Snagger

As Bowie says, it sounds like a lock isn't opening correctly. It could just need cleaning and lubricating, but the small lock springs become brittle and break, causing similar problems. Look for a door lock plunger that needs to be held up by hand for the latch to be opened. If you find such a lock, then its spring is almost certainly broken and it needs removing for the spring to be replaced. LR don't sell the springs separately, but they will supply a new lock for £90 or more. Ebay is your friend here - look for RRC/Discovery door lock springs (or just get a second hand lock from an all too common broken Discovery). I have a guide on fixing the lock in the FAQ section of my blog; click my signature below to see it.

I wouldn't delay the chassis protection until summer - the winter is the worst for the chassis with all the water and road salt. A proper wax specialist will have heated workshops to steam clean, dry and then coat the chassis with heated waxes. Ordinary sales and service garages won't have the proper kit and will just pressure wash the underside outdoors (missing much) and then use basic kit to apply the wax cold.

There is no problem replacing the tyres on tubeless rims - they're steel, so don't damage easily, and rust on the sealing surface of the bead is rare, especially at the age of HD (Wolf) rims. I think BFG ATs are very good for winter roads - I had to work hard at making them slip on compact snow or ice compared to other tyres.

The old style bushes have a small nose that fits inside the larger stud hole to keep them located. The later bushes are void bushes, their hollow cone shape giving a more progressive input into the damper and also allowing greater flex in damper orientation, but that shape needs the cup for location. It is a much better design, the only real issue being that water can be trapped between the cup and bracket as they are only spot welded together, ultimately allowing rust. A spray of penetrating wax solves that issue.

Never use a pressure washer on the rad or any heat exchanger! You'll bend the fins and block the airflow through the unit. They're safe to use on paint, as long as you keep a distance of 12" or so from the nozzle to the panel, but they don't get everything off anyway, so are of little more benefit than a standard hose with decent mains pressure.

There are minor detail differences, such as how the cross pin is secured - TDCIs use a roll pin at one end through a drilling in the carrier and cross pin, while older diffs used far superior circlips at each end. All you need to worry about is making sure it is not a modified diff with altered ratios and making sure it is 24 spline. Apart from that, buy the best condition and don't worry about the age or donor vehicle spec.

That's really tidy work John, as is the rest of what I saw while having a poke around.

I think that rubber cup is more of a dirt shield than a waterproofing attempt, Mike. I use them on both my vehicles, neither of which has waded deep anyway, but I wouldn't expect those rubbers to keep any water out of the headlights. Like I said, I'd make a gasket out of neoprene and bond it to the head light bowl, covering all the holes and with as small an internal diameter as possible. 2mm neoprene should work well. The lights will likely fog up eventually, but you could just remove the bulbs on a warm, dry day and let them breathe for a few hours before refitting.

The Defender blower is switched on the earth side, not the feed, so that's why you had that issue. Connect the new blower's earth to the high speed earth wire (I can't remember which one it was) and it'll behave correctly and will only activate when the old blower is on high.

Most of us have halogen lights, and the bulb doesn't seal in the back of the reflector bowl. You could make up thin neoprene gaskets that would compress enough for the bulb retaining spring to still fit. I'd not use any sealant as it'd make bulb replacement a bit of a pig, especially by the roadside.

Ralph is right - Muddy's advice assumes you have a 90, in which case any 24 spline long nose Rover diff will fit (any 300Tdi and later Discovery, RRC or 90 diff, or any 24 spline 110 front diff). If you have a 110, you need either the Salisbury diff if you have an early Td5 or the short nose 4-pin Rover diff if you have a late one. Any Tdi or earlier 110 rear diff will do for the Salisbury, and I think the 4.2 P38 shared the same rear diff as the later Td5s and TDCI 110s.

Ralph's comment about using warm water is key - it works wonders over cold water. Don't use washing up liquid - it has lots of salt that degrades the paint and can accelerate corrosion where it pools in cavities. Use a car shampoo. I don't use hot water, but I spray the car with the hose first and let it soak before hosing again to rinse away loose dirt before using the soft brush or sponge with soapy water. Very dirty areas get a second soapy scrub after rinsing. Before fitting the roof rack, I used to use a soft broom for the roof, which made the job far easier. Being white, the roof didn't show the drying marks like the coloured panels, so I never bothered with the chamois up there.

