Category: JagGuy

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Garage Day – August 2013 (Post #377) 8/14/2013

My good friend and resident evil scientist the +Evil German Dude (EGD) announced we were having a Garage Day at his house this past Saturday. For once I didn’t have anything Land Rover related for him to assist me with. I’m sure he and the former Titanium Hitch were quite surprised as we normally have something to do on the Range Rover. They both liked the Big White Bus’s new stance on fresh springs. I had to call it to their attention, but they responded with friendly comments after looking her over.

Inadequate alternator

The main goal of the day was to install a new alternator in EGD’s F-250 Super Truck 4×4 Beast. If you have been a frequent reader you know every thing EGD touches must be modified. His Chevy 1500 was highly modified. I could write an entire blog post listing the changes he made to the 1500. His F-250 is well on its way to being heavily modified.

EGD and the Former Titanium Hitch

More after the jump….

Today’s modification was to be a nuclear power reactor. He has the need to power small cities and in case of a disaster provide power to his evil lair. Sadly the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied his permit for a mobile nuclear power reactor. They said his design was sound and the schematics were first rate. They just did not feel he rated one.

Beefy.

So he picked the next best thing and contacted the Russian’s for one of theirs installed a DC Power Engineering alternator. At maximum revolutions this monster will put out 300 amps. At idle it puts out 190 amps. Compare that to a stock Land Rover alternator and its 100 amps at max output. They will send it to you polished or one of 11 colors. Impressive.

Size comparison. New on the left and old on right.

The task was a simple one if you were content with using the existing wiring. But EGD is an evil mad scientist, so you know there has to be enhancements. First was replacing the cables to 1 aught. Yes, you read that correctly…1 aught. He is fond of his power conduit mechanisms. Three hundred amps is a lot, and to run it through stock wire is just silly.

One aught cable and in-line voltmeter.

He also installed an in-line volt meter. This is cool enough to warrant install on my Big White Bus. I will have to investigate this option further. One of my pet peeves about my Land Rover is the apparently inadequate wiring. Lots of Land Rover owners outfit their rigs with wenches winches, lots of lights, refrigerators,…etc. These are all power hungry devices in which dual batteries and beefy alternators are just the prescription to get the needed amperage to the devices. EGD’s beastly F-250 is no exception.

Installed.

The former Titanium Hitch and I mostly handed EGD tools and offered the “extra hand” every mechanic, at one time in their life, wishes God had given them. Working with EGD on his rigs over the years is truly entertaining. I’ve never seen him come up against something he hasn’t all ready anticipated.

His work is meticulous, precise, and clean. I have learned a lot from him over the last decade. I told the former Titanium Hitch that when I work on my Range Rover I think about what EGD would say if he saw my work. You’ve no doubt seen the W.W.J.D.? (What Would Jesus Do) and the many variations over the years. My own is W.W.E.G.D.D?

EGD then decided to manipulate the worldwide price of a barrel of crude by doing an oil change in the big diesel. The behemoth uses 13 quarts of oil. Since I have the smallest beer belly of the group, I was elected to ride the creeper under the truck to empty the oil. EGD has made this a simple process by installing a Fumoto valve. No more guessing which wrench you need. No more getting oil on your hands removing the plug. Easy peasy.

Once EGD was done with the alternator installation and oil change was completed, we had a great dinner of roast potatoes, hot dogs, and grilled vegetables prepared by EGB (Evil German Bitch). I know what you’re thinking. But I assure you that’s her own moniker, she picked it out. That’s even how I have them in my phone. She is a superb cook and I always love eating at their house.

After chow time was over, Titanium Hitch told us about the sound system woes in his newly acquired late nineties Ford F-150. The after market sound system had been butchered. EGD was keen to sort out his problems.

I fetched tools while EGD started extracting the radio from the dash. I was also tasked to find a wiring diagram for Ford pickups on the interwebs. That was no real challenge and I was back to handing them tools.

We found the problem, a blown speaker. The others were not in good nick and it was suggested he replace them all. Replacing them was a job for another day.

So we wrapped it all up. I said my goodbyes and headed home with a detour to drop the used oil off at JagGuy’s garage where he will undoubtedly use it in his Bobbed-Duece.

