New Owner - First Drive of 130 300tdi

[wouldbeowner]

I recently (friday in fact)got hold of a 1995 130 DC 300Tdi. Bought it via the classifieds from another AULRO member in Adelaide.
I have wanted a defender for more years than I care to remember without knowing anything about them other than that the army uses them and they have an aura. A bit of research has shown that the following appears to be the case
1) They are gutless
2) They are noisy and uncomfortable
3) One opinion I was given by a geologist mate was that they were the best car off road he had ever driven and the worst car on road.
4) another mate (admittedly with some extra insulation) reckoned he had to open the drivers window so he had enough room to sit and drive the thing.

Nevertheless I wanted one.
So I flew to Adelaide and took possession at 3.30pm and proceeded to drive back to northern NSW - about 1900km. I started with no preformed opinions.
The previous owner told me of the following issues - worn steering damper, few spots of minor rust in firewall, some slop in drive shaft, some oil leaks.

Well it certainly is noisy and about 90kph (measured on GPS, not speedo) there is substantial vibration. I dont know what the symptoms of a worn steering damper are but this seems consistent.
Synchro on second is not great but then I have owned enough British cars to know that synchro on second is never great once the vehicle has done a few km. This one had done 197k.
I found the seats, while basic, to actually be pretty good. I was driving pretty long stints and never felt overly fatigued.
I found the engine power to be adequate. I am sure I would like more but I dont need more.
I found the steering and feeling on the road to be excellent. There was no wander and the truck felt really solidly attached to the road. I have another much newer, more comfortable and more powerful 4wd as well, and the feeling of the 130 on the road is much superior to this newer vehicle.
On the trip I averaged 10l/100km
I am very happy with the new truck (so far). The kids think it's "cool".
I am also looking forward to catching up with the other members who live in this area - I have noticed 3 other members from Armidale and Kootingal so far.
Cheers
Tim

[Panya]

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...

[bcj]

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

[rick130]

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.

[slug_burner]

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.

[keith73]

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.

[rick130]

[snip]
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.

There's a big difference between gear (diff) oil and a manual transmission fluid.

I can post up the relevant TSB notifying the change in lube spec from Land Rover if you want