A Blog About Land Rovers and Living in Oklahoma
December 10, 2002
Garage Day Success
Garage Day was a success.
The Land Rover Bomber Jackets were a big hit.
Got the bad brake fluid changed. There were a great many bits floating in the recovery bottle.
The fluid is translucent now as opposed to the tea colored fluid we removed. There will be a
right up soon. Look for it.
See you at the next one.
December 3, 2002
The Joys of Urban Living and Good Thing He was at the Garage
Garage Day is Saturday. With that in mind Friday after Thanksgiving was a crummy day. I went out to the curb to return the trash cans to the side of the house and there on the ground was my right rear lens protector and some red plastic. I looked at it an thought that’s strange. Then I looked at the truck, long scratch, and a torn quarter panel (with hole). Seems the City of Norman trashman put the retrieval arm of his large trash truck down the side of the Range Rover. Boy was I steamed. I called the City and they came out and assumed full responsibility and the driver returned and apologized.
Monday I went to get estimates for repair. Surprisingly the damage was anywhere from $1200-1400(US). Good grief! In the good ole days my Dad would have said lets pound it out and fill it with Bond-O. Well on a steel car maybe, aluminum who knows. We would have been out $200 with paint. I will have it repaired but the process to be paid by the city is tenuous so I will have to wait until they approve the repair at the City Council meeting someday in the future.
My arrival at work was greeted by several jokes. A sign with pictures of trash trucks and dumpsters from FordShortBed (a new evil woodworking superhero) that says “Stay away from these!!! They are dangerous!!!” stubbornly taped to my monitor. Also Titanium Hitch came in and said excitedly “come on, quick we gotta move the Rover there’s a trash truck in the parking lot!!” I almost got up and went out there. Ha Ha. I will keep you apprised and I will post some pics when I can get them back.
Almost a recovery…
JagGuy drove his Range Rover to Cajun Country (Baton Rouge) over the long weekend and back home. 1500 miles round trip. And after stopping at the Garage to pick up some stuff he came out put his truck in gear and a lound “BINK” came from under the truck. He had a CV joint fail. Wow, what luck that he was at the Garage when it happened. He called me on Monday and told me he had already taken it apart and was heading to Rover Cannibal to pick up a spare. He promised pictures and a write up for all of us. I will post it when he finishes it. It will give him a good reason to buy a digital camera if he didn’t already have one.
November 15, 2002
Garage Day is coming (see below). I will work on one of two projects at Garage Day. Either the “Great Brake Fluid Replacement” or the “Gosh, a light here would be really cool” project. The brake fluid swap is no big deal. Replace the brake fluid whoopee. But the light project is better, more nerdy. The Ditchfinder has a light under the hood of his Chevy that has a real long cord and can be used as far away as the back tires. I went to a junk yard and got one for $10. I plan to install it under the hood. Thusly providing a very nice light for those dark nights on the side of the road.
On the board I have been inquiring about a dual battery setup. In the coming months I will be investigating that possibility. I have a concern about my alternator at this point and it’s ability to charge the batteries. But I will find out more and as always I will let you know what is found.
I am coming around to the final design for the Rover Cupholder (what no reverb). I am pricing lathes and will be to turn some samples out of pine or other cheap wood to work out the bracket to holder relationships. JagGuy had some great input as we blazed along in Edmond to the garage last week and with that advice I think I am ready to “Turn some wood baby”. I have never used a lathe so I may have to have another friend give me a primer first.
November 14, 2002
November 5, 2002
Yea sun. The “bouncing lock” problem is still there. But this is just in (teletype sound here), I have been locking the truck from the driver’s side. But when I lock the doors with the key, just as before, from the passenger side they bounce! So I am going to look at the passenger side first in hopes I will see an obvious problem. More to come….
November 8, 2002
Okay the very frustrating “bouncing lock” problem has gone away.
What did you do to fix it, you might ask?
This is complicated so try to stay with me. I took my son to skating last night when I got out of the truck, I hit the key fob with a confident “lock you sorry, @#$%%#” 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.
