JagGuy - OKIEROVER.COM

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

October 14th, 2005 (Post #62)

October 14th, 2005
Charging problems
All of a sudden I have a charging problem. Everything was working fine. I leave my lights on one time at work and drain the battery to zero. So I get it jumped and it manages to get me home and such. So a week later I don’t drive the BWB for an entire weekend. That was nice. Anyway, Monday morning she is dead again. So I jump her and drive her to work. Battery drains over the day and I have to have a jump again.

I get home and have to jump the next morning again. So I take it to the O’Reilly’s they test the battery and the alternator. Thumbs up on the alternator according to the guy holding the tester. So I go in and get another battery, prorated and it costs me $15.05(US). Sweet what a deal.

So a couple of days later it’s dead again. I can’t figure that out. So with a suggestion from EGD I begin pulling fuses while measuring the amps at the battery. That was a tricky deal, because the measurement changes as the devices draw. I’m averaging 1.4 to 1.7 draw. I notice how ever that on a couple of fuses when they are out I’m drawing 4.3 to 5.2. With them out I draw more?

Also depending on how long I kept the leads connected the voltage would eventually drop to .3. I’m guessing that was something to do with the meter. Meters don’t like to be conductive paths and I figure that was a safety feature to protect the meter. That is a guess of course.

Well as I’m testing I notice a very high frequency hum coming from my right. Over near the alternator. So I listen closer and the alternator is humming. That can’t be right I think. Also the 4.3 to 5.2 is on the meter when I hear it. Remove the leads it goes away. Reconnect it is back. Well a few times anyway. I am unable to make the hum start on my own accord. So I am convinced the alternator is toast. All that charging on a dead battery could wear out an old under powered alternator anyway.

Lots of web pages mention the alternator being too wimpy anyway. This is supported by the fact that when you order a rebuilt one, they are 100 amp and not 80 amp like the original.

So I order the alternator from NAPA with a lifetime warranty, five year free towing to a NAPA service center. If the alternator is the reason for the tow a new alternator and the tow are free. What the hell, I say, $290 bucks. Whatever I want the damn thing fixed. The teasing from EGD, Titanium Hitch, and my boss is becoming unbearable.

So I swap the alternator. Two big bolts, remove the air filter assembly, loosen the belt tightener. Swap. Bolt it back up, done. Poof like 30 minutes I’m done. I cleaned off the terminals and the battery cables and even grease them for fun.

I go to start it and nothing. Turns over does not start.

First I’m thinking WTF? Those two things aren’t related, well not much anyway. So I get RovErica to fire her up while I check for spark. No spark.

With a suggestion from JagGuy who informs me I must have busted a wire when I was working near the ignition relocation module. Okay so I go back and every wire I touch breaks. Makes me wonder how it was running in the first place. So I wire it all back up with some difficulty. Not completely understanding where all the wires go makes the logic hard to follow. But wired back up it was. Still nothing.

I give up and my wife says it might be good to look for another Rover. “If this one is going to be down three days a week. You’ll need to get to work.” That was bad. I don’t want another car payment right now. And I’m beginning to doubt why I am obsessed with these Rovers. I printed up the testing procedures and got to Test 2 before I find the problem, dead coil. I give up at 11:15pm, send the emails to work telling them to cancel my appointment and telling them I’m dead in the water.

In the morning I call JagGuy again. He says Eric that doesn’t make any sense if you are wired up and don’t have any voltage at the coil, it’s not the coil. It must be something else. I tell him how frustrated I am and that I’m well over my head at this point. He says casually as he signs off, telling me to call him later and to check your fuses and your connections again.

I have half the wiring harness disassembled and am wondering how all this works. I think okay check the fuses. Why didn’t I check them earlier? Well guess what dead 20 amp ignition fuse. Feeling like a complete horse’s ass I fire her up and everything worked. Fun thing happens while I’m reassembling the wire harness…the NEW alternator makes the hum sound.

