A diamond in the rough (Post #275) 11/25/2011

Last weekend I dragged my neighbor Fish4OSU up to JagGuy’s shoppe to see if I had a spare starter on my spare engine. Unfortunately I did not. On a whim and a suggestion we went by the local “pull-a-part” which I learned today is not part of the national chain. It is U-Pull-It, whatever.

Fish4OSU needed a fan motor for his daughter’s Saturn LS-1 and a mirror. I needed a starter. I’ve been to this breakers yard many times, they seldom have any Land Rovers. But I thought what am I out, a buck…what the hell.

We found lots of Saturns and the mirrors were not in that great a condition. Fish4OSU commented it must be a thing with these cars. Bad or missing passenger side mirrors. Nearly everyone had either swapped paint with something or been driven behind a truck pulling a sand blaster down I-35. While he sourced the fan I went in search of a diamond in the rough.

I walked the 200 yards to the “import” section. I stopped to admire a Mercedes Benz 300SD with a diesel motor. As I walked on, I dreamed about dropping that into my Range Rover. I looked right and what did I see?

YES! that was the tell-tale roof line of a Range Rover Classic. When I got up to her there was a gentleman attempting to extract the transaxle or transfer case or transmission. I’m not sure he was sure. As I looked her over I mumbled, “1993 or 1994, I wonder if there are any others”. He heard me and replied, “1994. This is the only one.” I politely told him I was going to be in the front and that I’d be right back.
I went back to tell Fish4OSU I found one. He was finished and we returned to the Range Rover. The gentleman was gone and the drive train was still intact. I started on the top end retrieving parts. I got the fuel temperature sensor, the water temperature sensor, the cap from the overflow tank and the throttle position sensor (fingers crossed, say goodbye to my error 14). I went into the cab and found the EFI computer and the window ECU. I pulled them too. I was pretty happy with myself and we returned to the counter to pay.
Just as I put my receipt in my wallet I looked down and noticed a starter sitting on the counter. I forgot to get the one thing I had gone there to get! I had already paid, so I told Fish4OSU to wait for me, “this will only take a second.” I got back to the Range Rover and started to work on removing the starter.
The bottom bolt came off easily enough. I got lined up for the top bolt. No matter how hard I tried I could not get it out. I worked on it for at least 30 minutes before I gave up bruised, battered and covered in oily dirt. The tools we borrowed from JagGuy just weren’t quite up to snuff or I sucked using them…the jury is still deliberating.
They had Sunday hours and I said I’d just grab my tools and come back tomorrow. Saturday was beautiful, middle 70’s and truly pleasant outside. Sunday was the opposite of that. It was 37 degrees and a 10-15mph wind from the North blowing in low clouds. If it had been 10 degrees colder it would have been snowing. That figures doesn’t it? But it is the OkieRover way, never easy.
So I got back to her and got to work. I could not break that bolt free. I’m pretty sure I tore the head up as I was unable to get any satisfaction. Frustrated I looked at the top of the motor. There was an original alternator there and an original air conditioning compressor. I thought I could use both of those things. So I went about removing them. 
As I cut the lines for the air conditioning compressor, they still had pressure in them! Bonus, this compressor was still working when this Rover met her demise. I grabbed a rear lens from the passenger side and both of the door handles still in the doors. My second day injuries were minimal, some light bruising and a partially crunched pinky finger. Funny thing is, I don’t bruise. I’ve fallen off the back of a van going nearly 30mph through a field and I didn’t bruise. Yeah, that’s a story for another time.
How this Classic wound up in the yard I do not know. The panels were all straight. It was not a wrecked truck. It even had a cigarette lighter in it (I grabbed it too). The inside was in rough condition. Not as bad as mine but you could tell it was not well cared for by the driver. The headliner was still original. It lead me to believe the transmission or some electrics may have been its undoing. I would have liked to have had the whole body but that was not possible. You cannot buy a Salvaged Title vehicle “intact” in Oklahoma. She was probably still Dealership maintained, looking at the parts I saw inside.
All in all I made a killing. The first days parts cost me roughly 26$(US). If even one of the parts is in working condition I scored big.

The second day’s parts were more pricey, 87$(US). But the air conditioning compressor costs twice that so I’m still “standing in tall cotton” as we say in Oklahoma.

I am really happy I found her and was able to get some parts off her. I was sad to see her in the breaker’s yard. It just makes me realize that Classics are getting harder to come by and getting parts for them will be getting harder and harder. I guess when I can no longer get the important parts, I’ll just have to buy a Series 2a or Series 3. You can still get most of the parts for one of those from Rovers North.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Bad fuel? Seriously? (Post #272) 11/18/2011

This is a real shirt!

