Picked up my first Landy yesterday

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Docca

New Member
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4
Hi. First post and I hope this is in the right place. This is part celebration and part WHAT have I just done, but I'm you knowledgable lot will have some answers to help me too! My old car packed up a couple of weeks ago and it didn't make financial sense to repair it. I needed a bigger car anyway as at the moment I have two kids, but am expecting twins. The wife insisted she didn't want a regular people carrier, and we've both always loved the look of the defender. A few weeks pouring over the internet, and I've got one!


Anyway, here is my first Land Rover, A 110 CSW V8. Done about 300 miles since picking it up yesterday, all with a 4 year old passenger who simply adores being in an 'army' car. Some pics and a couple of questions:


photo-2.jpg


The LPG and petrol fillers:

photo-3.jpg


The boys booster seat in the front. There is plenty of space in the middle seat, too:

photo-6.jpg


and the LPG/Petrol switch:

photo-5.jpg


I am in no way mechanically minded. This, I'm sure, makes me sound like a moron but if you'll indulge me:

The LPG is WEIRD. It is a 36l tank, and costs about £23 to fill. For that, and i've not tested this completely, i'm getting about 70 miles before the lights move all the way to the 'petrol' symbol.

I have no instructions, but I do have the certificate and the contact details from the company that fitted it, so I'll probably call them tomorrow. When you fill up with gas (an experience in itself) the lights go out. The more you drive (and use) the more lights come on. Is this right? I thought I'd get a few more miles for using LPG? Or am I just worrying about lights unnecessarily?

It doesn't have as much poke as when I use petrol (which cost £80 to fill the tank btw...) AND when you press the switch, you can choose between:

1. Gas
2. Petrol
3. Off (this seems to f*** everything up and the car just stops)
4. One where both gas and petrol have a light next to it.


If you start in gas, it is sluggish and if you hit traffic like, ooh I don't know, a 9 mile tailback on the M25, it stalls. This means you have to drive in these conditions (in this car at least) on petrol. Swapping over from petrol to gas and all the power just drops for a few seconds and then after a few foot-fulls, it picks up again (although more sluggish than petrol). This means that when I swap over, I have to ensure bugger all is behind me or they'll likely be wearing a landy hat.

This car is a V8 and the gargle-gurgle is lovely, however it isn't exactly a rocket ship. It's only done 31k miles (since 1994?!) , and has been sat a bit, so not sure if the engine needs a look at. Acceleration is slow but steady and 5th gear struggles to hold any revs, but I can sit and do 90mph without too much bother.

When accelerating in 1st and 2nd, at what I'm assuming is only a few rpm, there is a metallic noise that lasts for >1second. Not sure wtf that can be.

The diff lock light doesn't come on. The lever appears to go into lock and low. I'm guessing it goes into 'high' fine, but it isn't a very reassuring clunk; rather a forced 'get in there you bastard' type move. It sits there, but I can 'waggle' the lever across the bottom. Should I be concerned about this?

I've got a 3 month warranty so i'm guessing the horse hasn't exactly bolted, but any help etc. I live in Farnham, Surrey. If anyone can recommend anyone this way who knows about engines/these cars and they don't cost the earth, I'd be extremely grateful.

Finally; I had a trouble insuring it. Couldn't find a '94 110 CSW with a v8 3.5 and I can't find a Haynes type manual for it. Did Land Rover do a 3.5 V8 from 1994 or is this an earlier model just registered later?


Oh, I love it btw. It is just brilliant.
 
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Firstly it's a landrover even with a V8 you won't get 0 to 60 in less than 20sec. mpg will be about 12 to 20mpg on gas or petrol.

Never had an LPG Motor so can't help with switchover stalling issues.

But there's plenty of Rangerover owners on here and they're used to V8's
 
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