Category: Range Rover Classic

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Not much going on (Post #143) 5/6/2009

Just a post to let my readers know,

  • I’m not dead
  • Not much is going on
  • Still have stuff to sell from my Discovery
  • My beloved Big White Bus is nearly mine again

We have one more payment on the now wrecked-totalled-dead Discovery 2 and it’s off to the auto lots to buy my wife and possibly my son cars. I also have the rims and some other bits I need to sell from the Discovery. And, I get to begin driving my beloved Range Rover Classic again.

A few projects wait for me.

  1. The sunroof is malfunctioning.
  2. Rust on the lower tail gate.
  3. Headliner will need to be replaced again.
  4. Viscous coupler needs to be replaced/rebuilt.
  5. The fluid in the passenger side floor board needs to be sorted.
  6. New radio.
  7. Tint the windows.
  8. Air condition needs to be repaired/recharged.

The sunroof will be a chore I’m afraid. It drops down to slide and then slides about an inch and then stops. I’m sure it is fixable, I’m not sure what it is causing the problem. This will be easily accessible when I pull the headliner for a replacement.

The rust on the tailgate is another of the normal problems with Range Rover Classics. I have all the stickers to repair and repaint and rebadge the lower gate. I’ve watched Edd China do this type of job on Wheeler Dealers so many times I’m sure with a little guidance from JagGuy I should be able to sort this out in a single Saturday in his shop. I need to protect my upper lift gate while I’m back there and will learn what he did to prevent his from rusting out. I will post the procedure when I have it done.

A new one at Atlantic British
The viscous coupler failure is a very annoying problem. And could be the most difficult of this list to fix. I’m thinking the repair will be a used replacement. I will then have one on the shelf to rebuild in case the used replacement fails me.

The wet floor boards is most likely a leaking wind screen seal. There are some small holes in the floor pan that need filling as well. I will pay a auto glass company to replace the seal and refit the window. It’s not worth it to mess with this when doing it wrong could cost me a wind screen and more wet floor boards. I will pull the carpets and seal the holes most likely with welding.

Tinting the windows is a necessity of driving in Oklahoma. The afternoon sun can bake you like a cake. The air conditioning since it was converted to R134a does not cool like the R12 did before. I will replace the expansion valve and get the system recharged. Hopefully it won’t be a continuing problem.

A new radio will be a nice addition. The stock unit has a famously failed display. A used replacement unit is a couple of hundred dollars. There is a fellow in Arkansas, Roverville Radio that refurbishes your unit for less than 200$(US).

If I can’t find a good unit on eBay, I think I’ll just buy a new “modern unit”. That way I can get Sirius OR an iPod OR a memory stick OR Bluetooth my phone OR whatever is available right now to get tunes in my Classic. I’m sure what ever I buy the next technology will be release a week after I have it installed. So get your money together this summer for your own sound system upgrade.

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Undercoating? We don’t need no stinking undercoating (Post #142) 4/30/2009

Some Toyota Tundra owners are reportedly experiencing inordinately heavy amounts of premature rust, and they want the Japanese automaker to take action to address the problem. WCVB TV in Boston has been investigating the Toyota rust situation for about a year, and they’re reporting that at least two dozen 2000-2001 Tundra owners have complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Owners of 1995-2001 Toyota pickups say their vehicles had inadequate corrosion protection, and many feel that the automaker should recall the vehicles.

Wow! I thought Land Rovers were rust buckets. I’ve never seen any Land Rover that badly rusted. I will say though, that I live in a nearly perfect climate for Land Rovers.

Click the pic for the story.

And of course the original…

I’ve discussed on a number of occasions a couple of place you should check your Land Rovers for rust. Namely everywhere…wait, no, mostly the floor pans and rear gates of the Range Rover Classics and the cross support on the Land Rover Discovery.

I’ve had floor pans rust out on a Dodge Ram pickup. And I used to ride around in a JagGuy’s Ford Falcon that had liberated speed limit signs for floor boards due to the rust on that body.

JagGuy's Falcon didn't look anything like this one

Rust is not any fun on a classic automobile, let alone on a new model. So if you haven’t made a point of taking up the carpets in your Land Rover I highly recommend it. You need to nip that rust in the bud as soon as you find it. Otherwise you will be doing the difficult and unpleasant work of replacing panels and other parts lost to this silent killer. (almost sounds like an infomercial doesn’t it)

There are lots of solutions for your rust problems. I urge you to research them before you are buying a complete frame or worse, scraping a beloved Land Rover.

