I topped it up before starting the engine/steering this morning.

Will keep an eye on it and see how quick it leaks out. In daylight the top of the steering box looks fairly dry and covered with crud so think it might not be big or fast leak.

Is there a rebuild kit available for the steering boxes? I can get hold of a used steering box the wasn't known to leak before it was removed but if I swap the box out I'd prefer to do it with one that's been rebuilt.

I can see kits for Series vehicles, Defenders and Discovery/RRC but not the P38.

Well...there's fluid in the reservoir but none on the stick. Eep.

Time for a top up and look for a leak.

Dexron 3 is the same as the fluid that goes in the gearbox right? I have some of that left over from when I changed the gearbox oil.

It's definitely some kind of oil dripping off the pipe. I suppose it could be two different leaks in that corner but I can't see any evidence of a coolant leaked from the top, besides this:

That's dry and there's no wet streaks running down from it. It looks like it's somehow weeping out through the threads in the hole.

What fluid does the steering take? I assumed it would be some sort of ATF which can be red?

I have noticed that my steering can sometimes be momentarily heavy when maneuvering at low speeds and gives an occasional whine at full lock.

I'm getting fed up with it now!

Found a new coolant leak a few days ago.

The gearbox in the Freelander decided it no longer wanted a reverse gear last night.

Now I think I have a power steering fluid leak!

The metal pipes beside the radiator look like this:

And the area around what I guess is the steering box looks like this:

Bah.

Hopefully it's just a loose union.

I tried that with Rimmer Bros and they refused to tell me what brands were supplied for given part numbers.

Buy there's no way of knowing until it arrived and it's a proper Britpart part you're stuck!

Gilbertd gave me a seal for the rear driveshaft but I don't remember the brand. I think it began with M and came in a red plastic bag.

I didn't have to heat up or freeze anything, it just tapped in to place.

I'm not sure if the front and rear ones are different but I'd happily fit the same brand Gilbertd gave me again. Hopefully he'll be along to say what it was!

Aragorn wrote:

If the OEM ones are actually OEM, then get those. I've bought various OEM parts for my Audi, and when they come you can see they've sanded the Audi logo off! Lemforder are the OEM for most of the Audi bushes. Its exactly the same part, but they're not allowed to sell it with the Audi logo on it outwith the genuine parts network!

Same thing when i bought TRW control arms for the front of my old BMW.

Unfortunately landrover parts places seem to have the habit of sticking "OEM" on anything that isnt complete junk.

If I see "OEM in a plain white box" I'll avoid it as I think it means "this is from a known crap manufacturer buy we don't want to tell which one".

If it says OEM and lists a brand next to it I'd chance it.

That's true, you do need to set it up safely. Flat, level, solid ground, same height all around etc.

I've seen full size trucks stood up in the air on axle stands at work.

The stands were a bit bigger than my 3T ones but not as big as I would have expected.

I'm happy enough going under the Range Rover held up with a 3T set at the front and the jack for back up.

Well, she did somehow manage to somehow reverse the Range Rover in to fence and smash the inner tail light unit on the tailgate without harming the outer one...

I got in, expecting it to work after cycling through the gears and turning it off and on again but nope - reverse gear is dead.

Had to push the car backwards in neutral so she could turn and drive it forwards. That thing is harder to push than a P38!

Might have to put all non-essential work on the Range Rover on for a while hold.

The gearbox in my girlfriend's Freelander just shat itself. No reverse gear. Looks like the most likely culprit is a snapped reverse gear band inside the gearbox.

It's a gearbox out and dismantled job which means I need to send it to a garage to be done. I don't have the time, space or tools to do that at home and certainly not in this weather!

I'll have to excuse myself from the meet up for now, until we know what the repair cost is going to be.

Ah, so does that mean they're a different size at each end of the hose?

I guess I will need to go and measure it myself then - the diameter in the middle could different to the measurement at the firewall end.

Anyone know the inner diameter of the rubber hose that attaches to the heater pipes in the bulkhead?

One of mine is cut in half to attach to the LPG system and I have a slow drip/leak from it. It looks a little old and crusty so I'll replace it.

I don't want to pay for the proper part just to cut it in half so I'm looking to get some silicone coolant hose for it.

I don't know the ID of the existing hose and trying to avoid going out in the cold to pull it off, measure it, refit it and bleed the coolant system again - only to have to take it apart and bleed again when the new pipe arrives.

Anyone know the ID?

Thanks :)

Hopefully. Will need to take a look at the weekend.

Just Chrome on Android today, not been on a PC to try IE/Edge

I have a 3T Halfords one and I think that's describing the jack itself rather than its lifting capacity! I hated lifting it when I was 20 and it makes my back hurt at 30. It's awkward to pick up too, so it's not always easy to lift it "properly".

Lifts the P38 great though. Doesn't fit under regular cars unless you lift them a little using the wheel arch :P

Well, clearly if your car is working in a way you're happy with you shouldn't announce it publicly.

Found this under the car this afternoon:

Dripping from somewhere a little bit in front of the starter motor, above the anti roll bar. It's dropping off the bottom of the roll bar. Found the header tank almost empty.

Bollocks.

I've also lost the driver's side washer jet. Getting nothing out of it. Passenger side still works though. Will have to get some compressed air through it to clear it out tomorrow.

Aaaaaand now it's spread to the Electrickery section too.

Any changes been made in the last 12 hours or so?