The Magic of the Service Engine Light (Post #110) 10/27/2008

I was under the hood of the Discovery just the other weekend looking for the vacuum leak that was causing the pre-heater to throw codes. I found it and got that sorted out. While in there I noticed some things. The coolant leak I found when I was swapping the plugs and wires. Well it is looking like that again.

And guess what? Yeah I’m overheating. And this morning the coldest day of the fall I had NO HEAT. So I’m guessing I’ve got a coolant issue somewhere. I’m going to fill it up tonight to see if I’m just low on fluid. I hope that’s what it is. I, like many others, are having a bad fall quarter financially and car repairs are way down the list of necessities right now. The potential expenses on the other current problems doesn’t leave us much left for a new serious problem. So lets just hope it’s just low coolant.

Also a couple of weekends ago I changed out the differential lubricant on the Range Rover Classic. It came out the consistency of goo. The only way to describe it is a cross between the 90-140 and the grease for the CV joints. Kind of a black slurry. It couldn’t possibly have been doing it’s job. I have to order some new pre-measured CV lube and get that in there quickly.

I can’t seem to find the swivel grease at Atlantic British site. I know they have it…but it’s not on the site, or I’m using a different name than they do.

So to recap, we need oxygen sensors and swivel grease for the Range Rover and for the Discovery we need a solution for the window regulator and to sort out the coolant/no heat issue.

Geee, aren’t cars fun?

Speaking of fun. I ran across a really good site the other day. And I’ll pass it along to you.

It’s got all the fun pics of hot rods and motorcycles and some chicks too. I really liked the design and content. Lots to see and lots of pictures. I’m not a “hot rod” kinda guy. I do like old cars and I do like motorcycles. Mostly old motorcycles. And I really like the 50-60s culture. Rock-a-billy is fun to listen to and just counter cultural enough to keep out the posers (like me) but easy enough to get into. Just buy a old bike or build yourself a hot rod or cruiser and some boss clothes.

I really enjoyed some of the hot rod pics. This one caught my eye. With my buddy JagGuy building a car hauler out of a 1940s truck, I thought this guy has a really nice rig.

That is taking a concept and throwing away any sort of budget and just getting in there and making something great. The best part is, I know a place in Newcastle Oklahoma that has a similar truck in his driveway. They’ve been just sitting and rusting in his yard since I was a boy. I drove by there last month and they are still sitting there.

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

If you keep going west on NW 10th you’ll see a nice Google Glitch if you are looking North.

When I see “potential projects” like this I wonder what people are thinking. I wonder if when they buy that old truck they had plans to “do something” with it. I know I’ve driven by at least 50 cars I wish I had the time and money to make into fun projects to drive. From a Volkswagon bus in Willow, Oklahoma to numerous 1960s and older camper trailers, to this 1940s behemoth (I’m guessing a Packer) that’s been just sitting in this guys backyard on Carter Avenue for at least 15 years I know about.

View Larger Map

It’s the blue blob there in the middle. It looks like it has all the parts. Just never been worked on. My dad’s friend had a bunch of cars sitting in a field in Tuttle Oklahoma when I was growing up that I thought would have made great hot rods. With my more mature age today, I know they would have made great restoration projects.

Until next time… fire up some Rock-a-billy at the nutSie website and cruise over to the Blacktop site and check out the bitchin’ rides.

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.

November 8th, 2002 (Post #11)

November 8, 2002

Okay the very frustrating “bouncing lock” problem has gone away.

What did you do to fix it, you might ask?

This is complicated so try to stay with me. I took my son to skating last night when I got out of the truck, I hit the key fob with a confident “lock you sorry, @#$%%#” and it did! So I was thinking what have I changed?

Okay yesterday on the way home the sensor for fluid level in the expansion tank
blinked that I was low once again on coolant. I had determined last Saturday that the coolant measured 10 degrees farenheit on the “how cold can you go” antifreeze checker. That is not good enough for the climate that is coming with the Oklahoma winter so I must add more antifreeze. I stopped and got more antifreeze and added it. There is obviously a relation to the antifreeze level in the tank and it’s ability to withstand temperatures below 10 degrees farenheit and the bouncing lock problem.

Not many mechanics have the expertise to find such an obscure relationship. I now consider myself a member of the Rover mechanic elite. It’s either the fluid level/temperature tolerance OR it has been dry, as in no rain, for 4 days now. I’m pretty sure it’s one of those two things or that Rover uses antifreeze as electric locking fluid and I was just low. There is an outside chance it could be pixies or perhaps gremlins too.