NegevLandRover

This would be a smaller tube than the tyre - the tube will expand to fill the space but in my experience it is better that the tube is slightly too large rather than slightly too small. When I ran smaller tubes they chaffed and leaked. I stopped using tubes altogether and now have far less flats than I used to. Adam

Another up-date. Finally got my hands on the failed part and I think I may have misunderstood and hence miss lead some of you. What actually failed was the bracket that holds the injection pump to the engine block causing the cog in the timing case to run off center which lead to the belt chaffing and breaking. The new brackets come with a pressure pressed bushing in them where the three screws attatch them to the engine block. The old bracket just wore through and allowed the pump to shift just ever so slightly - literally microns rather than millimeters. Adam

The VDO sender comes the same size as the LR one but has to be fitted in it's stead - as I understand the sender has to be calibrated to work with the gauge and mine would not work with the standard sender. That apart I would not trust an old sender and if I had a new one at hand I'd use it. Adam

My Defender 110 300 TDI's cabin heater fan (the one that pushes air to the de-mister and cabin warmer etc...) has gone south - completly ceased and burnt. I hava manged to extract it from it's housing but no one will re-wind it. The stealer wants crazy money for a new part and I cannot locate a used part. Knowing LR I presume that the part comes from another make of car such as Ford Transit or the likes ? Does any one know where I might be able to find a replacement ? TIA Adam

Yep that is what I mean - I have not seen it as yet but the guy who fixed it is reliable - reliable enough to admit that he forgot to tell me when the 80'000 kms between belt changes went by nearly three times before this happened and he could just have easily let me do all the leg work of checking past bills to find out myself - if I ever would have. I will try and get hold of the failed part and photo it and post here - this will take a few days if I can do it at all. Adam

Soory no pics available - can send you a picture of my bank statement pre and post belt failure or one of the bank managers wry smile if than helps ?! From what the guy who fixed it tells me the pulley/cog on the injection pump inside the timing belt casing gave way (wore out) and caused the belt to run off center leading to a catastrophic general failure. The engine is a 300 TDI which was overhauled three years ago which is the last time the belt was changed. The belt itself still had wear in it - or would have had it not got twisted up in the wreckage within. Adam

Update..... The belt had done around 200,000 kms and the thing that failed was the pulley on the back of the injection pump. Have spent the last couple of days doing my homework and have found that this pulley is often the culprit in timing belt failures and should be properly checked - it may be worth changing it out at given points in time/mileage irrespective of obvious wear. The belt itself was in good nick and had the pulley not failed it would have carried on more !!!! One thing worth noting is that we do relatively little wading being a desert here so very little water gets in there. Adam

News time. Sent the old girl upto the garage on a flat bed to where she is serviced. I have not the skills, the time nor the availability of parts. She spent the night on the front court and was pushed in when they opened (sundays here are our Mondays) this morning. This afternoon she was out and a M8 of mine ferried her home (160 kms away). First off time to kick myself ......and then as soon as I get my breath back I'll kick the garage as we both missed the timing belt change - by about 100,000 kms as she has done about 180'000 since the last timing belt change and we normally change them at 80'000. So the 600'000 km engine (in the 760'000 km LR) actually went by TWO timing belt changes without us noticing which is a real bummer as I service her religiously. I got off quite lightly with a new belt, tensioners, pulleys, valve rods, and tappets - rockers un damaged and on starting she runs as sweet as ever. Moral of the story - keep your own records of services and what is due when. Adam

Well, it seems like the timing belt let go. How much is this going to hurt - like how much damage does a 300TDI engine suffer when this happens ? TIA

Fantastic, on my way out the door on a short camping trip with my wife and kids - can I call you on Saturday afternoon ? If not I will give you a call during business hours early next week. Adam

Chris, can you tell me where to look for the kick own cable - from where and to where ? Pete, where and how do you adjust the kick down cable ? TIA

This is for a M8 wha has 1998 Disco 300 TDI EDC with an automatic gear box. The LR is a gem but has recently developed a problem where it keeps kicking down from 4 to 3 gear at or around 2500 RPM even when just cruising on a straight flat road. The same happens in low ratio - at a different speed obviously but at about the same RPM. The garage where he services the LR reckons it is the gear box "brain" - as I understand some kind of printed ciruit ? Does this problem ring a bell for anyone here ? Any help much appreciated. Adam

Was hiking in the Aberdare Nature Reserve in Kenya several years ago - after hiking for an hour to a viewpoint we found a sign "Beware of the lions" - still wonder today why the sign was not in the car park rather than at the furthest point along the trail. Had to smile though. SWMBO was less amused.

I have an opportunity to pick up a secondhand new detroit rear axel locker. The questions are: 1. are they any good 2. is 400 quid a fair price 3. how difficult is it to install TIA Adam

Hydraulic or PTO ?? Surely it is a PTO ?!