Happy Rovering and thanks for reading.

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Observations at 181818 miles (Post #121) 12/20/2008


I managed to wrest the Range Rover from my dear daughter’s hands for some much needed care. I took the Classic down and got her a new exhaust. As you have read in previous posts, the catalytic converters were gone. They needed replacing in the worst sort of way. Also recently the right side exhaust gasket was also gone. So the sounds of the 4.2 had become a horrible caucaphony of sounds. I couldn’t stand it any longer.

So I swapped Rovers with her and when I got in I found that no less than three homeless people have been living in the spacious rear of my Classic. Okay, maybe not, but one nearly 18 year old was living out of the backseat. As you can see in the following picture an amazing collection of items have found their home in the floor of the spacious Range Rover LWB.

I don’t remember much about being 18, but I’m sure I didn’t live out of the back of my 1973 Ford Maverick Grabber. People actually sat in the backseat of my car on occasions. Yeah I know it’s hard to believe but I did have friends AND they liked me driving them around. I’m not sure any one can sit in the back seat of the Rover in it’s present condition.

So if you don’t have kids yet remember this picture. That way when you pass one of your beloved Land Rovers to your spawn you know what to expect.

While you are expecting the inside of your beloved British import to be trashed never fear, the outside will also be assaulted. As I remember marking on my friends cars with “shoe polish” I don’t remember it ever damaging anything. The kids have decorated my daughter’s Rover with many coats of shoe polish over the last two years.

The collection of stickers I have placed on the Rover have taken a beating. As you know stickers increase the off-road capability proportionately to the number you adhere to the outside of the vehicle. As you can see in the picture the stickers have been bleached clean by the application of shoe polish and the associated washings to remove the caustic stuff.

So each time you apply your own particular flavor of magic to keep your Land Rover motoring about the familiar landscape of your home town and the trails to your favorite fishing spots or camping sites remember no amount of maintenance and parts replacement can protect your Land Rover from an 18 year old. Eighteen year old’s and their affect on Land Rovers cannot be protected by applications of Waxoyl or installation of brush guards or applications of Lexol to keep your leather seats intact. No products have been invented that can protect your Land Rover from the day to day use by an eighteen year old. Only luck and the magical event of your dear little rug rat getting their first career job and their desire to “drive something else” will protect your Land Rover from the unanticipated affects of an eighteen year old.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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More of the same (Post #120) 12/17/2008


I haven’t had much to blog about lately. The Discovery still has a door panel off waiting for me to get a window regulator or the plastic wheels to fix the existing mangled regulator.

The Range Rover is still throwing codes for 69 position switch and 44 for a bad O2 sensor. And the exhaust still sounds like crap. The down turn in the economy has me on hold for now. Maybe after the new year comes around. My mother usually gives me money for Christmas, maybe I’ll buy parts with it this year.

Good news, the door lock on the rear door of the Discovery just magically started working again. It had a weird problem. When I locked the Disco, the latch would not go down. When I double locked, it would go down. But if I doubled it would not unlock when I unlocked the vehicle. Weird. But with the ultra cold weather recently, 11 degrees F on Monday, things have changed.

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Figured out the Codes Problem (Post #98) 6/26/2008

Dammit!
I hate it when problems like this occur. Well I got the wiring diagram off the Rave CD and started looking at it. The Engine Management fuse in the fuse box under the hood was blowing. That made some sense as I read through the Engine Management section of the workshop manual. Everything listed in the codes was on each of the subsequent pages under Engine management. So I went to the wiring diagram and the first thing the fuse went to was the mass airflow circuit.
I remembered all the wires under the intake and decided to investigate and found a wire mashed between the secondary air input and the intake.


I diagrammed it in this picture. If you put the intake back in the middle of the picture. That bracket had the wire under it.
I am so relieved that I found the problem. We just couldn’t afford to send the Disco to the repair shop right now.
It must be noted also that I swapped the plugs and wires on my Range Rover Classic tonight. It took less than an hour. Total time on the Disco…9 hours plus.
I’m pretty sure Satan himself designed that engine bay.
Read about the wire replacement here.

