Thanks Chris. You were a big help following our phone conversation.
I have now ordered the tool on Ebay at just over £20.
Driving back from North Wales yesterday with the grandkids, when what started out as a whine soon developed into a loud rumble after about 50 miles.
I have just taken off the LHF hub and knocked out the half shaft and CV joint to have a look. The CV joint seems OK but the hub bearing is the obvious culprit. It feels rough in one place as you rotate it.
I had a home made 20t hydraulic press half completed, so I guess I am going to be busy this week finishing it off so I can fit a new wheel bearing.
While I am at it, I want to replace the top and bottom ball joints in the hub and I see a few of you guys have done it before so would appreciate any tips.
I have not replaced them before. Do the ball joints simply hammer out? or is a special tool needed?
Dave
I have found a way to get the ABS sensors out in one piece, which has worked on my car. Admittedly only tried on 3 or 4 sensors so far but sucessfully.
It involves getting a very thin spanner under the head of the sensor and then using a fork type ball joint separator.
I filed a narrow cycle spanner, the type used for adjusting cones on a bike, so it just fitted across the narrower body of the sensor under the head. It is only about 1/8" thickness and hard steel. There was enough space to get the fork end of a ball joint separator under the spanner. Then a couple of blows with a hammer to get it moving. The spanner acts to spread the load out on the head of the sensor. Also lots of WD40 and wire brushing before you start.
Everything polished with emery paper and coated with copaslip before reassembly.
Sorry for the late response, just seen your post Clive.
I have fitted a set of Goodridge braided stainless brake hoses to mine. It was however about 10 years ago. Got them from a place in Stockport.
http://goodridge.brakes-hoses-fittings.co.uk/car-brake-lines/range-rover.htm
I ordered them +2" longer and I remember paying extra for all stainless fittings. They had p38 details already on file.
Not cheap but I have had zero problems with mine.
I knew this was the place to come. You are all clever buggers on here.
Done some more delving this morning. It appears the small multimeter I keep in the car is a mile out.
I have now measured the new thermistor using my other bench top digital multimeter and got the following results:
deg C kΩ
13 3.23
24 1.595
52 0.544
90 0.156
So at ambient temp under the car it was about 1.6kΩ. The digital display showing 130 deg C.
The head unit should therefore be paired with a thermistor that measures 1.6kΩ when actually at 130 deg C when it will be correct.
In the meantime, I have ordered another twin wire and also a single wire thermistor to try out. They are cheap enough.
Dave
ps: how do you do columns?
I had Ashcrofts fit a HP24 gearbox to my diesel way back in 2012. At their recommendation I had a boss welded on to the gearbox sump to accept a temperature probe.
At the time I bought a cheap digital temperature gauge on Ebay and cannibalised the guts. I fitted the digital panel bit into a spare space in the instrument binicle. The temperature sensor that came with the kit was a two wire thermistor type.
It has worked well for 6 years but has just failed. The temp shows 01 deg C.
I have measured the old sensor resistance and it has gone open circuit. I have now plugged a new two wire sensor in (not yet screwed into the gearbox) and the digital panel now does its startup cycle which it didn't before but then shows 130 deg C. at just ambient temp.
The new sensor resistance is about 50 ohms which does alter with temp. I tried it in boiling water. It is an NTC thermistor. Resistance drops as the temp rises. It looks physically exactly the same as the old one.
I thought that all cheap car temperature probes would be standardised, use the same thermistor and have the same range. However I am now suspecting that there are different resistances despite the ranges all saying 0-150 deg C.. Anybody shed some light on this?
I know there are single wire and twin wire types. There is no technical data included with the sensor other than it is 0-150 deg C.
I could buy another complete gauge kit that comes with a sensor so they are a matched pair but the dash will have to come out again to fit it.
One other thing: I measured the voltage to the sensor plug and it is only 5 or 6 volts. Not sure what voltage it should be from the digital head unit. It has a 12v supply to it behind the dash.
I have been running General Grabber AT2's for a while now. They are a good compromise for off road driving without going too overboard.
I find them a little noisier than the previous road tyres but not excessively so. If you want to seriously go off road I would switch to 16" wheels.
A major consideration is also whether the tyre fits in the wheel well.
Got my keyfob back _13 weeks_ after originally posting it!
Both buttons now work. Hopefully that is the end of it.
Next time we need to find someone else.
I blew my diesel engine ECU several years ago when one of the crocodile clips from a battery charger slipped off the battery when I was charging it and it touched the case of the ECU. The cover was off the ECU cover at the time. It spiked the electronics and it was kaput.