I received an email from an Art of Manliness reader who told me the visited link color on my OkieRover.com website was virtually unreadable in low light. So I swapped it to a red for high contrast.
Thanks Shawn.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering

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The Difficulty Scale (Post #368) 7/15/2013

I wrote this for my original website and a less grammatically correct version of this post can be found in its original location. Many of you have read it before. You may have seen the link and never clicked it. In any event here it is…

This is a brief explanation of the Difficulty Scale I often refer to. I am not the most mechanically inclined person on earth. I would not even place myself in the top 20% of the population.

Obvious questions come up when someone who owns a Land Rover and maintains it himself makes a statement like the one above.

A few of my favorites are…

“What possessed you to buy a Land Rover?”
“You’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer are you?”
“Are you going to buy a Jeep when you get tired of pushing that Land Rover?”
There are others, I’m sure you’ve heard them.

This is my scale. I have some friends that my 5 is their 3, notably The Evil German Dude (EGD)  and JagGuy. The only reason they don’t have home-made nuclear power reactors in their secret evil lairs is the federal government frowns on the private ownership of U-238 and U-235. Guys like them can disassemble and reassemble entire motors in the dark, asleep, and not lose any parts. I’m not one of those guys.

This is my scale that I use to gauge how hard a project might be. It has five levels, Level One being the easiest, Level Five being virtually impossible for me.

Level One
Easy. A talented 5 year old child could do the work. If you can’t do this level, get a 5 year old, they would love to help.
Examples: Single tool jobs. Using a screw driver to replace a light bulb. Oil changes.

Level Two
Technical. You may have to read the instructions. Usually requires more than the Official Land Rover On-Board Tool Kit. You’ve heard…
“It ain’t rocket science.”
or
“It ain’t brain surgery.”
And my personal favorite,
“It ain’t rocket surgery.”
Those are common phrases used for this level.
Examples: Replacing the brake pads. Replacing the battery or an alternator. Replacing belts.

Level Three
Moderate. You are gonna get dirty doing this level. Taking it apart and putting it back together more than once are common. At this level after you render the vehicle undriveable you will find you may need a new or special tool you don’t own, and must reassemble the vehicle to go and purchase it because your wife has taken the kids shopping in the minivan.
Examples: Radiator removal. Fuel pump replacement. Replacing tie-rods.

Level Four
Hard. Higher math skills desired. You will have the vehicle apart for more than a few hours. Pray for good weather or decent shop where the work can be done in a semi-climate controlled environment. Three-dimensional spatial skills are used at this level. A high degree of praying to the Land Rover gods wouldn’t hurt either.
Examples: Brake caliper rebuild. Tracing electrical problems. CV Joint replacement. Heater core replacement.

Level Five
Impossible. The ability to understand particle physics is good here. Find a mechanic or an automotive Superhero that will work for beer or who owes you money. Common phrases often heard at this level…
“No, I don’t know what happened, send a tow truck.”
or
“That’s not a place I would have expected smoke to come out.”
or
“I think I have a Visa card with that amount available on it.”
Examples: Head gasket repair. Transmission rebuild. Anything inside the engine.

Once again this is my scale. I’ve emailed with gents and ladies that said my Level One was their Level Three. I totally get that. Don’t get frustrated with the job. What might seem complicated gets considerably simpler when you are holding the replacemnet parts in your hand. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. How are you ever going to learn if you are never taught?

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

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Victory Beer (Post #349) 6/9/2013

Nothing tastes better than Victory Beer.


 vic·to·ry beer noun \ˈvik-t(ə-)rē\ \ˈbir\

This is the beverage you get to consume after you solve a particularly difficult problem on your Land Rover. The beverage is most often one from the British Isles but not necessarily so. See also “victory rum and coke”.

We get proclaim victory and drink beer because we solved the mystery of the electrical gremlin that had invaded the Big White Bus. As you may, or may not recall, I had some trouble with the sun roof, clock, driver’s seat, map lights on the rear view mirror, and the interior and door lights.

Originally I had planned to have the amazing JagGuy help me sort out the problem. He is a genius and pretty much my go to guy for electrical problems of all kinds that don’t involve attempting to electrocute giant monsters. I usually call The Evil German Dude  for that kind of power. Well JagGuy’s grand children were in town and visiting and his lovely wife was celebrating her birthday, therefore No Garage Day routine for him, and incidentally me as well.

