Snagger

I haven’t looked in a while, but Turner Engineering parts prices always looked quite reasonable to me in the past. Some may be cheaper, but at least with Turner, you know they only sell parts they have confidence in and use themselves.

You may need to chisel off any deep rust from inside the disc. Just be careful not to bash the ring with anything hard - use a wood or copper drift on that.

The system isn’t great, but yours sounds especially bad. A weak motor can be a problem, but it’s more likely the cumulative friction in the system. The motor has an integrated gear box in which the grease can dry out, the steel cable with helical “spring” around it which can bind on the guide tubes inside the dash (especially if they have been dented, are corroded or misaligned), there is the friction inside the spindle boxes that pass through the bulkhead (how many people ever oil those?) and then the wiper blade on the screen. The first things to try are giving the screen a good was and polish (not bodywork polish!) and oiling the spindles, which can be done best by removing the arms, peeling back the rubber boots and applying light oil to the shaft where it meets the guide tube while the system is switched on. Just keep adding a couple of drops every 30 seconds for three or four repeats each. It might also be worth replacing the wiper blades if they’re tired. If that doesn’t work, then you need to remove the motor and open up the inspection panel to grease the gears. We can guide you through that if it is necessary, but try the bits above first.

Maybe a steam cleaner with a vacuum line to suck the rubbish straight out? That would be very useful.

I don’t recommend running dry as pump cavitation is rarely helpful to its longevity. As for sucking water and debris from the bottom of the tank, the pickup pipe is fixed, so injection of those shouldn’t be affected by the fuel level - the water and sediment will generally be sat at the bottom, agitated but settling whenever the vehicle is steady, regardless of how much fuel is on top of that bad level. Leaving a tank with low levels for long durations is bad, though, as it allows more air and thus more condensation to form and drop into the fuel over a period. Keeping the tank full prevents that condensation.

Curious how the tank extends below the outlet pipe to the main tank - how that fuel below the outlet is meant to get to the Mai tank without a pump I don’t know. Surely it’d have been better to end the tank at that level to save a bit of dead fuel weight?

He might be planning to brush neat decoding additive to the valves through the ports to remove deposits. I can’t see what else you can do.

Welcome!

A sturdy plastic scraper would avoid panel gouging. Scotchbrite pads work well but clog and melt, so you need plenty.

On the SIII, it’s just part of the bracket that bolts to the wing, bent inward 90 degrees and pressed hard against the front edge of the bottom of the leg, preventing the bottom end rotating forward (and thus the middle backward toward the bulkhead). A bolt with a nut and large washer each side of the bracket or any other vertical surface would do the same job.

They do. Can’t quite see the bottom end of the Lowe section in its bracket - the Series version has a pointed end that sits against a lug on the bracket in the spot hidden by the rad hose, and locks it pretty solidly, but that may be shorter on yours or the lug may be missing. They tended to sit more cranked on the series version, too, the bottom section nearly vertical and a good 15 degree bend at the middle hinge, but yours looks nearly straight. Anyway, it looks good enough for me to fiddle with and try to get to function like the Series version, whatever may be preventing it. Let me know what you’d like for it and where you are and we’ll sort something out, if you don’t mind being patient - I don’t get back to the UK often, so storage is as much a problem as collection for me, and right now is worse!

For the body mount, I trimmed away the flakey rubbish and bolted in an overlapping panel of 3mm marine grade alloy, bonded on all contacting surfaces with PU adhesive. The bolts (4 x M6) were all well covered in wax, as were the edges of the bolt holes, before fitting, as were the similar bolts through the outrigger into the new material.

Simon, take a look at the rest of the induction system for deposits and that should tell you where it’s coming from - it has to be breather, turbo or EGR system, and the latter shouldn’t be that wet. If the intake ducting to the turbo is clean, it must be the compressor seals. If it’s dirty, then it’s likely breathing hard or the cyclonic breather is faulty (it has a spring loaded diaphragm under the cap that cycles with crank case pressure, which could be seized or torn). That should show deposits downstream of the hose connection into the induction system, but little upstream.

Maybe it is slightly different from the Series version - they look the same to me, perhaps the upper leg extended a bit for the longer bonnet. The Series version locks in pretty well. Thanks for agreeing to take the pictures- no rush, though. It might also clear up if there is a significant difference from the earlier version.