The insurance company paid for it except for £100 excess.
I have pretty much every spare ECU now and full diagnostics so less concerned about damage.
I have welded on the car. The manual says disconnect all ECUs but that is a BIG job.
I disconnect both battery terminals and I use an earth clamp either side of where I am welding to stop stray currents. Never had a problem so far.
I sent another email and made another phone call. No immediate response and I was about to give him a negative review on Google when he suddenly replied. This was after 2 weeks of trying. My fob has now been posted back to him again.
Me thinks he needs a bit more customer focus. You don't just ignore people because it is inconvenient. You stay with the problem until it is sorted.
My biggest bugbear is modifications. Most insurers won't touch a car that has been modded. Most refuse point blank.
The only one that I found was Adrian Flux. They are actually a broker so they found an underwriter they use that would quote.
I now do less than 8000 miles per annum so hoping the cost won't go up too much next time round.
I thought I would update my experiences with Fobfix.
As I mentioned, after repair my fob suddenly died on me after just 1 weeks use and I did indeed send it back to Fobfix.
I then didn't hear from them at all. No acknowledgement or anything that they had received the Fob back.
I sent an email and "Duncan" informed me that he had reflowed the solder and it had sprung back into life and it was back in the post.
I got it back best part of a week later. It worked but the "unlock" button was difficult to get to work. Over the next few weeks it got worse and worse and it took a dozen or so presses to get to work. The other button works fine so it is clearly a microswitch problem. I am worried I am going to be locked out of the car.
I have made repeated efforts to contact Fobfix ...... emails, phone calls via landline and mobile and text messages. They do not or will not answer.
So there it rests while I decide what to do next. I would not recommend them to anyone based on my experiences.
Does anyone have another number for him? The number on the website is just a mobile number. I also think he has a day job.
The trailing arms on the rear suspension are made of a composite material which is riveted to the steel pivoting part at the ends.
Some of the early cars had a problem with loose rivets causing a clunk when accelerating. Worth checking I think.
I am presently piping up my in tank pump (diesel) and I am using this hose:-
Says it is nitrile rubber sourced from a company in Germany. I am not sure what sort of pressure the pump develops.
The problem may be the new eco petrol mixtures that contain methanol.
It is a pity all your good work is hidden underneath the car Clive.
I have used Hammerite Kurust quite a bit in the past but I also use electrolysis to get rid of rust using washing soda and an old battery charger.
Did the MOT man specifically request the label must be readable?
I managed to reclaim the male hose tails on the ends of the pipes but after I trimmed the ends off the plastic fuel pipes they are now too short!
Now using 6mm id rubber fuel line from pump to 6mm x 8mm brass reducer/joiners then 7.2mm id rubber hose to the 8mm od plastic pipe on the car.
Bloody pain. Alternative of replacing everything with original L/R parts would have been around £120. Car still off the road while awaiting fittings.
I have got the same radiator on my diesel. Made by Allisport. It was on for several years but suddenly sprung a leak where one of the tubes had been chafing on my turbo intercooler ( I have the diesel).
I tried my hand at aluminium welding, technically it was aluminium brazing, and it has been OK since.
Just got the car through the MOT with no advisories for about the 3rd or 4th year running. I was feeling pretty smug and happy with the car at this point. A nice warm feeling inside.
This feeling lasted less than 24 hours when I came out last Friday morning and it would not start. I investigated and found the in tank pump had gone. It was the original though and had lasted 17 years.
I have since cut a hatch in the boot and now replaced the pump, however the fittings were badly corroded on the old pump and the new pump did not come with any, so I have now ordered new female nuts and olives. However the male part of the joint is part of the fuel pipe and they are relatively expensive from L/R.
I can shorten the old pipes and fit new hose tails but I am having difficulty sourcing them. They seem to be male M12 x 1.0mm pitch and 6mm i.d. Seems to be a bastard size. It is not BSP, NPT or AN. Can anyone confirm the size? It also appears to be the same as used on Defenders and Discos.
Spoke too soon. Fob packed in after 1 weeks use. No LEDs, completely dead.
About to send it back to FobFix.
A few years ago when I had problems, I tried to swap them over side to side. The theory being that the tracks develop flat spots and swapping them over reverses the tracks. However the studs sheared off very easily and I didn't get that far. I coated the threads on the new ones with Coppaslip and fitted stainless nuts. Time will tell I guess.