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Home > My Defender > 2000 plate Epsom Green/black Defender 90 TD5

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thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16

2000 plate Epsom Green/black Defender 90 TD5 It's probably about time that I said hello and thank you all for the info that the forum has provided so far since I bought our first Defender back in May 2023, and what a learning curve it's been Having moved up to Isle of Skye a couple of years ago, we soon realised that something like a Defender was going to be very suited to life here (and I've always fancied but could never justify having one) With 6 previous owners it's likely that it may be known to a forum member or two I guess. Buying from up here wasn't ideal, in that it involves a lot of travel, so we ended buying the first one that we saw in the flesh, due to the fact that the description seemed pretty decent, MOT history didn't throw up anything too severe regarding corrosion and such, and the fact that the chassis had been professionally treated with Dinotrol (and had a little repair work), and passed MOT the day before we went to view. It's been resprayed Epsom Green and some point in its life, with black roof. It's fait to say that neither the sunroof or air conditioning will see much use up here! Having never driven one before, the test drive felt OK, but somewhat underpowered. Wasn't sure if that was just a Defender thing, but we took a punt and went ahead. Driving it up to Skye from Yorkshire was a revelation, but mostly because I couldn't believe how difficult powering up long ascents was. Later turned out that it was in limp home mode Prior to that insight, and after a bit of digging on here and I figure it was worth taking a look/freeing up the turbo waste, but that didn't resolve the problem. Worth doing all the same. I swapped the MAF out for a new one, which I thought improved things but turns out that was just optimism. Thought maybe the EGR so blanked that, nope. Wondered if it was down to a dodgy map on ECU but it had that checked 12 months before we bought it and they confirmed it hadn't been mapped. Anyway, dropped it off with a local expert and he diagnosed that something had caused the 3 airflow sensors to go pop (including the one that I'd fitted), swapped those out and all good. It felt like a different machine to drive, understandably. Since then it's been intermittently brilliant, or off the road due to one niggle or another. I noticed that it was only driving well if I had the throttle down hard. Took it back to our local guy who looked in to it and yep, the throttle potentiometer was goosed. Turns out that throttle/potentiometer for first version TD5 aren't that easy to come buy. £500 later for the part and that was that sorted. Running bloody brilliantly. Then, what felt like a huge death wobble manifested not long after that. I thought it might have been the knackered bush on the steering damper, but swapping that out didn't help. Again our local expert came to the rescue and diagnosed and sorted that out - preload on swivel joints, corrected camber setup, replaced bush on panhard rod. Also noted that one of the spacers on one of the rear wheels had some surface corrosion that was throwing the wheel slightly out of true. Also sorted. I thought, right finally, let's enjoy this thing. Annnnnd... clutch hydraulics give up, ha. I stuck a new master cylinder on as I thought I'd spotted fluid leak around there, but that didn't sort it so I switched the slave as well. All good. Spotted a bit of surface rust on the inside of the bulkhead while taking the clutch pedal assembly out, so that's on the list of things to sort once the weather had warmed/dried up. With corrosion such a problem up this end of the UK, despite the fact that the underside had been treated with Dinotrol, I've also sprayed Lanoguard into the chassis rails and various other spots underneath to add to the protection there. Fingers crossed with regular treatment we can keep corrosion back. Absolutely loving driving it now that those niggles are sorted, and out in the snow that we had last week was bloody ace. Obviously very, very aware that it won't be the end of a constant cycle of maintenance and fixing, but it's been great getting stuck in to some of the issues myself, and knowing that we have somebody so knowledgable locally is a huge bonus. Anyway, thanks again for the knowledge shared on here! Cheers, Tony Click image to enlarge

22nd Jan 2024 5:06pm

Joncorry Member Since: 03 Apr 2022 Location: Cheshire Posts: 151

A great intro! My folks live up on Skye on either sides of the island for reasons best not divulged…. It would be interesting to know who the local experts are up there, my mother has an L322 TdV8 with a sticking actuator and Morrisons in Portree told her it needed two new turbos and it had to go to a main dealer 😂 Needless to say, 10 mins at Xmas with some wd40 and a small rod and I got it working again, leaving mother with instructions to exercise it. Living the Skye life also has a chap documenting life with a 90 👍 2003 110 G4 used in 03 and 06 events - its well travelled. 2002 Range Rover G4 Event car (Australian leg) 2008 Discovery 3 G4 UK Selections car 1968 Series 2a

22nd Jan 2024 8:51pm

thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16	Hey Joncorry, I'll drop you a PM with details of the local expert 👍 (as soon as I've written the number of posts required before you can send PMs) or fee free to drop me a PM and I'll get the details over to you Yeah, aware of Living The Skye Life... we're definitely not as public with our life as they are, heh.
22nd Jan 2024 9:00pm

Joncorry Member Since: 03 Apr 2022 Location: Cheshire Posts: 151	Cheers, just dropped over a PM 👍 Hopefully the weather picks up a bit for you up there, although I was sent some stunning pics of the snow. 2003 110 G4 used in 03 and 06 events - its well travelled. 2002 Range Rover G4 Event car (Australian leg) 2008 Discovery 3 G4 UK Selections car 1968 Series 2a
22nd Jan 2024 9:08pm

