Dust will not be a problem so since you have gone to the effort of changing the front differential oil, you may as well at least cut off the existing breather cap. Cut it at a 45 degree angle with the high side at the front.

 

After much searching and a little bit of swearing i managed to find what I think is the block heater and yes its fitted. That said it does not look like the ones I have had described, but does fit a description I found via a link from some forum (can't remember which now though!!!).

This one is above the front diff on the drivers side and is around 3" in length and around 1.5" in diameter and has what appears to be a hexagonal electrical fitting at the end with a rectangular slot that has what looks like 2 brass pins.

Is this the block heater???



Land Rover Forums - Land Rover Enthusiast Forum - spannermonkey's Album: block heater - Picture

 

Congratulations - all you now need is the cord.

Either of those Temro cord part numbers per the other post, 3600003 or 5 should complete the task. Before you purchase the cord, visually confirm the shape and number of pins at the block heater end.

The part numbers I gave are for a rectangular cord end and I note the sketch in the pdf suggests more of a rounded one with 3 pins. That may be the Euro 220 volt one however. You might let me know what cord part number you do end up with.

The pdf below shows the shape and location of the block heater which they say is located on the left rear side of the cylinder block.

 

Well, I am into the fun of being back in a Land Rover and the constant 'challenges' of owning one. Shortly after setting of on my drive to get back to SK the truck started to develop a worn wheel bearing type of noise and vibration that gave the typical symptoms of increasing as you corner and was gradually getting worse. So after reaching Montreal from Nova Scotia on 30 Dec I found a Land Rover specialist who where awesome - Britauto located in Lachine. They diagnosed the rear tires where 'cupped' which needed to be replaced but I was hoping to make it to the US as prices are lower than Canada. Thankfully a deal was found for 4 Toyo GSI-4 winter tires in Montreal that had only done 2 months last winter and where practically brand new and $800 gladly paid for these. Once fitted - voila!!! perfectly smooth ride. So that would be a happy ending, sadly not. I continued my drive and last night reached a place called Blind River and stopped for the night after 850km driving. This morning as soon as I had gone 1/4 mile I noted a vibration related to the speed of the truck. At first I thought it may be the tires were cold and had a slight flat spot from being sat in ice over night and a few miles they would warm up. Unfortunately they did not and after 20km the vibration is still there.

My thoughts are now I have a bigger problem with my suspension or alignment that is allowing the the rear tires to bounce or not run true and these new ones may have also developed cupping.

Question has anyone ever suffered rear tire cupping as a result of an alignment or suspension issue on an LR3, I put the cupping on the old tires down to the fact they were past their best and in desperate need of replacement.

I hope to hell there is a something else that is causing the vibration as after the $800 for the tires I don't fancy having to replace 2 of them and then deal with an alignment and or suspension issue.

 

I doubt you've got cupped tires after only 800km. I'd think it's take longer than that, unless things are really bad. I always get an alignment check when I get new tires to be sure I get the best wear possible. Half the time (on all cars owned, not just LR) it needs to be realigned, half the time it does not. Always ask for the printout of the camber, caster, toe in, etc. angles so you know they checked and confirm if it does or does not need an alignment.

My advice is to have the alignment and wheel bearings inspected. If all good and still getting vibration, suspension components. After that it's driveline/axle/diff but i think the aforementioned is more likely the culprit.

 

Could just be the tires or you threw a wheel weight off. Be careful when/if you get an alignment done.. I've seen many bad alignments done outside the dealer and from dealer techs. Did you ever pinpoint the noises from the front/rear diffs or wheel bearings on a lift? When you had it in for the tire cupping tire/replacement would have
been a perfect time to have it checked it out nalong with the tie rod ends ans suspension components..

Cheers

 

I would have been very surprised if the new tires suffered cupping, but never hurts to ask.

The rear noise was the old tires - I got a great tip from the guys at BritAuto - to check for cupping, if you have snow drive on a smooth but uncleared road. The snow acts as a shock absorber and if your tires are cupped the noise will go. I tired this and hey presto it worked. As such if its not your tires and actually a bearing you will still get the rumbling and grinding that a worn bearing makes. So that was one problem solved.

