RichardAllen

Lee, Welcome to the forum and the delights of Defender ownership. You will find on here that almost all advice is sound, unless it is clearly jokey. This is unique in my experience of forums. The technical archive is particularly spot-on, and I regularly print articles off before replacing a cross member, taking off a cylinder head etc. You may find the driveline lash is just what these vehicles do, they are certainly more agricultural than a normal road car. The same goes for the steering, but best check it out for safety if nothing else, likewise brakes. The cambelt change article in the Technical Archive is excellent, and the trick for getting the crankshaft pulley botl off works a treat. There is a similar article on Difflock's website, but they do try to sell you a lot of tools you don't really need. All the best, looking forward to your contributions Regards Richard (Saving for a 110 to go with my 90)

I have just received a brand new Dayco fan belt tensioner mechanism from Paddocks for my 300TDi engine (part no ERR4708). It has not been fitted. I noticed it has a lot of play in the tensioner wheel bearing. This is difficult to describe, but if I try to rock it parallel to the axle (like you would testing a wheel bearing) I can easily move it 1/4mm + in either direction. If this were a wheel bearing I would definitely look to tighten it up a bit. Is this play intentional, or have I a duff unit ? Richard

Thanks guys, that connector looks like just the job. Another question on replacing the head - how clean should the block be, before I put the new head on. I have removed all the old head gasket and given the top face a good hand rub down with a fairly fine scotchbrite pad + WD40, and it is smooth to touch all over, but you can still see staining. Do I need to keep going and get all the stains out, or is smooth to the touch good enough ?

Mike, I hope the Hammerhead works for you, let us all know how you get on with it. Some thoughts: I assume you will use a GPS wired into a USB port rather than bluetooth. You have to provide power to a bluetooth GPS receiver anyway, so you might as well hardwire it. I found on my 90 that I got poor GPS reception until I velcro'd the receiver to the sunroof. I did try out the new HP TX2 multi-touch - underwhelmed. I would also highly recommend GPSgate. I use it to pipe GPS to both PC Navigator and Memory Map at the same time, for instant switching between on-road and off-road when out and about. My Mk 1 mount allows the tablet to mbe easily removed and put in the cubby box for security. The Mk2, if I ever get to build it will do so too. Regards Richard

Mike, Sorry not to reply earlier. I am doing a bent cylinder head just now, but will try and get some pic's alter in the week. Regards Richard

Jen, It fits my 90 300TDi CSW 1997. You unplug the immobliser and replace it with the bypass, all works fine. Pm me for further info Richard

Head very bent. New one ordered from Turners. Attached to the back of the head is a small P clip for the oil breather pipe which also supports a large white barrel shaped electrical connector, one wire in, one wire out, it's difficult to trace these wires, so anyone know what this connector is ?

After loosing coolant (forgot to do up a hose clip up doh!) and overheating I now have a whistling radiator cap. The coolant system seems to pressurise as soon as the enigne starts up. Then the radiator cap starts a low whistle until I turn the enignine off when it continues for a few seconds, then stops. The system is still pressurised though. Even when starting from cold it pressurises straight away. Once the engine warms up, a whisp of steam come from the cap,and after a while coolant definitely seems to be lost. Temperature gauge goes hot sometimes, then cools down then gets hot again, likewise very variable results from the heater. Can this be anything other that a head gasket - (I have done not a compression test yet) ?

I got a Clubman Steering Guard from Devon 4x4 which will not fit my 90 300TDi with my winch bumper - Goodwinch BRB Land Rover Defender EP9 / TDS Bumper (non aircon). Jake at Devon 4x4 is being very helpful in sorting the problem out. I think I remember David Bowyer telling me that a Southdown guard would fit with the Goodwinch bumper, but did not have time to speak to him today. Has anyone tried this combination successfully ? If not, what other guard will fit ? All help gratefully received. Regards Richard

Chris, I have found 2 useful routes for steel. best is going round to a local forge/blacksmithing company who might sell you some bits if they have any. The other is going round to a steel stockholder on a Saturday and asking to rummage the offcuts bin. A beer voucher always helps. Regards Richard

