DC_

Your 6mpg may very well be unrelated to this problem, I would try and sort your water loss out first then work on the fuel problem.I reckon if it was the expansion tank then some dye would be noticable, My cap wasn't venting properly either so this caused a build up in pressure probably causing the failure of the expansion tank. Airlock, how to know? Hmmm tricky one. All i can say on this one is what my mate done for mine. The rad plug on the top left hand side of the radiator (as your standing at the front of the car looking into the engine bay) was removed, then with the engine started, he kept topping up the level tight to the top, reved it up to and just kept topping up until it stopped spurting water out and sat at just below the very top, then plug went back on, took it for a run to build up some pressure and took the expansion cap off and let it rev, looked like it settled down alot and during every rev you could see the water was circulating ok. When was the last time you had your timing checked?

Hi Simon, your problem sounds a bit similar to the one i had a few months ago matey, I think you always assume the worst and think it'll cost you mega bucks. I was losing about 2-3 litres everytime i went out a run no matter how long or short the run was. It was a mixture of things. Expansion tank on it's way out,expansion CAP was shot and needed replacing, thermostat needed replacing as it wasn't opening up at the desired temp, timing was out by a good 10 degrees which caused it to run warmer then normal, and i think there was an airlock in the system too which was taken care of by undoing the rad plug at the top whilst the engine was running and poured water into it, carefull though as it spurted everywhere and nearly scalded my mate who was brave enough to keep pouring water in to make sure it kept filling up.After all that and after only spending about £15, Fitted everything myself and my mate done the timing with his light gun, it's....................well i'm not going to tempt fate but i haven't posted on here for a while Hope it's somit simple;)

Cheers, i have emailed the replies to him, he's giving it a go this weekend. DC

Trust me, if it was for me i wouldn't hide behind the "friend" tag. I have been on here before asking people for help,no need to be bashfull and all that, if i dont know things i search then i ask, no matter how silly it may appear The reason why i posted, was due to him just joining, and cant activate the search faciltiy at the moment. Thanks all for the response i'll send him the replies so far. DC

Mate of mine has just bought these for fitting to his defender, He is fitting them on his trailing arms but has a problem.When trying to fit the small pipe through the bushes when they have been pushed into place, is goes as far as the middle and then hits off the other bush as it has been squeezed smaller due to it being very tight. Is there an easy solution to this? he is thinking of cutting a small section out of the bush so the pipe will have a better chance of going through properly. Sorry if this is a repeat question but i couldn't see it in the search facility. DC

Aye come on laddie, lets see this beast, Welcome to the nut hoose;)

You were right Bowie,got a replacement AFM/MAF thingymajig and also changed over the penometer?? Now she's running ace on petrol and LPG, changes over without any greif How things like that can just make your day............................hope ye all have a great weekend. Charlie

does it look like this ball in the bottom right corner?

Sounds like your vacum for an LPG system.................If your running on LPG then i'd say no, dont move it or take it out.

Cheers David B) feeling rather good and i can defo feel a difference in the power, she's actually quieter now and with loads more power. I have a few other issues RE: AFM might be gubbed and i cleaned up th stepper motor and mechanism yesterday only to tighten up the stepper motor too much and snap it off i'm a bloody eejit!! So i have a good landie mate who is sending me both asap for my weekend run. All going well she'll be running even better in a few days Cheers Charlie

Ok update: Decided to order a fitting kit from rimmer bros, in it came a few days later, opened it up to find there was no manifold gaskets in the pack................so i rang them up and they say the sports gaskets that i need aren't included in the kit, but there was no gaskets at all??? Hmmmmm i thought, time for an email to rimmer bros, so after a few nicely put emails, i managed to get them to send me out a set of sports gaskets. 2 days later they were here. They look the biz, much easier to work with and should give a better result. So it took about 4-5 hours to get it all on after dismanteling the lot again so i could do the job right. Put assembly paste on the gaskets and copper grease on the bolts and horsed them up, managed to get to the barstewards bolts too and thanks to them i lost some skin on my arm Y section was a right pain in the bahooky!!! Took about an hour of gentle Persuasion to get the Y peice section on then the rest went on pretty easy. Held my breath as i went to start it up ...........................Yeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaa sounds ace!!! Let it settle a little and the rough running seems to have gone as well. Your right V8david, i'm sure i can still hear blowing from somewhere but adfter the paste expanded it seemd to disappear completely. I'll take it for a run today just to make sure all is well before going on our journey next weekend. I noticed that it has more power too when i drove i last night...................or maybe it was just my imagination Thanks to all again for your kind input, sorry to babble but i am well chuffed at the result. Cheers Charlie

As homer would say.............help me jebus!!!

