This week was the last week I will use Lucas Ignition parts. If you are a regular reader of my blog you will remember that I recently updated all my ignition parts to correct some poor performance and rough running. I’ve had a few run-ins with Lucas the Prince of Darkness…
I’d forgotten how many times my ignition either through a bad coil or ignition module or both had left me stranded. Last week it did it again. The symptoms are all to obvious now.
The engine seems to misfire at speed.
The idle is rough. Frequent misfires.
Engine cranks but does not fire.
As I was lamenting this with JagGuy he said, “Why don’t you swap it for a basic General Motors (GM) EMI ignition. That’s what’s in all the Jaguars. It would be simple.” Simple for him for sure. And in the end not terrible at all.
JagGuy said it would be easy and it was. I called him on Wednesday night when Mr. Fisher and I were swapping ignition bits to try and find the issue. On Thursday afternoon he told me to come by after work and there it was a new module.
The fun part was how he sourced the parts. The ignition module is from a 1978 Chevy Silverado, the coil comes from a 1988 Chevy, and the bracket comes from a 1998 Chevy Caprice.
The actual part numbers from O’Reilly’s
BWD – CBE4P – 26.99$(US)
MPI – 2-5198 – 22.99$(US)
For that price…a lifetime warranty. Where is Lucas’s lifetime warranty? LIFETIME WARRANTY. And even better they are available at any O’Reilly’s or AutoZone in America. Probably in-stock, in the store.
The wiring is pretty simple.
Here it is mounted in the engine bay.
You can find a diagram pretty much anywhere on line. The only tricky part was getting the two wires that go to the distributor correct. Initially we had them switched. If you happen to do this you may notice the idle RPM to be somewhere around 1200.
I need to zip tie the leads down a bit more. I don’t like them wiggling around. We shortened the pink wire that goes to the wire coming off the clear-ish octopus like plug just below the air filter.
When we had it installed initially the idle was terrible and it caused several Code 44’s. I got those cleared by disconnecting the battery for a minute or so. They say you can disconnect the serial cable to the display, but I’ve never had any luck with that.
After I drove her to Edmond for the new tires and up to JagGuy’s shoppe for him to go over her to find the issue with the idling. When I pulled up she was running like a top. Apparently the computer starts learning after you clear the codes and run a fun cycle without any codes. By the time I drove her home she was running like a top.
On the Difficulty Scale this is a two. The assembly is easy, getting the wires hooked up is a bit of fun but not ridiculous.
Thanks goes out to JagGuy. I really appreciate your expertise and your amazing abilities.
I got together with some fellow Oklahoma Land Rovers Owner members and went on a tour of the Oklahoma Adventure Trail. If you haven’t looked this up on the internet yet, you should. It will be the source of several trips for the Big White Bus in the coming year.
Nathan brought his “new” Range Rover. I was in my Range Rover Classic. John and Jayden were in their Discovery. And Erik and David were in the Defender.
John planned our trip and did a great job of mapping out some fun places to see and giving us a great tour of the back roads of Logan, Lincoln, Creek, Payne, and Osage counties. You will find the links to the map used to guide us. There were deviations from these maps but once you are out there you’ll realize why. Fair warning this is a picture heavy post.
One of many trestle bridges we encountered.
We drove along the Cimarron River for a good stretch.
Supports for a bridge that is no longer present.Along the Cimarron River
This is where we learned Erik lost his gas cap on his Defender. He made a “field expedient” cap out of some duct tape.
We detoured as suggest up to the town of Ingalls, Oklahoma. The town was the scene of what is called the “Battle of Ingalls”. The fight was between U.S. Marshalls and the Doolin-Dalton gang. You can read more about it on Wikipedia or on Legends of America. We stopped and took pictures of some seemingly old buildings, one of which seemed original to the time. We went down the street and to the site of the fight. None of the original buildings exist today.
Monument to the Marshalls
Detail of the monument to the Deputies.
Map of the fight.
Perhaps original to the town
We headed down the road and eventually turned North toward Osage County. The Oklahoma Adventure Trail lists the roads and the detours. Those detours were often buried in posts and therefore sometimes we didn’t know of a bridge out. Of course when you are driving a Land Rover a detour is not always a detour. In this case it was, the bridge was out over a very deep creek.
The signed seemed a bit too temporary for a bridge that didn’t look like it was going to be rebuilt.
We didn’t bring the “General Lee” so jumping it was out of the question.
There were no shortage of bridges to cross. This one was a Works Project Administration job from 1940. They provide a nice break water that had a waterfall.
We stopped in Cleveland for lunch and fuel. We pulled into town on Hwy 64 and stopped at the Dollar General next to the McDonald’s. There was no way I was eating McDonald’s unless there was nothing else. Thankfully we saw Rosie’s Tacos when we crossed the lake south of town on Hwy 64. Yes, that’s a car port. Yes, that’s a trailer parked under it. Trust us. Erik made the first suggestion that he was going to take the gastronomic adventure and get some chow there.
