 | Home > My Defender > An Anorak's Utility Station Wagon |
 
|
|
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324  
|
My 110 went to Challenger 4x4 for its annual service today and whilst there, I had them change the VCV. Not because of a specific problem but seeing as they seem to fail with monotonous regularity, I've decided to treat it as a service item. I was surprised when they told me that whilst they'd changed several on 2.4's, they'd never done a 2.2 before. They described it as 'a
 of a job', which made me pleased that I'd paid for somebody else to do it 
I supplied the new valve, as I'd bought one from somebody on here a couple of years ago, which was a Ford part:  Click image to enlarge The old one that came out after 61k miles looked exactly the same but grubbier: Click image to enlarge Now despite saying that I had this changed as a precaution rather than because of a problem, I'd swear that it now feels more responsive. I suspect that these things wear as they age and so become less effective, but as it happens slowly we just get used to it. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
||
26th Oct 2021 8:30pm |
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
|
Back in April I noticed that every now and again, my Defender wouldn’t start. It was just completely dead but turning off and on again solved it. At first, I thought I’d just fumbled turning the key but after a few failed starts over several weeks, it became apparent that it was an actual fault. Having already read a few threads on the subject, I was pretty sure that it was a failing ignition switch and so a new switch, clamp and shear bolts were bought and stashed away.
Click image to enlarge The fault has been very intermittent ever since and always resolved on the second try, so tackling it has always been a job for another day. This was mainly because it’s a sod of a job on a Puma, with very limited access. However, I came to start it on Friday evening after having not used it for a couple of weeks and it just wouldn’t start at all, so today was the day to bite the bullet and get on with it. The first job was to remove enough trim to actually see the thing – steering column cowl and the trim piece beneath the instrument cluster: Click image to enlarge At this point, you can see the ignition barrel, but that’s about it. I then removed the stalks and pushed the wiring aside to reveal the clamp that secures the barrel to the steering column: Click image to enlarge A little while ago, this task was well documented HERE by X4SKP, which is why I knew it was going to be tricky. He carefully teased out the shear bolts with a punch and strategically drilled holes in the trim but I chose a slightly different approach. I figured that if I could cut through the barrel clamp then it should come apart easier and so I attacked it with a cutting disk in a Dremel: Click image to enlarge In wasn’t quite as straightforward as I’d hoped but it did eventually give up with a bit of perseverance (and a hammer and chisel). Click image to enlarge With the clamp removed, the barrel was free to be lifted off the steering column. It still wouldn’t come out though, as there’s not enough clearance between it and the plastic of the dash behind. Again, it was the Dremel to the rescue and enough was cut away to create the space needed: Click image to enlarge At that point, I was finally able to get the barrel out far enough to access the switch on the end. This is secured with two tiny Philips screws. What was immediately apparent was the clear evidence of heat on one of the cables: Click image to enlarge In fact, the spade that it was connected to snapped off very easily, so I suspect that it’d been fatigued and created a high resistance. With the difficult stuff out of the way, the new switch was installed and the barrel replaced using a new clamp. I decided to go with regular M8 cap head bolts rather than shear bolts on the basis that it’s so bloomin’ difficult to get to that their loss isn’t significant: Click image to enlarge Before putting it all back together I did give it a test and it fired up straight away, which was a relief. Finally, I took the old switch apart but was disappointed that there was no obvious smoking gun. Everything was well greased and there was no sign of any burnt contacts, which was what I was expecting. Perhaps it was the fractured spade connector after all. Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
||
|
12th Dec 2021 8:20pm |
|
| Mitch16 Member Since: 07 Nov 2020 Location: Surrey Posts: 25 
|
Thank you for the continual updates and detail, I really appreciate it.
|
||
|
13th Jan 2022 9:33pm |
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
|
No problem, Mitch. It's all good fun but there's not much happening at the moment as it's too bloomin' cold and wet. Plus working at home means I'm hardly driving it, either
 Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 5th Sep 2022 10:19am. Edited 1 time in total |
||
|
14th Jan 2022 9:12pm |
|
| freddie206 Member Since: 18 Oct 2015 Location: Skipton Posts: 90 
|
What a great read on a gloomy Sunday evening! So many great ideas!