Good man, i think the only trouble i can remember having,was getting the Y joints to go together, so if i need to bend the bracket a bit so they can sit more true i'll do that. As far as i know now, the manifolds should be on right but i'm sure they are still blowing, so i'll need to double check all is ok, blooming pain on the rectorium

Ahhh i see, so there will be 2 gaskets on each side that the rounded side is sitting on the exhaust and 2 sitting on the engine.?

Cheers guys, Hmmm i am a bit stumped at the gasket senario, as when it was off, we ried to see how they would go on, but...............there seems to be a flat side and a rounded side, I tried to get the flat side sitting on the engine but could only manage 2 of them on each side due to the bolt holes would not line up other wise???

Thanks guys, From what you say then i think th AFM may be to blame although i'll get the blowing sorted soon when i have time. I know of 3 RRC's that are being broken down so i will see if the AFM is up for grabs. Bowie, the pic is spot on exactly like mine, I still reckon it's got somit to do with the manifold etc........... so that's my first priority as it was running great before the exhaust change over. I can see if i can get the AFM from the other RRC's as it'll always come in handy no doubt. Cheers, no doubt i'llbe back to bug you's again Charlie

??

Right wee update................Dont know if this will be of any use but i was also thinking about when i done the fuel filter, i only started it up and it ran rough.Would i need to take it a wee run or should it have made a difference straight away?? So tonight i went out and checked all wires pipes etc...........noticed one on the coil wasn't sitting secure although it was on, cleaned up the connections on the AFM and took out the air filter, started it up and it was still rough, went round the back and plugged up the exhaust and it still ran rough. So............i then took off the connection to the AFM whilst it was JUST ticking over, It nearly died but then burst into life, Settled down after running high for a few seconds and it ran much better, i put the AFM connection back on and it made no difference, ran ok. Still blowing mind......................So decided to take it a run round the block, man does it fly now on petrol No coughing or spluttering, good acceleration...............Stopped and put the filter back on, another test run................fine, same as without. Let it idle for a few mins and it seems to idle fine. Decided to switch over to LPG and it ran ok too, but when i changed back over to petrol it ran a little off again almost cutting out, Took off the AFM connection again and same thing happened, burst into life and ran better after reconnecting it............................Sorry to go on but i thought a good description of what exactly happened might make the solution easier if there is one. If it wasn't still blowing i would be in heaven with the way it ran tonight. What's the thoughts then??

Will do, i was lying last night going through all the stuff i had to do in order to get the new manifold section in. When i was tightening up the bolts on the manifold i had to rest against the hose to the plenum chamber so i'll check incase i've peirced it and also all other hoses. Everytime i take the AFM plug off i clean it and spray with WD40 just to make sure it gets a good connection but i'll recheck everything.

Changed the fuel filter there and no difference so now i know that's not the problem and it could have been doing with it anyway. Really hard to describe..................starts ace!! then runs and coughs and plutters and cuts out on first idle, starts back up ace and coughs and plutters, if i keep tapping the accelerator it runs ok but you can hear the blowing and to be honest i think the manifolds are blowing too, Should i have put any kind of sealant on the gaskets when refitting the manifolds?? I'll double check for wires being pulled out etc but it was fairly easy and i only had to take off the airflow meter,few heat shields and that was about it, it doesn't have a lamba sensor on it either. I'll try blocking up the exhaust and also take the filter off completely to see if that improves things, at least that'll give me an idea of what the problem is. Cheers

Hi Al, i have the normal air filter fitted. I'll get the system fitted properly and see how that goes, then do filter and then see if the K&N makes a diff.

Yeh it had a hole in the previous exhaust so wasn't the best but running no where near as bad as it is now. Cheers

Hello again all you knowledgable people, i have recently changed my exhaust as it was blowing like mad. Now has a rimmer brothers stainles steel system on it. Ok so, After putting it all together it has been blowing a bit at the manifold tubes, new bolts ordered and done them up and that seemed to EASE the blowing. After a drive or 2 i have now learned that it's blowing from the joins from the tubular manifold down to the Y peice. I did put assembly paste on when fitting but maybe not enough. So after this i have noticed that when i run on petrol it starts great, then settles down and cuts out, after restarting it idles JUST!! then runs very rough. When i drive on petrol it's defo losing power as you put the foot down, it goes, but then it's as if it struggles. I change over to gas and it runs ok. Have tried to change the filter on the petrol but with no joy as i couldn't get the nuts undone so will have a go at that again soon. Do you guys think it could be the fitting of the exhaust? Cheers Charlie

Get yourself one of these or if you know anyone that has one, this will test to see if your head gasket is in trouble. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Head-Gasket-Tester-B...Q2em118Q2el1247

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll...=3.9+water+pump Might have a few other options for ye