Following a thread on here somewhere, I bought a HP TC1100 tablet + keyboard off gleebay for about £200. It runs PC Navigator for on-road (a bit like Tomtom) and Memory Map (1:25,000) off road with a bluetooth GPS. It also holds the LR manual set from Rave, the Parts catalogue,my service records (thanks Reiny) etc etc . For fitting it, I got a Mobile Storage Systems cubby box with a lockable front which takes the stereo and mounted the PC as a tablet (ie keyboard folded behind the screen) on a simple plate bolted onto the dash in front of where the stereo goes. This looks a bit scrappy at the moment and is due for an ugrade, maybe with a Mudstuff console. This does everything I need, though the one bad point you have to use the pen on the tablet touchscreen, you cannot use your finger. I recently looked at the latest finger operated screen from HP, and was not impressed. The TC1100 is a great bit of kit, you can easily get spares off fbay and with ther maintenance manual it is surprisingly easy to take apart and upgrade/fix. Regards Richard

I did take a look at the Rebel one. The bit I did not like was that it had the word "Rebel" cut into it. 30 years ago this may have been appropriate.

I ordered a Southdown steering guard for my 300TDi 90 for light off-roading protection from Devon 4x4. They don't have any in stock just now and have offered me the Clubman, which is a couple of quid cheaper. Pro's and con's anyone ? All help gratefully received as always Regards Richard

The LR wheel nuts for my CSW alloys have collars. My suggestion is proper job LR wheelnuts, plenty of copperslip and a breaker bar on the 27mm socket. After all a few bobs for thew right nuts is a lot less than many quids for some new wheels Regards Richard

Reiny It is excellent, just the job. One or two others have pm'd me asking for a copy. Is it OK to copy it on with the appropriate acknowledgement of course ? Regards Richard

Off road Memory Map 1:25,000, on road mapfactor PC Navigator (both on TC100) + Tomtom on a PDA for a backup. I tried Memory-Map on a PDA for off-road, but the screen was just far too small to be useful.

to all, pm me with your email address, if you want a copy

pm sent Richard

Has anyone made an Excel spreadsheet version of the RAVE maintenance schedule for a 300TDi ? If so, is it available on here, or can you make it available somehow ? As my maintenance takes place over several days, I just want to be able to tick the jobs off on a spreadsheet rather than oily bits of paper. Regards Richard

After changing a cam belt on my 300TDi, if I try to run the engine for say 5 seconds with the front cover off, just to make sure the timing is right, are there any likely problems ?

I run a rear tank with a transfer pump into the filler neck, then down into the front tank. The filler neck is also a fabricated Y the main tube down to the front tank and a side filler tube down to the rear tank. This allows me to fill one or both tanks from one filler cap. It also leaves the front tank/lift pump/engine plumbing intact. (There are several threads on here describing this in detail) An advantage of this setup is that when the transfer pump fills up the front tank, the fuel level rises up the filler neck and then drains back down the other side of the Y into the rear tank, so you cannot overfill the front. I fill up, drain and refill both tanks together to keep the fuel fresh.

I had a similar experience with a box full of service tems, good price delivered well-packed the following day. Just the job.

I think you all may be quite right. And I am sure SWMBO would agree. On the other hand working out and building a complex roofrack for the sheer hell of it might keep me out of trouble for a while . . . On the other hand I could spend the time laning, and do need to do that recovery course at Whitecliff . . .

Thanks for the thoughts John. Please keep me posted if you take this any further.

My thinking is that as a Defender is some 1.8m wide, the tent overlaps by 20cm each side, so fold down roof rack sides might be make to fit. A 110 is 4.6m long, so a 4.8m long tent does not overlap too much. Might thought was a platform might be made by having a double roofrack base with the top being fixed as normal and the underneath sliding forward and being attached to the rest above the windscreen and supported by a frame down onto the front bumper. An Achilles heel to all this is that even if I can make a strong light platform (aluminium frame + stressed skin like an old race car might do), you would have to be able to unfold it and fix it in just a few minutes for the whole effort to be worthwhile. That is quite a design challenge. And a major problem with the Equinox tent is that you have to have front and back guys at minimum. These pin down 1m or so forward and back of the main footprint shown above, so how do I pin the guys down on an impenetrable surface like tarmac. Heavy weights are obvious, but again lugging heavy enough weights about defeats the object, otherwise some kind of mast and stay arrangement as per a ship's bowsprit might be needed. At this point I started to think it was all just too difficult, so I consulted the "palace of all treasures" (thanks Fridgefreezer) - this forum. But maybe I'll just go ahead and build the person I'm not that keen on. After all X-Eng make a living on building bright ideas; whether this idea can be called bright is, however, questionable. Thanks guys, all further ideas welcome.