Category: RovErica

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Holy Crap! What a week. (Post #136) 4/7/2009


Let’s start with the good part. I took my son-in-law to his first living history event. We attended the Fort Washita Rendezvous. He has been interested in his Pottawatomie heritage lately and wanted to “do it old school”. So I dressed him as best as my kit would allow and we went to the event and had a great time. We are dressed as Natives in the Fur Trade Period from the 1820-1830s time period in what is today Oklahoma. I am dress as a Cherokee and he as a Pottawatomie.

Some nice panoramic photos of the fort can be found HERE.

I’ve posted some pictures. One has me tomahawking a man in the “mock battle” we had for the spectators on Saturday afternoon. It was great fun.

On the way home we “took the long way” due to a train parked across the tracks in Madill. There was no sign of it moving so we headed north towards Tishimingo. Along the way we pulled off the road several times to gawk at the old farm houses mostly abandoned. We didn’t think to take pictures. We did stop on the side to take a picture of a weird sculpture outside a welding shop.

Sunday night was full of fun. RovErica called from her cellular on the way home from dropping off DietMtDrew’s friend to report the Range Rover was very hard to keep on the road and was shaking “like last time”. The last time was the loose lug nuts incident. I had rebuilt the left rear brake caliper and failed to tighten up the lug nuts completely.

Well this time I was sure it was the steering box. RovErica reported a steering problem a month or so ago. I had been reading on the forums about steering boxes and thought that was it for sure. I tighten the steering box up and the problem seemed to go away.

So I took the Rangie out for a test drive to confirm my suspicion. It indeed wobbled all over the road. I had only drove a couple of blocks and it was really bad. How she managed to keep it on the road was amazing.

I called my buddy JagGuy and asked him about steering box replacement. He had done some work recently on his and I wanted to find out what I had gotten myself into.

I crawled underneath to investigate and found. The nut holding the pitman arm to the steering shaft was nearly completely off. My youngest two kids and my niece were in that Rover. If that nut had come off it could have been really bad.

I was thinking the slotted washer that is designed to keep the nut from spinning had failed. Well that washer is NOT slotted or keyed. I was shocked. What’s the point of bending the washer to hold the nut from spinning if the washer is not held in place by some manner?

So I cleaned off the arm and the shaft and the nut and the washer. I wire brushed as much of the old lock-tite from the threads.

OH I didn’t mention that? Yeah I had blue thread locker on it from the steering seal replacement from 3 years ago.

I got the nut tightened down and added some more thread locker. I then bent the washer again. I’m not sure why but I did. A quick test drive to the Norman North crosstown clash with Norman High in soccer, North took both games, proved that it would be safe to drive again. This week I am going to be attempting to get as many of the bushings from the bushing kit on her in JagGuy’s shop. He has a lift and that should help greatly getting the bushings replaced.

But Monday was not done. At lunch RovErica managed to hit a Dodge Ram Pickup on Gray street and totally destroy the front of the Discovery. AWESOME! So just to keep the score straight. RovErica 4, Discovery 0. Yeah in some manner or other she has wrecked the Discovery 4 times. She was hit from behind. Bumper checked a car during the ice storm, backed the Discovery into the Taurus which took out the B piler on the Taurus. And finally she smacked the pickup truck. She has also been rubbed by a kid in the parking lot of North while she was impatiently waiting to leave the parking lot.

Awesome start to a week don’t ya think?

(I’ll post pics of the Discovery’s front tomorrow.)

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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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.

Posted on

November 4, 2005 (Post #63)

November 4, 2005
Gas mileage down, Disco search halted
EGD stated that the BWB has a nasty odor coming from her. Coincidentally the gas mileage has dropped to 13.5 from the 14.5 and 15 mpg I was getting. I expect she is running rich and will need the oxygen sensors replaced, again!

Discovering a Discovery
My dear wife, oh how I love her so. After she watched me work on the BWB for 3 straight weekends, said we needed a new car. I told her I wanted to get another Rover. Her concerns were all valid. You recite them with me being as you are probably a Rover Owner too. Reliability, warranty, etc…

She did have a few guidelines.

  • little or no maintenance: She doesn’t want me working on it “all the time”.

  • So that eliminates an older Disco I and another Range Rover Classic

  • she wanted 7 seats: Sweet! I’m thinking Series 109inch. Man how good would I look
    driving around a 109 or an early Defender 110?!?! Damn good that’s how good.

  • air conditioning: Okay so no Series, Discovery has a seven seat option.

What did that leave me. Discovery SE7. Our price range is mid 20s and lower. That would mean a $500 plus car payment and more insurance. But RovErica will be driving this time next year. And Drewster Rooster will be needing an auto in just under 4 years. He is happy to drive the Taurus and RovErica likes the novelty of the Rover as I do. So I’m thinking she can drive the BWB and I’ll have a Disco II.

All sound arguements. Except for these facts:

  • I DON’T WANT ANOTHER CAR PAYMENT. We just got both cars paid off.

  • SE7s just don’t grow on trees apparently. They are out there, but as of this
    writing there are zero, zilch, nada, AKA none in Oklahoma. Not a single one.

I got cold feet not getting to look at the vehicle, in person, prior to purchase. Also some of these vehicles are quite a haul from our location in Central Oklahoma. One nice one was in Jonesboro, Arkansas, it had the built in DVD for somewhere around $23,500. There were a couple of nice ones in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area too. And at least 10 in Denver. But those are long drives for nothing if I don’t buy.

But alas, I digress.
So we said, let’s wait. So I’m guessing in Spring I’ll be looking for a 2003 or 2004 Discovery II SE7. Good news is those 2003’s and 04’s will be another year older and another year depriciated.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

May 17th, 2004 (Post #45)

May 17th, 2004
A Big Pause
Well ROVErica has had a great month. She competed and won a position on the Longfellow
Middle School Cheer Team for next year. We are very happy about this as her grades have gotten better too. But with this honor my money has been leaving the house at an unpresidented rate.

So I put a couple of projects on hold and have been bracing for the cost of Cheer Camp and all the clothes that go with it. In the midst of this my oldest daughter announced that she will wed her boyfriend in June 2005. We are very happy for her. With this more monies are exiting the domicile now and not even asking “by your leave sir” as they fly past me. Janie’s back surgery went excellently and her recovery is very good. She is not working and thus the funding has also gotten hit on that end. I didn’t really want to get new bushings and shocks anyway.

I desperately need them as The Big White Bus sounds like a creaky old man while traversing the
parking lots and gutters of our hometown.

I did start on the trailer lights and had to stop. I wanted to disassemble the deck lid and get
the rust stopped. I quit on this too. If a day or two come up in June I’ll get back on it hopefully.

Good News.
The catalytic converters on the Big White Bus are no longer rattling. I guess all the driving has ground them down and they haven’t rattled in month. I wish all my issues fixed themselves like this.

Funny story. My friend recently got a Jaguar XJ6. Nice car, very pretty. She was getting a message from the car that her “boot” was open. She had no idea what that meant. She drove around for a few days and it quit. During recent dinner at her house and JagGuy gave her a lesson on British car terminology just in case she had any more error messages she didn’t understand.

I have started working on graphics for a web page featuring my truck. I need a new name for the Big White Bus. Many people name their trucks but I have yet to find one I really, really liked. If you have a suggestion, email me at rover dot eric at cox dot net. Thanks.

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