DiscoStu

Hi All, At the back of the engine (300Tdi Disco) left side looking at it from the front of the truck, the vacuum pipe comes up off the vacuum pump, it then goes to a T junction. One pipe leads off to the servo, the other leads off to.... I dont know! I've discovered this pipe hanging loose, unconnected to anything. This prompts a couple of questions: Where should it go? Could this be the reason that despite repeatedly bleeding the brakes I still have a crappy pedal? Sorry I dont have a picture to illustrate this better - I did take one but cant upload it from this PC. Stu.

I have a method which seems to work well. Using an old pan and a camping stove - unless you're single and can get away with doing it in the kitchen - warm some grease so its reasonably runny, drop bearings in, stir and remove from the heat. Allow to cool, remove and hey presto, a nicely packed bearing. Stu.

Hi all, I wondered if someone could educate me a bit about MBC's? I read a post a while back where someone mentioned they had fitted an MBC valve. I was interested at the time and when I got the opportunity recently to get one for pretty much free I did. Now, as I understand it can regulate the boost produced by the turbo by controlling what pressure is allowed to the waste gate actuator. I'm not quite sure how this changes anything though. Am I right in thinking that it wont actually increase my boost pressure unless I shorten the wast gate actuator rod then use the MBC to fine tune it? I've read that it can eliminate wastegate creep and some lag - I think I understand about the wastegate creep - no pressure at all gets past the ball valve until the set point, then it opens fully and allows the pressure through to the actuator. Does anyone else use one of these and can to be used to up the boost a bit? I have a gauge and wouldn't go much more than 1.1 bar. Stu.

Thanks for that sage advice It's a manual R380 (hence the stiff gearchange) - yes new fangled folk use MTF but historically its been ATF - it even says it in the Haynes book of lies. Do you think swithcing to £40 worth of snazzy oil will do the trick? Stu.

Hi all, Disappointingly, I wanted to ask a question about my gearbox! When cold, warm, running about, off roading etc my gearbox is fine if a little notchy on 2nd - no news there. It's a recently new to me truck, 300Tdi 1995. After motorway journeys the gear change really tightens up - not unusable but its quite tight. I noticed after a recent run to a trial (40 miles) so decided to change all the fluids. Done G & T box and both diffs. I used ep 80-90 in the T box and Good quality ATF in the G box. Thinking that all would be solved - especially after seeing the trickle of carp that came out of the gearbox - I did another run to another trial. No change, box still stiff when coming off the motorway and stays stiff for a good while until, I assume, it cools down. Does anyone know what causes this? Is it something I can rectify? Stu.

Hi all, I've got a snapped bolt problem! Whilst fitting a steering guard I've managed to snap the head off the lower steering box bolt. Does anyone have any magic remedies that I haven't thought of or is it just heat/hammer repeat? I know there is no such thing as a simple job. Why do I feel the need to keep on proving it to myself.... Stu.

Thanks, I'll try that. Stu.

Hi all, hoping for some electrical advice. My battery keeps going flat so I realised something was draining current. I put a multimeter between the positive battery terminal and the main red cable and can see something is drawing 2.6a - enough to flatten the battery over two days. Process of elimination traced it to the alternator - if I remove the cables from the back or the big 100a fuse there is no current drain. So my question is, do alternators do this sometimes? If so, is there a diode or rectifier that can be replaced? I'm not too good with electrics but will muddle through if someone can point me in the right direction. Stu.

Hi Kev, I managed to free up an hour and had a crack at it. All sorted now, largely thanks to your write up, thanks again! Stu.

Thanks Kev, any tips on manually winding them back to a usable position until i get time to clean the switches?

Hi all, it's been a while! I've been building my disco for a while now and finally got it MOT'd just this morning. When I came home I decided to have a quick fiddle (as you do...) with the electric seats - until now I hadn't tried to adjust them and the driving position was not great but as I hadn't been driving it, it didn't matter! Long story short, the seat base will move forwards and the seat back will move forwards also (un-recline) but neither will move backwards - I now have a car I can barely fit into.... Does anyone know how to manually or electronically override the seat switches until I can get them sorted? (A bit of searching leads me to believe they are the likely culprits). Please help, I'm unlikely to loose 4 stone and shrink by half a foot over the next few days... Stu.

