Thread: New Owner - First Drive of 130 300tdi

Defenders I think have a very positive feel on road and I love driving them. First thing you need to do re: vibration is check swivel pin preload on front hubs as well as look at the damper. Also get under the car and with a crowbar see if there is any play is all the suspension bushes and check each visually with a decent torch. Gearbox issue is probably just too quick a change - give it a second in neutral before moving up/down - don't be in a hurry to change gear and it should be ok. If not worth checking...

Sounds like you have the bug already...

welcome,
my 2nd's been tempermental since I've owned my '95 110 ( last 60k),got no worse, I've just got better at changes (prob. worth changing your gearbox oil if you don't know when it was done last), is a bit gutless but hauls a ton up the hills round home no worries ( I did change it's low profile tyre's back to 7.50r16)- isn't no race car. With window down you can easily see front tyre for correct placement , noise-what ? On road (the black stuff between places you want to go) , well - best to use the right tool for the job . Vibration, as panya said + found mine very fussy about correct wheel balance- near enough ain't good enough
Warts and all I wouldn't have anything else, don't forget to wave ,I'm in the white one

Brett
110 300tdi

A couple of things.

Firstly the gear change is very sensitive to oil types.

The old specification (and what is listed in the manual) is ATF (DexII) but this was superseded in about '97 by a 75W-80 manual transission fluid. (Caltex MTF94)

AFAIK MTF94 is no longer available and there are several manual trans fluids that work well.
A favourite is Castrol Syntrans 75W-85 (there are several flavours of Syntrans)
Others include Redline MTL (in my g/box Syntrans shifted better), Penrite SIN Manual Trans, Valvoline Duragear 75W-85, etc.
My favourite fluid is Motul Gear 300 but be prepared for sticker shock

All these fluids reduce high temp gear rattle and noise over an ATF and should prolong bearing and gear life.

If you are 6'tall or over and/or have long legs lifting the drivers seat on 19-25mm spacers can help the driving position, although it does compromise vision out of the drivers window but is a mod well worth trying (I think mine's lifted 22mm)

The go department can be improved with a few judicious tweaks of the injector pump.
I can post up a link to instructions if interested. They are in a PDF so you can save them and print them out.

Sounds like a defender then.

You should be able to get that vibration sorted. My SW does not have vibration issues however the noise is higher than your average car.

Most of your observations I can support and that 2nd gear is a case of giving it a second.

Good luck.

There slow but certainly not gut less,towed a loaded car trailer a few times it suprised me how well it went with still pretty decent fuel economy.As for the gearbox use ATF instead of normal gear oil apparently it isnt good for the sills thats what i was told from a LR mechanic.Gearbox oil all around underneath my defender is proof of that i think.
Keith.