Radiator project completed.
So I’m putting the radiator back in last Saturday. I get her all fitted and buttoned back up and the battery is dead. So it was late and I stuck the trickle charger on it and decided I would test drive her the next day.

The next day rolled around and I was taking a break from my studies and thought I’d give the old girl a spin around the block. Around the block lead to me visiting our first house on Quanah Parker. I was keen to know if the deck I built was still in the back yard. You can see it if you wander into the Chisholm Trail Park in Northeast Norman.

I turned her around and headed for home. I pulled in the ‘hood and was pretty proud of myself. I rounded the traffic calming circle and she died. Dead. No sputter, no cough, dead.

I started on my diagnosis…

  • Checked spark. CHECK.
  • Checked air. CHECK.
  • Checked fuel. CHECK.
  • Injectors firing. Stethoscope confirmed clicking sound. CHECK.

What the hell? I was stumped. So I called the wife and she pulled me down to the house. I posted a few messages on the Landroversonly.com and RangeRovers.net sites. A few days went by with no responses. I figured I’d probably really done it now.

I called JagGuy and after talking to him he told me a story of two weekends ago when a similar thing happened to him. He tore his Jag apart and never found the problem. It wasn’t until he checked the fuel. It didn’t have that overwhelming gasoline smell when he opened the fuel rail. I mentioned to him neither did mine.

Well, there you have it. Bad Gas. Lets look at the evidence now that we have the culprit. Range Rover sitting for weeks at a time without being driven.

  • Using Ethanol fuel.
  • Would not run.
  • Fuel didn’t smell like fuel.

JagGuy said he couldn’t even get his gas to ignite unless he put the torch directly on the fuel. JagGuy does some funny experiments some times. He was being safe, trust me.

So with this as a suggestion, I went down and got 4 gallons of fresh fuel and with RovErica holding the funnel, I poured the fuel all over the side of the Range Rover and on to the ground into the tank. After it was all in, I attempted to start her up. The battery was not charged enough for a proper attempt so we hooked the jumper cables up. A few attempts, she finally coughed and sputtered. And then she started and ran.

Well HOT DAMN!
I called JagGuy and told him he was a Supra-Genius*. He declined the title because he had torn his Jaguar all the way down to find bad fuel, I hadn’t. I got the Range Rover ready for a trip down to the Conoco/Phillips petrol vendor. I went in to tell my wife I was heading out and would be right back. She said, “Take your phone. If you are stranded this time, call me before you sit there for 2 hours.”
I think she still loves me…I know her confidence in the Range Rover is waning.

I went out to the Range Rover and touched the door to get in and she died.
WHAT.THE.HELL?
I won’t bore you any further with a long story laced with lots of expletives. I was unable to get her started again. The bad news was I thought I had less than a quarter of a tank of bad fuel…I have nearly three quarters of a tank of bad fuel. My hypothesis is that as I was pouring in the petrol it stirred the tank. As it sat the fuel and water separated out again.

SO I either have to drain the tank or try to add more fuel to try and get her started again to burn out the bad fuel. Either way I’m probably going to replace my fuel filter and will have a mess to sort out.

So we can say this without doubt, “Don’t use ethanol in a vehicle you don’t drive frequently.” I think I will start driving the Range Rover on Fridays. Most people drive their classic cars on Fridays in Oklahoma. You can see all the guys that have car hobbies because they drive them on Fridays.

I still have a CODE 14, Throttle Position Sensor problem. I will sort that out as soon as I can get the Range Rover running again. I’m proud I haven’t had to replace it yet. 190,000 miles. I am also contemplating replacing the fuel temp sensor (running rich), and possibly the O2 sensors again.

I have serious questions now about how to get the Range Rover in a condition that I am confident she would make a multi-day trip to Moab or Colorado or even to work three days in a row.

Just a quick note (Post #262) 7/22/2011

Hello readers. I’m guessing you all thought I’d died. Well, I have not. It has been over a month since I last posted. I am sorry to report I don’t have much to say.

I’ve used the Range Rover to haul some fence materials around after the micro-burst weather events we have had lately.

As you can imagine, wind that hard knocked down some fences. My daughter Lecia’s fence took a beating. My son Diet Mt. Drew and I put it back up as best we could. I lost a few cross pieces and my fence was leaning pretty hard. I used the Rangie again with a tow strap to pull it closer to plum. In the video off in the distance you can see the rain blowing side ways. There are lots of videos on you tube. Just check out keywords Norman Microburst.