So after I drove to the shop in Oklahoma City I turned around and headed back south. Spontaneously I decided to stop by my friend Butch (formerly known as Titanium Hitch)’s house. He was just a few blocks from the complete devastation in Moore, Oklahoma of the May 20th tornado you saw in yesterday’s Newcastle Police Dash Cam post. Southwest 134th street leads straight to his house and was the path of the EF5 tornado. The destruction was hard to drive past. So many lives changed. You can see how the people of England and Germany during World War II felt when their homes were destroyed.

An aerial of the destruction at Briarwood and more after the jump….

He was home and talking to the insurance adjuster about his roof. He had 150mph winds at his house and the roof is trashed. His home was in the “debris ball” of that tornado and the dirt and insulation from hundreds of homes was on everything in his neighborhood. I talked with his wife about her feelings during the event. Their son was in Briarwood Elementary School when the tornado hit. I visited with he and one of his high school buddies who is a roofing contractor. After a great chat, they headed off to lunch and I headed to the Okierover de hacienda.

I started by looking at the fuse block. With a suggestion by JagGuy to measure the voltage at the fuse block I found nothing there. He suggested jumpering the fuse next door to the bad fuse port. B5 had no voltage, B4 had the correct amount. I made a jumper out of a paper clip and tested the electrical bits. Sure enough it worked with a jumper.

So with that bit of knowledge I decided to look at the wiring loom. I started at the battery and traced the loom back to the fuse block. The wiring loom runs from the battery through a cable to an odd octopus of connections to the fuse block along the right (passenger) fender and on into the cab and to the fuse block.

If anything had failed I figured it was outside the cab. Mostly I figured that because I was too lazy to pull the dash off and walk the loom  from the fuse block back to the battery. Laziness, what a comfort.

So I pulled back the “protective” cover. There I saw one wire not connected. As you can see from the picture the green is a lovely bit of corrosion that had eaten through the wire. Believe me when I say the first thing I thought was, “This cannot be this easy.”

I’m guessing these two should be connected…

A lovely color or green.
Blurry…

I tested the solution by jumpering the two wires with a make shift jumper with a fuse in line, as JagGuy said, “just in case.” I was very surprised at how easy this was. I was also pleased to see the circuit light the map light on the bottom of the rear view mirror, signaling my success.

I wonder why I continue to use this camera. Blurry.

A quick call to confirm my thoughts with JagGuy and I was moving toward repairing the line by soldering a jumper. I cut away all the corroded wire and made the connection. I soldered the jumper in place and put some heat-shrink on the bare wire. I then tested all the electrical bits I could find that were affected by the bad wire. Victory
.

I buttoned everything back up and declared V-WL day. (Victroy Wire-Loom). I bought a round of beers for all those present in my garage. I was sadly all alone but I thanked myself for the drink and went to my office to type up this blog post. I am on my second Victory Beer and this blog post is done.

P.S. Some random thoughts. The whole octopus connected to the bolt/connector is, well…poorly done. I would have much preferred a lovely power block with power on one side and the individual wires on the other…and as we are say what we REALLY preferred, those wires labeled with their destinations. Eh, whatever.

With every turn of the wrench solder of wire we get closer to the Circumnavigation of Oklahoma.

The face of patience as Mrs. Okierover snaps pictures.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Motor Man (Post #337) 5/8/2013

Some days I wish I were a diesel motor. JagGuy took this silly picture of me during the engine swap a few years back.

We sourced another motor and did the head gasket repair. We also had the heads reworked by Buddy Rice’s Speed Shop in OKC.

The motor has been cracking on nicely ever since. At some point however, I would like to swap it out for a TD5.

Someday…

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Code 17, Not As Cool As It Sounds (Post #334) 4/30/2013

This has been an interesting 24 hours. So this weekend JagGuy was showing off a throttle position sensor he bought cheap. It was an omen of things to come.

On the way into work today I had an engine stumble at highway speed. Thirty seconds later another. And a minute later…it was very disappointing. My first guess was not the throttle position sensor. I had suspected I was having alternator issues.

I got to work and thought nothing more about it until lunch. I came out, started her up and the Check Engine Light came on. “Good,” I thought. “At least now I know it was something with a label on it.” I got to my favorite Monday lunch spot, VZDs (VZDs.com). I went around to the passenger side and looked at the Code Reader. 17.

