ronnie_rotten

Well. This is getting silly, but I suppose the timing could have been a lot worse. I've just got back from a 2000 mile jaunt around ireland in the disco, and then 2 120 mile round trips collecting and towing back my caravan and horse trailer full of junk to their new home for a few months. Happy days, trouble free motoring. Yesterday on the way back from the shop a funny thing happened...... .....approaching a crossroads on a slight incline in second gear, ther was a fairly innocent sounding clunk, i assumed the transfer box had slipped into neutral. It occasionally does this if I don't ensure high box is properly engaged after using low box (i'd beed in low yesterday reversing and parking up the trailers).... ....but no. Still engaged. Now, i've got no drive, just a grindy sort of noise when any gear is engaged. 1st is quiet, 2nd is louder,3rd sounds bad, 4th makes me cringe a bit, and I'm really not very imperssed with the noise 5th makes at all. The front prop will turn all the way round by hand until it sort of jams on somthing (in the g/box or t/box?) but you can basically twist it both ways with no resistance. Has the t/box or g/box failed on me? I havn't been able to engage diff lock since i've had the truck as it's sticky from probably never having been used. Relevance? Dunno, thought i'd mention it. Also all the nasty noises stop when the T/box is in neutral, but then i suppose you'd expect that to be the case? Somebody.........pleeeeease.....help....i..can't...take.....much........more.....of this 8888. edit: 300tdi disco, r380 g/box

as in putting out about 14ish volt and no warning light on the dash. so i assume, working a-ok. a mate of mine saved his alternator by tapping out all the fillings that had built up in the brushes, his had a nice easy to remove cap and the brushes were behind that. hope the mercs the same.... i'll see how quickly the volts droptomorrow. other than that, how do you test a regulator? or recognise it?!?

Nope. It's not slipping. Must be something more technical. Any suggestions much appreciated....

I hope so, cos that would be an easy fix. herself doesn't think it is as there's no squealing and she recons all the teeth are still on the belt. i'll check in the morning. any other less favourable suggestions in case that's all good?

Hi all. What might cause an alternator to perform well while the engine is idling but drops down to about 12.5 volt output when the engine is running? The battery light comes on on the dash at the same time. incidentally, this is on my girlfriend's old merc van, not a Landy, but I assume it's an alternator thing not a merc thing.....

don't i need a reference number from the renewal paperwork? i'm sure they'll be awkward if i can't jump through their carefully set up hoops, cos that way they can fine me?

Irriots. Mind you,i'm on holiday in Ireland for another 2 weeks with my reminder and insurance doc locked away at home and my mot here, and my tax runs out at the end of the month. that's a bit daft innit? how am i gonna wriggle outta this one?!?

nice one chaps, now i've got a starting place, at least. Is it going to be woefully underpowered? I'm not planning on doing any serious mud pugging in the hicap, so i supppse somthing's better than nothing! I know a guy who'll fabricate a bumper using the cradle i got with it for a peanut or 2, so that's a bonus. Any tips for the refurb?

well it looks like i'm visiting all the right people this week! i've just been given this winch by a mate who used it on his recovery truck. to be fair, he abused it on his recovery truck, using jump leads on the terminals to winch in, and switching polarity to spool out. the clutch seems tohave snapped off at some point, and now there is just a split pin keeping the shaft in place. odd thing is the way the motor and gearbox are on the same side and thwe solenoid box mounts at the other end of the drum, wich visually balances the thing, but still seems a little odd. i know some winches (8274's, maybe others) have all the gubbins on one end, and i know this aint one i've seen before. i'm guessing this was designed for road recovery rather than 4x4 purposes as all the electrics are waaaaay down in the muck and water when mounted this way. so does anyone know what it is? the motor is roughly the same size as a coke can, but a bit longer. there are 2 terminals on the end of it, i thought you needed F1, F2 and A or summit? i've had it suggested it could be a superwinch of some sort and used as a base, could be rebuilt into somthing half decent? there is some trace's of red paint on the casing either side of the drum. any ideas of what it is and the best way to service, test and source spares would be much appreciated. cheers. sorry the picture doesn't show much, but there's nothing really to show but dirt!

that has worked sometimes, but as i say these batteries are well past theiir best. we were in powys during the cold snap and my mate recorded minus 21 degrees! one of the batteries froze solid, which i imagine didn't do it any favours.

ok ok ok! i wont do it i promise! thanks for the info, all i really helps to have science to back up advise. as for why? well i'm currently off and about the uk with the missus and baby visiting old mates in our old merc camper and the landy. the van's got a split charge system but all our batteries for power are past their best. half the time i end up rotating the landy battery with the one we use for tv, lights etc. a few times the battery i want to switch to doesn't have the umph to start the landy, hence i wondered if i could switch on the go. you see? the whole problem would be avoided by buying new batteries, but that'll have to wait til i start back at work again. until then it'll have to be a 20 minute top up with jump leads before the switch. ho hum. keeps me busy i suppose.....

