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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
CapeLandy wrote:
You are lucky you even had the honour of meeting Gustaf himself. I never get that high up. Sad


Considering how rude, condescending and dismissive he is, you are not missing much! Rolling Eyes
Post #27041 16th Mar 2010 1:06pm
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CapeLandy



Member Since: 21 Jul 2008
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 558

South Africa 
I need to go back again as my second clutch is on it's last and is going to destroy itself shortly.

Will try and meet the man himself to discuss.
Post #27045 16th Mar 2010 1:15pm
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daan



Member Since: 11 Mar 2010
Location: western cape
Posts: 12

South Africa 
I came just of the phone with Lucas de beer of landrover N1 city and he will have my car picked up tommorrow as they now acknowledge there is something wrong. ( after I first had to proof the matter on paper by having the car tested on a dyna tester. ( at my own costs)
His exact words were....we will this time sort it out forgood and do not worry.

We agreed that the communication between the sales dep and the technical department did not function very well and that i should only talk to him....let see what happens.

By the way, we feel the same about the tech department and the people mentioned overthere...they think quite highly of themselve and should do a better job and get of their horse.

daan I love my landies Smile
Post #27057 16th Mar 2010 1:54pm
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
Good news!

Grant from Expedition Gear & Gary from Hillstar Panelbeaters have confirmed that Censored diagnosed - there is a slight difference between the left and the right wheelbase, and they recommend a washer to be inserted to correct it. They have done this on numerous Defenders and it shouldn't be a big thing.

Thanks for all the help & suggestions Smile
Post #27156 17th Mar 2010 8:56am
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daan



Member Since: 11 Mar 2010
Location: western cape
Posts: 12

South Africa 
good news indeed...today I received a call, that the pick-up of the car is not today, but tommorow...we will keep you guys informed....

daan I love my landies Smile
Post #27265 17th Mar 2010 3:55pm
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
Hi all

Report from Hillstar Panelbeaters after having had the vehicle since Thursday.

LR N1 City put a shim on the left hand side of the rear axle, which then accentuated the drifting left problem. What a bunch of f&cktards!

So they removed that, rotated the wheels, adjusted the toe and everything is running as it should. They did say that the caster angles are a bit high - around 4.2 when the specs are bet 2.3 & 4.0, but since these are not adjustable, not much they can do about that.

Both Grant (from Expedition Gear) and Andrew Neels (a Puma owner & defender fundi) drove it afterwards, here is what Andrew had to say:

Quote:
I was at Expedition Gear yesterday, chatting to Grant about some future mods for my car, when LR phoned to check whether your car was ready. He asked me to take it for a drive with him to check whether, in my opinion, there was any alignment issue.

I drove the car and as far as I am concerned, and in my experienced opinion (regarding Puma's and their driving style, nothing else), there is nothing wrong with your car. It drives nicely, feels nice and tight, doesn't drift in any way that I experienced, apart from as a result of the camber of the road, and certainly drove better than my Puma ever did, in terms of drifting/swerving (although mine did have STT's on it, a severe leftwards list to the body and the same wheelbase mismatch yours suffered from).

All that I DO think it needs is some magic to be worked on it's ECU by Elton at TurboChip, and a new intercooler by him as well. I was surprised (once again) at what a huge difference a little bit of tweaking does to the drivability of the Puma. Anyway, I hope you are satisfied, and that LR sorted the problem out for you.
Regards,
Andrew



Picked up the landy and drove back home. There is still some residual drift, but Grant reckons this is due to the uneven wear on the tyres during the first 2100kms. According to him it should wear out evenly in another 2000kms or so. He also suggested that I have the tyres rotated on the rims to help. Maybe I am having a doff Sunday, but how is that different from just moving the left tyre to the right and vice-versa?
Post #27598 21st Mar 2010 9:33am
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
Hi all

Another development with this issue:

The landy is with my local landy specialist for an oil change. He just called to tell me that he checked the swivel housing pre load, and the left one is loose(?) and doesn't have any pre-load on it. In his opinion, this is the cause and once he sets the correct pre-loads, it should be driving straight again.

Will get the full report from him when I collect the car.
Post #35748 7th Jul 2010 9:27am
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Grockle



Member Since: 24 Nov 2008
Location: Peak District National Park
Posts: 2266

United Kingdom 2008 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Tonga Green
is there a good dealer out there, in the world I mean ? 2.4 90 XS
1968 1/32 scale Britains 109 Pick up.
Post #35750 7th Jul 2010 9:35am
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K9F



Member Since: 12 Nov 2009
Location: Bournemouth
Posts: 9610

United Kingdom 2008 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey
Grockle wrote:
is there a good dealer out there, in the world I mean ?


