the_mouse_man

'Fraid so an MOT fail highly likely - repairable though. You need to get under and have a really good poke around AND check the whole chassis espes. the rear cross member, given the corrosion in your pics above a dodgy rear CM a distinct possibility too (again repairable but a lot more work.

Indeed!!! There does seem to be a real spate of these thefts at the moment, apart for the misery caused to their owners it surely can't be long before it starts impacting on insurance premiums and affecting all Defender owners with higher costs.

The difference being of course that the four dong the work will wear out well before the one on the door - unless of course you rotate them, or have a puncture. However I would guess most folks will not bother and as a result it could be on the door unused for years and therefore exposed as originally suggested. But to get this back on topic (Me being guilty of taking it off) J@mes, Have you tried a 4x4 breakers - if you don't know the model name/number ping them a fax or an email with a picture in. They should be able to match you up with a wheel.

Just my 2 cents worth but if it's only a spare you are after, why not just mount a (cheap) steel spare wheel on the rear door. With a cover on no one will know, and fitted I bet neither will you. Very common for modern cars to have four alloys and a steel spare (Or Even these days no spare at all.....!!!)

The step back front IMHO looks great, guess that's why the OP wants to do this. As to how - as said above it's all about where to put the cooling. The space restrictions in front of the engine will ultimately govern this. Not sure how with such a big engine you could achieve this to be honest, at least without a mammoth amount of work moving everything backwards. Original series Land Rovers generally have a very small block (length wise) and oodles of room between the fan and the engine. Putting something non original in (especially a bigger lump) is inevitably going to mean everything in front of the block needs to move forward, and that means the grill, hence the flat front.

Forum search is your friend... http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopi...l=LED+dashboard

Unlikely the battery then. So needs a check of all earth and battery connections. As to smoke on eventual start - surely turning over repeatedly will draw un-burnt fuel into the cylinders which on final starting will bellow out on final firing a bit akin to a flooded petrol... or am I talking out the rear of my neck??

Right - OK I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure.... Hat is back in the ring and I'll leave it to the Gods.... Good luck everybody!!!!

Of course...as I said it's the mods/admin's prerogative - however it wasn't made clear newbies like me need not bother expressing an interest..... had it been I wouldn't have bothered. As I say I'll come back when my post count is more than 2K...

It's all starting to look a little like an 'old boys club' which of course the mods and admin. are perfectly entitled to run as there are no rules or regs. that govern mod/admin appointments, (at least AFAIK) However us newbies clearly don't have a 'cat in hells chance' - so for now I will respectfully withdraw my application. I'll come back when I have a couple of thousand posts. Good luck with whoever you decide to appoint.

Ditto - but no response so far so I'm coming out too!!!

As said above a battery check might be prudent. The sudden cold weather and drop in temp. very quickly exposes a weakness on the battery side of things. Certainly wouldn't do any harm to get it checked over.

Ralph... I think you need to get out more.... ;) ;)

Why when he has the evidence he returned it (parcel force tracking info.).... also the seller stated in an email he was going to return it and he did. Not the buyers problem I would say.

All good here... Cheers.

Here are the old boys in action.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7722054.stm

And thanks due to all the young army/navy and air cadets who have been active in the last few days in pretty cold weather collecting monies for poppies in our local towns and villages over the preceding few days - they've done their little bit too - clearly no where near the sacrifice made by all those in conflict but it was heartening to see young people just taking a bit of time out in recognition of what has gone before.

Lightning fast now.....has somebody fed the hamster????

That's a really nice looking Defender, gutted for you. Hope it turns up. I would guess the first thing they will do is remove anything that sets it out from other 90's such as the custom items. Also it would be worth keeping a look out on that well known internet auction site to see if the Landy itself - or any of the bits from it appear 'up for bidding'.

Or not......

This probably is a completely unrelated problem - but I got an email today telling me I had a PM - when I read it properly it said the message was sent on the 5th Nov - now that is slow!!

BP petrol stations are doing one of these on an offer of (I think) £9.99 with £20 worth of fuel. It looked quite sturdy and it was small too - has a number of LED's in it. Might be worth a look.

You wouldn't normally be able to see any external evidence of a worn master cylinder. I would check for all the issues as above (ie things you can see) and then consider the master cylinder being worn. You can buy the seals and replace them but often this will not always solve the problem. Often a new or re-conditioned unit is the only thing that will. As I say though consider all the things as above first. Let us know how you get on.

I haven't been on here that long so don't know for sure but if this is the same as other forums I don't think you can. I think the only way is to re-register and restart from scratch with a new name - unless the mods or admin can preform some 'dark magic' under the hood so to speak. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

Classic symptoms of air in the system, (or it were when I were a lad) Pumping the pedal normally resolves this but obviously only temporarily. A leak would (depending on whether your system is dual circuit) eventually allow the pedal to go all the way to the floor under steady pressure If the system is leaking (and the dropped level would indicate this) this could obviously cause this too. Needs a careful inspection of all pipes, callipers, hoses and pad thickness. I also think that if the pedal goes all the way down under steady pressure, it could be (and somebody with knowledge of this will hopefully join in) a worn master cylinder, the fluid leaking past the seals allowing the pedal to go all the way down.