Engine Woes

It’s been a little while since my last post - summer has changed to winter and the evenings are now cold, dark and wet. Unfortunately my plan to get the Defender back on the road for a little use before the next phase hasn't gone all that well, and due to home improvements I've not had time to dedicate to her to resolve the issue. But I have done a few things.

She passed the MOT with no problems, but on the way over to the test station I noticed an issue with the running; when approach top end in gears 3rd, 4th and 5th - or mid revs going up inclines for long periods (under load) the engine splutters and in extreme cases stalls, but in most cases if I pull over and let it settle it regains revs and levels out.

On the way back it seemed worse, then the next day worse again so I decided to investigate. Initially I was thinking it was a fuel issue; so changed the filters and checked the lines and pressure - all seemed fine.

Next I striped out the carbs, cleaned and retuned. She now runs great on idle, and starts better than ever - plus I've learnt how to tune SU's. But the problem is still there. 

I spent a long time messing around with mix settings, the issue was better when very lean, but idle and starting was a nightmare. So I reset the carbs so it ran and started well and started to look elsewhere.

First stop was to check the timing, she was very badly timed so I put that right, no change.....

 I changed the spark plugs, leads, coil and dizzy - no change! In fact the new ignition made the running much worse, so I had to retune the carbs, it now runs sweet but the issue is still there!!! Losing the will to live now.

I did notice while testing that the ignition had a fault that would kill all power if they key was knocked in a certain way, so I changed that - nothing changed but the at least the ignition now wasn't faulty........

On one of the last trips out the alternator light started to flicker on, then before I got home was on permanently. Carried out some checks on the alternator which proved the unit was dead. Which didn't come as a surprise as it was 23 years old and was covered in mud. New one ordered.

While waiting for a new alternator there were a few other little jobs I thought I would look, the flash wasn't working nor were the wipers. So I set about finding the fault - first job open then driver’s door to get in. Lock doesn't work, OK I get in another door and pop the latch from the inside. That doesn't work either - here we go...... I spend the rest of the day trying to get into the driver’s door, turns out the latch is faulty - new one on order also.....

Once I was in the flash was simple enough to fix as it turns out I pulled a connector off the back of the switch while I was changing the ignition switch - done.

The wipers caused a bit for of a problem, after stripping the whole of the dash, buy and installing a new park switch the problem was a bad earth! So new earth point connected problem solved.

Between the misery of the fruitless effort to fix the fault I did have a bit of good luck, and found an ex-military recon LT85 gear and transfer box for a bargain price, cheaper than I could refurb on myself. So I bought it - buying shiny things tends to make me feel a bit better.... But I'm not sure when I will get time to stick it in, most likely when the engine comes out.The new alternator and door latch arrived so I set about fitting these, first was the door latch.
 

Then the new alternator.

 Both done and working fun, but the engine issue still remains. So the fun continues….
Next I will try a temporary fuel pump and check the float levels on the carbs.