The other noise I had was the rumbling/growling noise on overrun and the same if the truck was in gear or not. This was still there and over the course of the not inconsiderable drive across Canada got worse and worse. The noise is now very evident and loud on overrun. I also now have steering wheel wobble when driving and quite scary, over the last 400km of the drive the front brakes developed a severe and violent vibration when applied so I simply used the engine and gears to slow down and only gently applied the brakes. not entirely sensible I know but I was out in the back roads so not much cell coverage and did not fancy having to wait for a recovery. When I got back to my home town I did try the brakes on my street to see how bad it had become and its very severe now.

I did have one of the outer tie rods ends replaced just over a week ago, but there was no real ability to get a full alignment done. I am also noticing an occasional slight knock when on very uneven roads.

My thoughts now are I don't think this is a the front diff and when I changed the oil it was dirty but no signs of swarf. I will check it again this week. I'm more inclined to think that this could be a worn front hub or drive shaft. I think possibly one of the shafts as the noise is not present when under load. That said I am also thinking it could be a combination of a worn shaft and front hub (steering wobble) as well as other components of the front suspension that could also allow a little play in the steering thus inducing the steering wobble. The other possibility is warped front disks/rotors but I would be surprised.

Below is the recent history of work done before I got the truck for info - all done at a Land Rover specialists in Toronto and it excludes any general scheduled maintenance or other repairs not associated with the steering, brakes or suspension. While I have had the truck I have replaced one rear wheel bearing and one outer tie rod (left).

August 2012 120000km

New air compressor, ride height sensor, reconfigured height control module plus other minor parts.

New rear pads and rotors and calipers serviced

Right side inner and outer tie rods , spindle and ball joint replaced.

4 wheel alignment carried out

Fuel induction system serviced including new induction kit.


Dec 2011 - work by same garage 100000km

Front pads and rotors replaced along with caliper service

Left and right front lower ball joints replaced

Front left outer CV boot was leaking and joint seized to shaft so joint replaced and shaft replaced

4 Wheel alignment


Mar 2011 again same garage 90000km

Replaced left lower ball joint, right inner and outer tie rods, spindle rod due to excessive play

Both front hubs/bearings replaced.


Sept 08 left and right inner, outer tie rods and ball joints replaced - 4 wheel alignment carried out.


So as you can see a lot of work has been done. I think that the last owner was taken for a bit of a ride given the frequency and number of times the front components have been replaced. Or there could genuinely be something wrong with the truck as I don't recall having to change tie rods and ball joints that much - has anyone else

There is also work for seized parking brake in the past and a lot of other pad and rotor replacements being done over the vehicles history.

Total cost for the above plus other maintenance and repairs done - OMG!!!!!!

 

A few months back at 170,000 km, (105,000 miles), my LR dealer put new inner tie rods ends on both sides of my 3 again. I was a bit unhappy as both sides had been previously replaced 40,000 km (25,000 miles) ago. I also had new lower A arms installed at the same time, (130,000 km).

My view is 40,000 km is not much for the inner tie rod ends but that is apparently the way it can be. Now that I look back in my records, I see at 80,000 km (50,000 miles), the dealer installed new inner tie rod ends just prior to warranty expiry so that was 50,000 km (30,000 miles) on that set prior to replacement.

I run the stock OEM tire sizes on both my 18" and 19" LR rims.

 

Well turns out all 4 of my newly installed tires where actually out of balance - hence the steering wheel vibration shimmy - nice and smooth now. Next was the tracking, the front was a little out, but the rear was not even close. This could then explain the cupping of the old rear tires in relatively short time. The vibration when braking, I am now confident is warped front disks poss as a result of the wheels being out of balance?, so will have them checked for runout to see if they are true, if not they get the chop and new pads/disks installed. Only other issue is the overrun noise, still not sorted, but working on it.

As an aside we have just been hit with a missive snow storm where i am and high winds, but had warmer temps yesterday so there is now ice all over the roads with snow on top everywhere and the Toyo GSI-5 tires are fantastic. While others (cars, pick ups, minivans SUV's, 4x4 etc) where just sat at traffic lights spinning wheels and going nowhere I simply selected the mud and ruts mode, turned of the HDC, pressed the go pedal and powered away - awesome - that is why I love Land Rover. The other drivers just looked on with open mouths at this strange black truck - where I live I have only seen one other LR3 and 1 RRS!!