Author: Okierover

I'm just your average former United States Marine, married to an awesome woman, with amazing kids...and the cutest grand kids. My Profile.
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November 9th, 2004 (Post #54)

November 9th, 2004
Head liner, oil change, noisy lifters, head gasket failure, leaking seal, console back in

The hur-rah for good weather seems to have been this weekend. It was perfect weather on Sunday so I took advantage to wrap up a few jobs.

Headliner
The head liner on the moon roof/sun roof cover came off today. I decided to close it before I got to work and it fell right off. I managed this summer to get it wet when I forgot to close the sun roof. As usual one of the very frequent rain showers broke out and got it really wet. That was it I guess and it decided to come off today. So I guess it’s time to revisit the liner project and try to match with the liner I replace sometime ago. Which means taking it all out AGAIN!

Lifters noisy, change oil
I have been noticing for a few thousand miles that I have a very noisy engine sound. I couldn’t decide whether it was an exhaust leak again or if a valve was sticking or if I was having some other engine related problem. It is time to change the oil and I have noticed since using the Castrol Extended Life oil sometime ago that the oil seems to fail a little faster than before. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find that flavor of oil any longer. Either they don’t stock it any more or Castrol quit making it. Either way the good ole fashioned Castrol 20w50 I use seems a little too thin at the end of it’s 3000 mile life in my engine. To kill one bird with two
stones I bought a bottle of Chevron TECHRON® Concentrate Fuel System Cleaner and put it in and I changed the oil.

The noise is, I am glad to say, no longer there. I’m not sure which of the solutions solved the problem. But my engine is nice and quiet again. Well relatively quiet.

Head gasket leak
As I have been reporting for I don’t know how many years the head gasket has been pushing fluid out of the system. In a desperate attempt to put off the obvious top end engine repair I tried some “horse pills” which sadly have failed to stem the tide. Good news is another engine is in the works. But it will be after Christmas before we get started. So I’m hoping I’ll make it through the winter like last with not too many problems. The price of coolant/antifreeze is too high to pour it on the ground like this.

Leaky seal
My swivel joint seal on the right side had a nice big blob of grease on it this weekend. So I will eventually have to replace it. I have the seal in the garage, but not the place to work on it right now. I’m not really looking foward to removing the CV joint again. But it will give me a chance to document in pictures the procedure again. This time hopefully everyone will heed my advice and replace EVERYTHING that could fail when you tear something down.

Console back in
I have the center console back in. It was more challenging getting it back in than it was to take out. I’m guessing they assemble it in two parts and attach the two pieces afterwards. I had to loosen the emergency brake bracket, pull the big screws and hold my mouth just right for an extended time to get it back in, in one piece.

But I have it all hooked back up and it looks great. I got a little to carried away with the dremel and had to correct with a couple of washers. Which made the window switch panel screws a close fit. I’ll write it up when I get the pictures off the camera tonight probably.

Posted on

October 27th, 2004 (Post #54)

October 27th, 2004
150,000
The Big White Bus rolled passed 150,000 miles today. I have had her since she
rolled 88,000. Gonna reward her with a nice oil change this weekend and hopefully
some new differential fluid soon. And new spindle fluid also. Good girl.

Posted on

October 26th, 2004 (Post #53)

October 26th, 2004
No console, window problems, leaky windshield
Had to put off putting the console back in. It really needs to be glued properly. I have it sitting in the garage while I finish the painting on the house.

The window ECU fried a week ago when I was picking up my daughter from one of her cheerleading assignments. I rolled the window down to offer one of the kids a ride and there was a spark and then another and the windows all rolled down. I futzed with it a bit and then drove home in the 49 degree weather. It wasn’t too bad. I spent 40 minutes figuring out which of the relays allowed the windows to be rolled back up.

I couldn’t get the part that late on Saturday. So I made sure the windows were up just incase of bad weather. Low and behold it was like 85 that day and I really wish the windows worked. We used the air conditioning to keep up cool and avoided the restaurants with drive thru windows.

Monday I went down to Rover Cannibal and picked up another ECU. Now I can roll up and down the back windows and the front windows. How exciting!