Sorry Bob but I rather suspect that my source will not be of much use to you as I am along way away from you. Adam

And tha saga continues.......... So the fuel tank proved to be DEAD - the seal between the two halves was shot. Put in a brand new galvanized Canadian tank made for Defenders. If it will deal with the Canadian winters and the salt they lay on the roads over there then it should last a life time in these parts. But still have the Gremlin - today the front drive shaft UJ disintegrated as I was climbing out of a steep riverbed - OUCH !! The passenger sitting in the front seat got a real fright when the loose end slaped the floor beneath his feet. Fortunately I was in 1st low at the time and it only went around a couple of times before I stoped. No real damage, saving the drive shaft that is which is DEAD now. New one in already and rearing for work in the morning. I pray that the shaft killed the Gremlin on it's flaying journey to the next world. Can't afford to keep the Gremlin.....

could be bad link in the pipes or a cracked pipe on the feed system. To get rid of water I added a water seperator like and from a 300 TDI that has one just after the tank.

Had similar problems which came to a nearly ctastrophic result when the steering "locked" comming out of a corner on the main road - shear strength and panic allowed me to get the wheels straigh again. The problem was the UJs on the stearing shaft and the bearing in the steering colum. I had to change the UJs but am told that if caught in time you can save them. Adam

Having a rough time at the moment. The old thing (1994 200 TDI now running a 300 TDI) has done 720 K and is really pretty reliable but over the past month everything has gone a bit belly up: 5th and reverse gears disintegrated for no apparent reason > "new" gear box two month old re-furbished starter stoped starting > another re-furbished starter which did not even last a day > another re-furbished starter - so far so good problem with front left head light - had to change the plug where the bulb sits now I appear to have a leak from the fuel tank - anyone know why and from where the tank may develop a leak near it's top and out of sight ?? Seems to leak more when full so I doubt it has anything to do with the pipes. Is there a specific point up there that is prone to leaking. any input would be much appreciated. TIA Adam

All been said before but I was still very impressed by the service from Si from whom I purchased an X-eng disc handbrake last week. Very helpfull he was and very efficient too. Same I can't say the same for the DHL sevice which was absolutely rubbish (this too was expected). Si dispatched within 24 hours and the parts arrived in this country within a day and then it took the useless sods 4 days to claer the parcel and another three to deliver it. The last straw was when they sent the thing north instead of South and then proceeded to tell me that it would take a day to get it back to the logistics center a day to move it through the center and another day to deliver it - at that point I must have managed to make my displeasure clear enough to make them put the thing on a taxi and send it straight to a m8 from whom I collected the following morning. Just to put it in perspective the delivery cost just under 90 pounds and for that kind of money you should get better service ?!!!! Anyway got the thing fitted and am very happy indeed. The only glitch was that my re-inforced propshaft end was a little to big for the brake so had to re-fit the old one untill I have the time to get the propshaft turned and trimmed. Thanks Si for the help. Adam

Been here and done this. To cut a very very long story short these symptoms in my old 200 TDI proved to be the result of a bad injector which was "pissing" instead of spraying and the extra diesel was burning white/blue. [b]It is true that an engine running rich will normaly smoke black but when it is running very rich then it will smoke blue/white.[/b] By the time I had this figured out one stealer had replaced the turbo, and another was in the process of telling me that the piston rings were broken. In the end my father in law who is an engineering specialist took over and when we checked the injectors one was terrible and another was less than perfect. Two hours later and for a fraction of what the stealers wanted he had the engine up and running. Get the injectors tested by a pro and then go on from there - start with the easy and cheap bits and progress from there. Taking injectors out, as long as they do not stick, is quick and easy. Adam

Over here diesel is about 80 pence a liter and if you use it commercialy as I do you can reclaim the VAT which is 15.5% making the end price for me about 68 pence a liter and we think that this is daylight robbery. If you own a diesel powered car that is not commercial then you are hit for a 200 pound tax per annum over and above road tax and MOT. So bottom line: MOT/road tax - 250 pounds per year Complusory 3rd party insurance 250 pound per year Diesel tax for cars not used as commercial vehichiles 200 pounds per year (i am exempt here) Comprehensive insurance for my 1994 300 TDI - 450 pouds a year Average income here is around 1000 pounds per month so an average person here could by 312 liters a week. Great - just heard that midnight saturday the diesel price will rocket by 14.1 % Where the F----- did that come from and more important why ?? Other fuel price will rise by 2-3 % !!! Petrol prices are a tiny bit lower. Adam

I just managed to buy me two brand spanking new front doors from the importer here for 500 quid for the pair. They come in army green but I can get them painted for a tuppence and then replace my 14 year old and hard worn doors. The doors came complete with hinges, bolts, strikers, windows and cards, all the handles etc, locks and the seals. I reckon it was a bargain ??!! Plenty more there to !! The MOD here imported a whole load of LRs and then swaped the doors for armour plated ones made localy hence the importer has a load of "spare" doors hanging about.

Put in a nut shell it turns out tha our LRs are probably greener than the latest hybrids !!! Some new research that checks the total impact of a vehichle on the environment including the materials used in it's manufacture, the manufacture process itself, the life expectancy of the vehichle and not only how many miles to the gallon or how many tons of hot house gases etc finds that the Wrangler Jeep is "greener" than the Previus hybrid !!!! The research examined models available on the North American market so the Defender and Disco are not there but in all likelihood they are as green if not greener than the Wrangler because the engines are smaller and their life time as long if not longer etc. This is the link to the article: http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automotiveenergy/ and specificaly: http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automotiveener...and%20sorts.xls In the right hands this could go along way to combating tree huggers and anti off road vehichle nuts in the UK. Adam