Picked up a D90, few questions...

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landyv1rgin

Member
Posts
37
Location
Leeds, West Yorks
Hello all,

I picked up a new to me 1990 defender 90 with 110k miles on. Its overall in very good nick with previous owner doing only a few k miles per year over his 7 year ownership.

I drove it home (about 5 miles) and it topped out at 50. Albeit up a 3% to 4% gradient. There was a bit of constant white smoke when I had my foot down.

I got home and noticed the diff lock in neutral could this be the cause or something more sinister?

Also how do I remove a snorkel?

Thanks
 
landyv1rgin said:
Also how do I remove a snorkel?
Click to expand...

Removing the snorkel will just be a case of unbolting/screwing all of the external parts of the snorkel. This will leave you with a hole in the wing which originally will have had a plastic grill over it which will need replacing.

What engine is it, is it a 200tdi? If it is down on power and you are getting white smoke I would suggest a fueling issue. The first thing I would do is replace the fuel filter and test/replace the lift pump. Other here will disagree with me but as far as I am concerned a lift pump is a service item which in my experience (even buying good brad delphi pumps) last about between 1-2 years (25-50k miles for me). A delphi lift pump is about £25, so it depends how willing you are to spend some money as to if you just replace it or if you test it first.
To test the lift pump first replace the fuel filter. Then while stationary rev the engine up to full revs and look at the exhaust, you should get the white smoke you have seen and potentiall it will stutter and "hunt" at higher revs.
Remove the infeed pipe to the filter, and replace with a long length of fuel pipe. Put the end of this fuel pipe into a jerry can of fuel sat on top of the wing. This means that the fuel system is now gravity fed as the "fuel tank" (jerry can) is higher than the filter and injection pump, and the lift pump has been bypassed. If the lift pump is at fault when you now repeat the test of revving the engine to full revs you should not get white smoke and it should rev up more freely and to potentially higher revs than before.
If this is the case then replace the lift pump. If this makes no difference then the lift pump is not the culprit and you are then moving onto other options such as the timing or injector pump etc.
 
dag019 said:
Removing the snorkel will just be a case of unbolting/screwing all of the external parts of the snorkel. This will leave you with a hole in the wing which originally will have had a plastic grill over it which will need replacing.

What engine is it, is it a 200tdi? If it is down on power and you are getting white smoke I would suggest a fueling issue. The first thing I would do is replace the fuel filter and test/replace the lift pump. Other here will disagree with me but as far as I am concerned a lift pump is a service item which in my experience (even buying good brad delphi pumps) last about between 1-2 years (25-50k miles for me). A delphi lift pump is about £25, so it depends how willing you are to spend some money as to if you just replace it or if you test it first.
To test the lift pump first replace the fuel filter. Then while stationary rev the engine up to full revs and look at the exhaust, you should get the white smoke you have seen and potentiall it will stutter and "hunt" at higher revs.
Remove the infeed pipe to the filter, and replace with a long length of fuel pipe. Put the end of this fuel pipe into a jerry can of fuel sat on top of the wing. This means that the fuel system is now gravity fed as the "fuel tank" (jerry can) is higher than the filter and injection pump, and the lift pump has been bypassed. If the lift pump is at fault when you now repeat the test of revving the engine to full revs you should not get white smoke and it should rev up more freely and to potentially higher revs than before.
If this is the case then replace the lift pump. If this makes no difference then the lift pump is not the culprit and you are then moving onto other options such as the timing or injector pump etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great response. Yes it's a 200tdi. I have heard a lot about fuel lift pump and I might just replace it. Better than it going when I'm out and about.

Any ideas with respect to the diff locker being in neutral?

Thanks again.
 
Diff lock should be in "neutral" unless it is actively being used. The defender uses a permanent 4x4 system with an open middle diff. for day to day driving the diff lock is not engaged and is open. When on loose surfaces when additional grip is required the diff lock is operated to lock the centre diff evenly distributing power between the front and rear axles and is then disengaged when back on firm ground. Running diff-lock one firm ground can cause diff wind up and eventual failure.

