[Difficulty Engaging Gears]

Happy new year!

I am attempting to help my mate who has a problem with his 300 tdi disco. He is up in the west highlands of Scotland so is a long way from home which is in Bala.

Recently he suffered broken input gear splies and repalaced the main box with a second hand unit of unknown origin. At the same time he had the garage replace the clutch, including new fork, pressure plate and friction disc.

Since then there have been;

Occassional vibrations on the motorway,

An increasing difficulty to select gears, although the box functions in all gears.

The diff lock is not stuck in.

Could be a clutch slave cylinder I guess, or is it possible that the garage damaged the R380 first motion shaft when mating it to the engine?

Has anyone else experienced similar symptoms?

Thanks

Chris.

[Fussy TD5 Motors]

Dear all,

Many thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to share their experience and expertese. I have attempted the anti stall take off (without accelerator) in low box when on forestry tracks and still experienced problems. This could be the ECU map reversal?

Ian, I will talk to our transport officer about your kind offer and PM you in the new year.

Have a great Christmas

Chris.

[Fussy TD5 Motors]

Thanks for the interest chaps,

The one in the photo on the right is on a X plate, and our second TD5 130 is approximately 3 yrs younger.

By the way I much prefered the drive of the older (now sold) 200 tdi on the left of this picture.

Have a great Christmas

Chris.

[Fussy TD5 Motors]

Dear Forum Members,

I belong to a mountain rescue team in North Wales that owns two 130" station wagon ambulances. The vehicles have been specially prepared to carry hill troops and a casualty on a full length stretcher in the rear compartment.

The problem with these TD5s is that they are an absolute liability when pulling away from a standstill. Turning right across junctions can be lethal! The engines are very unforgiving and will stall very easily.

I did read somewhere the the Land Rover Experience instructors had dubbed this (ironically) as an anti-stall feature so long as the driver keeps their right foot away from the accelerator when engaging the clutch. The ECU will attempt to maintain a constant tick over speed by introducing more fuel. My feeling is that this is "spin" to hide an engineering short coming.

I appreciate that these engines are working much harder than in say a 90, but I do feel that they are inadquate. Can anything be done with the ECU mapping? I guess that someone, perhaps Porny may have the answer?

Thanks very much

Chris.

[Leaning Tower of Disco......]

I am on my second set of blue BM heavy duty springs, and still cannot correct the lean. I have some poly shims to correct the problem, but I am of the oppinion that the standard disco (duel rate) springs are the way to go. There are two lengths of springs available from Land Rover incidently, so it would be possible to correct a leaning vehicle by substituting a spring.

Best wishes

Chris.

[Sixty MPH Thumps]

Dear All,

I have a 1995 MY 300 tdi disco that suffers from very distinctive harmonic beats that drum noisely at about 60 mph (cruising speed).

The car has a new rubber coupling in the rear prop and the harmonic damper thingy on the front axle. I run Bearmach HD blue springs with about an inch lift (well on one side at least...) gas dampers and BF Goodrich ATs at about 35 psi.

Does any other disco do this, and is there a fix?

Thanks guys

Chris.

[Lift pump and fuel filter]

This is really interesting! I have had my 300tdi disco for four years and always thought that it was a little slow at the top end. It pulls great up to 3000 rpm and then runs out of puff.

While servicing the car today I removed the filter and held a container under the filter head. I expected that fuel would rush out from the lift pump when I cranked the engine.

Not a drop!

So I guess the timing pump is pulling fuel from the tank and then becoming starved at 3000 rpm. I always suspected the lift pump because the cranking lever never worked no matter where its' relative position on the cam.

The vehicle has always self primed very quickly after filter changes. I am going to get a new pump and maybe go a bit quicker?

Take care

Chris.

[Disco rear door subwoofer problem]

It took me an age to get the rear door sub to work, but it was really worth it!

Most sub speakers have failed now so even if you manage to wire the head unit up OK you may still have problems. If you look at the rear of each speaker cone, it is moved by a really stong magnet. The end of the cone vibrates in a tight air gap in the centre of the magnet. I think that the position of the magnet is critical and was positioned with glue, that has now hardened and failed.

I replaced both of the speakers with a base pair from Maplin (£18 ish). The original grill no longer fits as the new speakers are a different size.

Also check the soldered joints on the printed circuit board, some had failed due to low frequency vibration and age.

Good luck!

Chris.

[MOT Failure]

Hi all,

Just to close the thread, thanks for all your advice! I did as Wizard suggested and backed off the power screw a quarter of a turn. Happy days, I now have 12 months MOT.

Chris.

[MOT Failure]

Wizard,

Many thanks for the info and diagram, I don't have anything like it even on my RAVE discs. Would it make sense to adjust the smoke adjustment screw as per your pic?

Cheers

Chris.

[MOT Failure]

i dont think you have said has the egr valve been removed or is this still on the vehicle mine smoked until i removed this also removed cat defender front pipe is a direct replacement as others said a dose of redex or similar may help but the egr valve maybe stuck open if its still on vehicle remove it or blank it off it will make a difference chris

Sorry, yes EGR plate fitted. Before this it REALLY smoked under load!

[Dilema]

I am in the same dilema, as my poor old disco 1 is rusting away and will soon need a clutch etc etc.

My thinking is to save up for a late 300 tdi on a P or R plate. There are many rust free examples around and I reckon they are better VFM than a Defener.

I might even SORN my existing disco and break it for parts for the new one...

[MOT Failure]

Hi,

My 300 TDi Discovery failed it's MOT this week on the smoke test. The best result was 3.2 (I think the target is less than 3.0) My garage has suggested I book it in next week for a retest and they have stated that they will "back the pump off"

Will this be effective, and what actually will they do?

Most threads on this forum deal with increasing the fuelling with an associated turbo boost to supply more air.

I guess I could clean the intercooler, buy a tank of expensive DERV, run some fuel additive through - or even get around to doing the tappets.

Any thoughts?

Chris.

[Clutch bite change?]

Thank you guys,

Exactly as you said, new slave has fixed it, and a new master added for good measure.

Cheers

Chris.

[Clutch bite change?]

Hello,

My mate has a lovely late 300 tdi defener 90 with about 140,000 on the clock. The other day when driving back from an event, the position of clutch-bite changed to about an inch from the bottom of full pedle travel. Previously the clutch engaged near the top of the travel. This change happened instantly.

I have searched the archives and there are many clutch symptoms discussed, but non that fit exactlty.

There is no fluid loss in the reservior, or master cylinder leak onto the driver's rubber mat. There is no clutch slip.

Could it be that the clutch fork is giving up and punching through the pivot point?

Thanks for your thoughts

Chris.

[Disco 1 self levelling?]

Dear Members,

Like most Land Rover owners, I need my discovery 1 to do everything. Offroading when lightly laden needs soft, compliant suspension and going on trips to the far north with canoes, expedition kit and passengers requires HD springs.

My old 1970's Range Rover had a self leveller on the back axle. Is there any millage on fitting the unit to a discovery?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Chris.

[How long does a TD5 Last?]

Dear Members,

I power washed my 300TDi disco yesterday in anticipation of waxoling it, and was horrified at the amount of pin holes and rust flakes that I removed. I will glue it all back together with waxoyl and use it for another 12 months or so.

If I replace my Disco one with a Disco two, I guess that I will be looking at a TD5 model with about 100k miles on the clock. So how long do these engines last?

Thanks

Chris.