Happy Festivus (Post #278) 12/23/2011

 As is the tradition with Festivus, I thought I’d start with the traditional “airing of grievances”. In no particular order (that’s why I numbered them). All questions are rhetorical and if you sense what I am saying has a hint of sarcasm, it is sarcastic.

  1. The first has to be with the price of ignition coils. Seriously, why does a coil have to cost so bloody much? 140$(US) is just silly.
  2. Why can’t we get a diesel motor option in America from Land Rover? Every motor company in the world has a clean diesel engine. Make it happen…FOR ALL LAND ROVER MODELS. Period.
  3. Why do I have such a hard time with electronics? I have to blame all the 16-18 year old GIRLS I went to school with for being so distracting. If I’d gone to an all boys school perhaps I would have paid more attention in vocational training.
  4. Why is taking care of leather seats so damn much work? I can polish a shoe as well as anyone, but I can’t save a leather seat from disintegrating under my ass.
  5. Why do automotive engineers think we all have lifts in our garages? Why do they feel compelled to bury parts that are listed on tick sheets to be replaced at intervals in places that require the engine to be removed to easily repair. Think about the ignition wires and coil packs on a 2000-2004 Discovery That is simply asinine.
  6. You design a car that can be driven from Solihull to the Horn of Africa. But if you roll down the windows more than 6 or 7 times the window regulator becomes wad of metal that resembles a pretzel inside the door panel. Think about our beloved Discovery 2 models again.
  7. ABS pumps. You make a vehicle that requires power brakes but the pump you use has only a 10 year lifespan if you are lucky and after 10 years becomes more difficult to find than the effin’ Holy Grail. And when you do find one, it costs more than the value of the vehicle it goes on. This is not helping brand sustainability.
  8. Cars in general. Think about the military contracts your country has to provide airplanes and tanks and trucks. Its not the initial cost of the item its the spare parts that you sell that make the money. If you want to be green, hug some trees and stop filling the land fills or in Oklahoma filling the washes next to creeks and streams, build a car that the owner wants to drive for more than 5 years and can get fairly prices parts for. 
    From http://www.surfaceandsurfacephotography.com/photoblog

This will conclude the “airing of grievances”.
Happy Festivus and Happy Rovering everyone.

191,191 (Post #277) 12/23/2011

191,191 miles. Its a mileage palindrome. I know that is a lot of miles on a truck. All in all, she’s in pretty good condition considering that. However, I think I still need some undercarriage work. A new set of springs and shocks and a new steering damper would probably make things a lot nicer.

There was a threat of snow ever so briefly this week, so I got her out this weekend for some work and to test the starting issues I had this month. It was a beautiful weekend 61F and just a slight breeze. And with a successful road trial I drove her to work and back, too.

She did pretty good. As you can see she hauled some fire wood for us. It was interesting to me how different the ride was with a load in her. This makes me rethink my spring selection. Probably going with the “medium duty” springs. I don’t haul a lot but would like to know if I did I’d be good to go.

While I was out this week, I also stopped by the furniture store and grabbed a set of chairs we ordered with our new table. The kid that loaded the box was funny. He was so worried about putting the box in the back seat.

I had to finally say, “Its a truck, just set the box on the seat.”
“Its a Range Rover.”
“Its just a truck son, put the box back there.” 

I have to respect that he didn’t want to damage anything. I’m sure he’s run into some snobby lady that didn’t like the way he loaded something in their Range Rover or Lexus or Mercedes. And with that lesson he’s learned to be careful. I wasn’t hard on him, just matter of fact about it.

When I pulled into the neighborhood for the last time I could hear some sounds underneath. It was definitely related to the speed I was going. Sounded like something rubbing, whomp, whomp, whomp, and it would increase in frequency when I sped up.

So I guess I’ll have to try and sort that out this weekend. I hope it’s simple like last time and just something I forgot to button up tightly.  hope its nothing silly like a rear end about to quit.

Its that time of year again. This year I don’t think I’ll be doing a 12 days of Christmas post. I’m still a little burned out from the school work this semester and I have enjoyed my brain being idled. But if I get some energy I’ll get one going.

So from my family to yours, Merry Christmas, thanks for reading and happy rovering.