Snagger

Fuel hose of the right diameter will be fine. I don't know the size, but if you take the old hose to an autofactors, you'll be able to match it up easily. Even Halfords sell the stuff. Remember to save the jointing piece that forms the crux of the J-shape of the three lengths of hose, and clear it through with tooth picks or similar to get the rubbish out.

Heated door glass would be wonderful for Defenders, though TDCI vehicles don't need it. I'd look at fitting them to my 109 (Def doors ). I wired the heated screens up in parallel so they have less resistance - that quadruples the current draw over wiring them in series, but they draw 18A like this which is fine for the Carling Tech Condura switch I use (no relays or timers to complicate it). The other advantage of wiring in parallel is that the failure of one screen won't affect the other. They're effective in seconds and only need to be active for about 30 seconds to clear fogging or a minute to clear moderate frost, so they don't drain the battery much.

I'd need to see a photo to know whether those washers insulate the antenna or not, but the antenna itself must not earth to the body - only the lower mounting and outer braid of the cable should do that.

I would have to check, but I'm pretty sure my 109's windscreens are Uroglass, supplied by D4x4. They've been very useful so far this winter.

My 300Tdi RRC has only the EGR control unit attached to the vacuum pump - the ABS brakes are powered with an electric compressor and the heater system is all operated by cams, arms and levers, not by vacuum controls (same on 300Tdi Discoverys). Vehicles with vacuum servo assisted non-ABS brakes would have a hose connecting the vacuum pump to the servo.

Air locks are often due to the small diameter bleed hoses from the thermostat housing and the top of the rad to the expansion tank being blocked. Try clearing them out and refitting them.

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Hi folks. Can anyone tell me what the yellow wires to the fuse box and ignition switch are for? Is the brown wire to the switch the feed from the battery?

In which case, just flick the stalk to the other beam setting! If it means using high beam to allow you a few seconds to pull over safely, then briefly dazzling other drivers isn't much of a hardship and will do no-one any harm. Unless you are going to double-up all the wiring and switches, you will always have a vulnerability in the system - the worst is the main light switch; if that fails you lose all head lights, regardless of how many relays you fit.

Like I said, those brackets will fit a 3-door SIII 109 (or a SII), but not an 88 - they mount the reel between the seat back and tub bulkhead, but there's no space there on an 88 or 109 SW and the chassis brackets on a 109 SW won't meet the lower seat belt bracket either.

Good job. Messy, isn't it? Just a suggestion regarding the Pro Comp dampers it looks like you're fitting - omit the rubber gaiter from the top half - it'll trap condensation an accelerate corrosion of the piston and the cylinder near the oil seal. I had heard similar comments after fitting mine, and a few yeas later regret not taking them off sooner.

The second of those part diagrams works for 109s, but not 88s as the bulkhead is in the way.

Each bulb draws 5A. If you have one relay for dipped and one for high beam, then you need to use 15A relays as 10A will likely blow un-necessarily from time to time. If you have a relay for each function in each bulb, ie four relays, then use an 8 or 10A fuse.

I'd guess that you don't like the look of the big arches, and I can sympathise with that, but please make sure the standard arches have a fair overhang of the tyres if swapping back - it's not just a matter of avoiding trouble with the authorities; it's a matter of not causing other road users major visibility issues in foul weather. From a practical perspective, wide tyres don't help off road (except on sand or deep snow) and are dire on road, increasing aquaplaning and reducing grip below aquaplane speeds, so you may be well served by fitting tyres and wheels closer to standard width along with the original size arches.

All this talk about timing and fuel issues does not explain the oil and water loss. Those fluids went somewhere at the same time you saw a load of smoke, and all of a sudden the compression has dropped on one or more cylinders so that the running is rough and performance down. I think your initial instincts of water ingestion damage are right. You need to pull the head off and check it for cracks and bent valves, check the push rods and remove the pistons to check the conrods are OK. Fiddling with the ancilliaries is going to cost time and money but will not resolve the problem.

The garage I use for MoTs has a Plymouth blue Overfinch LSE that is in needs of a bit of care. The owner loves the vehicle and doesn't want to see it broken up, but some scum bags wrecked the front seats and the centre of the soft dash to steal its Autobiography spec ICE (bizzare to steal a 20-year old system, which makes me suspect it was stolen for another RRC). A cursory look showed it has the usual rust on the bonnet corners and the boot floor edges and other usual spots, but it generally looks solid. The front seats needed retrimming due to their age related cracking anyway, so the damage caused by the thieves is bad but inconsequential (though they'll need new head rests as well as retrimming. The main dash may be repairable by a trim specialist, but the dash controls section needs replacing outright (the centre from any 300Tdi Discovery would match). Basically, the theft damage looks worse than it is. I can't imagine many Overfinch soft dash LSEs existed in the day, let alone now, so it's too good and too unusual to let fade away. The owner is vacillating over what to do with it, and the garage owner (the car owner's brother in law) is also considering fixing it up for sale, though they're not a LR specialist. If anyone is interested, PM - I'll pass their details on to the garage owner.

Have you tried contacting the Range Rover Register? In the condition you describe, it's not worth much as a vehicle, but LSE parts like the doors and trim are hard to find and could save someone else's vehicle...

I use red oxide or Zinc 182 and then Hammerite Undershield on axles, suspension and under-body parts as it's soft and flexible with high wash resistance. A few layers of that works wonders.