That was all the suggestion I needed. I didn’t have tacos. I had tamales. Delicious. Their verde’ sauce was just the right amount of hot with flavor. I’d drive back there again just to eat the tamales.
Rosie’s Tacos. Yummo.
My odometer rounded out to 237,000 as we pulled up for petrol.
My plastic needs a clean and a new coat of paint.
So with both our tanks and our bellies full of goodness we headed for the Osage Tallgrass.
We got to Barnsdall, Oklahoma where we encountered the only oil well in the world located on a city street. You can see it if you navigate here. 36°33′41.93″N96°9′56.57″W
I was a little surprised it didn’t get rammed by cars more often.
We knocked around a few more locations. Coming out of the Hulah Wildlife Refuge, at least I think it was the Hulah WR, John and his Discovery started having death wobble. We limped along until we got back to the highway going into Bartlesville.
Once stopped, we tried to sort out the issue. At one point John explained how we could deviate our path and call it a night.
John, “We can stay on the black top roads.”
David, the single gentleman of color in our group, interjected, “Why do they have to be ‘black’?”
I couldn’t help myself and had to add, “Because black top roads matter.”
Everyone laughed. It was the levity the trip needed after a long day on the dusty back roads and an unfortunate break down.
Death wobble west of Bartlesville
We tried swapping John’s spare when I noticed that one of the balancing weights was missing from the last stop. Getting the tires balanced is the first thing done to solve an issue with death wobble. Unfortunately that didn’t work.
With the daylight quickly waning, we decided to get the Disco into town. John knew of a grocery store at the bottom of the last hill going into Bartlesville. Once he hit the hill he put the Disco in neutral and coasted her down. We did some additional investigating which did not result in a solution to the problem.
Field repair in a grocery parking lot
We decided to head for the camp site as it began to get dark. When John was planning the trip he remembered a Boy Scout camp and lined us up with one of the cabins. Camp McClintock BSA.
Camp McClintock “Cubs” Cabin. They even provide cots for those of who didn’t bring one.
Once we got the fireplace glowing it took the edge off the night and made for a very tolerable sleeping experience. David was the man when it came to getting the fire going, well done sir. Each person was responsible for their dinner and those who were cooking got started and we had a great discussion.
We spent the evening discussing cars we’ve owned, some sea stories from serving the Marine Corps, and even politics. That may have been the most civil political discussion I’ve ever been a part of. I pretty sure both ends of the political spectrum were represented. One theme emerged, no one was happy with how the country is being governed by the legislative and executive branches.
The next morning we cleaned up the cabin and went for a short hike to the suspended cable bridge. Very interesting.
Cable Bridge
Big Sandy in the other direction.
Big Sandy Creek
We went across the creek to a pond on the other side. It was partially frozen. It didn’t take us long to start skipping rocks and sticks across. The ice and the debris we tossed across it made one of the coolest sounds you’ll ever hear in nature. You can read about it here and see a video about why you get that sound.
We hiked back to the cabin where we decided to part company. Erik and Nathan would take off for OKC and I would take John back to his Disco and get it up on the trailer his dad had left that morning to assist in recovery. After we got her up on the trailer we decided to take in a bit more of the OAT on our way home. we weren’t to adventurous being as we were alone and had no hope of a timely recovery if we got stuck.
Gate on a horse farm
Brick arch in the middle of a field no house in sight
We couldn’t get the frozen springs in the picture
We took a detour off the OAT to see “Frog Rock”. It over looks a nice valley and was in a very remote location. When I climbed up behind the rock to take a picture of the valley I accidentally found a Geocache. We left a note that we were there for the next person to find. We didn’t take anything and we didn’t leave anything either.
Geocache
Frog Rock
Cimarron Valley below Frog Rock
I’ll leave you with a gallery of the better shots. Click for full size.
Chicken Art
Ruins
Water crossing
Ruins
Tressle bridge
Convoy
John leading the way
Imagine the dust after three Land Rovers
Cub House
Ingalls again
Sad, really
WPA waterfall
Youth
Fording
If you are interested in driving where we drove John provided the following maps. We must say we didn’t follow them “exactly”. We took the roads that interested us the most and if there was water crossing we took it.
An irresponsible and distracted driver decided to take their eye off the road and reach down for a bottle of spaghetti sauce that rolled off her seat. The result? She rammed the Big White Bus while it was parked on the street outside my Uncle’s retirement home. The financial damage? Of course they want to “total” my Range Rover.
The only consolation is she totaled her car as well. Her husband was pissed. Perhaps this will be a lesson to her to be more attentive when she is driving. After the cops came and took a report, the husband got in the Hyundai and drove it home. No coolant, airbags hanging, hood blocking 50% of the road in front of him.
It used to be a 2014 Hyundai something or other. She hit the BWB hard enough to deploy her airbags. My guess, 30+ miles per hour in a 25 mph zone. She said, “I didn’t expect a vehicle to be there.” Famous last words. Good thing it wasn’t someone out trying to get some exercise walking where my Range Rover was parked.
