Sean J's Defender 90 300 Tdi Project and Work Vehicle

Ok thanks I'll have to have a look for some, possibly a bit late for this winter but at least I'll be ready for next

Got the oil pressure relief valve installed and the mating face for the sump all cleaned up. I couldn't get the brand of bearings I wanted today, they only had Britpart ones instock. I don't normally have a problem with Britpart but something as critical as big ends I'd rather not take the chance so choose to wait for what I want.

So got my bearings Saturday morning, and set about putting the last of it back together.

Worth the wait for these!! Fitting them went fine, all torqued up nicely and engine turned over by hand lovely.


Cleaned the sump out again and gave the gasket face a quick once over again, installed the oil pickup pipe with a new o ring, got the silicone out and fitted the sump back up. Obviously with the system being dry I filled the oil filter with oil be putting it on.
Fired up fine no rattles, knocks, bangs etc and was flawless on a twenty mile test drive. Hopefully I'll be able to start turning my attention to the front suspension soon as it the only area I've not shown some love and I'd like it to match the back at least!!

Depsite the lack of posting works been on going on the Defender. Lots has been done but lots still needs doing!!
MOT time was a nice suprise, went straight through passed with flying colours and no advisories, happy days!!

Had an issue when laning, after a few hours the oil light would start to flicker on tick over. Engine wasnt noisy and light would go out once the revs had increased. After lots of investigation I opted to change the thermostat that allows the oil to flow through the cooler.

Its been two months since it was changed and the light hasnt come on once since.
I also had an issue when off road that it would pop out of low range and I would also lose drive to the front axle. I removed the output shaft from the transfer box and the splines were very badly worn and basically round so it wasnt suprising that under load I was getting issues.

I've been laning a few times since and loaded up on the farm and I've had no issues at all, also the uptake of drive once changing gear is a lot smoother.

looking really good! Some nice progress!

Been struggling with braking when at speed, the landy would pull violently to the right and it the wet was down right dangerous, checked the front brakes and found the N/S/F caliper was leaking under pressure. New caliper painted to match all the suspension arms and fitted up.


Had a horible noise from the bearing in the timing case thats been getting gradually worse and worse till it was that loud you could here it over the engine.
Not wanting to change the bearing and having an electric fan I removed the viscous and found a aux belt that fits and bypasses the bearing. Engine sounds sooooo much quieter its like a new one!!

Managed to grab an hour today to finish some jobs off so did the last piece of trim work for in the back of the landy.


The entire rear has now been sound proofed and ply lined with a black acoustic carpet covering. Looks really smart and really helps keep the noise down inside.
Decide recently to stop using the landrover for work so I can concentrate on using it what I intended when I bought which was for my camping/trips away etc. All work carried out on it now is going to be with this in mind and already its been fantastic to use it for such purposes.



My next task is to install a second battery, power invertor and make a cubby box that houses 2×usb points, 2×12v sockets and a voltage gauge for the second battery.

Mangaged to make the cubby box, complete with the sockets I wanted. Fitted a second battery and installed a 100w solar panel onto the roof rack. All just intime for another camping trip tomorrow just need to pick up the power inverter on my way now.



Got a little tidying up of wires etc to do but that can be done after the test run this weekend.