GL88

I have the standard rear sliding windows in my CSW and want to take them out to cure the awful rattle. Can someone tell me what size the rivets are please? BTW, any hints on curing the rattle would also be very welcome! It isn't clear whether the fixed or the sliding glass is the culprit (or maybe both) and i'll probably seal the fixed glass in with black silicone. It also looks as though the frames maybe a little loose so new rivets and a bead of silicone may help there as well.

I've driven about 300 miles this weekend - mainly on A-roads at around 50mph average. For the last few weeks I've been noticing a sound I can best describe as an irregular rattle under power in 4th gear and 5th. Now it is somewhat worse and I'd like to work out what it is before I start talking to Ashcrofts (not least so I can work out if I can afford to have the conversation). Vehicle is a yr2000 Def 90 TD5 with 70K miles. Symptoms as follows: - it began as a slight rattle under power in 4th and 5th. Now it has developed to a much louder and more noticeable noise that is also present in 3rd with an occasional loud click in 2nd; - it is occasionally present on the overrun too; - with the clutch depressed or coasting in neutral (at any speed) the sound goes away; - most recently I've found that at certain accelerator positions I can get the sound to disappear completely for up to a mile (until I either have to change gear or change the throttle position). I haven't had the chance to check the oil levels but they were recently checked and I have no leaks. When the sound first appeared I went round the grease points on both propshafts and all seemed well with the UJs and sliding joints. Despite the low overall mileage I'm feeling worried! Anyone have any ideas what it might be.

Thanks Ozzie, I found that thread last night but unfortunatley the pics seem to have disappeared from it. I've decided that I'm going to drop the tank as I've gone off the idea of cutting through the floor. And thanks K88 MUD, I've ordered the genuine part (good price from M J Fews who are advertising them on eBay).

Thank you. For the avoidance of doubt, please can you confirm it is the genuine ones that fail in your experience (and if so then are the non-genuine any more or less reliable). And do you drop the tank to fit (especially given you'll need to do it all over again soon afterward (if so then please can you provide the cut coordinates). ETA: What Land Rover will warranty doesn't matter a great deal as I'm goin gto do the work myself. As soon as decide which pump to buy (and if/where to cut)!

My fuel pump has just given up the ghost. I know this is a common problem so I'm surprised not to have found the answer after spending a fruitless hour between the forum search and Google looking for the answer to two questions: + where to cut a hole in the rear floor to save the faff of dropping the tank (and to what dimensions plus how much clearance below); and + there is a considerable price difference between the LR genuine part (over £250) and Allmakes pattern equivalent (under £100). Can someone with experience of fitting the Allmakes version tell me if it lasted. Thanks in advance. SWMBO is deeply grumpy about the whole thing (currently only one vehicle) so I'd like to get it sorted out as quickly and smoothly as possible!

I bought my td5 90 CSW second hand with what appears to be factory fitted leather upholstery. I know that the 50th special editions had leather (in green) but mine is black and I've always wondered if many had this (presumably to special order).

I'm in a similar situation and currently trying to source BFG ATs to replace what I think are the original ones (which have now done an incredible 65K miles). Cheapest (supply) I have found so far are Camskill who beat Paddocks (though not by much). At the moment I'm still looking as I'd like to find someone to supply and fit. One other thing to bear in mind is that BFG are made by Michelin so you may be able to find them through their suppliers.

I gave up looking for a DAB in-car-radio earlier this year. I think that the reason there are so few integrated units on the market is that the big manufacturers are all interested in developing products for the USA market which I think hasn't adopted DAB at all. Follow this link to my post on avforums about my experience with a Kenwood unit. http://www.avforums.com/forums/car-entertainment-ice/1174804-no-dab-iphone-car-devices-market.html All I would add to that is that despite allegedly being good for iPod I've found it easier for most journeys to have all my music on a USB memory key and use Bluetooth through the unit for phone calls. The sound is first rate and plenty loud enough at any speed (including autobahn speeds) with decent quality replacement speakers (standard size) in the standard in/under dash position and 7" units in Defendoor panels in the back. So far I'm not missing DAB (which I love in the house). If/when analogue switch off happens I'll get a separate tuner and mount it in the dash. Background noise means you don't notice the difference in sound quality once the engine is running and I've given up experimenting with internet through the iPhone (which does work after a fashion but depends on uninterupted data over 3G).

