Disco 1 Gear Selector Faded

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Tom Sleigh

Member
Posts
55
Location
Avon, Bristol
Hi All,

I have a auto in my defender from a disco 1, the gear selector letter is flaking around the edges causing the light to bleed through.

Not a massive issue just a cosmetic thing.

Are there any fixes or replacement parts that can repair it? Or would I need to get a whole new selector assembly?

I've attached a picture.

Thanks
 

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The first time i ever saw the new Range Rover I i think it was the L322?) was when i was sent from work to Land Rover armed with a couple of permanent black marker pens to draw a black line on any see through parts of the black surround on the hi level brake light that could show white when the pedal was pressed.
Apparently there'd been a moulding issue on some of the lamps that had been missed on the early production run.
I was so chuffed to be there on one hand, on the other, horrified by what i was having to do!
Is it possible to remove the plastic part and use the same technique on the underside to stop the light from coming through?
Or even give it a light coat of matt black paint?
 
The first time i ever saw the new Range Rover I i think it was the L322?) was when i was sent from work to Land Rover armed with a couple of permanent black marker pens to draw a black line on any see through parts of the black surround on the hi level brake light that could show white when the pedal was pressed.
Apparently there'd been a moulding issue on some of the lamps that had been missed on the early production run.
I was so chuffed to be there on one hand, on the other, horrified by what i was having to do!
Is it possible to remove the plastic part and use the same technique on the underside to stop the light from coming through?
Or even give it a light coat of matt black paint?

That's a mad story! But for some reason I'm not surprised!

I was thinking similar, thinking about taping the back but have cut squares as close to the lettering as possible.

Might wait and get a replacement as they still seem fairly easy to get although a little expensive.
 
We made the rear lights for the Disco 3 too. If you promise to keep it to yourself......
At some point in production before the D3 was released, a heat shield inside the lamp, which was flat but the two edges were bent to about 40degrees which meant to push them into the groove in the plastic the operator had to place the body moulding in a cradle and use a small hand press to press the shield into the groove.
At some point the supplier cocked up and made the shields so they jst fell into the groove by hand. Instead of flagging this, the operators just popped them in by hand and i hate to think how many (4 figures) went down the assemble line like this.
Southampton docks was jam packed with D3sawaiting shipping, a few more large compounds were also packed awaiting release and delivery/shipping etc.
And then one day at Land Rover, someone on the line slammed the back door and heard a rattle.
Several slammings later the rattle was tracked down the the driver's side tail lamp.
The next step was to walk behind all the cars slapping the lamp with the palm of your hand. Those with the loose heat shield rattled and were pulled to one side to have the lamp replaced.
We were contacted. An investigation as to the cause was performed. The loose heat shield was found to be at fault. People were taken outside and shot! (not really, but should have been!)
Replacement lamps were sent to the line, then to LR's parts store, then people were despatched to several points around the country to 'slap every Disco' on the arse. Fortunately it was only the right hand lamp!
I was only involved on one day going through a few hundred cars stored at Gaydon. I discovered that to replace the lamp you have to open the back door and to open the back door you need a computer to plug into the car to tell it to let you do so because when the cars leave the factory they are programmed to only allow the driver's door to unlock so they can be driven onto delivery transport and off again to the dealer.
We were borrowing one that belonged to Jaguar and after a 14 hour day walking up and down lines of D3s i was told i had to return the damn thing to a man at Jaguar. Not to leave it at the gate, but deliver it into HIS hands only.
Which was a right pain in the arse, as i had to hang about for 20 minutes waiting for him to come down to the gatehouse.
There was a silver lining though. While sat in the car waiting i sprang wood as a D-Type bawbled past through the factory!
I'm into me old stuff and it was all i could do but not pull over on the way home!!!
 
We made the rear lights for the Disco 3 too. If you promise to keep it to yourself......
At some point in production before the D3 was released, a heat shield inside the lamp, which was flat but the two edges were bent to about 40degrees which meant to push them into the groove in the plastic the operator had to place the body moulding in a cradle and use a small hand press to press the shield into the groove.
At some point the supplier cocked up and made the shields so they jst fell into the groove by hand. Instead of flagging this, the operators just popped them in by hand and i hate to think how many (4 figures) went down the assemble line like this.
Southampton docks was jam packed with D3sawaiting shipping, a few more large compounds were also packed awaiting release and delivery/shipping etc.
And then one day at Land Rover, someone on the line slammed the back door and heard a rattle.
Several slammings later the rattle was tracked down the the driver's side tail lamp.
The next step was to walk behind all the cars slapping the lamp with the palm of your hand. Those with the loose heat shield rattled and were pulled to one side to have the lamp replaced.
We were contacted. An investigation as to the cause was performed. The loose heat shield was found to be at fault. People were taken outside and shot! (not really, but should have been!)
Replacement lamps were sent to the line, then to LR's parts store, then people were despatched to several points around the country to 'slap every Disco' on the arse. Fortunately it was only the right hand lamp!
I was only involved on one day going through a few hundred cars stored at Gaydon. I discovered that to replace the lamp you have to open the back door and to open the back door you need a computer to plug into the car to tell it to let you do so because when the cars leave the factory they are programmed to only allow the driver's door to unlock so they can be driven onto delivery transport and off again to the dealer.
We were borrowing one that belonged to Jaguar and after a 14 hour day walking up and down lines of D3s i was told i had to return the damn thing to a man at Jaguar. Not to leave it at the gate, but deliver it into HIS hands only.
Which was a right pain in the arse, as i had to hang about for 20 minutes waiting for him to come down to the gatehouse.
There was a silver lining though. While sat in the car waiting i sprang wood as a D-Type bawbled past through the factory!
I'm into me old stuff and it was all i could do but not pull over on the way home!!!

Wow, thanks for the story. No wonder Landrovers need to go back for so many repairs!
 
Hi All,

I have a auto in my defender from a disco 1, the gear selector letter is flaking around the edges causing the light to bleed through.

Not a massive issue just a cosmetic thing.

Are there any fixes or replacement parts that can repair it? Or would I need to get a whole new selector assembly?

I've attached a picture.

Thanks
I've got a gear selector from a Disco 2 in my South Bristol garage. Don't know if it's identical but it looks similar to your picture.
The illuminated section is pretty well U/S as I bought it to play around with changing the LEDs but the cover is fine.
Yours if you want it.
 
I've got a gear selector from a Disco 2 in my South Bristol garage. Don't know if it's identical but it looks similar to your picture.
The illuminated section is pretty well U/S as I bought it to play around with changing the LEDs but the cover is fine.
Yours if you want it.

That would be great if it is, I think the Disco 2 was electrically controlled the the selector was slightly different, so it might not be like mine. Could be wrong. I've put to pictures up. Mines the one without the mode selector (Disco 1).

The lettering strip/sticker is removable so I might see if I can tidy it up then stick it back down.

Thanks for the help
 

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