If every leaky swivel failed the MoT, there wouldn't be any LRs on the road... As long as the leakage is small and not onto the brakes, it's fine.

All the bonnet furniture unbolts from below. Extra lights are easy to wire up. Remember that the switch must have a warning light (either internal or external is fine) to warn you that the lights are on. You can fit lights to the bumper, an A-bar/bull-bar or a roof rack/bar. Front mounted lights can be used on road with high beam and work well. Roof mounted lights cannot be used on road at all and cause a lot of glare from the bonnet, so are only useful for off roading to illuminate low overhangs and see over obstacles that block the head lights. If fitting roof lights, you need a suitable heavy duty switch (10A or more per pair of 60W lights) or a switch and relay. I used a Carling Technologies Condura switch rated at 20A for my roof lights, which is pretty much on its limit at 12V and comfortably within at the alternator's 14V. If fitting front mounted spots, they can be controlled independently, by the dip switch or both. I have twin bull-bar spots controlled by the main beam circuit, but they are fed by a relay as running them off the headlight feeds would overload the existing wiring. As they are front mounted and only come on with high beam, they do not need a separate warning light (the blue high beam warning light is sufficient). Some would fit an override switch to disconnect these lights so that the headlights come on only when the additional lights aren't needed, and a three way switch could be used so that you could have the spots on regardless of the headlights (subject to having a warning light), but I can't see the point in any of that complication.

Gresh's vehicle apparently had numerous faults and mods. Few of the mods were cited as causal, though the centre of gravity shift from the full roll cage and suspension lift, plus the oversized, mismatched tyres (different sizes front and rear, IIRC) were cited ad contributory. Causal factors were listed as severely under-inflated tyres, a mismatched pair of rear trailing arms, the rust induced failure of a trailing arm bracket (allowing adverse axle movement) and mismatched brake callipers and pads. A family friend also testified that on her trip in the vehicle, one of the rear half shafts and drive flanges kept detaching and sliding out of the axle. All of this points more towards maintenance rather than modification faults. However, the prosecution was rigorous and the investigation into the vehicle very detailed. The lesson is that you need to be careful about both maintenance and alteration, that major work should be inspected by professionals, and that major mods should be inspected and detailed in a report by a suitably qualified engineer or mechanic with the document forwarded to your insurer to cover your back side. As far as disc brake conversions go on Series vehicles, my advice is basically don't. SIII servo assisted brakes are very effective if correctly set up and in good order. Disc brakes are no more powerful, they just have the advantages of less fade (not a problem for sensible drivers) and less maintenance requirements. The only reason I have discs on my 109 is that I fitted coiler axles in order to get a much tighter turning circle and wider track with standard offset rims (to reduce the steering loads without going PAS, which I'll probably do in the future anyway). Buying a kit to convert your Series to discs is expensive but if you have the cash, is a reasonable proposition - it'll be easier to look after in the long run as they're self cleaning and self adjusting, and replacing pads is a doddle. Building your own conversion is viable if you are an experienced mechanic and fabricator of have access to one, subject to the inspection and documentation advice I gave. Making and selling your own kits is an expensive legal minefield of testing, approval and liability indemnity - that is the reason for the high prices of the existing kits.

Fitting a hose is pointless - you'd be better off removing the seal instead as either way you're just trying to have a similar level in both units while what is required is a higher level in the gear box than the transfer box. The reason you can't just overfill the transfer box to match the levels is that it will cause the transfer box to leak from its selector levers and shafts, and is also likely to weep through the output seals and fill the hand brake drum. Monitoring and refilling is the practical approach. A full strip down to refit the bearing carrier correctly with the seating compound is the long-term view. Another thing you can do to make monitoring and refilling easier is to fit the MoD type top fill plug and retainer, which replace the standard breather disc in the top cover and the central detent bung, and fit a Rocky Mountain transfer box dipstick to the gear box, using an MoD tunnel cover or cutting another circular hole in the existing tunnel cover (same size as the one on the left) to access the new filler (the dipstick is accessed via the left side tunnel hole) - this can all be done without removing the box, and a Dremmel could be used to cut the tunnel top hole.

The effect of the lights proves it's an earthing fault, not a sender or gauge problem. You may have broken or corroded earth wires inside the dash, in which case you need to run a new wire with ring terminals from speedo to combined cluster, and a second new wire from either of those to a good earth point on the body. Just because the earthing post is OK, it doesn't mean the wiring between it and the gauges is doing its job...

There's no perfect place. I have had little trouble with the door mounted spare - no cracked door or broken lock, just the likelihood of accelerated hinge wear needing new bronze balls, which are cheap enough. The bonnet spare is difficult to get on and off, and makes opening the bonnet much harder. At 6', my vision is a little restricted, but for shorter drivers it would be a potential problem. Interior mounting takes valuable space, bring mess inside when swapping the spare in wet conditions and needs any load moving out of the way while it is done, and it needs to be very secure to avoid being a serious safety issue in a crash. Roof rack mounted is perhaps the worst, robbing valuable storage space, being a pig to lift and lower, and having a significant effect on the CoG and handling. So, take your pick!

Sorry, BSF, but you're wrong. While the engine torque is unaltered, the resistance to it by the transmission is increased. It's the same reason that triallers and rock crawlers with oversize tyres blow their diffs and half shafts so often. I understand your stance - I used to share it, but it's wrong.