We have also been experiencing the hottest weather ever recorded in Oklahoma. Just today, July 21st we have tied the hottest recorded month of August 1936. If you know any history you’ll know this was in the middle of what is know as the “Dust Bowl“.

You can read for hours on the effects of the Dust Bowl on the economy and the people of this region. While we have not yet had dust storms, it wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t break out of the drought, that we would have them next year.

In any event we are well on our way to 50 consecutive days of 100 plus as a high temperature. The highest temperature I’ve recorded this summer was 114.9. I was told it went over 115 that day but I didn’t see it. I have two thermostats on the front porch which is on the shaded North side of the house. Both of them registered that temp.

Here in Norman we are in D3. The D4 zone shaped like a penis in this map is south of us and if the Texas map is any indication we will be swallowed by D4 by late August.

I have no idea what the heat index was that day, I’m sure it was over 125 degrees F. Today we had another 108 degree day. The heat index today was 114F in Oklahoma City. The Severe Weather Forecast Center said there were no weather models that showed any relief in the future. That seems a little open ended, but I think they are getting desperate to be the first one to spot a break in this brutal weather.

We have already lost our 5 ton air conditioning compressor on the house. That was the cost of a BUNCH of very nice upgrades to the Range Rover to replace, nearly five grand. I am not excited to see our next electric bill.

So let me share this with you. On February 9th Oklahoma recorded its lowest temperature, a frigid -31 degrees F. If you take into consideration the low temperature for Norman that day was somewhere near -7 degrees F that gives us a 121 degree change in temps in six months. That’s extreme. It is not nearly as extreme as Nowata though. Seven days after their record low of -31, the temperature was 79 deg F; a 110 degree F difference!

So when you see me pack both my winter clothes and my summer clothes for trips within Oklahoma in February – April and October – November now you know why.

A contractor in our office who hails from Maryland put it best…how do you people live here with all this dangerous weather? We are humble in our response, “We’re Okies…we are build of stubborner stronger stuff.”

I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I can imagine a week in the mountains though. Anything to get away from this heat if only for a few days.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

A Lazy Sunday (Post #258) 5/23/2011

Ah…a lazy Sunday in Oklahoma. Spring is upon us and each day we wonder if we will get some our famous southern plains weather. Saturday night Mrs. OkieRover and I enjoyed a steak, asparagus, and an adult beverage for me and watched as the thunderheads anvil out as they trekked across the state. I tried to capture a panoramic picture of the storm. Eh…I’m obviously not a photographer.

Panoramic due east to SSE

Sunset reflecting on the clouds

Fortunately for us they stayed to the south and east of us. We had 5 inches of rain this week, more on that later. We got more on Sunday tonight but again they are east and south of us.

Sunday morning I played hookie from church and wanted to work on my Range Rover. I went out to the garage with a cup of tea in my Rover’s North Coveted Mug, 1 each, and The Cars Greatest Hits.

First, the garage is a WRECK. Several factors have contributed to this fact. We bought a new couch and loveseat and that meant that the old couch went to the garage.

Also the city of Norman gave away rain barrels to the first 90 people to show up at Forest Lumber. Forest Lumber is my new hardware store. I won’t need to go all the way to Lowe’s now. That place was awesome. My pal Larry and I took the Range Rover down there and hauled the barrels back. When we were looking around Forest Lumber we were discussing America’s First Sergeant’s Zombie Apocalypse Preparation Post. We found a wrecking bar that would make a great zombie deterrent weapon. You can see how impressive it is. It has an awesome name too, the FuBar III. FUBAR is a familiar acronym to all Marines. After a few applications of this tool most things it touches will be FUBAR.

Also currently located in the garage is a TV, a dead TV. It previously graced the entertainment center until it unceremoniously fell due to the affects of gravity on a shelf. I’m not happy. The budget took a big hit this week. The rest is the normal condition of the garage…cluttered.

Sunday’s Range Rover project was the sun roof. As you may have read, it was working when I went to Fort Washita. When I came home from Fort Washita, it wasn’t. So I started by taking the headliner out. I’ve taken the headliner out so many times it takes only a few minutes using a powered drill with Phillip’s bit.

Once out I started by unbolting the sunroof. The sunroof system is kinda heavy so if you can get help you should. Again I’ve done this a few times so it’s no biggy. You can use the head rests as supports and leave the front bolts that hold the motor connected to the roof structure as one point and the head rests as the other.