It’s a separate switch on my Volvo, and it does inhibit the dash switch, whether trying to turn the lights on or off. I agree that drivers should be checking their selections and verifying their lights are on, but with dash panels illuminated and light cast in front of the vehicle, it’s easy to interpret that as the headlights being on - the only way to check from the driver’s seat to to look in the mirror for reflections of the tail lights before setting off, but with more cars being automatics and drivers holding the car on the brakes instead of selecting “park”, that is a sign that is also going to be masked. It’s going to vary from car to car, yours having a more sensible switch system than mine, but it’s an unnecessary trap either way, and automatic lights don’t come on in fog, which many drivers appear not to understand.

I disagree, but Bowie’s response is right in being part of the problem. As I said, most cars now have automatic light activation, but it usually doesn’t come on early enough and it prevents manual activation of the lights. It’s then compounded by the DRLs and dash lighting looking to the driver as though the lights are all on, but they’re not. It’s an awful system that should be outlawed and cars should be retrofit at EU parliament expense (it’s their fault, after all) to fit a voltage sensitive relay that will activate the main lighting like the Swedish cars use to have. That is a superior and simpler system in every respect.

That’s why the lower end has a slot and the bracket has multiple flanges - it should lock in position and the bonnet need a significant lift to disengage the bottom of the scissor from the interlocks. Any chance you could post up some pictures? I’d be interested in buying yours if it’s in good order.

I’ve heard that comment made and was told that the solid prop was mandated for bonnets carrying a spare wheel, but I don’t understand why. Series vehicles continue to cope with their scissor props, and I never had an issue with that. But holding the bonnet (with wheel, sound proofing and pioneer tools) open while reaching for the clipped prop is a damned nuisance and a hazard, made worse by the bull bar being in the way, and it’s very difficult for my wife. I want to retrofit the scissor type - I’m sick of the solid rod. As long as the bolts, pins or rivets through the scissor bars are in good order, it shouldn’t pose any risk.

My 2014 Volvo has automatic lights switching, but it’s very unreliable and we use manual switching. You’re right that is doesn’t sense weather, either fog or rain (or dust here). But the idiots at the garage keep reactivating the auto function each service. The problem with it is not the lights being turned on unnecessarily- the problem is that it often fails to turn the lights on at dusk and overrides manual selection of the lights on, so we move the switch on but the system keeps them off. It’s outrageously dangerous. Volvos old system was simple, logical and very safe; EU legislation screwed that up.

I bought it in 2005, and I haven’t serviced it since (because of only using it on a winching course in dry conditions), so I don’t think it’d be reasonable to hold them to account for my laziness!

The trouble with that is that you’d need the rear light output to go through a relay controlled by the main headlight switch output (not dim/main on the column, just headlights on generally) so that the rear fog can only be on with headlights - if you ran the feed for that switch from the main switch output, then the front fogs would also need the headlights on (not unreasonable). Carling Tech Condura switches are rated at 20a, so would happily take the 4a for twin rear fog lamps and I suspect about 10a for a pair of front fog lights in their stride without relays.

If he thinks that it aesthetically resembles in any way the original Defender, then he hasn’t actually looked at it. And he fails to appreciate the distinction between capable off-roader and serious off-roader. Ironic, seeing as he said he’d not buy it essentially because it’s not a serious off-roader, just a toy.

That was certainly how things had to be in the 70s and 80s - the SIII fog light switch was spurred from the dimmed headlight circuit. Mine still is, but I may update it by spring to the dash switch feed to the column. Not sure there is much point though, seeing as conditions that need rear fog lights tend to preclude main beam - the old logic still seems sound. Likewise the logic Saab and Volvo used on their lighting being all on whenever the engine is running, rather than these awful DRLs that make people think their lights are on at night but merely blind oncoming traffic while leaving rear lights off. That’s real EU legislative logic there...

That used to be the case, but not for a long time now. Whether the new rule is retrospective, I don’t know, but try a car built in the last 15 years or so and you’ll find the fog light operable irrespective of the dip switch selection. Front fog lights don’t even need to have the headlights switched on at all.

Damn! I hope mine isn’t anything like that inside!