I went in and ordered the meatloaf. Its made with ground buffalo. So delicious. I looked the code up on my Samsung 3 smart phone and confirmed what I had guessed. That is the throttle position sensor code. I finished lunch by checking for a replacement part.

Atlantic British has a replacement for 449.95$(US). That is roughly 1/5th of the value of my Land Rover in it’s current state. I can’t do that. I sourced one from eBay for 80$(US) used. I will continue to do this and pull parts from the breaker’s yard as long as I can.

I had an errand to return some fencing bits to Lowe’s that we didn’t use to fix my former neighbor’s fence. I drove home with lots of stumbling along the way. I thought it was the TPS so I swapped it with a spare from my supply. I got about 2 miles from the house and the Big White Bus coughed and shut down. I coasted to a side street.

Just before she shut down, the tachometer stopped working. That is a tell-tale sign the alternator is dead. So to review:

  • I thought I was having alternator issues two weeks ago.
  • The alternator light occasionally glows when I have the lights on.
  • The tachometer stopped working.

I called JagGuy to confirm the theory, he concurred with my hypothesis. My awesome neighbor Larry was the first to answer his phone when I called and after delivering a pizza to his wife, he came and gave me a jump. The charge was just enough to get me to the Walgreen’s across the street from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts. The plan was to have them check the output on the alternator and the condition of the battery.

Instead they had to charge the battery just to test it. I grabbed some dinner and waited. Jacob said it was done and tested good. I grabbed some nitrile gloves and the oil change stuff for our Honda CR-V.

I installed the battery and it was enough charge to get me back to Casa de OkieRover. It occurred to me that I had a spare OEM alternator on the shelf. That last trip to the breaker’s yard has turned out to be very fruitful. I installed it and it worked as expected. No troubles.

I bought the dead alternator from NAPA Auto Parts in 2005. That one failed in 2008 and under warranty I replaced it. Turns out it is time for a third. I see on the invoice that I paid 335$(US) for it with a lifetime warranty. If I replaced it today:
Atlantic British charges 359.95$(US) for their rebuilt 100 amp alternator.
NAPA is offering one from 213.00 to 279.00$(US).

So that’s the good news in all this. I have a spare alternator and I can get the replacement part as early as tomorrow because their website said they were in the warehouse and its FREE…AGAIN.

I should have the original receipt laminated. That thing is really paying off. JagGuy suggested I keep the OEM in the Range Rover until it dies. I probably will.

I have a TPS coming in for 80$(US) off eBay. I think that’s a fair cop. Beats 450$(US) all day.
I will have a spare alternator on the shelf by the end of the week.

I still need to figure out what broke on the sunroof.
I still need oxygen sensors. I will probably buy those the first week of June.
I still need a sound system. JagGuy said he would help with that. I have fond memories of his radio in the red van.
I still need air conditioning. Mrs. OkieRover will not tour with me in the Big White Bus without it.
I still need the springs installed. I am going to pay Mickey’s Garage (Google+) to do that for me along with the air conditioning.

So you can see this looks like the summer of electrical gremlins. This is the first thing that comes to mind when gremlins raise their ugly heads.

Diabolical sabotage!

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

 

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Fuel Pump Replacement (Post #326) 4/5/2013

196,000 miles out of one fuel pump. That’s pretty good. But as you have read in previous posts it was time for a new pump. Let’s first sort out the process for testing the fuel pump.
Checking for fuel at the fuel rail was first. I disconnected the fuel line from the fuel rail.
Remove the hose clamp. Place a rag, preferably a large one like a t-shirt under it. You are checking for fuel coming out. WARNING. When you turn the key to the on position it activates the fuel pump. The fuel pump will run for a short burst to pressurize the rail. It will then shut off. A lot of fuel will come out when you turn on the key. It may even shoot out on to the engine. DO NOT DO THIS WITH A HOT ENGINE.
When I disconnected mine, no fuel came out. So that told me the pump did not run. So I climbed in the back and disassembled the back to get to the fuel pump access panel. Some time in the late 1990 models they started manufacturing an access panel to repair the frequently failing pumps.
I wanted to first check to make sure I didn’t have a blown fuse. I couldn’t remember which fuse was the one for the pump. So I pulled all of these and checked for a blown one. I also reseated the fuel pump relay (silver one) located between the green and brown items. All the fuses were good. On to the pump.
Remove the carpet and the dogs from the rear of the vehicle and access the panel.