Have you had chance to fit the front washer jet from Design & Development yet? Keen to hear how it stacks up compared the likes of CSI and Optimill. Fred |
||
|
16th Jan 2022 10:10pm |
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
|
Hi Fred,
Not yet, I'm afraid. It's definitely coming soon as I've got a list of jobs to do that needs the centre console taking out. I just haven't had a day where the weather has been warm enough to motivate me yet  Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
||
|
17th Jan 2022 10:40am |
|
| west4x4 Member Since: 23 Jan 2010 Location: Rutland Posts: 140
|
Lots of great mods
 |
||
|
20th Feb 2022 4:30pm |
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
|
It's been a quiet few months on the Land Rover front, partly due to lousy weather and partly because I'm just not using it as much as I used to. We've recently added a small hatchback to the Anorak fleet for my children to learn to drive in and it's proving to be incredibly useful for local running around! Anyway, inspired by a few others on here, I decided to have a go at fitting a rubber seal to the bonnet today, mainly with a view to keeping water out of the engine bay and specifically where the heater meets the bulkhead.
I bought a 5m length of 16mm x 15mm self-adhesive 'D' section from Car Builder Solutions via eBay, which turned out to be more than enough for the front and side edges: Click image to enlarge This particular seal has asymetrical rubber 'ears' along its bottom edge, which are designed to protect the adhesive strip from rainwater. I fitted it with the vertical 'ear' towards the outer edge of the bonnet: Click image to enlarge Fitting was quite straightforward. The bonnet has a wide lower edge for most of its perimeter, making positioning the seal very easy. At the rear corners and for a short distance near each front corner, that edge narrows but it's still just wide enough to take the adhesive strip. Before fitting, I cleaned up the edge with white spirit to ensure that a good bond was formed: Click image to enlarge Once in place, it added a small amount of additional resistance to closing the bonnet, but nothing that a drop from 6 inches or so couldn't overcome. It makes for a very neat shut line and a snug fit along the wings and across the grill panel, although it should be noted that there are gaps at the two front corners, as there's nothing for it to seal against there: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge At the rear corners, I finished the seal in line with the rear face of the bonnet. I'd like to add a seal to that edge too, but I'll need something slightly larger to fill the gap and a second pair of hands to lift the bonnet off to do it properly: Click image to enlarge Time will tell if it serves its purpose. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 15th Mar 2022 8:38am. Edited 2 times in total |
||
|
14th Mar 2022 9:22pm |
|
| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10844 
|
That does look good fitted Darren and looks as if it will keep the wet out
Clayton.
1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper. |
||
|
14th Mar 2022 9:33pm |
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
|
Fingers crossed
Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
||
|
15th Mar 2022 8:36am |
|
| west4x4 Member Since: 23 Jan 2010 Location: Rutland Posts: 140
|
Nice. I’ve done similar with an old door seal. I’d like to think it stops a bit of under bonnet noise escaping too
|
||
|
17th Mar 2022 4:43pm |
|
| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
|
A few months ago I SWAPPED THE IGNITION SWITCH to resolve an intermittent failure to start issue. It seemed to work until the last couple of weeks when the problem returned and it came to a head yesterday morning when it wouldn't start at all. I was taking my son to a university open day and so had to borrow my wifes' D4
Today I set about fixing it again and so stripped out the steering column once more. With the switch out and visible, it was immediately obvious that two of the connectors were loose on their respective spades: Click image to enlarge I removed the plastic shrouds from each and tightened up the connectors with needle nose pliers until they were a tight fit again. The white shroud was split but was easily repaired. The black shroud though, just disintegrated and so was replaced with heat shrink - something I really should have done first time around: Click image to enlarge Everything now works again as it should and I'm more confident of a lasting repair. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
||
|
3rd Apr 2022 3:50pm |
|
| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10844
|
I'm hoping so as well Darren, you learn to do things the first time after things like this happen again
Clayton.
1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper. |
||
|
4th Apr 2022 7:47pm |
|
| Cragster69 Member Since: 15 Jun 2021 Location: Scotland Posts: 204  
|
Darren,
Just wanted to say thank you for your thread, as an inexperienced and Defender owner your thread has been a source of inspiration and has gave some ideas for upgrades as and when time and budget allows. The rear load deck is next on the list. Craig.
“Don't believe everything you read on the internet.” ― Abraham Lincoln www.scotgrc.co.uk |
||
|
10th Jun 2022 1:21pm |
|
|
|
| All times are GMT |
< Previous Topic | Next Topic > |
Posting Rules
|
Site Copyright © 2006-2025 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
