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[crumbly65]

Just picking up on the thread about breakdown cover.......

What are forum member's experience of the most common breakdown suffered by the S2 LR?

I think I've been lucky, in that I've only had 1 breakdown necessitating the yellow taxi home, in the 21 years I've owned my S2 88".  That was a faulty dizzy cap, and I'd used up my spare I usually carry.

I've had no temporary breakdowns, or problems either.  I think my vehicle has a gentle life for a Land Rover, and I do tend to get it well looked after mechanically, so I'm interested in what the most common breakdown cause is.

[Malcolm R]

I asked a similar question a while back but asking for all the ways people people's Land Rovers have broken down
https://www.series2club.co.uk/new_forum/index.php/topic,6057.0.html

One of the more common problems seems to be halfshafts breaking if I remember correctly.

What I want to know is if this can be fixed. Do the 24 spline halfshafts have the same tendency to break? Or what about the Ashcroft heavy duty ones? Or do these just move the point of failure to the diff or gearbox?
Solving the problem of breaking down is an interesting mind game but it does seem to happen less often than I expected

Malcolm

[Wittsend]

Half shaft breakage is not a problem - a very slight inconvenience, more so if you FWHs.

You just press the yellow lever down and continue on your way 

Easy enough to carry a long & short drive shaft if you are going on long journeys away from home.

Look upon the drive shaft as a fuse. It's the cheapest and easiest component in the transmission system to replace.

I don't think 24 spline shafts are any less prone to snapping

The problem is - after 60 years OE shafts might be prone to failure.
How you use the vehicle matters - gungho off roading in mud pits with massive wide tyres puts a bigger strain on the transmission.

If you break a half shaft - replace both sides as a matter of course.
If the vehicle is new to you, then you will have no idea of the provenance of the shafts.
Make a note in your maintenance log book when you replaced them. Driven sensibly your new shafts should last many miles and years.


 

[diffwhine]

Behind the bumper works well for secure half shaft storage if they are wax wrapped and sealed up.

In my experience, its irritating things like ignition failures, bad earths, or when that grub screw drops out or sheers which holds the gear lever in place.

[Wittsend]

You can use plastic water pipe cut to length with bungs in each end.


Note:
Rolls Royces don't breakdown - they just fail to proceed.

[Herald1360]

Two breakdowns requiring "yellow taxi"

1979- '63 109 LWB 2.25 diesel- blown head gasket.
"Yellow taxi" was my own very yellow '67 Ex Post Office Engineers Dept Commer PA.

2020- '70 109 LWB SW 200Tdi- failed layshaft.
"Yellow taxi" was brother outlaw's '93 green Disco 1.

[Herald1360]

Note:
Rolls Royces don't breakdown - they just fail to proceed.

I thought that comment referred to old coppers not dying 

[Paul4978]

Ignition failure 1 year ago today. RAC taxi home.
Replaced it all but I think it was the dodgy rotor arm and fried points which were the culprits, so carry both as spares now.
Syhprum law applies :)

[w3526602]

Hi Paul,

Fried point? Either your condensor has died, or you have a BALLASTED coil.

D45 dizzies have been known to get a bit snotty when the ''clock spring'' is unable to maintain a decent contact ... or so my opposite footed (Kiwi) mate tells me ... but he does drive a Hillman Imp.

I went out lunchtime, to take Wilkie for his walkies. Freelander was DEAD. So I took Barbara's Hyundai. On my return, it started to rain quite impressively.

Tomorrow!
602

[gvo416j R.I.P.]

Excluding recoveries after competition breakages, I have called them out to a motorway services for a puncture on the 90 after forgetting to replace the jack onboard, and have been recovered twice in almost 50 years of driving landrovers. Numerous times small things have been fixed bodged at the roadside to get home.

The 2 recoveries were for the same problem on two different 200Tdi engines. First was in my 90, second in my now scrapped dormobile.

Both were head gasket failure between no.4 cyl. and oil gallery [3/4" - 1" wide chunk missing from the gasket] resulting in huge oil burning/usage - 30 miles to empty the sump.

I have read that it was a known problem with them. The 90 failed at approx. 140 thousand miles and the dormobile at 220 thousand [inc. miles of donor vehicle, history unknown].

I was very lucky with the 90 as due to the inlet layout the engine started to run away and I only just managed to stall it - in my panic I never thought to snatch diff lock and the vehicle ended up almost skidding the back wheels with the fronts locked under full brake. It took about 150 yards to get it stationary from about 25mph, luckily on the straight.

The dormobile, with a different inlet layout, just made a strange noise [which I guessed was head related] and used all the oil. At a stop for a rest break I noticed black sooty spots all over the front of the trailer and comp. vehicle and checked the oil to find none on the dip stick at all.

[genocache]

So I got my first LR in 74. On stock vehicles;
Broken half shaft x2
sheared main gear lever
loose idle screw on 2.25D
several head gasket(copper) failures
Manifold to downpipe gasket failures

On my current 109 200TDI
sheared engine dip stick
Electric fan wore holes in radiator, needed yellow taxi
stripped pinion ring in rear diff

It never fails to turn heads though!

[Daisythelandy]

One breakdown in the noughties, faulty, (cheap *&%^$) rotor arm shorted right through. Yellow taxi man tried the old trick of painting the inside with nail varnish, it worked for half a minute then dead again so a tow home just under a mile and fitted a rotor arm from a spare dizzy a friend had given me and all was good again. Just last week I ordered the special offer of the dizzy cap, rotor arm, condenser, points and terminal all for £10.95 including P&P from Accu-spark so that's a wee job for the weekend.

Dave.

[rustynuts]

Sheared pin in the clutch actuating mechanism. Worth replacing if you haven't already and it will last another 50 years.

[Mr Ed]

I think it is a good exercise, especially if you have never checked them, to remove the axle shafts (quite simple) and check them for kinks, cracks or any sign of deterioration, if you find something abnormal, replace it.

I think that most of the time a shaft breaks, it already had some visible damage from before.

If you tend to abuse your LR it would be good policy to check the axles from time to time, and not wait for them to fail.

It's just my thought ...

[Gareth]

I’ve had a few incidents in the 26 years of my 109 ownership.

Mashed a front differential at the North Wales LRO play day at Bala. That was driven home to Stockport after removing the drive members from front hubs.

Had an engine bay fire caused by the alternator wire shorting on the engine block, and setting fire to the petrol pump to carb pipe that it was zip tied to. That was scary because there was a lot of flame. Had to make an emergency stop and evacuate the vehicle. Luckily the fire went out after I switched it off. That needed a recovery. Took a while to rewire but no lasting damage to vehicle. No plastic bits helps!

Had a fan belt snap on the motor way. No spare in the car. Luckily rac man had a spare Unipart belt in his van for a Talbot Sunbeam that fitted. Onwards journey from there.

Had a rotor arm break, again the rac man had a spare and got me going.

I’m sure there are many more minor incidents, but these are the ones that are memorable.