Got the old trans out today, had a week long set-back on account of bad-back issues.



New trans is getting prepped for installation.



Old exhaust y-pipe.



New, used, y-pipe. It will receive new oxygen sensors tomorrow.



I'm hoping to utilize this old shifter bracket and lever for the CDL activation mechanism.



All tucked in for the evening.



Felt good to make a bit of headway today.

Brian.

 

Today I replaced the worn serpentine belt with a Continental Elite Poly-V belt (#4070923 for engine with A/C & without ACE for $28). I removed the fan shroud but not the fan and lifted up on the idler tensioner bolt with a long breaker bar and a 13mm socket. Doing this gives the old belt enough to slack to slip off all the pulleys. It took about 20 minutes to remove the old belt and reroute the new belt. Remember... pulley with grooves gets the groove side of the belt... pulley with no grooves gets the smooth back side of the belt. Easy peasy...
While I had the fan shroud off, I replaced the brittle asf plastic coolant return line with 6 feet of 5/16" inner diameter rubber hose.


While snooping around the engine, I noticed the previous California owner bypassed the throttle body heater. Oh well... I guess I won't really need it while being in Georgia and the best part is no coolant leaks for me from the throttle body heater.

 

Picked up two 5 gallon metal jerry cans with mounts for the roof rack at a military surplus store (1 blue water can and 1 green fuel can) along with a Max-ax and a all-metal shovel! And then the rover overheated on the drive home. :/

 

Installed four new 02 sensors on my new/used y-pipe and got the trans up and all bolted up, minus torque converter bolts.

Not a bad evening, considering I was just going out to the garage to look things over...and figure out which night I would be doing this stuff. Next thing l know...l'm putting the trans in.

Now, it is on to the transfer case. Decided I'm just going to hold off on the CDL linkage...l'll wait until a complete 04 system comes available...at the same time when the extra money comes available...hopefully, that happens within my lifetime.

Brian.

 

looks like I replaced the wrong hub
Still got that bearing noise

 

Finally found the source of my coolant leak. I always thought that the thin line coming from top of this T-Fitting was a mold or flash line. Turns out it was a perfect vertical crack that leaked under pressure.




Cracked T-Fitting

 

I got some LED lights for the interior. Schnikeys. They are bright. May have to look into brake lights, etc.

 

Today I changed out all 8 of my older Denso Double Platinum (#PK16PR11) spark plugs for the NGK Iridium IX (#BKR6EIX-11 4272) on my 2001 Disco. Doing this was extremely easy with the help of a 1/2" universal joint drive for the crazy positions I had to loosen and tighten the plugs. The hardest part was removing and reinstalling the secondary air valves on both sides of the engine to get to the plugs.

I will say this though, I'm glad I checked the gaps on the NGK Iridium spark plugs before installing them in the engine. The gaps on the new plugs that were straight out the box ranged from .035" to .050" when the Disco manual calls out .040" ± .002" gap. I went ahead and gapped them all at .040", lightly added Milk of Magnesia to the threads as anti-seize, and added dielectric grease on the ceramic part of the plug (not on the electrical contacts). My Disco runs great!

Next up... cleaning the blower motor.

 

Got the trans converter bolted up, transfer case is all bolted up, y-pipe in place, rear driveshaft on (waiting for a front to be delivered) on the 2001, dropped fluid out and ran out of gas (me, not the LR).

Ran into one snag, used the neutral safety switch off the new/used trans...and it was bad. Had to change it out, which is much more difficult when the trans, y-pipe, crossmember and transfer case are all in place. When the trans is hanging down, before both mounts are on...it's easy-peasy. Turned over once the old swich was installed.

Tomorrow, new fluid and muffler goes back on.

Then there is my wife's 2003. She mentioned that something seemed weird with it on Thursday, so l drove it to work...but didn't get far...turned back for home. There seemed to be a vibration in the front end. Jacked it up this morning and found the balance weight had come off the front driveshaft. Everything else seemed good, so I'll get the shaft rebalanced and see if that was the problem.

Brian.

 

Check out these LED lights on eBay from teknikal2. I originally bought these LED lights for my wife's BMW because they are error free and doesn't trip the computer identifying a burned out light due to the LEDs. I liked them so much I bought the same lights for my 2001 Disco's brakes, fog and reverse lights.
They are very bright, made well, ships fast and at a great price.
2x BMW ERROR FREE! 1156 7506 White Reverse / Backup LED lights | eBay