So today the old girl got to finally stretch her legs on a test run from the lock up at work to home. Roughly 18miles. Mix of dual carriage way, 40 areas and back on to the B roads

She passed her MOT this morning, had to fix the horn and advisory on a leaky oil cooler, so that I'd also now on the shopping list.

She drove pretty well considering how long she has been sidelined.

First real experience for me driving a P38, let alone a V8 and a 4 speed.

Jobs I need to do. Throw some anti roll bar bushes and drop links on. She gets bit of a wobble on at 65.

Drives straight as an arrow. But noticed the steering wheel is pointing to 10 o clock. I'm guessing wheels been off to change the clock rotary spring behind the air bag.

She averaged about 7mpg according to the dash, temperature was between 89 and 96.

Which I'm guessing is a big range, so may need to give the cooling some tlc.

Oh and for a grand finale.... she nearly set on fire. 60 seconds from home and smoke started to come in from under the steering wheel.

Turned out to be drivers side exhaust heat shield that was more fibre glass than foil. Few burnt fingers but removed all of that and any of the damaged rubber/foam behind it.

Removed passenger side aswell as that was loose.

Advice on do I need to replace heat shields, can i replaced them ?

That was a close call Grizz

Making me paranoid about mine now!! LOL

To straighten the steering wheel, it’s just an adjustment on the rod from the steering box to the passenger side wheel. (But might want to figure out why it’s clocked over so far).
If your temps are degrees C, they look fine to me.
7mpg doesn’t sound very good but you can’t really get a good number in 18 miles.

I see you say the steering wheel has been off, so it may be better to reclock the steering wheel itself.

Before doing any changes to the steering, set the box at centre as per the alignment marks on the box. then you can work out if it is the wheel that is off or the drag link length, or both. then you can sort them out.

If you don’t centralise the box, it is possible to over adjust it as, as it moves away from centre the back lash increases.

Thanks for the advice gents

I will try and have a look at the box over the weekend and then can narrow down what to adjust first.

Also need to confirm wether the leak on the front is the oil cooler or the gearbox cooler as i see one is directly above the other. So will check also.

Drove back to work this morning, no smouldering smoke. So that was nice. She certainly runs better with a few miles under her belt after being sat for so long.

Just happy to be driving it to be honest.

Heat shields can be replaced, but to be honest I’ve run mine without them the past 6 yrs, no problems, no melted leads etc.

I think mine have reduced themselves to the bracket and a small bit of remaining heatshield. I've thought about replacing them with a bit of ally sheet but it's never got too hot even when driven at 70 mph for hours on end.

If it passed emissions on the MoT I don't believe the 7 mpg, did you zero it before setting off (press and hold the Info button) as sitting around idling will make it read really low.

+1 on centralising the steering box. There's a lug on the side of a plastic disc on the input shaft into the steering box with a matching lug cast into the body. They should be lined up when the steering is straight ahead or it will pull to one side all the time. If that is out you adjust on the drag link, if that is correct you adjust at the steering wheel.

Lugs are at 9 o’clock for reference. (You would expect them to be vertical so you can see them, but no).

As for oil coolers, might be worth starting with new O rings. Might be all it is.

Top tips again,

No i didnt zero the trip so will do that and same with the lugs

The two coolers themselves look dry and the only oil drip seems to be on the transmission cooler pipe around where the clip is on the very bottom.

I followed the pipe down from the transmission reservoir and it seems to be that on. Both the actual coolers themselves are dry and no sign of a leak higher up

Assuming under the corrosion the pipe is going. So will order and replace that

is that as simple as remove the pipe, replace and then refill transmission from the lost fluid ?

Plus body work wise i need to decide how to protect the body best.

This is not a restoration project but certainly more a preservation project. So where all the lacquer has come away especially on the roof. I may just try to either re spray it or vinyl wrap it. But again do not know how good the surface under a wrap needs to be.

Does anyone know the part number for the transmission pipe that runs from the reservoir down and i assume up to the cooler.

The ones im looking at both have the same description even though they are different part numbers.

I think it is ESR2904 but not 100%

Mine just unscrewed at both ends quite easily. Use a flare nut spanner though.

This page http://new.lrcat.com/#!/1234/91427/91612/7253 gives the part numbers for the hoses for a 4.0 litre. 4.6 is different as it has a larger cooler.

what is the difference as the pipe work that i sent to David was 4.0l i think and his is a 4.6 , please correct me if i am wrong , or are we talking a different piece of pipe? or was we just lucky

I suspect there's very little difference, the coolers are interchangeable and the fittings are almost in the same place. Probably just a slight difference in the bends so they fit neatly in the notches in the radiator surround.

Wow that parts page is brilliant

Thanks for that. I did order the right one. Few

It's here, http://new.lrcat.com/ and is an online version of the system that the main dealers use. Admittedly it's hosted in Russia, hence some descriptions in Cyrillic as well as English. There's also the official JLR one at https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.com/parts/index/brand/key/land-rover but the pictures and descriptions aren't as good.