I recently posted a question about my TD5 starter intermittently clicking but not turning the engine. The suggested answer was that this was burning of the contacts in the starter solenoid so I bought the suggested repair kit on eBay (www.repairkitsuk.com). Having now installed said kit I though I’d share my experiences. 1) disconnect the battery (having remembered to read the handbook about the right sequence to avoid the alarm going off when you do). 2) remove the plastic under tray. This means jacking up the front axle one side at a time and supporting the chassis (axle stands) to allow the axle to drop and give clearance between the sump and front axle. The steering damper is in the way but only the chassis end needs to be unbolted allowing it to drop down out of the way. 3) my reading on the internet suggested that while the two lower bolts (13mm) holding the starter in place are easily removed there is an inaccessible (15mm) nut behind the starter. This calls for a trial and error selection of the best length wobbly extension bar (3/8” drive preferably) to reach it. Many people seem to opt not to replace this nut which didn’t fill me with confidence. But this was all theoretical because no combination of the tools in my extensive collection enabled me to even loosen this nut. 4) time to think laterally. I noticed that the end cover of the starter solenoid is easily accessible with the starter motor still in place. This led me to wonder if I could replace the contacts without removing the starter from the engine. 5) the solenoid end plate is retained by 3 easily removed 8mm bolts. 6) once the end plate is removed you can withdraw the starter ‘plunger’ retaining the long spring for use with the new plunger supplied in the kit. There was some pitting and burning of the copper contact ring but it looked thick enough and generally serviceable. 7) the battery side solenoid contact can be dismantled and removed with a bit of care. Inspection once removed showed this to be burned and very thin indeed and probably near to failure. I installed the new contact from the kit making sure that all of the various insulators, washers, o-rings, nuts etc were in the correct order. 8) due to restricted access I could not remove the motor side solenoid contact and, heart sinking, tried again to remove the starter motor but still without success. With a bright inspection lamp I was able to inspect this contact. This showed it to have very little sign of pitting or thinning unlike the other one so I decided to leave it in place. 9) I installed the new solenoid plunger from the kit re-using the old spring with a light smear of grease. 10) I reinstalled the solenoid end plate/rubber seal with its 3 bolts. 11) after reconnecting the battery I tested (several times) with 100% satisfactory results. Hurrah! Overall there is quite good access and visibility to dismantle the solenoid and inspect the contacts without removing the motor. In my case this made it easy to be confident that only one of the two needed replacing to effect a satisfactory repair. I used aerosol electrical contact cleaner to clean the motor side contact and I could see and feel that there was no noticeable thinning of this contact. I don’t know if it is common that one thins and burns but not the other so you may not be as lucky. If they wear unevenly then this will make it harder for the solenoid contact ring to get a good contact across both contacts and probably speed up the thinning and burning.

My year 2000 TD5 Defender (65K miles) has taken to intermittently not turning over when turning the ignition key to start. I get the loud click but the engine doesn't turn. Eventually after a random number of tries it will turn over and start, other times it works first go. I've replaced the battery (probably unnecessarily) and suspicion now rests on one of the relays under the driver's seat or behind the fuse panel. Is that right? If so I presume it is one of the black relays but which one (and what part number please)? (My manual is for a 2002MY which seems to be a little different and my Rave disk doesn't seem to want to run on Windows 7 64 bit OS.) As a side note this seems to be a problem that develops after I've been on a long run. I drove 200 miles at the weekend and it was iffy the morning after the first 200 and again the morning after we got home. The same thing about a month ago and it gradually improved again until last weekend. TIA

The standard kit from Land Rover comes with stainless rivnuts which you can access from just the outside. I didnt use these but used stainless countersunk bolts and nylock nuts (fearing that the rivnuts make it too easy for anyone with light fingers). As you say access isn't great, however my solution was to use the ring end of a combination spanner and glue the nuts in with hot melt glue which releases easily enough once you've got the thread started. The most difficult one was the front above the headlinght which I reached by removing the alarm (and wearing ear defenders). (Hot melt glue gun and sticks = cheap from Screwfix trade counter.)

I'm keeping an eye on mine at the moment to confirm my suspicion that changing up early increases fuel consumption. Some time ago I replaced the exhaust centre box with a straight through pipe. In general driving that reduced turbo lag at lowish revs and made changing into 5th practical around 35mph. In addition the pipe created a bit of a boom around 30mph in 3rd gear which encouraged changing into 4th around 28mph. But fuel consumption increased by around 1.5mpg. Since then I've had the final drive ratio raised with Disco gears and that gave me back 2mpg. And now it has been re-mapped and that has robbed me of a few mpg though it is too early to say how many. To complicate things further I've since re-fitted the exhaust centre box so that now I can drive comfortably at up to 35mpg in 3rd gear and this has certainly improved mpg again but once again I need to do a few tanks to get a decent average.

Thanks chaps. I ordered M3 and it is the right thread. And the black csk socket heads are pretty enough to be ideal for mounting stuff into the Mud Pod. I'm planning to mount the NanoCom, SatNav and a digital LED display. Now all I need to find is someone to supply clear red plastic sheet to cover the LED.

