How to kill your Defender in 8 months

Working in the mines I saw that type of thing all the time,pit dirt gets pounded into flour and gets everywhere.I've even seen blokes get scratched eye's from it getting under their eyelids.Everyone likes to play in water but for vehicles it's bad news,before you go anywhere check you diff oils and pull all four axle flanges and check the hubs and pump the uni's full of grease to force any grit out. Pat

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Originally Posted by MinniTheMoocha

Toolangi mud! Is the majority of the mitigating circumstances. It sticks to anything almost like glue and stains everything that touches it. When dry it is an extremely fine powder.

The other one would be that I had stuck on the timing cover with gasket former so it really sealed well. When I plunged into the mud it sucked in the water/mud.

And thirdly leaving the wading plug in till the following day with water/mud trapped inside made it get lapped around the cover. A fine mist seemed to completely cover the inside of the timing cover.

It is a real pain to clean. I am still cleaning off the mud! The radiator and intercooler had to be soaked overnight to help clear it. And this was after hitting it at the car wash.

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OMG you knew what it was like and still attempted it ...mad mad mad! But a great lesson for us all, sorry for the stress you suffered trying to get your motor back on the road, have been against it myself many times having to use my landy as the daily drive, then having something go wrong as you have,
but you come good and had some excellent help.
good work.

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Originally Posted by rick130

As Dave said, impressive.

FWIW I found the bearings were about to die just from old age at the 178,000km timing belt swap. (i pushed the second timing belt to 100,000km :angel: and yes, I'd bought a complete kit to replace everything before I started)

The seals were gone and the bearings were a bit rumbly :eek:

So I deduced that number of km wasn't a good idea for the idler and tensioner pulleys and a shorter change interval is more appropriate :D

Which reminds me, the timing belt is due again.....

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So with my landy about 280 k's and having the timing belt done about 5000 k's ago are you saying you would recommend more than just a timing belt kit change?

I take it the timing case is not under positive pressure then..

I thought that was why wading plugs could not be left in.

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Originally Posted by dullbird

I take it the timing case is not under positive pressure then..

I thought that was why wading plugs could not be left in.

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Nah, they shouldn't be left in in case oil builds up from the crank seal that invariably leaks...

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Originally Posted by lardy

So with my landy about 280 k's and having the timing belt done about 5000 k's ago are you saying you would recommend more than just a timing belt kit change?

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The tensioner and idler pulley bearings don't last forever, I don't think I'd like to go past 160,000km on them seeing what mine were like at close to 180,000km, so if you are doing a belt change every 80,000km plan on replacing the tensioner and idler pulleys every second belt change.
I think JC mentioned he's recommending changing the pulleys every belt change these days to heavily used/abused engines ??

I also replaced the crank pulley with a Bearmach one (one piece pulley) as the OE ones with the spot welded on flanges (three piece) have a habit of shearing the flanges and taking the belt out too.

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Originally Posted by lardy

OMG you knew what it was like and still attempted it ...mad mad mad! But a great lesson for us all, sorry for the stress you suffered trying to get your motor back on the road, have been against it myself many times having to use my landy as the daily drive, then having something go wrong as you have,
but you come good and had some excellent help.
good work.

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You missed the part "in hindsight" I learn't all of this after this happening. Not before.

IMHO it's not worth the grief to just change the belt.Do it once and do it properly. Pat

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Originally Posted by PAT303

IMHO it's not worth the grief to just change the belt.Do it once and do it properly. Pat

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I agree and that's why the guys who helped me think I have OCD when it comes to maintaining my car.

Which is why they were so surprised when I suffered this failure!

In my previous incarnation with a V6 3.4 litre petrol prado, on the third timing belt (240,000km) the idler pulley in the top of the 'V' started to get noisy on a cold start up. After a month of getting used to the new noise one morning (thankfully in the driveway), the pulley siezed and spat the belt forward, it cut through the plastic timing cover and thankfully I shut down before any engine damage. The pulley/bearing was replaced with the timing kit 60,000 km previously, quite a bit of dust/off roading but it was clean inside. My point is that these bearings can die at any time in any make of fourby. Of course unusual noises are a lot easier to pick up in a petrol motor. As the motor got older I replaced timing belts and all the idler pulleys at shorter intervals 100,000 then 180,000. When the Prado was released in Late 96 (mine was a 03/97 model), Toyota was recommending 150,000 timing belt intervals, bit of a balls up and lots of confusion there before they dropped it back to 100,000.