In the light of day the Range Rover doesn’t look too bad. The repair estimate was above 4900$(US). The Allstate insurance company doesn’t believe these classic Range Rovers are worth the money they are claiming off the internet. That’s just my luck.
The damage is the left rear fender, left light assembly, the bumper, and the lower tailgate. The driver’s side rear door will not open any longer. She got me hard enough to move the inner panel. I am taking her insides out this weekend to assess the damage and get her ready for repair.
I was able to get the exhaust repaired in time to go with the Oklahoma Land Rover Owner’s group “Osage Adventure”. More about that in another post. My good friend Jag Guy says we can sort this out. That didn’t stop me from looking at possibly getting another Land Rover Discovery. The money is not there at this time. I’m still looking, maybe things will work out for me. The insurance is still not settled. I could sell some bits off the Range Rover and make up the difference. A Disco is still on the table…but I’ll have to see.
So what did we learn?
This is a major inconvenience. I have to take up several weekends of my friend’s time to help me and my own time. It cost me two days of vacation to get the BWB where I could continue to drive her. I can’t afford another car payment. The financial crisis finally came home to roost last year and we are tapped out.
Insurance companies are in this for them not you. I know that is an obvious statement. Insurance companies will always try to get out of paying you what the fair market value is for your older vehicle. You can claim your pristine classic Land Rover is worth 10,000$(US), but if the insurance company thinks it’s worth 2 thousand…guess what.
These Land Rovers are TOUGH. That is all the damage a car that passes for a modern crossover SUV did going 30+ mph. Plastic bumpers and Styrofoam were no match for the Range Rover.
I’ll post more about the wreck and the repair after the insurance is settled.
Oddly enough I found this quarter on the road after the wreck.
Arches National Park. I’m taking as a sign I need to plan a trip to Moab.
Today my goal was to fixed my daughter’s zero-turn mower. It tossed a belt and the blades are toast. It started raining and the Mrs. OkieRover got a text that the kids were taking the grandchildren to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge.
That eliminated 90% of the reasons for her to go. So plan B was initiated. Garage projects. Project one was to turn a couple of new cup holders.
I’ve gotten several requests for the details of the fan resistor for the Range Rover Classic. The latest one came in from Patrick in France. Yes, that France, the one in Europe. He is the happy owner of a 1991 Classic Vogue SE with 4 doors and the 3.9 not catalysted engine in magnificent Beluga Black. Sorry no pictures.
His problem is the same as several of you had last winter that of trying to find a heater resistor to purchase. They are often difficult to find. He sent me a picture I posted the last time I replaced mine. Unfortunately for him the picture was not high enough resolution to make out the part numbers. You see, he is keen to make his own.
So I went out and removed mine and took down the details and took some photos.
Getting to it is relatively simple.
You remove the louver from the passenger side intake. It just takes a flat-head screw and a gentle touch. Remember your plastic bits are 20+ years old and are prone to breaking.
Once it’s out of the way remove the filter material. I have replaced mine with some air filter material I picked up from one of the big box stores. It’s cheap and sturdy.
I had to drill out the rivet. You can see it on the far side in the picture below. That was easy enough. Yours may also be riveted. Whatever, you need to be able to rivet it back or use a screw.
And you have the resistor…simple.
The official part number for a resistor pack is PRC 8010.
The part numbers on the resistors are…
RIEDON452 UAL-50 .5Ω 5%
RIEDON452 UAL-50 1.5Ω 5%
RIEDON452 UAL-50 2.0Ω 5%
This is cost prohibitive for Patrick due to the crappy exchange rate of dollars to euros, shipping, import tax, duty tax, it road in the back of a truck tax, more than one person handled the package fee, and five more taxes we’ve never even heard of I’m sure. SO, I also found them at Island 4×4 in the United Kingdom, currently in stock. Hopefully this won’t be so bad. http://www.island-4×4.co.uk/heater-resistor-britpart-da4178resistor-p-7373.html
So if you are keen like Patrick you can source the resistors from the interwebs for just a few dollars and if you are handy with a soldering iron you can put your own together.
I wish you the best of luck getting a ready-made one or making one yourself.
Merci beaucoup Patrick for emailing.
UPDATE:
Patrick Ferrage emailed us a very nice drawing and schematic of the resistors and the wiring harness. This is top work and makes building one by hand a very simple matter. Once again thank you Patrick.
Drawing by Patrick Ferrage
To the rest of you, thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
So this has happened on the way to work. I noticed the hood bouncing and thought, “that’s not normal”. Thankfully, it looks like it just vibrated out of its nut.
I pulled over and sorted it out in the dark as I had donated my flashlight to my son and have until now, failed to replace it. The quick fix required me to ratchet strap the bonnet down. I also retrieved the parts before they were lost on the road.
I’ll have to clear some space in the garage to get out of the weather. It’s supposed to turn ugly Sunday. Ah…the joys of 20 year old cars.