L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10513	Totally agree with the great intro and good to see that your loving the defender life  1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper. Clayton.
22nd Jan 2024 10:09pm

thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16

I figured I'd keep a journal of fixes etc on my Defender here. Useful reference for me alone I'm sure Removed the ridiculously small steering wheel that a previous owner had fitted. Stuck a Momo Tuner wheel on which is a huge improvement. The back door lock has been playing up so I swapped that out for a new one today. Thanks again for forum info on swapping the barrel over. I also got around to replacing the dash binnacle bulbs with LEDs. With only the right hand side of the speedo working previously (really useful being the 70+ mph side , I figured it was down to a blown bulb but it turns out that it's likely another issue as I can still only get one half of the speedo lit with new LEDs weirdly. Both sides light independently of each other, but with the two bulbs fitted only one half lights. So at this point I've left it with the much more useful unto 70mph side working.

7th Feb 2024 7:33pm

L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10513	Yes it's great to keep an account of what maintenance you do to your LR and trying not to be beaten with all the issue's that arise  1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper. Clayton.
9th Feb 2024 9:40pm

thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16

Took me a while to decide whether to swap the headlights out for something offering more light than than 'two birthday cake candles' output of the OE units Weighed up a lot of conversations on here and finally fitted LTPRTZ Bi-LED Prime lights today. Hell they throw some light, and a really clean cutoff on the beam pattern. Bit of a weird one though... when I went out to see how they perform in the dark just now, I noticed that when switching from just having the OEM sidelights on (in combination with the DRLs) to dipped beam, the dash lights switch off for a second and then back on. Haven't ever noticed that before so assume I've upset something getting the DRL live through behind the dash binnacle

27th Feb 2024 10:59pm

thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16

I decided that the DRLs on the LTPRTZ Prime headlights were just too bright, so I've now wired them to display 'marker light' mode when the ignition is live, which is still very noticeable but less intense. I spotted that the gaiter on the steering drop link ball joint had split, so new gaiter fitted. Weird because that ball joint was only replaced last summer. Had a horrible knocking from the rear of the 90, and given my paranoia of things always being worse case scenario, I thought was going to be suspension or A-frame ball joint related. Turned out (I hope) to be the worn piston assembly on the Britpart spare wheel carrier that - new piston assembly fitted and a short test drive (albeit without the load of the spare wheel on the carrier today) the knocking appears to have gone. Also ordered a couple of new seatbelts. They've been flagged as advisories on a few previous MOTs and have definitely seen better days, so its' time to get those swapped out and hopefully they'll steer clear of getting trapped in the door close. Bloody annoying feature that! Click image to enlarge

12th Mar 2024 5:55pm

L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10513	Great your keeping up with the maintenance and sorting out some of the annoying features that they have Nice place to park with that view, thanks for the pic  1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper. Clayton.
14th Mar 2024 9:59pm

thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16

L110CDL wrote: Nice place to park with that view, thanks for the pic Unfortunately @L110CDL it's just too tall to fit through the door of that building, even without the roof rack. Bloody frustrating because it means working on the gravel all the time Quickly learned to lay a large sheet of ply underneath when I'm working on it, both the to save my knees/back but more importantly to stop loosing dropped fixings in the gravel! Fitted the passenger seatbelt yesterday. Fortunately all bolts came out pretty easily. First time I've has the passenger seat out, so I was delighted to find 6 x 20p and 1 x 1p coins. Oh and 2 living maggots - must have fallen from the branches I was carrying around the other week, ha. Looking forward to finding more cash behind the driver seat

18th Mar 2024 12:28pm

L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10513	What about digging the entrance ground down a bit to allow the 90 in Great find there, hopefully more behind the driver's seat  1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper. Clayton.
18th Mar 2024 10:28pm

Fatbaron Member Since: 12 Mar 2016 Location: Devon Posts: 297	[quote="thewrongspeed" Click image to enlarge[/quote] What a stunning place to work!
19th Mar 2024 5:39am

thewrongspeed Member Since: 27 Nov 2023 Location: Highlands Posts: 16

L110CDL wrote: What about digging the entrance ground down a bit to allow the 90 in Oh it's been considered believe me haha, but stopping the various (and considerable) damp issues in cottage that came along with the outbuilding is taking priority Fatbaron wrote: What a stunning place to work! We consider ourselves very lucky to be here... sold our semi in Leeds (and my dream car after 10 years of ownership ) and took something of a punt on a move up here. Loads of challenges to overcome in a pretty neglected traditional stone built cottage, but it's a decent view while we stress about it all

20th Mar 2024 12:25pm

Muddybigdog Member Since: 11 Apr 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 992	Stunning office!! Cheap and easy way to deal with high salt road grit - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mingle-Pressure-W...2DGRY?th=1 Jumped ship to reliability - Mitsubishi L200 Puma 90 XS - Sold D3 - 2.7 S x2 (both Sold) Freelander 2 HSE - Sold Freelander 1 - Sold Disco 2 - Sold
20th Mar 2024 12:50pm

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