Wednesday morning saw the Land Rover booked into CMS4x4 for a cam belt change, as it has done a little more than 80,000 miles since it was last replaced. As part of the task, the crankshaft main seal was to be changed, as it was leaking and this was the ideal opportunity as the timing case would be off anyway.

10:00AM my mobile rang at work, with Colin on the phone, who said that any morning call with a car in the shop was going to be bad tidings. Having taken off the timing case, they noticed that the side and bottom was coated with congealed cooking oil and a bit of diesel, as the injector pump main seal was leaking. This is not a good thing as not withstanding the loss of fuel, diesel or oil on the timing belt will rapidly ruin it; if the timing belt breaks, the engine stops and if you are lucky, just a few pushrods are bent. If you are unlucky, the engine needs a full rebuild as it may have bent valves, cracked head, bent connecting rods or crankshaft.

Sending the injector pump away for work would take a couple of days and cost somewhere between £300 and £600, depending on what was found to be worn, when it was apart.

Saturday morning, Maria took me up in the Fiat to pick up the completed Land Rover. The injector pump was in fair condition for 120,000 miles, just the seals and the inner sleeve were changed and the bill was £268+VAT, but before I celebrate, I still also need to pay for the cambelt change.

Nobody ever said running a Land Rover was cheap - they are mechanically complex and the most sophisticated bit on a 200Tdi is the Bosch injector pump. Following the work, the Land Rover feels a bit more spritely and there is a little less black smoke on hard acceleration.

As you can see from this morning’s checking fluids, the water pump and timing case is unnaturally clean. It won’t last!