Sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately the day I'll be able to drive it, or even start it up, is a distant dream! I'll give it a flush out with a hose and see what happens.

Could be. It didn't happen during my ownership though - honest.

Thanks for confirming what should have been obvious really! That's been my approach to most of the rebuild. OEM unless it's not critical.

You're spot on there. It's been sat for ten years and when I started the rebuild there was no coolant to be seen. The radiator was pretty shot so I think it all escaped that way.

Has anyone ever found anything like this horrible looking slime and crystals lurking in their cooling system? Hopefully it's not a sign of anything more serious. It's only ever had proper coolant in the system, so I'm a bit surprised it's so bad. I'm going to replace the pump as the impeller is...

If it's going to take that long to get it sorted I'd suggest you just get a local machine shop to correct the faulty swivel. It's only really a case of machining half an inch of material out of the back, and if you've got a correct one to copy they shouldn't have too much trouble. Then once the...

Another few weeks pass and things have moved at a snail's pace. Most of the time was spent waiting for parts to arrive, then waiting again for another delivery after I knackered the oil seal when clumsily trying to fit it. To answer a couple of my own questions from the previous post - the fan...

Thanks, that's really helpful. I'll whip it off and replace the gaskets anyway as I'm tidying up the engine while it's accessible. I can't find a part number for the o-ring mentioned in the diagram so hopefully it's still OK. The engine hasn't been run for ten years so who knows though!

The vacuum pump on my 200Tdi seems to have some sort of oil leak around it (see photo). Is it likely to just be the gasket where it meets the block or are they prone to leaking elsewhere? Also, the parts diagram seems to show two gaskets sandwiched between the pump and block, separated by an...

OK, thanks. I'll see what I can rustle up.

I'm trying to fit a new oil seal to the flywheel housing of my 200Tdi but because I'm lacking special tool 18G.134-11 or anything large and solid enough to drift the seal in properly I've managed to deform it and now need to order another one. As they're not exactly cheap I'm keen to avoid this...

You can see the part numbers for the decals here, but they're not cheap! https://www.lrworkshop.com/diagrams/land-rover-defender-body-chassis/body Not very current, but when I did mine about 15 years ago I bought the bonnet-mounted 'Defender' sticker and the side decals from John Craddock for...

Yes, I've got one of those already. I'm talking about the seal between the ladder frame and the bottom of the block.

Could be. It's not dented though. Maybe it's already popped back.

OK, update time again. I've realised why I put the panhard rod on the wrong way around - firstly it's the bend in the rod that just looks like it wants to wrap around the diff (and presumably does on the LHD version), but secondly the diagram in the Haynes manual shows it on that way! I don't...

Nope, I'm just a tit who's put it on the wrong way around :oops:. To be fair I haven't fixed it on yet so I would probably have realised at some point. Thanks for pointing it out!

Another month has flown by, held up by our decision to sell our house and the consequent panic of running around doing all the DIY jobs I've been putting off for the last five years. Anyway, the painted chassis has migrated back inside. I was temporarily held up with the front axle rebuild by...

Luckily I hadn't got around to filling the swivel otherwise that would have been annoying. It would've been nice if they'd sent the replacement by next day delivery though. I've got to wait until Monday which is a bit of a cheek.

After a bit of back and forth with emails Bearmach have confirmed that "Unfortunately our technical team has advised that they believe the unit you have received has been machined incorrectly, and we are now arranging for our stock to be checked." and they're sending a replacement. All's well...

OK, thanks for confirming. I was just wondering which end of the CV was the bottom! I'll get onto Bearmach and see how their customer service is.