like over fuelling to me. As a matter of course, get the injectors checked at a specialist and they can tell you if they are duff or just need refurbishing. Also check there are no restrictions in the air intake such as delaminating hoses (on the inside) or kinks

Bearing in one of the pulleys/tensioner a perhaps? Or a slipping belt? Sometimes on cold starts the alternator will charge really hard to regain the power lost from the start and will "chatter". Although that's not really the same sound you describe. My money's on a dying pulley bearing. HTH Josh

Genuine LR or the equivalent in quality if it were my truck. Magnecore leads are expensive but are excellent also. Dizzy cap, I would go genuine as well. If you're on a budget, buy the best you can afford. HfH (nige) has excellent advice on all things 8 cylinders. Search through some of his content if you get a chance. If you have the cash, why not megasquirt? You have the right engine for it HTH Josh

You need to go to an LR dealer with the above information and your cars chassis number and they will give you the code to type in. It's a basic security feature so that anyone who steals your stereo will have a hard time getting it to work

I see! Could be worth putting some compressed air through the fuel lines just in case. For the coil, I just matched my symptoms to the troubleshooting guide on the Haynes manual and double checked it with symptoms of a dead coil on google search. Then I replaced it and voila, truck was perfect again. They are cheap and replacing it won't hurt, just get genuine and make sure you have the correct type (ballasted or non ballasted, I can never remember) and pop it in.

I would say that there's a bit of crud floating in the fuel tank which when hard accelerating is blocking the fuel pickup pipe. It could be worth draining and clearing out the fuel tank. Otherwise it could be your ignition coil beginning to go bad, as they can give intermittent poor running at heavy acceleration but be just fine at idle and half throttle cruising. My stage 1 v8 had the same issue with the coil. If it's at fault, simply replace and forget (for a while.. It is Lucas we are talking about!) HTH Josh

When you search down next to your seat for the door handle in every other car you drive!

Sounds like an air leak to me.. I had so many problems with my S2a all of which were similar to yours, and my carb had just come loose from the manifold and was letting air past. Check for air leaks after the carb, spray some WD40 and see if it revs up. Josh

That looks more like a 90 with an extra rear section attached on the end to me

Sounds a lot like earth problems to me! Isn't there a major earth connection behind the dash..? (Not really 100% on defender anatomy)