WINTER WOES

As Dave cures one problem he causes another

Well winter is upon us and all those problems with your Land Rover that have been building up during the year, all come to the surface as the cold weather bites. It’s also the time of year that car battery suppliers start to rub their hands together; for many motorists, the first problem is their car wont start as the first sub-zero temperature morning kills their aging battery, mine included.

The Defender 90 300Tdi has, or had, twin Optima batteries... a Yellow Top that is very old, and a Red Top that is beyond its tenth year. I knew they were on their way out, but it still came as a shock when the Defender wouldn’t start in a cold spell.

I temporarily swapped the Odyssey from the Series I to the Defender and it rumbled into life once again. But just a few days later it struggled to start again. I got that sound; the one you get when you turn the key and the solenoid clicks a few times before the motor reluctantly struggles to start the engine. I knew the battery was good, so it looked like it wasn’t being charged properly. Time to confirm if the old Optima batteries were indeed duds, and have the alternator checked as well.

After a few minutes on the highly-technical battery charger and testing machine at Maddison 4x4, the printout showed that both my Optima batteries were not holding a charge. As for the alternator, that was done, too. Replacing the alternator is an easy job and they aren’t overly expensive. Maddison 4x4 had one in stock and it was quickly fitted to my Defender. I also took the opportunity to fit an alternator heat shield (ERR4859). For some reason the alternator on my 300Tdi, which was a factory-new engine when I bought it, didn’t have one fitted. I must admit thaty, at £18, it’s expensive for a bit of bent tin, compared to the cost of an alternator.

So that was that, or so I thought. Then, a few weeks later while carrying out a regular oil check, topping up the washer bottle and giving the engine bay a general check over, I noticed an unexpected new problem. My Defender has had an aftermarket intercooler fitted since it was first built. The pipework from the intercooler to the turbo isn’t standard – part of the lower air supply pipe is an alloy pipe.

For 13 years that hasn’t been a problem, but I was shocked to see that my new alternator heat shield had cut into the alloy pipe. I hadn’t noticed the shield was so close to the pipe when the alternator was fitted, but with flexible silicon pipes at both ends there must be some movement in the pipe and it had moved enough for the shield to start attacking it.

I cured the problem by taking a grinder to the bottom edge of the heat shield.