Snagger

Thanks. Sorry you had such a bad experience too. Option one, as I explained, wasn't feasible, and no-one should have to waste their time in that manner anyway. That left option two: get stroppy and tough. I'm sure that threatening to write to all the LR magazines and post on many forums had an influence, but I don't feel comfortable with keeping quiet about bad service just because making a threat gets me what I was entitled to - I'm more comfortable sharing the information so that others don't have to go through the same thing and so that hopefully those beligerent staff with reap their comeuppance.

Thanks for the interest and support, folks. For those that suggested taking the kids and sitting in the dealership, you need to understand that taking the kids out of school (illegal as well as irresponsible), and then swallowing the cost and inconvenience of driving for four hours, taking packed lunches and so on, wasting a whole day for three people when we have other things to be doing is not remotely practicable. And what happens when they don't have the parts in stock? Landymanluke, I'm sure you didn't mean to be insulting, but do you think I'd post this thread unless my patience had already been exhausted by trying in vain to be reasonable? I'm not an idiot, so please don't treat me as so. It seems that a decent and politic approach gets yo nowhere these days - I have had the same problem with my new house, with complaints about build quality faults ignored until I started getting angry with them too. The good news is that after more buck passing and procrastination, I have laid down the law and got a result. They were still banging on about whether they would get the rear window replaced in Leicester or get the vehicle back and do it themselves, and then started going on about how the LR Approved warranty didn't cover the vehicle because we hadn't owned it long enough yet (2 week qualifying period). I had to point out that I didn't care who fixed it and whether the LR warranty was valid or not - they had sold me an unchecked, unroadworthy and potentially dangerous vehicle and my contract was with them, not LR. I really don't see why I shoild be interested in whether LR Approved or Stratstone pick up the bill - that's their worry. I gave them a deadline of delivering the car to me at home by the end of business on Friday, and it has done the trick. In the interest of balance and positive feedback, Sturgess in Leicester have been brilliant throughout. The receptinist and service manager stayed open two hours late on new years eve to allow Helena to stay in the warm while I drive up to get her and have done the full vehicle inspection that Stratstone appear not to have done. Most of all, they have returned calls and kept me informed, unlike Stratstone who bounced me around different departments and staff and would be evasive even when I did get to speak to someone. I am posting this thread not for advice; it is to name and shame a woeful dealer and to praise another decent one. It is to share that information with any of you who may be considering using either of these dealers.

Looks like I'll be using their Hatfield branch, then. Thanks, everyone.

Why do you bother with such big tyres and wheels? Land Rover used 7.50s on Camel Trophy and the MoD continue to use them because they give the best off road as well as on road handling and performance. Big tyres reduce steering lock and axle articulation, increase steering loads, absorb more engine power, up the gearing and struggle with grip in mud and in wet or snowy road conditions - they're only useful on sand or deep virgin snow...

Rehaeaters which heat recirculated cabin air are much quicker to warm the cabin up, assuming they have a similar matrix capacity and area, but they do lead to greater fogging than heaters with external sources. The fogging comes from the occupants' breath and can only be avoided by opening windows or vents, defeating the point of using these "fug stirrers" in place of a external source heater. I can make direct comparisons of this on my RRC, which has a button to select external or recirculated air for the heater; with recirc on, the windows initially clear more quickly but start fogging after a couple of minutes. At that point, the engine is half way to warm, so external air is becoming effective. Of course, if you are using a fug stirrer in addition to the standard SIII heater, then you will have the best of both worlds, but you do need to refresh the internal air as well as reciculate it to avoid moisture building up.

Mrs Snagger here. The situation is a little tricky. The car itself is at a different dealership in Leicester as that's as far as I got driving it home from Nottingham before the horn/lights fault started. Stratstones is in Nottingham which is nearly two hours away from us. Snagger's been at work and I have the kids here and I am working too. So paying a personal visit isn't really possible at the moment.

My wife and I test drove a three year old, 27000 mile 90 on the 21st of December. Apart from a blown indicator bulb, it drove seemingly faultlessly, though as it would be sold after inspection and under warranty, we didn't check everything like you would in a private sale. We paid £21k for the car the next day. When driving the car home on the 31st, my wife only managed to get as far as Leicester when the lighting circuit shorted out under the wing sounding the horn continuously. The vehicle as taken to the Leicester dealer for repair with Stratstone's agreement. The Leicester dealer found and repaired the damaged wiring and also replaced a broken horn. They also found that the high level brake light was unserviceable due to a fault in the window. A week later despite chasing up by us, Stratestone has still failed to authorise the repair, conduct the repair themselves or even discuss the issue with the other dealer. We still have no vehicle or information about when or where it is going to be repaired. All enquiries to the Stratestone service and sales departments result in a runaround and the only information being that they still haven't spoken tothe other dealer. At this stage all we know is that Stratestone sold us an apparently unroadworthy, unusable vehicle and a week after we discovered the faults are still evading doing anything about it.

With respect to the fwh issue, I bought and fitted new fwh to my 109 many years ago. While some users report lighter steering, I found no difference there. What I was paying closer attention to was performance and economy, and despite extensive efforts, I was unable to measure even the slightest Improvement in either. They really don't help, but are a contributory factor in swivel pin, Railko bush and propshaft spline wear. I would drive with my hubs engaged at least once a week to make sure enough lubrication was splashed about to minimise the swivel and prop concerns, but after a few years, one of the hubs started to leak. At that point, they were reinstalled in their most appropriate place: the bin.

