Rover800.Info

simon wrote:whats next land rover

I like my creature comforts so Defenders are out - I MIGHT be persuaded to go fra Discovery, though, but tha depends how mad I get

The transmission mount was rather knackered - split across the middle and artfully bodged with some random bits of rubber and duct tape! The old one is in the foreground - in case you hadn't guessed!



The suspension on this is a work of art - beautifully cast alloy crossmember, uprights and wishbones, although this photos don't really do them justice.



Ever since I bought the car it has had a power steering fluid leak. The previous owner said his mechanic had told him that it was coming from the reservoir but anyone with half a brain and at least one eye could see that the reservoir and its pipes were dry. A look underneath showed a leak in the pipe from the pump to the rack:, or more precisely, the pressure sensor on that pipe which is there to tell you when you've lost pressure due to a leak. Excellent - the warning system causes the leak that it is supposed to warm you about! You can also see that there is a bit of aircon oil on the compressor but the system is working OK so can wait a while.


The PAS leak is actually coming through the middle of the sensor, not from a seal or anything easy, so the sensor will have to be replaced. Annoyingly, Jaguar only sell the sensor as part of the complete pipe - $205 US or £130 for the complete assembly and a wait of 2-3 weeks to ship it over here. However, thanks to the wonders of the internet and a post on www.jaguarforums.com by one R T Cosic of Milford Haven (Dusan's dad?) I was able to find out that the same sensor is used on the Lincoln LS and is available for about 1/4 of the price. Our local Jaguar, Ford and Lincoln dealers are one and the same so I have ordered the Lincoln part from the same parts department that would be supplying the Jaguar part. Bizarre. In the meantime whilst I wait a couple of weeks for it to arrive from the USA I plan to fit an old oil pressure sensor from one of my Jeeps to stem the leak.

I got a phone call today from the dealer saying that the sensor was in - that was 3 days, not 3 weeks. New one fitted leak gone, happy owner - especially as they discounted the price to just AED165 / £28 / $45. Fitting was a bit awkward due to restricted access - but unbolting the steering rack from the crossmember gave me more room for manoeuvre.

Rich, wait till you have to do the left hand bank coils, its a b*tch, changed mine 3 times with 2nd hand coils and 3 sets of plugs, all in 10 months, one of the reasons I sold the car, and the barge like handling. If you do the left hand bank remove the wipers, finisher panel and air box, then its so much easier to get to the one under the bulkhead.

New front shocks, bump stops and brake pads fitted today. Not a bad job to do - especially when you can use the weight of the car to assist the spring compressors (by jacking the car up and lowering it down as necessary). The front now rides better and doesn't crash over speed bumps. The old shocks were a bit soft, their bottom bushes were worn out and the bump stops were shot - one was missing altogether and the other was only half the height it should have been. I got genuine Jaguar shocks (and bump stops) for a total of £170 and I hate to think how much the Jaguar dealer would have charged! The brake pads cost me under £7 + shipping from the USA - compared to £120 from the Jaguar parts man in Al Ain.

I also fitted the "new" grille that I bought back in July - I finally got around to it. The temperature here is dropping nicely with peak daytime temps "only" 35C or so and as long as you're in the shade it's quite pleasant to work on the cars now.

Next up: new track rod ends and front engine mounts. One of each needs doing but I'll change both whilst at it. Parts purchased from the USA at a fraction of the local Jag specialist price

I've not updated this for a while, so here goes:

As well as fitting new track rod ends (a REALLY easy job) I fitted new anti-roll bar bushes up front (a REALLY difficult job). The bushes make the suspension "clonk" when worn and are only about $6 each from the USA but fitting them is a real ****** of a job due to very restricted access. Thankfully the 3 hours of blood, sweat and swearing cured the problem and the cuts on my hands and arms will heal eventually!

Expecting that the rear brake pads would need replacing, I decided to get a set - and I'm glad I did. On removing the wheels and calipers I found that the rear pads were worn down to just a sliver of friction material and one had even worn so far as to be making metal-to-metal contact (thankfully with no significant damage to the disc). The previous owner (an aircraft engineer from Abu Dhabi) claimed to have maintained the car meticulously. Given that I've only done 7000km in this car, that level of pad wear indicate a long story of neglect, so the moral of the story is never trust the previous owner! Pictures below:

All four pads:

Slightly worn

Yellow arrow for new, red for old!


As a costly bonus (?) I found this tyre damage - split and showing the steel cords - and I'd been driving at high speeds on the main roads! This was the inner edge and was not clearly visible when the wheel was on the car. The front tyres were also a bit worn (because the steering alignment was a bit out) so with 3 out of 4 due for replacement, I bit the bullet and replaced all 4. Still, shouldn't need doing again for a while.

