[Puma speedo question]

I have a 90 tdci 07 plate and have heard that if you change tyres from 205/80/16 (which is on my vehicle)to 235/85/16, the difference in tyre size can be compensated for on the computer as the tdci's speedo is controlled by the computer. Would someone kindly confirm if this is correct--or not.

Regards, rocky.

When mine was hooked up to the Autologic diagnostic machine (to see if there was an option to remove the speed limiter) it gave a number of tyre and speed combinations you could choose plus KMH and MPH options. Simple job to do IIRC.

[Now its even worse]

Spent 3 hours on friday with exactly the same problem. Found that if you push the locking button on the inside of the door down and then shut the door it would not open it again. (Normally you need to hold the outside button in otherwise the button pops up again - it wasn't) . Latch seemed to work fine off the vehicle but not when reassembled in door. After I started to loose the will to live having taken the dam thing out again and again resorted to replacing the latch mechanism completely. All is now well For the sake of £30 or so it's not worth the grief of using a second hand one.

[Damned clutch!]

I would check the spigot bush is not jammed in the end of the crankshaft. I had an identical problem with a TD5 90. It nearly went of the ramp when the engine was started as pushing the clutch to the floor had no effect. Had to machine a couple of thou' off the bush after which it worked fine.

[plastic/fibreglass bit dropped off]

yep, am tempted to leave it off, but as I say, not sure if I'm leaving the bottom end vulnerable to damage from road debris. Had wondered about an alloy plate instead - possibly shaped a bit better so it doesn't snag if reversing with little or no ground clearance - I was surprised that relatively soft snow at very slow speed was enough to snap it off, to be frank.

It may explain why I was having some little trouble reversing out of a snowdrift!

Anyone seen a decent replacement?

I managed to rip this off my '99 TD5 CSW shortly after I bought it and never bothered replacing it. IIRC they were fitted to meet 'Drive By Noise' limits in certain countries and were not fitted on Hard Tops etc. Had an '03 plate 90 CSW which never had one fitted when it left the factory so I guess it was dropped on later models to save a few £s

[07 Defender 2.4 non starting problem]

Local farmer/neighbour rung me today looking for help.07 'Puma' 90 with 18000 miles.Over the past couple of months the vehicle has developed an intermittent starting fault. The truck will either start, run for a few seconds and then dies or it just refuses to turn. Usually leaving it five minutes will 'cure' the fault but the non starting is happening more frequently now. Local Land Rover dealer has had two attempts at curing it but says it can find no fault with the vehicle. Dealer says it has been in touch with Solihull and it's 'not a known problem'. Three days after last dealer visit it failed to start. It's just done it again today - that's when he called me to ask whether i'd heard of anything similar. I haven't but wondered whether anyone on here had...?? FWIW. Another farmer has told him his 'Puma' 90 does the same occasionally but the leave it 5-mins trick works for him. Anyone else experienced/heard of this one?

Yes that sounds familiar. Mine does it from time to time - normally when I am in a hurry which is a PITA. Locking and then unlocking the truck with the remote usually fixes it. Mentioned it to the service manager at the local stealer when I dropped it off for some waranty work, who confirmed that he was aware of several other vehicles with the same problem. Apparantly the worshop  "checked" the imobiliser settings and found nothing amiss - the problem is still there though

[Rear disc brake conversion]

Ryan,

That axle certainly looks like a post 2002 110 rear and so should do what you want. However you have a 200 TDI with a LT77 box so I am not sure if you will be able to find an 'off the shelf' prop to fit. Your existing prop will be too short and not sure if the post 2002 TD5 one will fit as they had the R380 box. Certainly the 90 TD5 rear prop is a different length to the 200TDI (if that makes sense!!) May be worth considering when adding up the total cost of going down this route as bespoke props are I guess £150 or so.

[VED Rates/polls and alike]

I may be wrong here...

But I thought the now £400ish top bracket (band G) only came into effect from March 2006, and we knew in advance.

So before this date even heavy polluters are in band F and the VED is noticably lower.

So before March 2006 the most you can pay is about £210 per year, no matter how much Co2 you pump out.

Top 90 I think you are correct. I have just had a look at the DVLA website and band G only applies to vehicles first registered on or after 23 March 2006. Budget day was 23 March 2006 IIRC so it is not retrospective. For vehicles registered between 1 January 2001 and 22 March 2006 the highest band is F which is currently £210.

