Hi
I've just picked up a 1992 Defender 110 2.5 200TDi - it's tatty and mileage a bit high but then I only paid £2000 for it so I wasn't expecting perfection.
During the test drive it was all fine, but driving home (about 70 miles on a lot of Motorway) I found a noise at higher speeds (45mph+).
It's fine accelerating and braking in gear, but if you coast in gear you have quite a loud noise - a bit like grinding. If you pop it in neutral it gets worse, but as soon as you brake, it goes away again. It goes into gears nicely except 3rd which needs a slight kick, and it stays in gear and doesn't jump out. Diff lock and hi/lo works fine.
Also (to my peril) I found the fuel gauge is stuck pretty much around the half way mark regardless of how much fuel, and the fuel warning light doesn't come on either when you run out of fuel and conk out on the Motorway! :-( I'm guessing sender unit fault?
I appriciate that Defenders are rough and ready machines, and I have no point of reference but should they feel smooth? Mine feels like your driving over small cobble stones all the time - is that ok? If it's right, then that's fine - I just don't want to be overlooking a sign of trouble.
I'm working on using it as my business vehicle - I'm a self employed Heating Engineer and visit quite a few farms, etc as I cover oil fired boilers as well as gas and my van is taking a hell of a beating on the tracks, so I need to get it into some reasonable shape until I can afford a newer one (or maybe even a brand new one!! That'd be nice!!!)
Anyway, any advice would be very much appriciated!
Thanks,
DC
I've just picked up a 1992 Defender 110 2.5 200TDi - it's tatty and mileage a bit high but then I only paid £2000 for it so I wasn't expecting perfection.
During the test drive it was all fine, but driving home (about 70 miles on a lot of Motorway) I found a noise at higher speeds (45mph+).
It's fine accelerating and braking in gear, but if you coast in gear you have quite a loud noise - a bit like grinding. If you pop it in neutral it gets worse, but as soon as you brake, it goes away again. It goes into gears nicely except 3rd which needs a slight kick, and it stays in gear and doesn't jump out. Diff lock and hi/lo works fine.
Also (to my peril) I found the fuel gauge is stuck pretty much around the half way mark regardless of how much fuel, and the fuel warning light doesn't come on either when you run out of fuel and conk out on the Motorway! :-( I'm guessing sender unit fault?
I appriciate that Defenders are rough and ready machines, and I have no point of reference but should they feel smooth? Mine feels like your driving over small cobble stones all the time - is that ok? If it's right, then that's fine - I just don't want to be overlooking a sign of trouble.
I'm working on using it as my business vehicle - I'm a self employed Heating Engineer and visit quite a few farms, etc as I cover oil fired boilers as well as gas and my van is taking a hell of a beating on the tracks, so I need to get it into some reasonable shape until I can afford a newer one (or maybe even a brand new one!! That'd be nice!!!)
Anyway, any advice would be very much appriciated!
Thanks,
DC