A Blog About Land Rovers and Living in Oklahoma
We’ve all been there. If you haven’t, you will. You’ve been stopped dead by a failed part. In this case my friend JagGuy’s wife. JagGuy was absent from one of our weekly lunches, this time he missed out on a greasy cheeseburger from Tucker’s. He was waiting with his wife on the tow truck to arrive to haul one of their Discovery’s to his shoppe for a repair.
Continue reading “Why Not Spend the Extra $12? (Post #585) 9/13/2019”
It was another hot Saturday in Central Oklahoma. The temperature made it to 102 F in Norman. Even with the temps as nasty as that we don’t stop work because we might get a little sticky and sweaty. We just turned on the fans and opened up the doors.
The Evil German Dude had us all over for some electrical fun. I know you’re thinking, Land Rover…Electric…sweet! Well not this weekend. The modifications were for Magnum Mike and Paparazzi Ford. Both of them had some seriously unimpressive factory wiring.
First was Magnum Mike’s Dodge Magnum. The work was to upgrade the ground. On this model of Magnum the battery is located in the trunk. That’s Mike sitting and sweating in the back of the very impressively modified Magnum. It is a true hot rod. He drove us to lunch one day. I’ve never been so scared and excited since Eric Kammerlocher took me for a spin in his Corvette back in the 1980’s.
The standard from the factory ground wire was a very small wire maybe 8 AWG. Compared to a normal battery cable the ground is about a fourth of the size it should be. The battery terminals are a simple flat metal. Not nearly the beefy terminals EGD uses normally.
You can see the flat metal and small wire in this image.
So the plan was to swap out the cables. EGD doesn’t do anything “half-assed”. The new cables were 2/0. Yes…two aught.
This wire chart should give you a great comparison.
We tease EGD but he knows his electrics. He has all the tools and always has the fittings, connectors, and heat shrink wire just about anything. The hydraulic crimping tool is pretty impressive too. So when you hear me talking about upgrading my battery cables you know why I am taking the Range Rover over to the evil lair.
The crimping dies had to be modified. Here EGD makes another minor correction to the tool’s die.
You can see in the next picture that they got the cables in place and the battery strapped back in.
Paparazzi Ford brought his Jeep Commander over with a very persnickety start problem. Basically something was wrong with the battery cables that would disable the vehicle. He would futz with it, the Jeep would start for a few days then quit him again.
He drove to EGD’s evil lair but when his turn came up the truck would not start. He popped the bonnet and I simply twisted the positive battery cable just a bit and the Commander started. Being as Jeep is now owned by Chrysler/Dodge the same type of battery terminals are being used.
Upon further inspection it turned out to be a very corroded connector. Swapping the terminals out had to be done. Here the crimping tool is used to marry the cables to the terminal.
Heat shrink is moved into place.
And here the heat gun heats the shrink wrap.
I couldn’t stay longer. JagGuy promised to take a look at my air conditioning. As you have no doubt read or have seen in my video blog my A/C is out. I’ve been chasing fully functional air conditioning in my Range Rover for years.
So JagGuy mentioned at lunch on Friday that he had a freon sniffer. Such a handy device.
He was keen on my idea to swap the AC compressor for a more common unit from a Chevy. The hoses would need to be custom-made. Before making all the effort to reinvent the system he said we should find out what has failed. Is the hoses? Is it the compressor? Is the radiator leaking? The only way to find out was to test for leaks.
I didn’t take a picture of the sniffer in action its sensor is an audio one. We sniffed the system and found that the front seal on the compressor had failed.
JagGuy suggested I go to the company that bought out Oklahoma Auto Air. They do all manner of compressors and hoses. The compressor on the Range Rover is basically a Sanden 709. So next week I’m going to drop by their shop and get the details. Hopefully I’ll have some air conditioning the week after I get back from my 25th wedding anniversary trip.
The weather is going to cool off this next week so my daily commute won’t be the 35 minute drive in an oven. Mrs. JagGuy has told JagGuy that she wants to drive a Land Rover Discovery II. They are looking for a good one. I can’t wait for them to go with us on a jaunt.
EGD is working with a company that has some pretty cool lighting solutions. I’m looking at them for some possible trail lighting. I’ll get back to that when I investigate further.
And in other news…he was only kidding about buying a Dodge.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
http://youtu.be/L7j1daOk72c
Truck Yeah! ran a story today about the Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept.
The Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept will feature an incredibly intuitive pairing of grille-mounted cameras with a heads-up display in the windshield. The setup will project the view obstructed by the SUV’s hood onto the window, effectively creating a “transparent truck” from the driver’s perspective.
I can totally see how I need one of these. That is simply the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while.
Shut up and take my money!
