I'm still chasing a random suspension "knock" that I can't quite pinpoint. Bushes, droplinks and anti-roll bar bushes all looked OK last time I was under it. However, I don't think the car has ever had any strut top mounts (front or rear). Are these troublesome on FL1 TD4? (Car has about...

Thanks G G. I think the problem will be that I'll probably have to get the car back here a month before its MOT and do a load of jobs on it quickly, then take it back down to him, so I might just have to swallow the surcharge on the exchange VCU in order to have the recon one ready for when the...

Hi All, Just before donating my FL1 to my dad, I serviced it and did another 1-wheel-up test. Last time I did it, I got 50 seconds with 5kg on the 4' bar. This time, I couldn't get it under 1 min and 5 seconds. This is consistent with the drag on full lock. It's not got to the point where...

Tesla have done it for a while - especially on their upmarket cars. I think the main reason Nissan didn't do it on the Leaf, is cost. The 5kW heating element is peanuts compared to the cost of all the parts for (as Jayridium has explained) an aircon system. The science works though. You get...

Thanks guys. I think pretty much all Loctite data sheets say 7 days for full strength before any high loads, but of course, this is only a sump! However, I have made some progress with the sump though. It seems, looking at the data sheet, that Loctite 5980 is a pretty slow-curing one. Whilst...

Not a Landrover, I'm afraid. The daughter's Mazda 2. It has a pressed steel sump which has rusted through and was leaking. I bought a new sump and fitted it last night, using Loctite SI5980, which says it's suitable for sumps and indeed, I've used it before on similar applications. To my...

Gosh! I know cars have put on a great deal of weight since those days, but a Cortina was never that small a car! I'd be surprised if it was much less than a ton (although I see Nodge has come up with a similar figure). Having weighed a couple of mine at work, I know manufacturers can be a bit...

10 gallons???!!! Really?! That's an incredibly small tank for something that thirsty! That's small even by "family car" standards. I thought they were nearer 12 gallons? I take your point about using loads of fuel whilst laning, but surely you can top up before the lanes? Many years ago...

Reckon there must be a fair bit over a tonne there, with the trailer?

It should keep pretty well in a well-sealed can that's not subject to big changes in temperature, but I'd certainly be inclined to change it once a year. I think the formulation at the pumps changes Summer and Winter anyway, so you might find you're topping up with "Summer" diesel in the middle...

They might have a point! If a car manufacturer designed a car where the first thing to hit - even before the bumper, was a fuel tank, they'd get slated for it!

Dayco are a reputable brand. My personal preference is Gates, but I've used Dayco plenty of times with no problems (albeit not on a Defender).

That and the fact it's quite hard to crash a house!

I shall try, but he's the wrong side of 80 now, and has never really got to grips with "computers" I expect I might be asking things on his behalf though!

Thanks for those kind words! I might pop in every now and then for advice though. I suspect that whilst I've given it away, I've probably also unwittingly entered into a lifetime maintenance contract! My dad is a mechanic, so he's been used to working on cars all his life, but these days...

...Gave it away! I am now officially Freelanderless.:( I have donated it to my dad, as it was better than his car and I don't think he'll be driving for much longer. 2 years ago, when my wife's X-Trail was written-off in a crash and she was injured, it became a stop-gap towcar, but now she's...

Ah! No, sorry! We convert new, mainstream vehicles for wheelchair access. Typically medium-to-large MPVs. Basically, cut the floor out from the B pillars backwards, and replace it with a fabricated section that drops the internal floor level (over a width that's just a bit wider than a...

These tests are for cars currently being type approved as "new types" today. With the older cars you're working on, the regulatory framework hadn't really caught up with the manufacturers and it was pretty much "the Wild West" out there, with manufacturers each doing whatever they thought was...

In my (limited!) experience of messing about with electric vacuum pumps, they are barely up to the job of working the brakes. Trying to get them to purge the battery box as well, is likely to burn them out, I think. Many of them have only a 30 or 50% duty cycle, so they will cook themselves if...

That last bit would at least be useful for reducing the habitual moisture content of Freelander carpets!