What is wrong with me? I’m a smart guy, well sorta. I’m no slouch anyway. Why can’t I understand all the concepts related to ignition systems? It’s rhetorical, so don’t email me on that.

It’s a few day later and all seems well and the alternator is working well. The battery is not discharged. I own a new trickle charger. And I can now get to work.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

August 15th, 2005 (Post #62)

August 15th, 2005
More updates.
I fixed the Archive files. They were really screwed up.

Ignition
Had trouble with the ignition this past week. With my back being in it’s current very screwed up state it has been difficult to get in and out of any car. The MRI says I have an L3 L4 compression with pressure on my nerve root. Very painful by the way, the pain feels like my right hip is dislocated. L4 L5 is torn and something is wrong with L5 S1 too. The biggest worry is the first one. With that said I finally figured out that if I put my head in first and then climb in I don’t have to bend my back as much. But this caused me to bump, with my knee, the steering column.

This caused the already troublesome connection on the back of the ignition switch to be in a mostly unconnected state. It would start if I held the key right and jiggled the column plastic. But I had no accessories, lights, or much else.

To fix it I took some time before one of RovErica’s softball games to take the column off and fix the ignition plug more snuggly to the switch. I used two zip ties and just tightened them up to snug the plug to the back. It worked better than I thought it would have. You no longer have to double turn the ignition switch to get the BWB started and the radio and all the accessories work without fault.

Loosing oil
I am loosing some oil past the pan. JagGuy warned me not to tighten and thus
crush the cork gasket too much. But I must have done that. I will need to schedule
a new gasket on my next oil change.

Coolant
The past few mornings the low coolant light has been blinking when I start up. I haven’t had time to check the level but will need to do that tomorrow morning, if I’m not running late to work.

Complaints
My wife complained the other day when I was driving her home that the heat on the passenger side floor board was unbareable. I will have to see what happened there. It has all the padding still, maybe it slipped down. Who knows? I may just get piece of heat pad for below the pad just for fun.

Air Conditioning
Well the AC is no longer working. I got a black light out and sure enough the compressor is toast. Lots of leaks. So I broke down and ordered one. I saw the prices at all the regular places. Atlantic British, Rovers North and British Pacific. None of them could come close to the price of
Oklahoma Auto Air. I bought a new compressor for $295. They had to order it from a supplier because it wasn’t in stock but they had it the next day. JagGuy has used them for years. I will probably have them make my new hoses too. The prices of which were cheaper than the online catalogs too.

They quoted me a price per foot and a price for each end. The exact numbers escape me as of this entry but I’ll give you the details when I’m done.

Tell Don Murphy Eric Stephens from OkieRover recommended you. There will be more
in my write up on the Tech Tips page.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

July 8th, 2005 (Post #61)

July 8th, 2005

There is a huge update in the works. I have started on it now twice, once yesterday, and again today, having deleted several days work. Very frustrating.

Engine
JagGuy and I have the engine in. We started on it April and finished it after three long weekends. JagGuy has all the skill necessary for a successful transplant. And it showed. He had the heads off and the engine built before I could get in the shop each weekend. He has the luxury of Fridays being fun days and he used his “fun” day for my engine. What a great friend.

With the engine swap we found several other problems. I will start listing them and I will probably forget some as there were many.

Radiator
It was indeed a head gasket problem but with that there was also a problem with the radiator. It was clogged again. We noticed that when we revved the engine the hoses would flex. Meaning there was a lot of pressure in the system. Frustrated I replaced the radiator with a new one from Atlantic British. Cooling problems vanished.

Heater Core
One of the final things to be blown by the old engine was the heater core. I have heard horror stories about getting the dash off to replace this part. I will wait for a weekend in September or October when it gets cooler to replace this. I bought the replacement core when it came up on British Pacific’s Steve’s Deal of the Day.