Why do they make it so b***y complicated. Mind you from 2010 it gets even worse with 13 tax bands and a top rate of well over £400 plus the 'showroom tax' of £950 for the first year.

[VED Rates/polls and alike]

Hmm....... I think you may be right looking at this. Sorry if it is not clicky I am not too good with computers

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10012524

[VED Rates/polls and alike]

Following todays budget and all the hype about increasing tax for so called 'Gas Guzzlers' it looks as though the rate on my '07 90 Hard Top has reduced from £180 to £120 as it is EU iV IIRC. and a 90 CSW producing the same emissions is £400 as it is taxed as a diesel car. . . Logical ?

It seems to good to be true or have I misread the DVLA website?

[07 Defender SW]

I did the same with all the toys, but it was still much cheaper. Only things I didn't spec were the sunroof and alloys.

MJIbex (who posted above) got me a nice discount though...

<going off topic> I still can't believe LR want so much for alloys, I gave mine to the dealer to fit before collection.

Of course, with a hard top you could also claim back about 3.5k in VAT if you were registered and it was for the busness, so a fully specced one would cost about 19k.

Unfortunately I am not VAT registered however managed to get a good discount on mine all the same. I take your point about alloys however if you spec those then you get all the anti-roll bars etc which I wanted as the vehicle will be used 99.99% of the time on road as my daily drive. Mind you the downside is that you get those General Grabber TR tyres which I do not rate much. Changed them for a set of General Grabber AT2's which I am really happy with and flogged the old ones on ebay for pretty much the same as the cost of the replacements.

You are certainly right about the cost of genuine LR alloys. Got a set of Compomotive Deep-Dish look-alike alloys on the 200TDI which only cost about £75 a corner IIRC. Mind you the quality is not nearly as good as the genuine LR ones.

[2007 Defender Stereo]

Has anybody else suffered a stuck CD/Error code 2 on this stereo?

Thanks Rich

Yep, I have had this problem a couple of times. Just switched the unit off for a couple of minutes and then then when I switched it on again it spat out the CD and wored fine.

Slightly off topic but if I switch off the engine with the headlights and windscreen wipers still on it gives an audible chime from behind the dash. . . Whats that all about. . . ? It certainly is not to tell me that the lights have been left on 'cos it does not happen if the wipers are off. Has any one else experienced this?

[07 Defender SW]

I expected it to say two anyway, but not heard anything about changes.

Can you let me know if you come across any info.

Thanks

Richard

Just checked the registration document for my '07 HT and yep it shows 4 seats including driver. Is there any point in getting it corrected?

I thought long and hard about whether to go for a 90 HT at £180.00 p.a. rather than a 90XS at £400.00 p.a. and decided that several years down the line the £400.00 p.a. VED may affect residuals adversely. Only problem was that to get the spec I wanted, I had to specify pretty much every optional extra which meant the cost new was not that much less than a 90 XS. Hmmm.......

[07MY DEF MPG]

Have you got one if so what MPG do you get? only interested in the 07MYone with the PUMA engine

coudl you comment MPG, total mileage, additions that may affect it - eg roofrack and type of driving - town/motorway/towing etc

Just after an idea.

any responses greatly appreciated

Thank you

Done a total of 400 miles over the last day or so and it is doing 28MPG. Mixture of single track lanes, A roads and motorways. However 300 or so of those miles were motorway at a steady 70 - 80 . Vehicle is a standard 90 hardtop which has covered 5,000 miles. Only mod is 265/75/16 General Grabber AT2 tyres which I am really pleased with. They are quiet and far better both in the dry and the wet than the 235/85/16 General Grabbers it came with which, if miketomcat pulls his finger out, will be on ebay soon!!

[07 Towing Electrics]

Has anyone fitted electrics to their new Def. I've purchased a genuine set and there is 2 parts to it. The plug bit on the rear and a long loom and then a separate smaller loom with a relay in it. Instructions for that bit say about taking the radio out and cutting/splicing the loom of the car.

Is this necessary? I'm not to keen to start cutting it about just yet. Does anyone know what the relay controls?

I suspect that the additional wiring with the relay is the split charge circuit for caravans to keep leisure battery charged. I took the tow electrics off my 03 plate 90 xs before I sold it and it fitted my '07 90 with no problems.

There is a large vertical plastic flap at the rear of the o/s rear wheelarch. Clipped up behind this and not that easy to see is a large multi-plug. The towing electrics simply plug into this. You need to route the cable up between the fuel tank and the chassis rail, it's a bit fiddly but easy enough to do and no cutting of wires.