Just a few points from my personal experience, but not necessarily helpful to the main technical issues here: Series wheel studs should fit a later hub, as long as the Series in question is a later SII or SIII. I don't know if they are any longer than the standard RR/Discovery studs, though. Wolf studs definitely fit and are 1/2" longer, but at a cost of £10 each for Gen Parts studs (I wouldn't trust Britpart), it's an expensive alternative. Brake drums can be turned down to use as spacers. I have done this to fit alloys to my 110 rear axle, where the hub otherwise fould the inside of the wheel centre. The drums are 1/4" (roughly 6mm) thick at that point. There are similarly sized spacers on ebay for less than the cost of an engineering shop's charge for turning the drums, though... Trying to retain FWH is probably a waste of time - they don't save any fuel, performance gains are entirely illusional, they are prone to damage and leaks, and of course will be disengaged when you unexpectedly need 4wd, requiring to you to get filthy to engage them. They're on my snake-oil list.

Well, 4wd works adequately with ujs, but I found that the steering started kicking at half lock. I suppose it all depends on how the steering is adjusted and any slack in the transmission and steering, but it wasn't pleasant driving around those Alpine tracks with the 4wd engaged for long periods - it was one of the principle reasons I converted a pair of coiler axles for my 109. We all have different vehicles with different characteristics, and all have different levels of comfort or tollerance with some of those characteristsics.

Done on a dry dirt road will illustrate the point well without damaging anything. The steering wheel kicks continuously when turning in 4wd with a UJ eqipped axle, and the tighter the turn, the harsher the kicks. It's pretty unpleasant.

The three rotary knobs and the fan switch lateral knob all pull straight off to reveal panel retaining screws for bulb replacement. Your exhaust may have a diesel particulate filter (catalytic converters are for petrol engines only), and you' see this as a bulge in the front section of the exhaust, behind the flexible section. You can replace it with a straight through section. Tdis are very snsitive to small adjustments of timing made by rotating the pump a little on the timing case. Dirty air or fuel filters have severe effects, as will tired tubo chargers or injection pumps. The Tdi RRC is a good plodder, but it will struggle to hold a high speed up steeper hills as it has considerably less power than a V8.

Britpart do stock a lot of RRC panels for the inner shell and outer panels, and also chassis parts, including front and rear inner arches, boot floor sides (flat sections), body rear cross member, head light mountings, sills and floors. They also list front outer wings and front door skins. I don't know where they source them, though. YRM do some panels too.

The bores may be a little rusty or the rings sticky, or the valve stemn seals hardened. I'd recommend running it as is for a couple of hundred miles with a double dose of fuel additive to treat the rings and head, then adding an oil flush additive to clean out any carp on the lower rings before replacing the currently new oil - after standing so long, the engine will have moisture, sedimant and rust that will contaminate the oil, so new running-in is required. I'd then add an oil seal additive to the latest new oil to soften and swell and hardened or worn seals, which often works well.

double post. Sorry.

double post. Sorry.

Try driving with 4wd selected on your Series transmission and feel how the steering behaves on tight corners. You will soon want CV joints.

Ah, that explains very well how you all knew exactly what I was asking about, even after the second spell-correction! I thought it was just a nasty quirk of the tablet I was using when posting, but now I see it's just nasty quirk of the system I was inquiring about! Regular wax it is, then. I might use Dinitrol rather than Waxoil, though - if it's good enough for Boeing, then it should be good enough for a Defender. Thanks for the recommendation, Reb, I'll look them up. I don't want to do it myself as it's a horribly messy job and I want the insides of the chassis, bulkhead and door frames done with proper high pressure spray probes.

Happy Christmas everyone! I'm just wondering if anyone has had this treatment done and what they think of it. How does it stand up to stone chipping? Edit: spell check changed Ermintrude to ermintrude. While I am appreciative of the benefits they bring us, I'm not especially interested in cows!

Happy Christmas!

I think it might be a problem with the ignition switch or both of the relays controlled by them.

Many years ago, I had a standard domestic fan heater in my 109 with an external socket for a power lead (like those used on buildings sites, camp sites, marinas and so on). Five minutes before using the car, I'd plug it in at full blast and then would have a roasty-toasty car to set off in. The only draw back was the need for the electrical hook up, much like with the Kenlowe Hot starts, which though they have the benefit of warming the engine, take far longer and more power to make any difference than the fan. BUT, these heaters have around 3000W output. Look at these vehicle powered heaters' outputs and you'll see they'll never be any use.

Thanks for the interest an replies, everyone. We bought an immaculate 2009 90XS through a LR Approved franchise dealer, so at a little extra cost have the piece of mind of knowing it's one of the best about and has a decent warranty. Other comparable vehicles were slightly more dog-eared and lacked the big warranty but were only fractionally cheaper, so I think we did well. Helena's very excited.

Use a wire with a female spade terminal directly from the battery to the solenoid and try starting it. This will tell you if it's something between the immobiliser and solenoid.

Hi all. I'm hoping to embark on a ground-up rebuild of my 1995 RRC, as detailed a build as my 109 but with only aircon (using gen parts) by way of mods. Some rare parts I'll need are the "LAND ROVER CLASSIC" and "Tdi" badges for the lower part of the lower tail gate. The Tdi badge is in raised gun metal grey lettering and is no longer available. The plastic lettering in the Land Rover badge has, ironically, corroded! Does anyone have either of these badges available or know of any sources that could help?