I don’t know why they think it is okay to get in the back of the Range Rover.
Luna and Paisley
Remove the six screws. Move them to a safe place. Remember you are about to open the fuel tank. If you have something that might fall in the tank…it will fall in the tank. Secure all loose items NOW.
After you are open you are dealing with two fuel lines, a ground wire, and the power connector.
There is also a fair amount of dirt under there. I used a shop vac to get as much as I could to eliminate debris from getting in the tank. Vacuum before you start to remove any bits. Vacuum again after you have knock the wrenches against stuff.
Pull the connector and set your volt-ohm meter to volts. Have someone turn on the ignition. You will see a voltage spike for a few seconds. Remember the pump only runs for a few seconds. I checked across all the combinations of wires. I had power to the plug so….it had to be the pump.
Disconnect the fuel lines and the ground wire.
You are going to use a mallet (I used a rubber one) to hit a large flat-head screwdriver to turn the ring. They make a special tool for this…I didn’t buy it. Take your time and lightly tap this ring until it spins enough times to remove it.
The next series of pictures is me pulling the pump from the tank. 

Holding the fuel supply lines out of the way.

Remember the fuel level indicator is connected to the float. So as you are pulling it out you will angle the pump to slide it out. The lower part of the pump is a sump that keeps fuel around the base of the pump. This way the vehicle is not starved for fuel when the tank is low and you turn a corner and slosh the fuel to one side.

So as you are pulling the pump assembly out. Let the fuel run out of the pump. This will prevent fuel being spilled in the cab.

Fuel draining out.

I inverted the pump and drained more fuel out. You can see the official Land Rover Tool Kit in this picture. I needed to use it due to having an insufficient collection of tools in my tool bag. I remedied this by purchasing a socket set for the on-board tool bag.

Once I was back in my garage I took the old pump apart. Look at the debris attached to the filter. NASTY!

Look at the debris in the bottom of the “starvation tank”. 

While I was sourcing a new part I just placed the access panel over the hole and replaced the carpet.

I ordered a new pump from Atlantic British and paid the up charge for it to be delivered in 3 days. 300$ for the kit. I originally intended to repair the old one. I talked myself out of that due to my schedule this week. Two assignments, a test, and the weather (four inches of rain in four days, thank you God.) made this an easy decision. I will rebuild the old pump with a replacement pump. I expect it will cost less than a hundred dollars to replace the pump portion.

With the new pump in hand, I went about installing it.

I placed the rubber seal in the tank and then fitted the pump through the seal. It was a tight fit. You then screw down with the red securing ring. Use the screwdriver and rubber mallet. Take it easy and take your time. No need to use the mallet like Thor uses Mjölnir (Wikipedia).
Connect the power connector pig tail thing they send in the kit. Reconnect the fuel lines. 
With the access panel still open, I started her up. I watched for fuel leaks. NONE. So I buttoned everything back up.
I drove the Range Rover over to Braum’s in Tri-City to have ice cream with my grand kids (and my daughter and son-in-law). I had a single dip of chocolate chip on a sugar cone. Yummo.
The Range Rover ran great. I noticed the fuel gauge had me at a quarter of a tank. With a new pump and new indicator I thought it prudent to fill the tank and make sure the gauge was working correctly. It was all good and showed a full tank.
I pulled over in the parking lot of the Chickasaw Nation Training facility. This is the old T.G.&Y. building. I really loved that job. I called JagGuy and chatted about lots of stuff and he looked up replacement pumps will we gabbed. I’m lucky to have him, both as an automotive resource and friend.
As I was chatting I saw the state bird of Oklahoma, a Scissor-tailed flycatcher fly by. Spring has officially come to Oklahoma.
On the Difficulty Scale I’d rate this a 2. It is not difficult, just a tad fiddly.
Thank you to Justin and Lecia for letting me maroon the Range Rover in their driveway. Thank you to Lecia for helping me check for electrical continuity by turning the key while I was in the back.
I am heading to Fort Washita for the annual rendezvous this weekend. Get out and support your local historical society this spring.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
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