spanishlair
New Member
- Posts
- 294
- Location
- Inland Andalucia, Southern Spain
Having just spent the week sorting out the interior of the Disco I have come to the conclusion that the previous owners of the company deserved to lose the share of the market and Mr Rata Tata can only do a better job.
The handbrake gaiter started to fall apart along with the diff gaiter. Had a poke about and discovered that the "leather" was PVC. Peeled it off and its the build quality of a wartburg. Absolute rubbish, same with diff gaiter. Managed to find both in black leather from a company in Poland. Easy to fit and looks top end.
Passenger window was jamming. Had the door card off and found the regulator runs on little nylon wheels which had broken up. Why not use a better thing than thin nylon ? Rubber perhaps. Regulator replaced.
The two "occasional" seats needed attention. Offside would not secure to the body when folded. Could not get to the clip with the seat in situ so removed the seat. Discovered that Landrovers profits must have been spent on Locktite. Inspection of the spring loaded clip revealed that the small spring that operates the clip is tensioned by a small roll pil 1/8 long and thinner than a strand of pasta. It had snapped off leaving a small hole. 1 very small self tapping screw later and the spring is retensioned. Repair time 30 seconds, labour time to remove and refit an hour. Why not use a better method in the first place ?
Nearside seat would deploy but not fold away. Found the end of the cable hanging loose on the underside. It had a small kink in the end. I thought it must be missing some sort of metal nipple on the end and had broken. Seat out... Not so. Thats it. The small kink is it and sits in a hole. If tension is lost on the cable it falls out. What muppet thought of that. A clamp would be the answer there. Cost pence. Also knocked the roll pin off and put a self tapper in. Preventitive maintainance.
On a roll now decided to get the side panel on the drivers side looked at as it had a hole that was growing larger. Took to a guy who trims and repairs leather seats for a quote. FFS ! Thats plastic as well. The only leather in the entire vehicle is the seat and back surfaces. So much for " full leather interior sir" The only good news its cheaper. Bad news is it can not be repaired, only replaced.
Attacked the problem of condensation in the headlight ( facelift). Googled it and found it was the subject of a recall in 2006 with a misting problem. The problem is the headlight breather and Landrover have a kit to sort the problem. Off to main dealer armed with a copy of the recall notice. At last a job for free !! Not so. The guy looks at it and says they are not the orignal bulbs. The vehicles 11 years old FFS. How long do bulbs last ! As I could not produce the record that the bulbs were changed by a Landrover agent the recall was invalid. However as the kit was available (84p) they were happy to provide one for me to fit..bad news time. Facelift Disco was not sold in Spain so the part will come from England. Postage and mainstealer handling fee 10 quid 2X kits 1.68p.
So mr Tata if you need a few good ideas for your design team,see me.
The handbrake gaiter started to fall apart along with the diff gaiter. Had a poke about and discovered that the "leather" was PVC. Peeled it off and its the build quality of a wartburg. Absolute rubbish, same with diff gaiter. Managed to find both in black leather from a company in Poland. Easy to fit and looks top end.
Passenger window was jamming. Had the door card off and found the regulator runs on little nylon wheels which had broken up. Why not use a better thing than thin nylon ? Rubber perhaps. Regulator replaced.
The two "occasional" seats needed attention. Offside would not secure to the body when folded. Could not get to the clip with the seat in situ so removed the seat. Discovered that Landrovers profits must have been spent on Locktite. Inspection of the spring loaded clip revealed that the small spring that operates the clip is tensioned by a small roll pil 1/8 long and thinner than a strand of pasta. It had snapped off leaving a small hole. 1 very small self tapping screw later and the spring is retensioned. Repair time 30 seconds, labour time to remove and refit an hour. Why not use a better method in the first place ?
Nearside seat would deploy but not fold away. Found the end of the cable hanging loose on the underside. It had a small kink in the end. I thought it must be missing some sort of metal nipple on the end and had broken. Seat out... Not so. Thats it. The small kink is it and sits in a hole. If tension is lost on the cable it falls out. What muppet thought of that. A clamp would be the answer there. Cost pence. Also knocked the roll pin off and put a self tapper in. Preventitive maintainance.
On a roll now decided to get the side panel on the drivers side looked at as it had a hole that was growing larger. Took to a guy who trims and repairs leather seats for a quote. FFS ! Thats plastic as well. The only leather in the entire vehicle is the seat and back surfaces. So much for " full leather interior sir" The only good news its cheaper. Bad news is it can not be repaired, only replaced.
Attacked the problem of condensation in the headlight ( facelift). Googled it and found it was the subject of a recall in 2006 with a misting problem. The problem is the headlight breather and Landrover have a kit to sort the problem. Off to main dealer armed with a copy of the recall notice. At last a job for free !! Not so. The guy looks at it and says they are not the orignal bulbs. The vehicles 11 years old FFS. How long do bulbs last ! As I could not produce the record that the bulbs were changed by a Landrover agent the recall was invalid. However as the kit was available (84p) they were happy to provide one for me to fit..bad news time. Facelift Disco was not sold in Spain so the part will come from England. Postage and mainstealer handling fee 10 quid 2X kits 1.68p.
So mr Tata if you need a few good ideas for your design team,see me.