I'd really appreciate knowing the answer to this - assuming the screws don't have an odd thread. I've tried matching them with computer screws in Maplins (hardly the hardware capital of the world) without success. The thread is 2.91 mm gross diameter and appears to be quite fine pitch. Depending on my IT skills here is a completely unnecessary picture...

Thoughts - in the order they struck me on looking at that ad: 1) Christmas tree; 2) an invitation to the light fingered (whole vehicle or its baubles) so probably only of interest to a collector; 3) unlikely to be an investment but at that price only likely to be of interest to someone expecting to recoup sell for more than they paid; 4) not likely to appeal to a collector due to non original paint and engine. On Camels generally my view is that the premium you pay to own one means they are probably for cosseting rather than using and if you want a modified vehicle to use then it will be more fun and cheaper to get a standard vehicle and modify it to your spec.

I'm considering permanently mounting my Nanocom in a Mud Pod so I can use the instrument function in daily driving. The easiest way to do this looks to be to use longer screws in place of the four on the front round the display (and preferably black countersunk and socket headed). Can any helpful soul tell me the thread I need, please? TIA

A good quality offset ring spanner works just as well. (Good quality so the wall thickness on the ring isn't too thick.) The trouble with the special tool is that it is a 'once in a blue moon' job and often not planned ahead so the alternative is that you buy the special tool on a 'just in case' basis and lose or lend it before it gets used.

I have a 90 CSW. However it was wrongly registered by Land Rover from new as a 'light utility' rather than 'estate' body configuration (it has the correct station wagon chassis number because that is what it was constructed as). About a year ago I used the 'compliance checker' in the Low Emissions Zone area of the Transport for London website and this said it would be non compliant from October 2010 (since suspended pending consultation). TfL said I'd have to take this up with DVLA who said they needed a letter from Land Rover before they'd change it. Land Rover were very quick at sending back the relevant confirmation but I didn't get round to taking it up again with DVLA until Christmas since when I've had the corrected V5 back (after some delays). Since then the LEZ compliance checker has continued to show the vehicle as non compliant from October '10 so this thread prompted me to phone them yesterday. Miraculously, while I spoke to them on the phone the compliance checker changed to showing the vehicle as not covered by the LEZ and I conclude that the data it runs from is only updated to add new vehicles and not to update existing data unless something happens to prompt that (like my phone call). The explanations on the TFL website aren't very helpful. But for 110 Station Wagons I did wonder if the rules apply on the basis that they are regarded as mini-buses - it says: "The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) affects older, diesel-engined lorries, buses, coaches, large vans (exceeding 1.205 tonnes unladen weight) and minibuses (over eight seats plus the driver's seat and below 5 tonnes)."

Dave, I don't have much to add to what others have said save to say I'm running EBC Green Stuff in my TD5 90 and as I'm in Harpenden you'd be welcome to have a drive. When I changed to these pads I felt they gave less initial bite but quickly build up the stopping power to the point that they easily overwhelm the grip of the (standard AT) tyres on dry roads and I'm glad to have ABS. Having said that so did the standard pads. However I don't tow or heavily load the vehicle and I've never experienced fading (before or since the pad change). I'm around next Friday afternoon and I was going to send you an email with contact details but I don't seem to be able to get on your website at the moment so I've sent you a private message instead. Guy. (edit for grammar)

Also important to bear in mind the 'dish' on the wheel. I had a SIII that the PO had fitted a near flat wheel to- far too close to my legs so had to drive with knees wide apart to be able to transfer my right foot twixt pedals. Standard dish was far more comfortable.

Credit card with enough capacity for eventualities!

DVLA seems slow making changes at the moment. I had to call several times to get my V5 back in 2 months revised from light utility to estate. I got the impression the staff lacked relevant instructions. Land Rover seem to have commonly muffed up various details and recent MOT rule changes may mean lots of us asking for changes. This may have left DVLA suspicious about what we are up to - I had to get a letter from Land Rover!

I ended up using nut splitters (reasonably priced at Screwfix) when I replaced my mid box with a plain pipe over a year ago now.

Last week I needed some TD5 parts (see oil pump bolt thread - no pun intended). No sump gaskets in stock at the local franchised dealer and no idea at Land Rover if/when they will resume supply. This leads on to a "is this a common problem" conversation. The dealer says that an increasing number of genuine parts are not available for all ages of vehicles. My local independent LR service and repair specialist says he is tearing his hair out with over ten vehicles in his yard waiting for genuine parts. What is going on?

With all the work you have already had done from a range of different suppliers I think that an 'off the shelf' map won't give optimum results. Really you need fine adjustments on a dyno to make the most of them all. That means someone with a dyno who can design and programme the maps.