Defender 300TDi Cam-chain tensioner mod

[elton.bloye]

Hi there

I have just bought my first 4X4. A 1996 Defender 300TDi S/W with R144000km on the clock. I have read that the 300TDi needs a cam-chain tensioner modification to prevent "a very expensive engine rebuild in the future". I really want to avoid this. Can anyone tell me why I would need to do the modifcation and is it standard practice on the 300Tdi? If so, how much will it cost and how long do I have in terms of mileage before I need to do the modifcation

Thanks

Elton B

[Pumba]

Hi Elton,

Please note that the TDI 300 does not have a cam chain, but a cam belt. There is a mod to repalce the belt with gears but I am still to see one TDI converted like that in SA.

I have also read a similar doom and gloom article, and all that I can say is that our high-mileage TDI did not break. If you have the belt replaced at 50 000km intervals by a professional who knows what he is doing and adjusts the belt to the right tension and seals up the cover properly, then you will not have problems. The professional may not necessarily be working at a Dealership, but use someone that specialise in Landies, and not any backyard mechanic.

Pumba

[elton.bloye]

Thanks Pumba, appreciated.

I have also heard that it is "inevitable" from the doom and gloom prophets that the turbo will give up at some point and that i will need to spend about R20K. Has your high mileage TDi ever had turbo problems? Can I expect this at a certain mileage?

[OB1]

That doom and gloom prophit sounds like a bit of a nutter.

Yes the cambelt can be issue, but as per pumba replace regularly (like any brand). Belt and pulleys. I do mine every 60k km. If I were you I'd either replace it straigt away, unless there is proof in the maintenance record that it was done in the past 50k km.

Further that turbo issue goes for ALL td's that have been abused. Very little people know how to drive a Td Scan around the Defender section, I made a post on one of the 2.4 Tdci threads on how you should drive Td.

Simple boost test on the turbo will tell you what the health of it is. Now the biggest part of the good news. The Garrett turbo as on a Tdi is NOT R20k to replace (like other brands) but less than half that. IIRC about R7k, not sure. Like I said a simple turbo boost test, and do a cylinder pressure test while you are at it. A few hundred rand well invested IMO

[tristan]

Hi Guys,

I had a TDi as well , back in 1996/7, and the issue as far as I can remember was that the cam-belt was positioned too close to another part, and during the movement of the belt toutching this part, it slowly wore down. It happened to my TDi, and when they opened it up, you could see a whole lot of rubber shavings, from where the belt was catching this other part. The mod was to change to cam belt, and move this other part, so they were no longer in contact. Clearly if it remains there, it will eventually wear it down to breaking point, and we all know what will happen if it does break.

Tristan

[Pumba]

The belt rubbing is usually due to incorrect tension - if the tension is too high the belt tends to creep to one side.
It can also be due to mis-alignment of the tensioner.

[jimattrill]

Early 300Tdi s (like mine, made in late 1994) had a problem with the timing case warping which put the belt out of line. Mine really needs a new timing case but that is pricey so I get by on changing cam belts and the pulleys at 60-80k kms.

And yes, the turbo is relatively cheap compared to some others. The last I bought for a client cost about R6k. Not difficult to change as well.

Remember parts for older Land Rovers do not cost the same as bits for modern BMWs.

[johan grbler]

there is or was a company in midrand that replaced the belt with a chain. It was called a rhino conversion, it was noisy and not much more reliable from what i heard. LR brought out 2 kits to fix the problem only catch was that you have to replace the complete kit not just the belt. Almost all 300 tdi's have had this done as LR did it free of charge when they were still selling tdi's

[jimattrill]

Yes, the pre-BMW LR dealer in Midrand (forget the name) used to sell the gear kit. It was sourced from another company in Devon, UK (which has since been bought by an Australian). I tried to source one personally because their local markup was more than 100%, a complete rip-off. Luckily the UK company refused to sell me one so I forgot the idea. There was an amazing amount of hooh-hah on the UK forums (especially LR4x4) about the terrible manufacturing quality of these gears. The main opponents were the Turners who know what they are talking about.