It's worth checking the Caledonian MacBrayne website updates for service disruptions. This seems to be the company that covers most of the major routes. There's usually something wrong with them. They may be doing better now, but a few years ago they had a habit of running their ships aground...

I find the wiring diagrams on the LR Workshop site quite handy. For example this one may be applicable: https://www.lrworkshop.com/wiring-diagram/defender-2002-td5-300tdi-rhd/anti-theft-alarm-central-door-locking I've got the official electrical manual too, but it's only black and white. So...

And I've just done the same on the other side. So that's all the suspension bushes done, new springs and shocks, added to what I did about thrree weeks ago. I've not put pictures up because they would look just like yesterday's, only the other way round. If they last as long as the previous set...

I've made a start on the front suspension today. Things have come apart fairly easily: I'm painting Dinitrol on all the mating faces that you can't normally get at too, just to hold back the rust. And here it is going back together: The most difficult bit was getting the new shock absorber in...

I don't have a problem going from first to second on either of my R380 gearboxes. It's just less to do if I pull away in second. Plus, as I'm usually at a junction it allows me to focus on steering with both hands and looking for traffic, whichis a better use of my time. First is a bit notchy to...

I've got this model. I had the original factory R380 and then a few years ago it got very noisy so I fitted a reconditioned box, so I've had both. It's perfectly happy pulling away in second unless you're going up a steep slope. I just use first as a crawler gear for very low speed precision...

'Twas a breezy day here in Wales, with rain until about lunchtime. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm sitting here waiting for storm Floris. So far there's a breeze and a bit of drizzle. It's very silly to give every westerly low pressure system a name.

I got one of their 'roadspec' ones. I've got a TD5, so the friction plate doesn't have any springs in it - all the springs are in the dual mass flywheel. But I liked their one piece design, with no separate boss in the middle to come loose. I was also pleasantly surprised by their release...

Yes, I had something similar with a clutch friction plate in the spring of 2019. I had just changed the clutch 18 months prior and hoping for a much longer life. I can't remeber offhand if it was a Valeo or an AP, but it was the sort of thing where the splined boss in the middle is a seperate...

Yes, the Defender TD5 fuel pump is below the fuel level whe the tank is full. The Discovery version has a flatter top on the tank and doesn't have ths problem. When I got my Defender, fuel would drip out if I filled the tank completely. On addressing the problem, I discovered that the previous...

I read on here many years go that TD5s start on 4 cylinders rather than 5, and then the ECU lets no. 5 injector start releasing fuel. Also, no. 5 cylinder doesn't have a glowplug, which might have something to do with this design feature. So I think what you've got is the first few seconds of...

Might be a good idea to take apart and clean up all the other earths, so the tiny earth wire isn't the path of least resistance! The best thing to happen to my earth connecctions was when I treated myself to a battery powered angle grinder. Equipped with a sanduing disc, one's mating faces can...

My clutch pedal started feeling spongy yesterday, and the bite point got nearer to the bottom of the pedal travel. Hmm. Not another gearbox out job I hope. On unscrewing the cap the problem became apparent: Not much fluid. I topped it up and bled a bit through with a pressure bleeder and it's...

We had something similar to that bearing wear once, on our old Series Forward Control. The rollers had 'peeled' themselves. I think they'd been case hardened to provide a more durable wearing surface, but over the life of the bearing, the fact that you'd effectively got rollers made of two...

I've seen a few more jobs to do while I was under there. There's a crack in the exhaust pipe near the rear silencer and the brake pads are getting thin. The exhaust was a stainless one which I fitted in 2012, so that's thirteen years it's lasted. The brake pads were last renewed in the autumn of...

They're just yellow Britpart ones - nothing special. Standard height. The last lot did me for 12 years so they're clearly not too bad.

I've had a go at the rear suspension bushes and ball joint. I last did them in 2013, so they've been good for 12 years. I did a whole thread on this in the autumn of 2013 so I shan't repeat it here. Plus I forgot to take very many pictures. Here it all is complete with new bushes, springs and...

The door trim is held in place by push-in clips so you can't get the whole thing off with the door shut, but it is possible to release the top and spray stuff in in the general direction of the latch mechanism which may help. As per @tottot's observations above, a bit of vibration can help. I...

Yes, this can happen for various reasons. On the driver's side I had this problem - the door latch wouldn't work, or if it did, it would stick in the shut position. The culprit turned out to be not the latch itself but the plastic housing that the lock button goes in which had broken. On...