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Changing a gas guzzler (Post #94) 6/13/2008


Well I am half way through the tune up. Oxygen sensors are in and my sum gas mileage benefit of spending 250$(US) is….Zero. My first tank came in right at 13.5mpg.
To say I was disappointed would not even begin to describe my mood. I dearly love my Land Rovers and of all the things that upset me most, even if I could go out and replace just one of them with a fuel efficient vehicle I’d loose my shirt on the trade in. Trading the Classic is totally out of the question as it is paid off and 15 years old. No dealer in their right mind would give me anything close to an amount I’d be happy with.
And the selection of vehicles is terrible. Jeep put out a diesel Liberty a couple years ago. And they have a 3.0L V6 diesel for 2008. They boast 450 miles on a tank. EPA estimates of 18 city/23 highway. Hell that’s almost tolerable at 4.30$(US) a gallon for diesel fuel. They are only offering the CRD on the Grand Cherokee model for 2008. Who made that decision?
Lets look at the Land Rover Website. There you have it, TDV8. Boasting a 25.1 mpg in a RANGE ROVER.

Lets look at the Discovery 3. “The TDV6 engine has been developed to cope with the specific requirements of a Land Rover: strength and durability when operating in dusty environments, on steep inclines and wading through rivers.” I couldn’t have said it better if I tried. TDV6 available.
Lets look at the Freelander 2. I would at first say I wouldn’t drive one, but hey, 37.7 mpg out of the 2.2 TD4.

And finally the Defender. “Defender´s all new 2.4 litre Diesel engine produces a class-leading 360Nm of Torque (90 percent of peak power is on tap from less than 2,200rpm to over 4,350rpm) and enhances its legendary capability yet again.” This is not a vehicle you worry about fuel mileage with but RANGE of the tank.

So to summarize, 4 different diesels. NOT ONE AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Mercedes has diesel vehicles but no SUV models. Isuzu has diesel motors, I know our cousins in Australia speak highly of them. None available in the USA.
I could go on for an hour. Every auto maker has a diesel available for each of their product lines, EXCEPT for the American auto companies. I can’t even get a diesel motor in their Chevy 1500 or Ford F150 pickup trucks. I have to order a 3/4 ton model or more to get one.
So where is all this logic headed?
I want to replace my petrol 4.2 for a diesel. I have for a while. I know I’ve read a few threads on many boards about people who have done it themselves. What I’m wondering is, if I ordered the diesel motor Land Rover used in 1990 versions of the Classic and had it shipped here, how much would I be out?
My friend JagGuy says, “Why? you could buy a lot of fuel for 6000$.” I answered, “range”. But really I think its for economy. He is correct about the fuel cost, it’s just under two years worth at 4.00$(US). But then I’m right back where I was.
I made a Fuel Cost Comparison spreadsheet. You can download a copy with this link (MicroSoft Excel).
Depending on the numbers you use. You can see savings in just a couple of years that would pay for a motor swap.

Lets use these numbers for my 2003 Discovery.
Petrol
$4.00 Price per gallon
13.5 Miles per gallon (mpg)
$0.30 Cost per mile
22 Fuel tank volume (gallons)
297.00 Range in miles
$88.00 Cost per tank
48 miles per day
$14.22 Cost per day
$3,555 Cost at 12000 miles

With a diesel getting 25 miles per gallon.
$4.60 Price per gallon
25 Miles per gallon (mpg)
$0.18 Cost per mile
22 Fuel tank volume (gallons)
550.00 Range in miles
$101.20 Cost per tank
48 miles per day
$8.83 Cost per day
$2,208 Cost at 12000 miles

Total savings compared to the Petrol 4.6
$5.39 Difference per day
$161.71 Difference in 30 days
$1,967.43 Difference in 365 days

How about the 2.2 TD4, getting 37 miles per gallon?
$4.60 Price per gallon
37 Miles per gallon (mpg)
$0.12 Cost per mile
22 Fuel tank volume (gallons)
814.00 Range in miles
$101.20 Cost per tank
48 miles per day
$5.97 Cost per day
$1,492 Cost at 12000 miles

$8.25 Difference per day
$247.64 Difference in 30 days
$3,013 Difference in 365 days

So you can extrapolate that after 2-3 years for the cost of a decent used car in America you could put a diesel in your beloved Land Rover and begin to recoup your investment.
How many more years do you plan on driving your Landie? I intend to keep my Classic forever, and why wouldn’t I if I can still get parts. And when I can’t there are dozens of axles and transaxles to choose from, upgrades even.

What are the costs? I will be looking into this in the coming months and I’ll compile some of the threads to find what will work and how much.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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