I've changed one on my own with the car on the ground in the past, took a whole weekend. Mate who is giving me a hand has a 94 Classic which needed the viscous changing and we used the lift when doing that. It may be heavy but with two people and the car up in the air, it only took about 3 hours to remove the T case, change the VC and put it all back together. So, with any luck, we should be able to get mine done before it gets dark.....
Got thermal long johns, thermal socks, a thick pair of jeans, tee shirt, sweat shirt, overalls (laying in the passenger footwell so the heater will be blowing on them on the way over), old jacket (also in the passenger footwell) and 3 pairs of gloves. Got a woolly hat somewhere but I'm buggered if I can find it although I have a feeling it might be in the boot of the car already.
I've been able to make the chain skip a tooth if I floored it from standstill for a while now (only to be expected after 410,000 I suppose) but as I may have to tow a dead 1978 Rolls Royce for about 300 miles next week, figured I ought to do it before then. As it's coming out I bought a set of bearings and seals to go in while it's apart and on the bench (or floor, I can't remember if the barn has a bench in it or not).
Today I've pulled the EAS valve block off and given it a set of new O rings. Wasn't that urgent but it was beginning to drop slightly overnight so figured I'd do it. As it was -1C this morning, took the car out for a 10 mile or so run to get everything nice and warm, then pulled the valve block out so I could take it into the house and do the job in the warm. By the time I'd finished it and went outside to refit it, the temperature was up to a nice (?) +4 degrees C.
Weather is forecast to be the same tomorrow so I'll be getting a bit chilly. Arranged the use of a 4 post lift belonging to a mate's brother in law to make dropping the transfer case and giving it a new chain, bearings and seals. Only problem is that the lift is in a barn with a huge opening at one end so not even a chance of being able to put a heater in there. We're working on the principle that by the time I've driven over there (30 odd miles), everything will be nice and warm so we'll only start to freeze when putting it back......
If you jack the front of the car up on the crossmember just in front of the bottom of the radiator, leaving the wheels sitting on the ground, the gap between the sump and the top of the axle opens up enough to drop the sump.
I fitted a Bearmach a couple of years or so ago, no leaks on that.
Not long after I'd put the Ascot back together, I got the book pop up with distribution motor stalled error. I found the same as you, a bit stiff at one end of the travel. I sprayed the spindle, or at least where I could get to it, with silicone spray and worked it back and forth a few times and it freed off. Got to be worth a try even if it's only a temporary fix. There was also a fix on the other side where stiff distribution flaps were loosened off by putting a self tapper in the joint where the two sides of the heater box join to spread them apart very slightly.
Looks right to me. 12V on 14 (or 4) and ground on 20 should cause the message centre lamps to light up, while 12V on 6 and ground on 7 or 17 should do the same with the rest of the illumination. Don't forget that the gauge lights are dimmable which might cause you a problem if changing for LEDs (although I know Marty has done it so maybe not).
Looks to me like the rears just use Speednuts while the fronts have a Speednut at the top and one of the square nylon insert things the are used in various different places.
The distribution motor drives two flaps and when I first got the Ascot it was doing the same as yours. When I investigated, it looks like someone had been in there before me and one of the gears, driven by the quadrant, wasn't connected.
It was the one at the top which had been pulled out slightly so wasn't being moved by the quadrant. With the motor removed, I checked the movement from one end of the travel to the other and pushed it back in so it mated with the teeth on the quadrant. Whether someone had done it or if it had moved on the spindle I wouldn't like to say.
Assuming RHD you can get to it easily enough by removing the instrument cluster surround and unbolting the cluster itself. You can sit the cluster back in the hole but not put the screws in and you can then switch everything on and watch it operating before screwing it all back together. Don't try switching it on with the cluster disconnected.
Probably, but I did buy boxes of 24 of each.
Had a run to Screwfix for a couple of boxes of AA and AAA batteries. Dina is putting the Christmas decorations up and all of the LED lights needed new batteries. I know, there's almost 3 weeks to go before Christmas but she insisted......
No, the V8 P38 and TD5 Disco use ESR2935 (supersedes to PCF101410) and has an extra spigot at the front used for the throttle body heater on the V8 (no idea what the TD5 uses it for). Correct one for the P38 diesel is ESR2936 which supersedes to PCF101420. See https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/expansion-tank-25td-britpart-esr2936-pcf101420-p-2741.html (yes I know it's Britpart but it's the first listing I came to with a proper description).
Any airlocks will have disappeared and made their way to the header tank after 2 or 3 starts and a bit of a run, so if it always does it, it's either blowing excess out the overflow or you've got a leak.
That's not battery drain, that's a battery complaining about the cold!
It's only relevant to very early diesel versions. For some reason the BeCM didn't sleep and the mod ensured that it would. Won't have any affect on yours at all.
I degreased with thinners then sprayed mine with Hycote Bumper Black while the trims were off and the rest of the car was in for a respray. WD40 restores the black for a few days, as does oil. Silicone grease lasts a bit longer but not by much.
OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer so will, or at least should, have been made by the same company as made the original one. Britpart may be from the same supplier but sold to Britpart in bulk and sold through them or may be a cheap Chinese made copy, you never know.
There's a connector behind the LH kick panel that carries audio wiring. It's an 8 way plug and I think on a non-DSP system it just carries audio but may well carry other things on the DSP system. Got to be work a look.
The tank was originally see through, they go opaque with age so you can no longer see the coolant level through them.
That's what I did with the engine oil cooler as I figured they wouldn't come undone.