Sorry, I'm not right There are indeed the 10 body bolts you mention - plus the ones I mentioned. I got loked into there being 10 body mounts, there are actually 12! Front panel Bottom of bulkhead Front outrigger Centre mounts (the eyed ones) Rear outrigger Rear body member Sorry, didn't mean to mislead. Stu.

The two central body mounts (inboard of the chassis) are different - you need eight of the type described above. The two I mention are an "eyed" bolt with iirc, a 5/8 unf nut and an unusual stepped bush arrangement. (Applies to 300Tdi) Stu.

I put a massive dent in my fuel tank on my previous disco - ironically this only happens when you remove the tow bar for the increased clearance. I got a fantastic Equippe aluminium tank guard second hand and still not cheap but worth every penny - it was badged up by LRS Offroad if you were in fro a new one. Jate rings of eblag sorts our rear recovery points but can be used with the tank guard I got a HD rear bumper also. Still bent it mind..... Home made B&Q snorkel with a few silicone hoses added did me, at £20 better than a southdown (too narrow) and surprisingly tough! Stu.

I've just done a body swap so this is good and current advice. Dont remove the doors. You need the rigidity in the shell. Ust two long pieces of timber to support the entire length of each sill to distribute the weight. Do use a two post ramp if you can get access to one. Other than that, as plastic badger said, plus Undo the brake lines at the union in the wheel arch/above back axle - if I were you I'd have replacements to hand. As you face the bulkhead from the front of the car there are two large bulkhead grommets for the wiring. Left hand can stay in situ, right hand is the engine loom and it's best to undo in the foot well and pull out rather than remove off the engine and pull in. Only the rear seat belt mounts need to be undone - again, expect trouble - I had to slice and chisel the stupid torx cap bolts off. Axle breathers etc can be left on, just unclip from the bulkhead. When seperating the steering column, you only need to undo the lower or upper clamp, leave the central one alone. You will just have to inch it back on when rebuliding - not to hard. I'd advise you to take your time, don't break anything and do as many jobs as you need to do before dropping the body back on, its extremely easy to do timing belt, clutch etc on the rolling chassis. Good luck, Stu. (sorry about the photo quality - i had to copy them from my facebook page....)

Thanks as always Cipx2, no it does not have EDC so hopefully future ECU problems due to ridiculouis wading can be eliminated.... Stu.

Hi all, I'm in the process of doing a body swap on a Discovery 300Tdi. The Chassis, engingine etc is the Tdi (Manual), the new body is from a V8 ES (Auto). Obviously there are a lot of changes required, from transmission tunnel gaiters to fuel filler pipes! I admit, a similar diesel manual body would have been easier! I'm seriously considering not transferring the diesel ecu from the old body to the new one - I think it would not be too dificult to wire the starter, fuel solenoid etc from the ignition circuit. Does anyone know of a downside to doing this? What other functions will I be loosing/problems will I be creating? I will say as a caveat that I'm not too worried about immobilser functions - I have much more robust plans in that direction. Stu.

Thanks Errol, I'll risk 50p on a pair of them then! Stu.

Hi all, Due to workshop gremlins, I appear to have lost the two nuts for the central body mounts for my 1995 Discovery. These are the eye bolts which stay attatched to the body. They are similar to an m10 but have a finer thred - I guess UNF? Alas my knowledge of UNF sizes is minimal! After a thourough search around all I can find is the odd fine threaded metric nut which is stll a bit loose around the bolt. Does anyone know what the thread size is so I can get a couple of new ones sorted? Any help appreciated, Stu.

