Thread: Hi- new member and defender owner

Originally Posted by Elblado

Hi, I recently purchased a 1994 110 with the 200tdi engine. I've never owned a Land Rover before so it's all a new experience. I try to do as much of the basic maintenance as I can to the bikes and cars I've owned and these sort of forums have always been invaluable hence the reason I joined.

The defender I bought has got low kms and full service records but it needs some TLC. I've started some searches to help me out but in case anyone reads this and can assist I'd be grateful.

1. It needs a clutch adjustment; found some specs on here. Pedal height is fine but the master rod needs adjusting- too much gap. trick is how the hell do I get a spanner in to loosen those lock nuts? I've obviously removed the inspection plate but the lock nuts sit within a steel pivot and I can't get access. Must be trick....
Perseverance is the key and finding the right spanner/socket and way to hold your hand, usually with several expletives muttered.

2. Its got a 'clunk' in the rear end 'area' when I select a gear and accelerate. I've heard these cars are noisy but I don't think this is right.
The rear clunk will be the rear A Frame ball joint. If you get under the back you will see it, up above and behind the diff. Check if it is an adjustable type or the standard non adjustable type. You can replace it with either, though most Defenders have a clunk of some sort from this area, it just depends on how bad it is.

3. The wheels are the original steel rims with white paint. Most have some rust on them. I'd like to keep the orginal wheels but they look terrible at the moment. Can anyone tell me whether its worthwhile/cost effective getting them reconditioned (blasted, powdercoated) has anyone painted the wheels themselves? result?
Painting yourself is a bit hit and miss and for the effort to get right takes a bit of prep and the right paint and gun. Personally I would get them powdercoated. I was last quoted around $50-$70 per wheel. Some shops will blast and powdercoat and some will only powdercoat. Painting I was quoted around $100 per wheel to do properly, but these were alloy mags.

4. Its got at least one noisy tappet. This concerned me as I had a 3.0td Jackaroo 4jx1 before this and a valve clearance check for that was a difficult job and therefore $$$ in labour but in the defender it sounds like a reasonably easy job. So I'll tackle this shortly. Any tips?

Hi and welcome, will try and answer a couple of your questions.

Thanks for the info. Will continue to abuse the search engine. It's currently in the shop getting some rust removed from the door sills but when it's back I've got a bit of work to do. Been driving it around so have discovered a bit more. The ticking sounds like an exhaust manifold leak and it's also got problems with gear changes once it warms up. Going to replace the gb oil and see what that does.

Originally Posted by Elblado

Thanks for the info. Will continue to abuse the search engine. It's currently in the shop getting some rust removed from the door sills but when it's back I've got a bit of work to do. Been driving it around so have discovered a bit more. The ticking sounds like an exhaust manifold leak and it's also got problems with gear changes once it warms up. Going to replace the gb oil and see what that does.

How bad are the gear changes? If it is a little bit of grinding, without being real difficult to engage, this is actually pretty normal for a older vehicle.

Welcome
Cutting the end outa a ring spanner might help with those nuts
Shifting slower, using a pause or double clutching may help with your gear change, took me a bit to get used to my r380 but I've not drive an lt77 - I find a slight pause between gears works best for my 300tdi
Worn rear drive flanges may cause klunk

Brett

110 300tdi

I second the statement, your clunk will be the rear A frame ball joint. Sometimes these are hard to inspect as they are often somewhat loaded when the vehilce is stationary. I use a massive lever under the diff pinion and up over the long axle tube then lever up so you rotate the whole diff housing. This will show the movement in the top ball joint.

These ball joints sometimes go side to side too, this gives some interesting rear steer. Be carefull when pressing a new one in, if you load the joint wrong it can be sloppy from new. A press is the best way. Definitely an out of vehicle job, altho i have fitted one with a big hammer at the side of the road once.

The other drive train clunks that are common are the rear flanges and the LT230 tranfer input spline. All easily researched through searching this forum.

All the best with sorting what should be an excellent vehicle.

Originally Posted by CraigE

How bad are the gear changes? If it is a little bit of grinding, without being real difficult to engage, this is actually pretty normal for a older vehicle.

It's fine on start up. Even my wife found it easy to drive but it progressively gets worse until after 30 mins or so it becomes hard to actually get it out of gear then to go back into the next gate. Whether changing up or down. It eventually becomes near impossible to drive after 1hr. That's why I thought it might be low or wrong grade gearbox oil. But it's in having minor surgery on it's rusty sills ATM so I'll refil box oil this weekend. Need all these things done to get the safety plus tyres and plus the battery light is on. Just want to get it on the road and fix things up properly after that. Anyone got any 2nd hand 7.50r 16 LT tyres for sale? Don't want to buy new as I'll get different rims later on.

Look in the markets section of this forum for tyres and wheels. 7.5r16's do come up for sale quite often