Ex Member

No common rail engines like biodiesel. With the high pressure pumps, the higher viscosity is a problem.

Pull the belt, clean the pulleys with a strong solvent and some sandpaper. Make sure the belts are not bottoming. Then it should be fine. Pulleys don't wear out. Are you sure you have it tight enough? A new belt MUST be retightened after a few days. That is normal, as it will bed in.

Some engines have the temperature sensor in that location, so the looms have the wire. No point is different looms.

VDO Vision 333-156 is a good choice. Fully adjustable. Nice looking, 4000 rpm.

The new (2007) seats are completely different.

Only if it is right hand drive. Left hand drive is the other way around.......

Wouldn't an 1988 model have the individual single nozzles on each side? If so, the ashtray won't work....

Change your thermostat. It is leaking.

Take the center tranny cover off between the front seats. Have a look/picture of the shift linkages. See where the side to side linkage goes.......

Being in the USA... I would suggest Redline MTL for the gearbox. Any decent gear oil for the axles, t. case and swivels. Being in a wintery area as you are using 75W-90 synthetic of your choice is helpful. The engine. Any good 10W-40.

Most likely it will have the 1.6:1 LT230 as mentioned above, which will make the road gearing too low for a 200TDI.

Heavy trailers should have their own brakes... We weren't talking about trailering, but there is always a low enough gear. Do large trucks ride their brakes down steep hills??? I think not. Strangely enough there are hills around here as well.

Just don't use your brakes.... Seriously. Choose the right gear. Brake fade while road driving should never happen in a manual gearbox vehicle. Coming up on 130000 km on the VW and the pads are maybe 25% worn....

The stock brakes should be quite strong. If you don't feel that they are, they probably need some attention.

With a Defender, it makes sense to go larger due to the long cable runs compared to a "normal" vehicle. IMO, welding cable is the best choice. It is flexible and has a strong, heat resistant insulation. I'm running 2/0, which calculates out to 0.4 volt drop at 450 Amps for about the run required. The 2 guage would give around 0.85 Volts drop.

The lashing rings are for tieing the vehicle down for transport on a truck or such. You can use Jate rings on the front. There are spots behind the bumper for them. Getting a proper bumper is the best choice....

There are no stock locations to mount them. You would need a strong aftermarket bumper or you would need to reinforce the stock one.

What needs to be done is to improve the insulation of the vehicle. I have a very well insulated vehicle. It heats up faster inside than any car I've owned. I can easily maintain +20C inside the cab with -20C outside with the heater on the LOW fan speed in my 90 hard top.

See my list of oils above. IMO, the best choice is the Esso Extra XD-3, 0W-40. Full group 4 synthetic diesel engine oil. $23 for a 4 liter jug at any Walmart. A little cheaper at UFA stores (re-branded as UFA Polar Plus). I've been running it for a few years and the oil analysis is very good. Any time for the lower rad heater. They are the easiest thing to install of any option. It worked fine on my 2.5 NA. The frost plug heaters are a nicer option, but may be hard to install, depending on access. I'm guessing they are around $50. Should be available (on order) through any auto parts store.

There are access doors to the outside there under the seats. They must be leaking.

It "should" start at anything. I dead started my 2.5NA at -35C once. Give it a LOT of glow. Like a minute or more. However, it is BAD for ANY engine to start dead cold below around -10 C as the oil is too viscous to get to all the bits in the engine quickly. IMO, everything should be plugged in before that. See the thread on the 200TDI in the North American sectiono of LRA http://www.landroveraddict.com/smf/index.php?topic=366580.0 . There are part numbers for a block heater that will work. You could also put in a lower rad hose heater.... Actually, come to think of it, I have one in the garage that you can have if you want to pop over. I needed to take it out when fitting the air compressor as the belt rubbed on it. One other thing... Make sure you have a fresh tank of fuel. If you have a tank from the summer, it will gell up and leave you stranded. Using some diesel fuel conditioner with each tank adds some security. Your biggest problem is lack of insulation....at least when I saw it last. Make sure the heater hot/cold cable is adjusted properly to close the door in the hot position..... I drove mine this morning and it was +20C in the cab when I reached work. Also....it is a good idea to have a wide range oil in there. 5W-40 as a minimum (Petro-Can Duron Xl, or Mobil Delvac 1) or a 0W-40 (Esso Extra XD-3 or Shell Rotella T SB). A 15W-40 (normal diesel engine oil) fails the SAE cranking test at -20 C. You gain 5 C for each grade, so a 0W-40 goes to -35 C. Synthetic wider range gear lubes will also help everything else.

There is not supposed to be any play as the bearing are preloaded. First check that the pinion nut has not loosened off. If it is tight, you need new pinion bearings. Despite what was said above, it is fairly involved as it requires a press and preload, pinion height and backlash need to be set properly.

Not true at all. The analysis will tell you if the oil is still OK to use. It will tell you how much life is left on it. It will tell you if there is a problem in the system. There is a lot of information to be gained from a single sample.

IMO, as long as you are using quality, approved lubricant there is no reason to change at any different intervals than the factory recommended ones, including engine oil. The only exception is if you do any wading. It is alway good to check often for water ingress in that case. If you are really concerned, have the oils analyzed. It is cheap and will give you confifence that it is fine at the recomneded change intervals.

Red90 is not Jim. Red90 is ME and that is my chart on MY website.... The information started out in 1998 using the compiled information from Jim and has since grown based on other available information. As you can see, some springs have "^ Data changed from published value to match those calculated from measurements." and other stuff has been added. If you have access to a spring and can properly measure it, I can tell you the spring rate. As I live in Canada, accessing new 90s and 110s is not exactly possible......