Your hydraulic pipe people are clearly unimaginative idiots with no ability to problem solve - I guarantee you they have all the bits in stock but because it is not clear cut and they have no brain-cells they fob you off. I go to Pirtek for my pipes, however, I found these guys recently...

Either, make up a basic little test circuit with a tail lamp to test the switch, or if you have a meter disconnect it and meter it out. £7.99 from Screwfix and you will have a little multimeter.

Yes, it's just linking out the terminals like I told the OP to do above to test it.

Yes, Bolivia actually, read my post in this thread above.

Which total ejit brought this ANCIENT post back to life?

You couldn't get into reverse due to the box probably being dragged on a failing spigot. If you take it into 3rd or 5th then very quickly it should go in easier - or turn off the engine, although you are on the clutch the failing spigot will probably have started to drag - so you always get some...

Yes it is possible to do at home, depends how handy you are with a spanner and how likely you are to feck something up doing it though - that may sound harsh but many people think they can do things then make a total mess of it all - look at your average persons DIY project at home! So can you...

To run the lights!

I don't know what way it works, i.e. normally open or normally closed, try it and see - won't do any harm.

So to all intents and purposes this is a Disco setup bolted into a Defender - did the t-case come from the same Disco as the ECU?

It's one of these ones that unless you had ever worked on one, or had looked at a TD5 t-case etc. you would never know. every day is a learning day!

Wait - you say Nanocom is detecting the change? Then the ECU knows fine. It would not surprise me if Land Rover did something differently between Defender and Disco TD5/Transfer box setups - to the point that I wonder if there is some sort of incompatibility. When you removed the old T-case...

It can't read the wrong way round - the switch is just contacts open/contacts closed. Reversing the wiring will do nothing. It sounds to me like the ECU is not detecting the signal - or it's not connected or the switch is shot. Try linking out the contacts on the plug and then try it with the...

TD5 ECU's change the throttle response when in low box - that is why there is a low position detection switch. If you unplug the transfer box on a TD5, put it into low, then drive it it, it will be as you describe. The TD5 normal road throttle response can tear the drive train apart in low...

Yeah, I am considering a TD5 with a standalone ECU - you can use the original with all the other stuff deleted apart from the most basic functions needed to run the engine or you get an aftermarket ECU. That would let me fit a TD5 and just have a basic ECU and a simple ignition switched feed and...

To be honest, you should be able to take off just fine, I had the non turbo version of your engine, I drove it for about 4 years without any issue - it was fine for me, I was more or less always within a 80 mile radius of where I lived, frequent 25 mile trip of which almost all of it was on...

You bring up a good point there Turboman and it's got me thinking, the TD5 is a bloody good engine, it has it's issues too certainly, like the 300tdi had the timing belt issues (OK long ago ironed out and if done properly won't bother people any more so not a permanent issue). A well maintained...

They do usually come calibrated and with a cert (he says no paperwork) but they are bloody accurate when calibrated 1% tolerance on a good one (mine even says <=1% on it. It is this fine calibration that makes them unsuitable for daily torquing - it would frankly be a waste of a good piece of...

Here we go. Always one. The real driving factor behind not going for a 200tdi is finding a decent one - they are old engines now, at least the 300tdi was still being made up until fairly recently - go for a 200tdi and you are kicking about 25-30 odd years old, you can pick up a 20 year old...

On the right tracks, but forgetting one critical detail. As above. The clue is in the name - Torq-o-METER! Right - this is a torque "meter" - you would not use this as a means of torquing down down bolts day to day. A prime example of how this would be used is to set the timing belt tension...