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
Over the past weekend I stopped at Lowe’s to pick up paint for my Coleman Stove Project which was part of my gearing up for S.C.A.R.R. When I came out this Discovery was sitting next to me. With the parking lot nearly empty parking directly next to me meant this guy must be an enthusiast. So I scribbled a note inviting the driver to check out my blog and to keep in touch as we were forming a Land Rover Club, Red Dirt Rovers, and invited them to check out our Google Community.
Later that day I got an email from John Joyce the owner of the Discovery. He has reached out to me with a couple of emails and I look forward to meeting him at S.C.A.R.R.
His rig looks well used. Seeing this Discovery next to me in the lot has told me I’m pretty sure if I ever get another Land Rover it will be a Discovery I. So much awesome in such a little package. Like anyone I’d love to have a classic Series 2a but for a daily driver that is probably not a realistic nor practical option. There’s more after the jump…
I was reading a post on the Facebook Land Rover Owners page about the replacement of a fuel pump on a Land Rover Defender. The North American model Defender uses many of the same parts as a Range Rover Classic and Discovery I. If you are a regular reader of the blog you know I’ve just recently replaced my fuel pump and now have a spare unit waiting for the electric pump on the shelf.
https://okierover.com/fuel-pump-replacement/
I’ve posted many times about the prices dealers charge for parts. The major parts houses have good prices but often charge more for a part when an equivalent part can be fond for cheaper if you only knew what the part numbers were.
Auto zone in Boise tried quoting me over $1,000 and I called BS. Is there a certain part number so they don’t try misquoting the price? – Cameron Eugene
We all try to find a cheaper price. It is common for a parts supplier to hear Range Rover or Land Rover and they immediately think the owner is made of money.
The gentleman doing the swap is John Monaghan. John works for GB 4×4 Radios. These are the fine folks that upgrade and repair the radio units for Land Rovers.
He had a friend that worked at an Autozone and he let him “browse” the stock to find the right parts. The following quotes are John’s from the thread:
Thank God I have a buddy at Autozone that let me go to the back and look in every box. Ask for this EP375 from a Chevy, now they have it and for just $87. This is priceless info for my fellow American Land Rover brethren, enjoy and save a mint.
Even the top electrical connection is the same.
Or you can use US auto store O’Reilly’s. Part numbers there is Delphi: FE0110. And sock filter is Delphi : FS0001.
There are two small plastic lugs on the bottom of the new pump that have to snipped off, dead easy, this way it sits fully in your old base, then you will have to use a new fuel line with two metal hose clamps or in UK Jubilee clips. Job done and a mint saved!
While I’m here I might as well add this pics, shows both lugs snapped off as needed with needle nose pliers, clamp and the hose size you need
Jeffrey Baker added this for the thread:
Pump fits many V8 GM fuel injected motors. $72 for the Delphi or Bosch part#69218 at NAPA. Carter equivalent is $52 part #p74006. Airtex also makes this pump not sure of number though.
Denis Guyvner added this helpful tip:
I have also heard that what causes these to fail is continually running your fuel level at a low amount. The fuel pump needs the fuel to keep it cool. Heat is what kills the pump.
And finally John Monaghan added this final note:
FYI: I’ve done this A/C Delco fuel pump swap many times on different Rovers in my collection and have saved a fortune over Dealer and OEM Land Rover parts vendor $$$$ pump prices. Looks like I’m going to be doing another this week (will add DIY pics here and A/C Delco pump part numbers), seems my 1988 Classic’s pump is toast too, sat too long low on gas without starting it, so the fuel dries to a varnish up inside the pump’s rotor… locking it solid, then you try several times to start it, the armature in the pump’s electric motor does not move so it burns the carbon brush mounts, rendering the pump dead and beyond repair! So never leave your fuel injected Rover parked up with out starting it monthly and with less than 1/2 a tank of petrol. Lesson learned 🙁
So much great stuff in one post. This might seem like a complicated project. It is not. I walk through it almost step by step in my link above. With a little deductive reasoning most anyone should be able to swap the pump out of the unit especially if it is a near direct swap.
Thanks to all the guys on the thread and thanks to John for great details. It will save us all several hundreds of dollars.
Thanks for reading, check out the Facebook group Land Rover Owners, and Happy Rovering.
Steven Lang has put together his own list of the top 10 worst used vehicles. You can visit it directly at THIS LINK (autos.yahoo.com). Its based on his own experience in the auto industry.
This is an interesting list and it has some very popular cars on it, VW Bug, Mini Cooper, and Jaguar S-types. I know my buddy JagGuy said his kids have had trouble with VWs of late. Engine failures with breaking in miles still left to be run. I saw a Mini Cooper in Mickey’s Garage just last week for a head gasket if I remember correctly. The job required the entire front of the car to be disassembled.
So with that lets review the Land Rovers… Continue reading “10 Worst Used Autos? Two Land Rovers Make the List (Post #435) 1/21/2014”
While I’m here I might as well add this pics, shows both lugs snapped off as needed with needle nose pliers, clamp and the hose size you need