The wife
While I’m sure some of you were expecting me to say I was replacing my wife, I have not. She has been harrassing me lately about the costs of the BWB. Keeping a 12 year old car on the road in good working order is hard. It is harder when it was designed in a British Pub by 12 drunk engineers. But for my piece of mind and to reassure her that I was not spending the milk money for frivolous toys I pulled a report out of Quicken of all the auto repair expenses. I was surprised by the amount, surprised in a good way. She was surprised in a bad way. 2800 dollars (US) was the tally for the period since I made the final payment back in November 2004.

Not bad for all the things I’ve bought for the engine and including oil changes for both cars. She still believes with all her heart that a $450 a month car payment would be cheaper than putting parts on the paid off Rover. I have now classified the Rover as a restoration project. So the costs are easier to stomach as I am restoring a car, just like on TV!!!!

Steering seal
The morning after I got the BWB home with all the overheating problems we planned to return her to the shop in Edmond, it was a cool April morning so I figured the heating problems would be less if I went in the morning. After I pulled into the gas station to fill up I got out and noticed the long red stream of fluid leading from the street to underneath the Rover. Transmission fluid, but from where?

After a long look it was the steering box. Since ATF will burn and considering the blow back to the exhaust I drove her home defeated and disappointed. We put a seal on the next weekend.

Steering Shaft
Once again on sale at British Pacific. If you look at the steering shaft you will notice a rubber grommet there. Mine is hard as a rock and cracked. Obviously failed. Now the question begs why can’t we just replace the rubber bits. Well I bought a new shaft and will investigate if the old can be repaired when I get it off of there. Hammerin’ Dan observes that the heat from the headers is probably to blame in the rubber failing. Possibly some asbestos wrap might be in order.

Brake Switch
The ABS lights came on and with some investigation and a clever way to short the diagnostic plug I learned my brake light switch had failed. I got a replacement on sale from British Pacific’s Deal of the day. The installation was not any fun due to the location and the contortionist position you have to get in. Also my eyes don’t work that well up close and so most of the install was done while guessing on a blurry image.

Radio
The steam that escaped from the blown heater core filled the cab with nasty antifreeze steam. The radio immediately from that day forward would act like it lost power often loosing the code. Occassionaly it would not work at all. I thought sure the steam killed it. I was wrong. The ignition switch is failing. You may say, “what the hell?” Well it would be a good question.

The accessory function of the switch that powers many things like the windows and other stuff is apparently shorting out or not making connection. So among the other things the ignition switch is failing and needs some help.

Carpets
Had to clean the carpets again due to the antifreeze leak inside the cab. Due to my previous planning I did not have to remove the center console. Sweet!

Exhaust
Having spent a good three hours under the BWB during the engine project I noticed that none of the hangers were replaced the last time I had the exhaust worked on at University Muffler. That is disappointing cause I like those guys their work is just not very good. I had it in there again recently to have a torn exhaust pipe fixed. Due to the hangers being unhooked the only place the exhaust was attached had stressed the pipe to the point that the silencer at the rear was about to break off. I had them cut it off and weld on a pipe. It changed the sound some but not too bad. Well the weld for that section broke. So I took it to Discount Muffler just up the road from the office and had them put a good weld on it. It cost me 25 bucks but it’s now welded. I will come back to them to have the new cats welded in as soon as I buy them.

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.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

June 6th, 2004 (Post #46)

June 6th, 2004
Air Conditioning
JagGuy’s daughter had complained that there was no A/C in the Black Rangie so
he endeavored to repair it. So being as I wanted my A/C to work as well, mostly because
the wifey complained that it wasn’t working. I decided to prod him a bit and we worked
on the trucks one past Sunday. Thinking I was in for an expensive repair and I expected to
spend at least $300(US) I was amazed when I had cold air coming out of my vents just $40 later. Read about it HERE

The cats are back to rattling but I am mostly ignoring them.

The Big White Bus has not been idling as of late and a fellow at the Pirate 4×4 board reminded
me about the idler control valve, which gets sooty after awhile and must be cleaned. I had forgotten about that. As I posted, this happens every year and I seem to forget, every year, how I fixed it the last time I had the problem.