errrrrr, ok. so that's the science bit covered! i'm reading that as being not such a great thing for modern engines with nasty little computer brains, but not too damaging to a clunky old 300tdi? or am i just not taking the hint that a 'load dump' has the same painful results on man and machine......? =@

i've been told by 3 people who i think should know that no damage would occur to the alternator in the time it would take to swap batteries while the engine is running. i've also spoken to some who assure me it will knacker the alternator as the charge isn't going anywhere. everyone agrees that having no battery attached for more than a couple of minutes would be a bad idea. anyone know for sure what the actual risks are and what science backs it up?

i changed the 'stat in my 300 today. simelarly, mine would never heat up at tickover and then would only reach 1/3 on the guage after driving for a while. now it gets to halfway pretty quickly and blows a hell of a lot quicker. for the first time i've had to turn it down from full wack! big improvement for a quick job.

just fitted some rdh engineering weld in sills with tree sliders, so not more rotten sills for me. however, now the plastic trim is gone, there's a big old gap under the door which is surely gonna take the brunt of the carp which gets thrown up and rot out the bottom of the doors pretty quickly? the trims may have trapped mud against the sills and encouraged rot, but now the worm's just gonna be chewing on my doors instead! you can't win......

great stuff. nice one guys. in my opinion, a rambly answer tends to cover everything better than a short but sweet one, so no worries there. and i agree, a metal cylendar has to be easier to seal up than a complicated cubish shape with loads of drain holes to seal up. ok. angle grinders a dawn.....wish me luck

ok, i've got a 200tdi safari snorkel and the wing it used to live in for a template. from what i've found searching the web there are a few differences between the 2 setups which make it not such a straight forward job. for a change...... 1 different air box. not a problem, cos i've got a 300tdi defender one, which i think will do the job. 2 hole needs to be made in a different place. maybe not a problem cos i've got the old wing to measure from. there's no airflow meter or abs or extra battery to get in the way, so what's gonna trip me up first. any suggestions much appreciated. oh, i know i'll need a step down from the filter to snorkel, which i've got and a u bend pipe off the box. so what else?

most people i know are pretty confused by the whole entitlement to tow sketch. i have been told that the 750kg limit didn't apply to caravans, only comercial trailers and the like. it seems a bit strange that land rover have left of numbers that important off of so many vin plates.

hmmm. you're thorough, western. i give you that. i think sand on top, black arches on boots. just my suggestion.

it's a p reg 3 door no frills model. The vin plate has chassis number, paint number and the 3 places for weight, GVW, front axel and rear axel are unstamped, apart from 'kg' with no value. Strange? Me thinks so. Log book also pretty vacant of values....

My post 2000 licence states I can tow a trailer up to 750 kg but not to exceed a GVW of 3500 kg, or some thing about that. I read this as: If i drive something that has a GVW of 3000 kg and tow and tow a 750 kg trailer, i'm gonna be in the doo doo. I've got a great big pikey style Tabbert caravan (you know, with the gold trim and drop windows. I just need a whippet and a sence of the world owing me a free ride.....) that reads 1800 kg on the plate and a disco that i think weighs in at 2250 kg, but has no revenue weight on the VIN or log book. Sooooo, 1800 + 0 = 1800. I know, I know, it's clutching at straws, and I know that your average schoolboy, let alone a traffic officer ain't gonna buy it for a second, but I also know that grey areas create strange situations. For example a mate of mine with a 5.5 tonne Bedford MK with no revenue weight on the book who's got away with a fairly obvious license infringement as a result. Anyway, I'm interested in everyone's experiences and opinions. Lucky my girlfriend has HGV 1 entitlement, but can she still tow a big van like that with a disco considering it's only got overrun brakes? Hmmmm.... The mind boggles.....

aha! i knew you couldn't be right about everything! I've waited, and now my chance has come! White wheels are wrong, with a capital WRONG. I concede the white roof may work, though i'd go sand. But the wheels? Oh no no no no no. Black maybe to break things up. Discuss......

I've just fitted some +2 hd springs and DeCarbon shocks to match to my 3 door disco. My 7.50's on wellers fit well under normal driving conditions, but with a tonne of spuds in the back and a little articulation, they rub at the back. i like the bolt extended arch things, but for now, the camel cut seems to be the quickest and easiest way foward. so what's the best way achieve a tidy folded edge finish, and how much do i actually need to take out?

get ratchet strap and wrap it twice round the shock, and back to the chassis somwhere. as you turn the nut, the stap should tighten even further, and boomshanka, nuts away! this way the shock comes off undamaged and can be reused if needed or kept as a spare.

thanks, guys. another job to put off til the weekend!