Powdercoating steel wheels is madness. Alloy wheels are refinished with powder all the time, but the moment a steel wheel chips, the water will get in and start to rust and delaminate the powder. The adhesion of paint is superior to powder, and, if need be, can be touched up also. I've just...

Do you know what cat the car was marked up as? The battery issue does seem to be a bit of an odd point to dwell on currently!

My n reg 300 TDI disco had an electronic speedo (ie wire not cable) I don't know if the 200s had a mechanical.

Noone is going to pay to use a forum in this age. I mean, noone... So, in that knowledge, why deny interested parties from contributing? I'm on loads of different forums for different topics. Some I ask more than I answer, and, others, the other way around. The ones where I answer more...

It was always a little patchy, but I would suggest looking up the club secuitary and emailing them direct, rather than going via Facebook. It used to be that you got your copy of the magazine, which was quite good, and access to the club spares department. Then someone has the daft idea of...

You've ordered it now, but there are two kits. One moves the lip from the idler to the crank sprocket (ie the kit comes with a crank sprocket as well as the idler) You (someone) only needs this kit once (or maybe twice as there was a revision to the lipped crank sprocket also) and then you can...

I reckon you may know this, but the fip, at idle, never sits at the "tdc" position. It almost does, but just not quite - you have to get a socket on it and just apply a touch of tension for the pin to slide in and out without friction.

Ps watch out as (and I've never understood why!) there are two slots on the flywheel. You need the right one. One will get you lined up on the injection pump, one will be some way out. They'll both be out if the timing has shifted but one will still be close (else it wouldn't be running at...

You get a kit that has various locking pins in it. It's mainly for changing the fuel pump as it has bits to lock / hold the pump sprocket without it loosing position. But it has a nice spring loaded pin that screws into the bell housing drain plug too, that locks into the fly wheel groove...

Oil in the exhaust wouldn't really burn until it was proper hot. Turbo leaking oil on the compressor side and you get loads of "burning tyres" smoke as the oil runs though the engine, but, once it's in a cool ish exhaust it's not really going to do a whole load more. It would burn up in a hot...

The lift pumps die all the time in various different ways. Do you still get resistance on the manual lever when it's off the cam? And if you loosen the banjo on the top of the filter and pump the arm, does a decent amount of fuel come out on an arm stroke? The diaprham in the pump can do odd...

Oil in exhaust wouldn't cause significantly poor running. If it's revved it's proverbial tits off, I guess the belt could have gone out. It's simple enough to check - simpler if you have one of those red box kits but simple enough with a drill and a torch k torch to peer though the bell...

Timing would be the first thing to re-check. And air leaks into the fuel if you've been messing with any of the fuel line connections. If you're 100% sure these are good then start looking at other stuff, but, if you have messed with the fuel lines, my money would be on them. I've not read...

As I remember, in some places it touches (where it's held by the tree clip things) but in other places (where people add sound proofing) there is a gap. The epoxy resin is so thin that it creeps and wicks. Fibre glass would certainly strengthen the job but I'm not sure that's totally what I'm...

Ive been wondering how to do mine. Im considering turning the roof upside down, and using it as a former / jig for the head liner, and then painting thin, slow setting, epoxy resin on to it. That stuff seeps astoundingly well, and would get sucked right in (maybe too much, and go out the other...

Admittedly there's some air flow, but there is when I try to suck up rivet ends with my Henry in the workshop, and they don't easily carry up the hose. What I'm saying is I reckon most bits will end up in a pool of oil in the bottom of the intercooler, rather than ever make it up hill to the...

I don't especially want to disagree with you, but biodiesel is way more slippery than mineral diesel. A 200tdi pump's original front seal would be degraded by methyl esters, but, once changed to a viton one, there would be no issue at all running on even quite ropey bio fuel.

You may do better to consider asking for somewhere to get a local repair. Recovery will likely be a greater cost.

I fitted recon injectors in 2016, and then the the vehicle was laid up until 2 years ago when I did the bulkhead. So they've had time, but not miles on them, if that makes sense? It's so hard to pinpoint a fault that only makes noise when under load. I mean how do you start poking about with...

A noise that runs at about the frequency of one valve. But the confusing thing is that it only happens under load. Any load, not just hard load. So I can be driving up a gentle incline, and the knocking is there, but, as I crest the (gently) hill, and it comes off load (I'm not talking...