PS:

I don't reckon I'll be keeping it much longer. The driving position is a crippler on long trips because there is no way to support my right leg and the 90mile each way trip to/from Dubai today left my right leg and hip in agony. Visibility is crap because of the low roofline, high seat and thick pillars. I love the power, handling and ride but the rest is annoying.

That's a shame after all your grunting, but maybe you just secretly fancy a new toy .................

No new toy lined up - two Jeeps is enough. To be honest this car just isn't interesting or pleasant enough to keep my attention.

If it was pleasant to use on long trips I could accept it being uninteresting. Similarly, if it was interesting to own and drive I could forgive a few flaws. Sadly it really fails on both counts.

Well ...................... you've done enough to it to make it a bloody good buy for someone out there, hopefully you'll see some kind of payback.

This has been out on loan to a friend who was leaving the country (and therefore had to sell his car) and on the afternoon of his last day in the country it developed a big water leak. It was coming from under the expansion tank so I hoped it was just the hose but sadly no - the tank has split in several places. Does that sound familiar? This one looked like it had been cooked by the underbonnet temperatures and gone brittle.

Hopefully no damage has been done to the head gaskets - Dave stopped as soon as he became aware of the problem. So I'll be fitting a new header tank and fingers crossed (I may chuck in a can of K-seal just in case).

New one:
$200+ from Jaguar in the USA and probably double that here.
$160 from a local independent
$70+ postage from http://www.partsgeek.com (total about $90)
$50+ postage from ebay (total about $70).

Guess which I went for (given that I plan to sell the car). It should be here in about a week but in the meantime I have a spare car or two I can rely upon.

The tank has been replaced and the cooling system is now watertight and the correct bleeding procedure was followed. However, the car was still getting hot and it appeared that the cooling fans were not running.

I checked the handbook and it told me that the fan is controlled by fuse 25 in the engine bay fusebox (80amp) but on the diagram of the fusebox on the opposite page there is no fuse 25 - they only go up to 24! So, the first question was: where the hell IS the fan fuse on a 2001 S-type? Thankfully, someone on a Jaguar forum was able to point me in the right direction I(in the fusebox, disguised as a relay). The fuse was OK.

I assumed that there must be a relay for the fans but there is no mention of that in the handbook (not that it actually mentions any relays in detail!). So question 2 was: where the hell is the fan relay or is it part of the "cooling module" on the bottom of the shroud? In fact it is part of the cooling module (a bit like the 800s black relay pack) but they are apparently very reliable (thankfully so, at £350 apiece). It could have been a problem with the thermostat but even if that was bad, I would have expected the fans to cut in but they didn't, nor with the aircon switched on, either.

My bluetooth OBD scanner connected OK to the car and showed live data on my smartphone (temperatures, throttle positions etc) but I got no fault codes at all.

So, after checking the 80amp fuse (fine), I swapped the relays around in the fusebox (in case one was faulty) and unplugged and reseated all the electrical connections for the cooling module and fan wiring. Nothing. I therefore deduced that the fan was probably seized - so I hit the motor casing with my hammer and the fan started to rotate slowly. I hit it again and it started to rotate at normal speeds and now all is well. The temperature is normal whether parked or driving and the fan works properly after stopping and restarting the car. The only costs are the replacement header tank and a refill with coolant - the tank is an aftermarket one from ebay at about 1/3 the price of buying a genuine one here. No obvious signs of any damage to the heads and gaskets, either (phew)

Fixed with a hammer - you've got to smile

Now to track down the cause of the uneven throttle response - pedal position sensor, throttle stepper motor or throttle position sensor. or something else.........
I'm going to bite the bullet and take it to the dealer to get the codes read and then once the fault is diagnosed I'll fix it myself.

I forgot to mention that I changed the gearbox filter and fluid the other day. As always seems to be the case, the filler point is hard to get to so here's what I do (a tip learned years ago from the Scimitar and Sabre Owners Club magazine - specifically referring to filling differentials):

A garden sprayer, with the atomiser nozzle removed, gives a nice, easy way to do it. Fill with fluid, pressurise the sprayer and then lie down and spray


The second picture shows it in action:


It was also treated to a good clean up on the wheels - "Wonder Wheels" does work wonders - along with a set of Toyota solid wheel nuts because standard S-type ones are as bad as Rover ones:

Nice idea using the sprayer, I personally use a good length of garden hose slightly chamfered and a funnel and go in through the nearside front wheel aperture.

On 800's that is with T series engine