I haven’t been getting anything else done on the truck other than adding the “horse pills” to help with the head gasket leak. I have an engine in the works and if everything goes well I should be putting a rebuilt 4.2 in by Spring. JagGuy and I will rebuild the 4.2 then rebuild mine and put it in his 90 Range Rover. Replacing his anemic and failing 3.9. We will probably rebuild the 3.9 and offer it for sale to cover the costs. More news on that as soon as the deal is done.

I got a quote for removing the windshield and refitting it to hopefully stop a leak that I believe is there. “Hopefully” is not the word I would like to be using but it’s the best I can do for now.

Posted on

September 30th, 2004 (Post #52)

September 30th, 2004
House going fine, console back in
Everything is going well on the house. Waiting on brick to arrive now.

I started to put the console back in this weekend. The broken bits I have had
to glue held up well. The parts that were not broke are now broke. So I spent
Sunday gluing those pieces. The front part connects to the cubby box so they will
need to be glued together. I have noticed with my glue in place that they no longer
fit well together. I will have to chop part of the rear portion of the gear
selector section back. I also glued a new piece to attach the window switch panel
to. The previous holes were destroyed and the panel with the switches mostly danced
around there. I will be able to secure it now.

The switch relay that powers the rear windows that don’t normally operate correctly still needs to be replace. I have fitted it in the Rover anyway and will inquire with Rover Cannibal about getting another to see if it fixes the problem.

Tossed, and I mean literally tossed, a ladder up on the top to haul down to the new house in order to run cable for the computers. Just as I released it I realized I have a sun roof. I thought for sure I had just broke it out. But I hadn’t. That was a close call. Just another reason I need a roof rack. Maybe Santa will bring me one? Who am I kidding? Santa is going to have to buy window treatments for the new house. I’ll be lucky if I get a lump of coal in my stocking.

I fired off an email to Ozzie at Ozzie’s Offroad asking for his pics of the bracket to move the ECU up to the dash. I told him I’ve been jonesing for something new to read about Rovers. Seems this lack of getting out and my lack of being able to work on the Big White Bus has got me down in the dumps.

The water in the floor boards has to be from a leaking wind screen (wind shield). I will have to find a good shop to pull that and reseal it. Any suggestions you might have just send me an email.

Posted on

September 21st, 2004 (Post #52)

September 21st, 2004
Update on the Tech Tips
My laziness is only surpassed by my gluttony when it comes to pie. Well anyway I updated the O2 Sensors, Mirror Replacement, and OME Shocks tech tips. I am ready to reinstall the carpet this weekend. I did not find the leak yet and will look one more time this weekend before putting the carpet back in.

I need to fix the rear window rolling down problem. I have futzed with it a few ways and have determined I will replace the module and see if the problem goes away. I think that it will fix it. Anyway I hope it fixes it.

I need a new rubber seal for my back window. And as you have previously read, it is still rusted. Ozzie at Ozziesoffroad.com is going to send some pics of his POR-15 project. If I understand it correctly, his email was a little fuzzy on this part but he dipped his entire Rover in POR-15,
painted his fingernails with it and sacrificed a chicken, two Jeeps and Izuzu to the rust gods that inhabit the Florida wilds too. I don’t really know if all that is true but he said he POR-15’d the entire truck. I can’t wait to see the pics.

We are moving to a new house. And when I said new I meant new. I will get the two car side of the garage for my shop. I failed to ask the builder to up the garage door height so I will not be able to have a roof rack and lift on my truck AND park it in the garage. But we will see. It will be nice to have the room to tear down if I need too.

Anyone want to buy a house in a nice neighborhood?

Anyone want to help me move?

Hello…hello…is this thing on?

Posted on

September 8th, 2004 ( (Post #51)

The Tire Rack has good prices but I’ll have
to have them mounted locally. Lots of comparison charts and good information there. I wanted
to put the Michelins back on this time but the price is way too expensive. Right now it looks like the Bridgestone Dueler tire is the winner.

My mother has been sick so I haven’t had time to futz with the center console. This weekend looks good but at this rate I’ll won’t know until it gets here. My wife and I have been so busy with the kids and my mom. She jokingly said, “I’ll see you on Friday.” Wish it was a fun kinda busy instead of a teadious grind kind of busy.

Happy Rovering, watch what you eat and get some exercise.

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