They are available in 7" with different offsets - I assumed they were all the same, and while all six of mine were manufactured by Mangel, the later two that were bought for use as spares had the front face of the nave (spoked section) roughly flush with the inner step of the rim, while the older wheels had the nave stepped back roughly 30mm from that step. That will not only affect steering lock, but a mismatched pair could cause steering stability issues when braking or hitting speed humps at moderate speeds.

The dash vent flaps are a likely source of leaks - old seals go hard and prevent full closure. Other ingress points are the windscreen hinge bolt holes (the gasket is sometimes missing), windscreen wiper and washer jet holes and the bonnet rear buffers. Removing these items and refitting with some RTV sealant, or adding some liquid sealant (such as Captain Tolly's creeping sealant, available from boat chandlers) should help. Check the hose to the washer jet nozzle, too - if it is damaged or leaking at the connection (the hose hardens and loses its tightness with age), then washer fluid will leak and pool in voids in the back of the dash, leaking into the foot wells.

Discovery steel wheels and LR alloys have the same dimensions, so will make no difference to steering. However, parking a 110 shouldn't be a big deal, and steering lock with any of the LR manufactured wheels should allow sufficient lock.

Red oxide or zinc rich primer over coated in Hammerite Underbody Shield or Schutz.

I think Discovery steel wheels are 7x16".

As above, check the hoses between compressor casing and waste gate actuator carefully for splits and security, and move the actuator arm to check for free movement of the waste gate (the actuator has a stiff spring that acts against the boost pressure, so it shouldn't be easy to move, but it should move smoothly). However, any kind of leak should keep the waste gate closed, so my money is on a mechanical jam of the actuator or waste gate. You'll find out which by disconnecting the rod from the gate's arm and moving each independently.

The VE pump will pull the fuel without a lift pump as long as the VE pump and fuel lines are primed, but get air in the system and the VE pump will cavitate, causing not only fuel starvation but pump damage too. A lift pump, whether engine driven or electrical, is essential. A standard lift pump works a lot like one side of a heart - it has an oscillating diaphragm which changes the volume of the chamber, with non-return valves on the entrance and exit to make sure that the fuel is sucked in from the tank side and forced out to the engine side. A failure of the diaphragm will cause air to be sucked in and diesel lost, but failure of the non return valves causes all directional flow to be lost with fuel being sucked away from the engine and pushed towards the tank. It fights the suction of the injection pump, so is worse than having a plain tube.

Did you report the theft to the police or Trading Standards. or to you bank/credit card provider? I'm sure all of them would be interested.

Like I said, if no wheels lock, it has to be a part common to all four, and that is just the master cylinder and the servo system. If the master has needed rebuild, it stands out as a suspect, but the new servo is not above suspicion either. I'd also check the vacuum pump - it might be producing a pressure drop, but it might not be low enough.

Tal, a comment about the police not being reliable in response to calls regarding teens committing a public nuisance or burglary is not any kind of accusation. They are unreliable in these cases, it's a common issue and not a reflection on individual officers who are often overstretched and already dealing with another issue. I think you're being a little oversensitive there - the point of that post was that judgement over the reported event should be withheld until all the facts are known, especially given the reliability of the media.

That suggests to me that the cam operating arm on the pump may have broken or that it isn't engaging on the cam lobe (some pumps have longer arms that need a spacer between engine and pump, and if a shorter arm pump is fitted with the spacer in place, the arm might not reach the cam shaft). I can'r remember a bleed screw on the VE pumps. Are you sure you haven't removed an adjustment screw and refitted it way out of adjustment?

With respect to what he did with the teenagers, maybe he was just defending his premises and business from persistent vandals or thieves. The police frequently fail to respond to calls of such problems, and the press love to portray a desperate victim as a villain where teenagers are involved - remember the 80+year old farmer Tony Martin and the two persistent burglars he shot in self defence - he was portrayed as the villain in that one. It may not be what happened here, but without any information on the circumstances, I'm withholding judgement. Context is important. Maybe the teens were perfectly innocent in this case, but cars full of teens are often up to no good. However, my experience of LRSeries was abysmal every time I tried to use them - they never answered the phone and never responded to emails, so with that attitude, they deserve to go to the wall.

What brand were the parts? Anything Britpart is highly suspect. If none of the wheels can lock, it suggests a lack of hydraulic pressure, meaning the master cylinder, servo or bad bleeding.