If you are referring to the position of the gear leaver being in neutral then that will be to do with linkage adjustment and not something to worry about. The diff is either open or locked, there is no neutral position like the gearboxes. Think of it like a two way switch, either on or off.
 
The diff lock does not have a neutral, it is either in or out. The standard 90 has just one locking diff in the transfer box. [ axle locks are an add on ] The high / low gears do have a neutral .
 
If you put the transfer box into neutral - you're not going anywhere. There are a couple of great old land rover videos which show you how to use the two gearboxes effectively.
 
landyv1rgin said:
Hello all,

I picked up a new to me 1990 defender 90 with 110k miles on. Its overall in very good nick with previous owner doing only a few k miles per year over his 7 year ownership.

I drove it home (about 5 miles) and it topped out at 50. Albeit up a 3% to 4% gradient. There was a bit of constant white smoke when I had my foot down.

I got home and noticed the diff lock in neutral could this be the cause or something more sinister?

Also how do I remove a snorkel?

Thanks
Click to expand...
200TDI should be better than that.

The diff being locked needs investigation, could be there is a prop missing - could be something broken and by locking the diff it circumvents the broken shaft or diff etc.

Diff lock and the slowness are probably not related - diff locked is an issue.
 
discomania said:
It should.
Click to expand...
But as mentioned the positions can be a bit vague due to the linkage adjustment and the lack of a "gate" found on the main gearbox. Back and right is a relative term compared to the other positions available not an absolute physical position of the gear stick.
 
landyv1rgin said:
Thanks both. It's just in the middle. Like when the gear stick (in a normal car with a vertical stick, not the defenders 5mile snake gearstick) is in neutral.
Click to expand...
If you can drive it to 50 it is not in neutral it is in high range.
High/neural/low is back/middle/forward for the gear selection on the transfer box. As mentioned the absolute position is relative, as long as from where it is now you can move it all the way forward until you can drive again (much slower) you have correct operation of the gears on that lever.
Diflock is left/right (in any gear selection position) for closed/open) day to day it should be open. Again the positions are relative, if you move it to the left hopefully, if it working, you will get a light on the dash, and when you move it to back to the left the light will go out. A way to test diflock s is to jack up one front wheel with the main gearbox in neutral. Under normal driving condition you should be able to rotate the wheel freely. (the wheel will turn, the open front axles diff will turn, the front prop will turn, the open transferbox diff will turn, the transfer box gears will turn and the gearbox in neutral will turn). If you select a gear on the main gear box you should not be able to turn it as rather than gearbox in neutral turning it will try and turn the engine which it will not be able to do. Similarly if you put the main gearbox back in neutral and engage difflock (lever all the way to the left) you should also not be able to turn the wheel. This is because the two prop-shafts are now joined by the locked center diff and need to turn at the same speed as eash other, but the rear prop will not turn as the wheels are on the ground and the handbrake is applied. Once you move the lever back to the right you should be able to turn the front wheel again.
 
IMG_20191011_200326.jpg
IMG_20191011_200223.jpg
 
See above photos. Top is injectors and bottom is of course the turbo.

Injector 4 (front of engine) seems to have a fair bit of leaky diesel. Is this an issue? How do I rectify?

Turbo seems to have a lot of oil down the pipe going down (can't remember but think it goes to the top of the air intake pipe). So much so it has dripped onto the exhaust header. Again is this an issue and if so how do I rectify?
 
landyv1rgin said:
Oh I see! My mistake. Thank you then :)
Click to expand...
No worries. The 19J is a good engine, but slow, struggles on hills. Wouldnt want to take it over 60mph. They do leak oil, pretty much all the time. Keep you eye on the temperature, they run very hot, and if not serviced all the time, they will crack heads or pistons.
 
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