How about them gas prices? Wow who would’ve figured that kind of price hike. Funny when things happen in other states to production facilities our prices go up. It’s strange because our gas plants here were not affected. You can go down and look at where your gas is made in Wynnewood Oklahoma. Very strange indeed. The only good news in all of this is tax revenues are up. I wonder what they’ll blow it on this year?

It is a time of mourning in our nation as The Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan has passed away. Prayers go out to the family for their comfort. Thank you sir for giving us back the pride we have as Americans.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

December 31st, 2003 (Post #39)

December 31, 2003
Missing, Oil Change, Awesome Truck, New Logo
The winter weather has been amazing and all is well with the world when in December, in Oklahoma, you can work on your vehicle without fear of frostbite. One pretty day found me cleaning and reattaching the air dam to the front of the Big White Bus. As usual when I do something “fun” or cosmetic to the truck, the engine wants attention and intermittent engine problems began for the last two weeks. One day all is well, runs great. Next day, 7 of 8 cylinders are working. It was getting very frustrating. I checked each boot and applied some di-electric
grease. It is actually silicone based lube. That way hopefully I will not break another ignition wire with a stuck boot. All of the ignition wires seemed plugged in properly and I found nothing out of the ordinary.

Started her up and she ran fine Sunday afternoon. I started her up on Monday to go to work and again she was missing.

So yesterday I bought a new set of plugs. Champion Truck Plug 4404. I am not recommending them or endorsing them yet. I don’t have any imperical data to share. Quite frankly it’s what the guy behind the counter recommended. They are reasonably priced at $2.49 each. His sales pitch was pretty good and he shared some customer comments along with the pitch so I said what the heck. I installed them that night. There is something about working on an engine when it is still warm, it took the edge off of the light wind blowing and 50 degree (F) evening as it was settling in.

So now the plugs are in and she seems to be running pretty good. Two plugs show some strange characteristics. I will show them to JagGuy New Year’s Eve before he has too many glasses of wine for an informed decision. Six were a gray color, which being that there were 6 that way I am guessing that they are fine. Number 2 was strangely black in a single spot and Number 8 was flat black. I’m guessing that Number 2 was busted and the spark is coming through the insolator instead of the proper path. But more on that if I confirm my hypothesis.

I bought some Castrol GTX High Mileage for this last oil change. My truck has 135,000 on the odometer and I consider that high mileage. The sales pitch says, “helps older cars feel young again”. I’m pretty sure my Rover has absolutely no “feelings” or she wouldn’t treat me the way she does. But I’m coming into my own “high mileage” period and that line spoke to me. Besides I drove my 1993 Ford Ranger 187,000 miles with Castrol and the woman that bought it from me, drove it another 20,000 and sold it to yet another person. As far as I know it is still running.

So I’m figuring that as long as I’m using Castrol how can I go wrong. Besides I got a free Washington Redskins sports jersey for buying the oil. All in all it’s probably a gimmick but I can always put the regular GTX in at the next change and I have a new shirt to wear.

I’ve been considering a dual battery setup. I have most of the parts and my good friend The Ditchfinder just finished his dual battery install and it has it’s benefits. Our good friend Alan Bates doubts the importance of a dual battery, but I promised him margaritas at my next trail ride powered by my second battery so he is all good with it now.

I had some great email with Ozzie at Ozzie’s Offroad this week. Alan sent me his site in a link in the forum. He has a great rig and I highly recommend you check out his site. If I hit the lottery I may have to get me one of those roof rack tents. They are expensive but they are really cool looking. Go check out his site.

I have to give props to my good friend Tom in Chicago for creating a new animated logo for the Rover Defender’s Rover Log. If you didn’t notice it when you came here go back to the main page and check it out. I’m gonna send him a nice beer gift soon.

Three references to drinking in this update. Can anyone tell it’s New Year’s Eve? I hope everyone has a safe new year and thanks for reading the log.