This was mine before it got nicked in June. Mods: Front winch bumper with rec points and tubes and 9500lb winch from winch solutions Aluminium steering guard from lrs offroad QT diff guards Equipe aluminum tank guard from lrs offroad Heavy duty rear bumper with central recovery point from scrapiron CB Roof bar and 55w spots 2" lift +2" dampers Rear relocation cones 235/85 Recip Trail tyres on modulars Polybushed Modified rear lights etc...etc.. At the top of my next list will be chain, padlock, pack of attack dobermanns - you get my drift... I think how you mod it depends on how you use it - try to be a bit sensible and work out what is really necessary - the rest is just extra weight to drag around. Stu.

Thanks lads. I'll take that on board about the arrows. To be honest I was wasting time in work and don't have access to any photo software here, maybe I could do it in MS paint...? Anyway, thanks once again! Stu.

Years ago when I was a mechanic, I regularly worked on a car fitted with a hand accelerator/brake combo lever and steering wheel spinner knob. Iirc, it wasnt a complicated install - would this be more appropriate than trying to teach your feet to do the opposite of what they have been doing for years?

Hope it helps! Thanks for the tech archive mention, I didn't want to presume..... Incidentally, has the edit function disapeared or are my eyes not working? I want to correct my spellings! Stu.

I've just done this! Yes, you will need some bits off the donor - mainly brake pipes. You could always make new ones of course. I put a new body on my truck - the new body had an ABS unit on the NS inner wing. Remove the abs unit and brake pipes to the approproate unions. I transferred the whole servo and clutch unit from the old body into the new body (Because I also needed the clutch master cyl), transfer the brake pipes and run them to the unions. Bleed up and test. Obviously I skipped all the bits about corroded unions, non matching parts and everthing else that makes a simple job a pain in the bum! Stu.

Hi all. I searched the forums recently for a guide on how to remvove the dash on a 300tdi discovery - I couldn't find anything. I thought I take a few pictures of the job as i did it - they may help someone in the future. To begin, remove the steering wheel. Flick the centre cap out of the steering wheel, detach and remove the horn mechanism, then using a socket on a short extension remove the securing nut. When removed, screw it back on a few threads then gripping the steering wheel at the quarter to three position, lever it back and forth whilst pulling towards you to remove it. When free, you can take the nut off completely and smile that you havent knocked your own teeth out! Next we will reove all the fasteners which secure the dash. The first are below the dash, large brackets at each side in the drivers and passenger footwell. Best seen lying on your back, four brackets in total. Whilst you're down here, remove the two screws directly below the heater controls. Now we can remove the heater control panel. Flick off the control knobs using a small screw driver, the central aperture has a screw which can be removed. Remove it and take of the panel facia. Now you can see four screws in the corners of the control panel, remove these. Now you need to remove the ashtray and switch panel, they just pull out. The clock and coin holder are more tricky. Using a small screwdriver again, slide it above and/or below eack component towards the outer edges to disengage the tabs which hold it in. With the ashtray or switch panel removed you can feel along the bottom edges with your fingers and locate the tabs - the top is the same as the bottom. When you pop these out, remove all the screws you can see. Now remove the stereo using the correct pins, or if you dont have them, by persuding it out as best you can with many screwdrivers! Once it's out, you can get to the two top screws - you will need a philips bit in a small ratchet to get these unless you have a really short chubby Now flick off the blck trim at the bottom of the stereo aperture (Mine had the red immobiliser led mounted in it) to access another two screws. Now its time to remove the instrument binnacle. Pull the binnacle switches out (Rear wipers/demist etc) and remove the multiplugs off the back. You can label these now if you wish. Remove the two screws at the bottom of the shroud and lift it off. Four phillips screws, two per side, secure the instument console to the dash. Remove these, the console should now lift out and allow you to remove the rest of the wiring - again, label at this point if you wish. When the instruments are removed you will see some more fasteners. From below, remove the 10mm bolts, inculding the two sneaky recessed ones either side of the steering column. At this point, unless i've forgotten anything you can lift and pull the dash out. Be carefull of heater cables and wiring. I had to cut half a dozen or so cable ties to free the dash from the loom so do it in stages - six inches and shine a torch down to look what's still attatched. You can now access your heater box, curling dash edges, wiring loom or whatever else you need to do. Good Luck! Stu.