Mixed bag here:

http://www.defender2.net/forum/dealership-feedback-vf12.html

Generally more good than bad! No good ones in South Africa though unsurprisingly! Land Rover Pietermaritzburg gets a right slating too! If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!

Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!!
Post #35752 7th Jul 2010 9:45am
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
K9F wrote:
Grockle wrote:
is there a good dealer out there, in the world I mean ?
No good ones in South Africa though unsurprisingly!


Jah... over the years:

LR Stellenbosh - broke a part they were replacing on gf's 90, then refuse to give her a lift back home, much less a courtesy car. This while she was on crutches due to a broken toe.

Had a grinding noise on my previous 110 Td5. They replaced the gearbox under extended warranty, but wanted to charge twice the amount I eventually got for a recon gearbox. 10km from the dealer, the noise starts again, turns out it's a front propshaft issue, nothing to do with gearbox.

LR N1 City - I think you have seen my posts about them already...
Post #35757 7th Jul 2010 11:33am
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CapeLandy



Member Since: 21 Jul 2008
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 558

South Africa 
Naks wrote:
LR N1 City - I think you have seen my posts about them already...


I'll second that dealer as a no go area Evil or Very Mad
Post #35778 7th Jul 2010 2:22pm
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
CapeLandy wrote:
Naks wrote:
LR N1 City - I think you have seen my posts about them already...


I'll second that dealer as a no go area Evil or Very Mad


Jah, but where do I take my landy? N1 CTN - do you recommend them?

LR Stellenbosch is also a no-no, although they may have improved since 2008?
Post #35786 7th Jul 2010 3:56pm
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CapeLandy



Member Since: 21 Jul 2008
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 558

South Africa 
When I bought my oil filter at C.Town City center I asked the parts guy about their service department.

He tells me a new manager from Umhlanga has come down to sort out the CT branch and their reputation is on the up.

I am very tempted to serve out the rest of my warenty and services there.
Post #35789 7th Jul 2010 4:48pm
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
CapeLandy wrote:
He tells me a new manager from Umhlanga has come down to sort out the CT branch and their reputation is on the up.I am very tempted to serve out the rest of my warenty and services there.


I need to sort out this turbo asap... now it's a coin toss between CTN & N1 City... Confused
Post #35792 7th Jul 2010 5:11pm
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Naks



Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2660

South Africa 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White
Guys,

Some of you may recall that when I bought my Puma, it was drifting to the left. Many attempts at getting this sorted out by the dealership (N1 City) where I bought the vehicle ended up in nothing but frustration and many wasted hours. The attitude of the service manager there is to be as rude and unfriendly and unhelpful as possible in an attempt to make the customer go away - which I admit, works. So in the end we lived with the issue, which was cured to a large extent by Hillstar Panelbeaters & Expedition Gear who removed all the misplaced shims that N1 City put on the back axle.

Anyway, driving past LR Stellenbosch the other day, I saw that they were Dealer Of The Year in 2009, so I popped in to see who was in charge. The workshop manager with whom I dealt previously and who stuffed up my DC is no longer there, and the new one is Owen - a friendly and helpful man. He took time out of his lunch break to take a drive and commented that he thought the gearbox was also sounding a bit sick on top of the drift.

I booked in the landy for its first service a couple of weeks ago, and they kept it for 2 days to attend to all my queries. However, the drift still persisted, so I went back for a chat with Owen. At this point I queried whether it was not the power steering box, and his response was 'in Defenders we've only had to replace a few of these once every 5-6 years, so most unlikely'. A quick trip to Supaquick to double-check the wheel alignment and he then decided that a shim was needed to resolve a 0.40deg difference in the caster angle, which I also thought would cure the problem.

Landy was booked in for last Thursday, and I was expecting them to put the shim in and that would be that. They sent the landy to an suspension specialist for a more thorough check, and today I get call that they have found that the power steering box was too tightly adjusted at the factory, and thus would not return to centre to the one side. Having spent a day at Schalk Burger's workshop, I have seen how even a slight misadjustment in the steering box will cause problems. The part has been ordered and should have it back on Thursday and I will resist the urge for an 'I told you so' when I go pick up the landy!

It just goes to show that when you have a dealership with people willing to help and test & try things, most problems can be resolved. Holding thumbs that they fit the part without breaking anything else Smile --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport V8 Supercharged



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
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Post #58457 11th Feb 2011 1:14pm
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