ACFowles

Could try this method... https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5PrLJrCKc1 😀

I wonder if Land Rover sales people were told to make sure a Freelander was "warmed up" before a test drive? 

#19 et al.

Exactly.  On different occasions I've lost drive from spline failure in the diff, failed clutch and failed gearbox (not on a Caterham I may add).  Get the car on stands, test and observe.

Is the propshaft rotating normally when in gear?  Could narrow down the issue to being the gearbox end or the diff.

I went for a larger wheel and got a moto-lita spacer from eBay to give me a bit more clearance for the old knees.  Another option is a wheel with dished spokes, or a combination of the two

MOT done this morning at ServicePlus, Redhill.   Yes, they do the MOTs for DPR Motorsport so know what they are doing.  I would use ServicePlus again and would recommend.

I tried to book an MOT with Caterham Gatwick but they we're too busy.  Gaston Gate Garage in Cranleigh could only do next Monday and I need to be in Krakow that day.

Looking for a recommendation for an MOT station near to Epsom. I've decided that I'll do the servicing myself from now on, so just need the test.

Is there a database of good MOT stations that don't fail the car because it isn't the usual domestic appliance? 

Many thanks in advance! 

Any plans for the now redundant flared wings & brackets, Peter? ;-)

I would check the wiring and earthing of the tail lights.

I've seen situations where a bad earth causes the tail light to track back to earth via the indicator lamp.

What if the switch that cuts the feed to the buzzer latched in the 'off' position when pressed, and reset to 'on' when the ignition is next activated... ?

Last weekend I also left the lights on whilst parked and needed a jump start to get going.

I also bought a lights on warning buzzer of ebay that looks identical to the one pictured above.

I believe it is a piezo buzzer wired in series with a diode. The red connects to the lights circuit and the black to a switched ignition feed.  With the ignition on but the lights off the diode prevents current flowing through the buzzer. With the ignition and lights on both wires are at 12v. But turn the ignition off with the lights still on and current flows through the buzzer to earth via the ignition circuit.

Wired it into the back of one of the instruments, all of which have a red/white wire for instrument illumination and a green switched ignition power feed.  Quite an easy job if you're good at hanging upside down like a bat 

Maybe this guy could offer some advice?

Thanks for the replies and PMs - much appreciated.

I'm not looking for any tuning or upgrades, and am happy to do some servicing in the evenings/weekends.  What I would love to find is someone local to me (nr Epsom) who could do the MOT without me taking hours out of the working day to drop off and collect - I simply don't have the time :-(

Caterham needs a service and MOT in the next few weeks. Not sure I'll have the time to travel far so looking for recommendations in Surrey.

It's a 2010 with a K-Series that has done 500 miles since the last service, so was thinking about an MG specialist? 

Many thanks all 

As JV said, and in the same spirit  

When I first purchased my LED bulbs I did my best to measure the position and size of the LED chips vs the coiled filaments in the Halogen - there was very little difference and neither are point sources - no coiled filament lamp can ever be. In fact, shrinking LED technology has reached the level where it can actually be nearer than a coiled filament to being a point source.

I agree that the law is the law, they are illegal etc.  But I don't buy into the 'they are dangerous, the beam will be different, and you will dazzle everyone' claim.

I think I will have to either declare the modification to my insurer and ask them to maintain my insurance or go for E-marked units (and declare the modification to my insurer and ask them to maintain my insurance) as dim yellow halogens isn't an option.

So understand that the insurance issue is not related to the MOT issue.  But is the insurance issue caused by a component being technically illegal, or because the vehicle has been modified from standard?

It has been discussed before that (correct me if I am wrong) that an E-marked LED unit is technically legal. Does that mean that fitment will not invalidate the insurance?  Or do we have to (a) use E-marked LED units AND (b) inform our insurance company of the modification for the insurance to still be valid?

#72  I agree, the LED bulbs seem to perform better that the LED units, and are certainly better that the old H4 halogen lamps (which I refitted just for the MOT).

Ro recap, the photos are:

1: Left of picture = LED bulb dipped, Right of picture = LED unit dipped

2: Left of picture = LED bulb main, Right of picture = LED unit main

3: Left of picture = halogen bulb dipped, Right of picture = LED unit dipped

4: Left of picture = halogen bulb main, Right of picture = LED unit main

So don't believe the LED units blue tinted, just the camera compensating for the yellow tint of the halogens.

Appreciate that they are not legal but that doesn't mean they are poor quality.  I purchased them just over 4 years ago, have been happy with the beam pattern etc, and they passed the last 4 MOTs until the recent legislation change prompted me to swap back to halogen just for the test.

They are unavailable but here is the link  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B073XJ9B6S

Personally I am happy to use LED bulbs that are constructed to give a good beam pattern.  I know I may be breaking the law but 'only in a specific and limited way' so should be fine 

Front view.  Prefer the traditional style, to be honest:

Happy birthday Jeep. 15 years young today 

I'll see what I can do :-)

In all photos the new all-in-one LED light fitting is on the right.  The replacement H4 LED and original halogen H4 is on the left of the photos.

Incidentally, I should make a few comments about the wiring.  These light units have a standard 3-pin plug that connects directly to the standard vehicle socket.  In addition it has 2 other spade connections.

Connect 12v to the red wire and the outer halo ring illuminates white.

Connect 12v to the green wire and the outer halo ring illuminates amber.

This gives a number of possibilities.

Wire the sidelights to the red wire and use the halo as the side light. Would this be legal?  Also, splice into the indicator wire and connect into the green wire for an additional indicator.

Replace the amber indicator lenses with clear and wire these as sidelights. Rewire the indicators into the green wire and run an addition switched-live to the red wire as DRLs.

Managed to get some comparative photos.

These are 7inch units purchased for about £33 but available from 101 resellers / drop shippers for up to £100 or thereabouts. First, comparison with the LED replacement bulbs I've had installed for a few years.

Dipped:

Main:

It seems that the LED bulbs have a stronger main beam and good cut-off when dipped.  The new eBay units have a much wider spread left and right.

Now, compared with an ordinary H4 lamp from a spares kit.  Nothing special and a bit old, but unused:

Dipped:

Main:

Very nice 

Have you thought of a matching gear knob?

Package arrived from eBay today...

Packaging could not be more generic if they tried.

Light units present and correct.  No instructions, labels, documentation of any sort.

Side view shows they are reasonably slim.

Cost £31.97 the pair.  Will post more when I get to install and do some tests.

I'll do my best :-)

Taken a bit of a punt and ordered these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/-/313701537600

They seems to be quite generic and supplied by a number of eBay's multitude of drop-shippers. Plan is to compare with existing LED lamps and halogen they replaced.

Yes, easy to replace.

Back in the day my brother and I used to regard them as consumable items :-)