25th July 2012 - Washer bottle/lift pump and another MOT!

LIFT PUMP

After last months poor performace issue the Allmakes lift pump was fitted (took 20 minutes) and all is good in the world :) Runs well now and with the UK being in a 'heatwave' the 200tdi is running fine on processed WVO and 10% ULSP.

SCREEN WASHER

The washer pump packed up and as getting a replacement Lucas one looked to be a bit spendy I sourced a complete bottle and pump assembly for the pricely sum of £7 delivered - off the Bay. Works fine and the old bottle one was leaking anyway so this is a win win - if you're not worried about originality?

Both of the repairs above made the 109 ready for his annual........

MOT
Trig's went in for the annual test and came back with only a few minors. Steering relay and the steering relay drop arm had some play and the brakes need adjusting up. Otherwise walked it. It shows that these guys pick up stuff that we just get used to as tightening all the 'loose' bits up has improved the steering wander no end!

BRAKES
After the pointers above I adjusted up the trans and front brakes but the back end seems to be an issue. I then remembered having issues with the cam adjusters on the rear axle so that looks like another job to get ironed out?

ENGINE/GEARBOX MOUNTS
Since Trig's has being doing a few veggy miles recently while being pursued by the aroma of fried Sprats I have begun to notice how often the trans brake clicks up a few notches after going over bumps.

Back when I fitted the gearbox and engine mounts I just used whatever I had about. Probably all Series petrol mounts of varying ages and manufacturers. So probably not the best choice? The popular choice seems to be Defender 200tdi ANR1808 on both points - also genuine ones are preferred.

So order now placed for one pair of genuine for the engine and a pattern set for the gearbox. At £10 plus tax and del for the genuine I will only stretch to one set - miser! Note one of the engine mounts will have to be hacksawed slightly to fit the Series petrol mounts. It has to be hacksawed, a 4" slitting disk will make a right mess when it hits the rubber!

After dropping the suspension a few months ago I got around to modding the log trailer so that now also levels up better on both Trig's and the Defenders tow hitches. To do this I made up a 2" box riser section for the 50mm ball hitch. It now sits dead level on the 90 and is pretty much fine on the 109 - even better when the 109 gets a load of logs in the bed!

So jobs to do at the moment......

1. Check the rear axle brake snail cams
2. New engine and gbx mounting rubbers
3. Alternator upgrade
4. Pevekoil install

PS - twin battery mod working well and fires now on a sniff of the starter button.

20th June - Reproof/air'y fuel/screen washer/battery

BATTERY PROBLEMS - AGAIN!
Trig's has been idle for the past few months, other than odd hauling trips to the refuse site after clearing garden debris and other accumulated toot. Due to lack of use I put him on the smart charger to keep the recently fitted battery at 100% and ready to RnR. This was all good until this weekend.

On Saturday I did the usual haul and popped into Rob's while I was in the vicinity. Distance to the tip is 5 miles and Rob is just around the corner so probably 3-4 starts in that time. Next day I started up to shuffle the 109 around the yard. When I attempted to move it back the batt had run out of puff. Batt volts had dropped to just under 12.0vdc so 30 mins on the std charger fixed that.

Now the battery I have installed has enough CCA to kick over a 2.5 diesel in a Nissan Terrano (that's where it came from) so should be up to the job? But the alternator fitted is the std Lucas used on the 2.25 petrol. Obviously that has much lower compression than the Tdi - so less amps required to turn in over. So is the alternator just not up to pushing in enough charge? I will need to check whether Twizzle used that Disco alternator I gave him when we were stripping that down?

In the meantime the battery tray had room for another 069.  I had the old matching 069 in the garage so that went in in parrallel with the existing one. Knocked up some brackets and now I need to find some heavy gauge cable to connect it up. At least this way I have maximum storage potential? Around 1200CCA possible (though the cables won't support that for long)?

REPROOF THE TILT
Last year I bought in a 5 litre can of Fabsil to reproof the tilt and have been waiting for a few dry days so I can get the job done. Britsh Summer at it's best?

This weekend had a few bright hours so I thought I would wing it.

Friday evening I sprayed the tilt with diluted Jeyes fluid to kill off any mould. That sat for 6-8 hours..and conveniently it rained. So that neutralised that - Result! Roll on Sunday and the sun came out and dried everything nicely, so out came the brush and 4 litres later it was proofed. Rain came down that evening and proved all was good.

AIR IN FUEL - AGAIN
Moving the 109 around this week revealed that the old chestnut of air in the diesel.

Pulling hoses and bypassing stuff located the problem. The fuel pipe from main tank to the heat exchanger had 6 joints and an in-line 'bio filter'. Filter was blocked with muck and one of the joints was allowing air in with the increased suction.

As I had already done with the  LH tank the in-filter was dumped (on the LH filter I changed for a huge CAV unit) and replaced most of it with one section of rubber reinforced fuel hose. Tests show it all to be good.

While testing I noticed that the lift pump on the side of the Tdi block no longer pumps by hand. Sounds like that is also a bit faulty, so I have ordered one of those. £17 delivered for an Allmakes one.

At the moment I am running only running from the RH tank with a blend of 50/50 SVO/dieso and I still need to get the Petzoil valves rigged up.

WASHER BOTTLE
The bottle and pump were salvaged off the 109 before the rebuild and the pump finally gave up the ghost. Googling/Ebay'ing around I found I could get a new reservoir (bigger that the current and without a crack in it) for only £15 delivered including jets and hose. Not that I need those bits. Placed the order and now waiting for that to turn up.


.........................And I still haven't had the tracking set-up