Once I got it lowered I started trying to figure out what was causing the problem. I futzed with it for at least an hour. Once I got it working I bolted it back up only to find it was not working again. When you pressed the button to retract it would stop as if something was blocking it.

I could not figure it out. Finally I decided I should lube up the tracks. They looked pretty dry. So off to the chemical shelf and out with the silicone spray lube. I hosed it down and the window moved better but not great.

You can see in the above photo the red spray hose, it is important to control the spray as not to hose the interior with silicone lube. After a couple of trial refits and more and more silicone spray the sunroof works. It still has a little catch but it slides back and forth on its own. In the process I ran the battery down and had to jump the Range Rover with the Honda Civic. It was shameful but necessary.

Now, back to the rain. We had five inches of rain over night on Thursday and Friday this week. That is enough rain to tell me if there is a water problem with the windshield. There is. The pads were wet…as usual. I pulled them out to dry. I will probably throw them out. The windshield is obviously the problem. I’m not sure if it is the seal or rust.

I’m going to start with the windshield seal. The good folks at Binswanger Glass told me I should test it with a garden hose. It wasn’t necessary as I didn’t drive the Range Rover in the rain so it had to be from the seal. With the pads up, the rust is back on the floor pans.

Its probably surface rust or staining from the bottom of the pads. Either way it is annoying. Considering the trouble I went through to remove the rust and cover the panels with layers and layers of paint. I’m now thinking bedlining spray and more sound deadening material like I originally planned.

I buttoned up the Range Rover and went on to the other duties requiring my attention. With that much rain the grass went nuts. With the drought we’ve had this year, I’ve only had the mower out twice. I think we are still behind overall for the year on rainfall, but the grass hasn’t noticed.

I tried to organize the hardware and parts shelves but I ran out of steam. I need a budget infusion to do anything else on the Range Rover this year. The first money I’m going to use will be to sort out the windshield seal issue. I can’t move forward on the interior until that is all sorted out.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

We have a go at the ivy… (Post #257) 4/29/2011

I drove the Range Rover in this morning.
I could say I drove it in honor of the Prince and his lovely bride gettin’ hitched today, but that would not be true. I drove her in today because RovErica needed a car while her’s was in the shop getting the air conditioning refurbed. My best friend told me about a fellow Marine who works on the side as a mechanic. He needs the money now more than ever with his wife carrying a bun in the oven. In any event, RovErica gets air conditioning, I help out a fellow Marine, and I save a few bucks off the cost of a professional shoppe tapping me for A/C repair. That’s what winning is all about.

The drive in reminded me of why I love to drive this gas guzzling beast. I love the ride position in morning traffic. I love that when I change lanes people get out of the way. I love the revs when I accelerate. I do not love the 7.20$(US) it costs me to drive 24 miles to work (12 miles per gallon). And as you can imagine I don’t love the fact that 3 fivers are gone in fuel cost when I get home.

But it is what it is. I love my Range Rover.

With the royal wedding behind us I thought I’d share a video of the Queen driving her Defender. I love how cordial she is when she addresses the “poachers”. I thought it is amusing that they don’t like ivy on their trees. We don’t like ivy on our trees either. Unlike the English ivy they are referring to, our ivy is poison ivy and you don’t handle it if you can avoid it. Of course if I were the queen king of England I’d have some one pull all my ivy down as well.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

I told you so… (Post #256) 4/8/2011

Some time ago I wrote a blog post about octane and the myth about fuel economy. I wrote a spreadsheet calculator, included a link to it and everything. I wish I could find it for you. You’ll have to settle for this link to an old post which includes another site about Fuel Myths. Very good stuff.

In short any mileage saved by buying higher octane fuel is off set by the additional cost of the fuel. It turns out, at least according to this article, the outlandish claims of the fuel producers are to say the least, EXAGGERATED (dramatic reverb).

In other news… Sofia Vergara drives a Range Rover.

Read on and enjoy.

HARD-PRESSED motorists being lured into buying expensive ‘premium’ fuel are wasting their money, new research shows.

Oil firms are shelling out millions advertising pricey super fuels, promising drivers up to 25 PER CENT extra mileage from a tank.

But an extensive study found premium fuels costing an average of five per cent more than standard fuel delivered just ONE per cent extra performance.

In tests by motoring mag What Car? high-octane premium fuels — including BP Ultimate, Esso Supreme, Tesco Momentum and Total Excellium — performed little or no better than their cheaper equivalents.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.