April 8, 2003
Under Hood Light Project
I have completed the under the hood light project. I told you about this in a previous post. To refresh your memory I purchased a light that is normal equipment on a 1995 Chevy 2500 pickup truck. This is a handy lamp that has a long extension cord that you can take as far away as the rear tires. After you are finished with the illumination you simply reel it back in. I thought this was spiffy so I bought one for about $10 from a local pickup grave yard.
Read about the install here . The one where I add the light under the hood.
April 2nd, 2003 (Post #26)
April 2, 2003
Head Gasket
Well my worst fears were confirmed at Rover Cannibal today. The head gasket is leaking. This leak is charging my cooling system causing the coolant to leak out of the expansion bottle. Not a lot of fluid but enough to cause a tri-weekly annoyance. My options:
I’m sure there are 100 schools of thought on this subject. I have gotten a lot of advise from many trusted sources. The real bottom line is how much does it cost? I will be getting prices back this week.
What are some of the hidden problems?
The head could be cracked. This is not so bad as the worst problems, I could get a replacement
and use the replacement. The worst thing that could happen is the block is cracked. I know a
replacement engine will be about $1800 plus all the labor to put it in. That would be horrible.
I will keep you apprise you of my decision soon.
Exhaust update. I bought a replacement exhaust today. I will pick it up tomorrow.
March 20th, 2003 (Post #25)
March 20, 2003
Rust and Rovers
Rust. What else can you say? Everyone knows about rust and Rovers. When we lived on Guam there was this stuff they called “creeping crud”. It was basically rust on your car. A small rust spot would start and it would creep up your car. Rust was due to the salt air and all the tropical conditions that foster rust.
But today I wonder about rust. Why so much of it on Rovers? What make them so special? I have owned many cars not one of them had any rust. Not one of them has had the exhaust rust out.
My last vehicle was a 1993 Ford Ranger pickup truck. I drove it 189,000 miles in 7 years. Not one bit of rust. Exhaust was pristine. But in the 10 years my Rover has been in existance it has developed several rust issues. They are too numerous to mention but every time I climb under it I see more rust.
Well this week while crossing a busy intersection in town in five o’clock traffic my silencer falls
off my truck. My carpool buddy said, “Did that just fall off your truck?” I replied I don’t think so
as it was only 2 years ago that I had replaced it and there is no way it could have rusted out by now. I was wrong, it was mine. And trashed it was, by the time I got back to pick it up.
I reported a month ago that the exhaust would need to be replaced. I thought I would be able to
replace it at my leisure. I guess I was wrong again.
With the need to replace it looming I have several questions that I will have to research or ask
the good people of several Rover Message Boards for explanations.
The obvious, “Hey he’s in a Land Rover, he must be rich.” look on mechanics and others faces is
almost a bad cliche in Oklahoma. I can’t tell you the number of times I walked out of a shop or store when I was about to be fleeced. So I hope to have my homework done first and not be taken advantage of when getting my exhaust replaced.
March 12th, 2003 (Post #24)
March 12, 2003
The brake pedal is the one on the left
Ah better weather is upon us. And just in the nick of time too. Brake problems are now haunting the beloved Big White Bus. The brakewear indicator began lighting up last week. I got home walked around the truck and the telltale smells of a very hot brake were eminating from the right rear wheel. I went in and change and proceeded to remove the wheel and inspect the brakes.
Now this light tells you when the pads are worn thin. These pads have been on the Big White Bus since September. I didn’t think I had been stopping a great deal in the last 6 months. But never the less the light was on. The pad is in very good shape. But it did smell burnt. So I took the pads out and inspected them further. No excessive wear was found.
Basically the way the indicator works is when the pad is worn down there are two wires in a channel near the metal backing plate of the pad. When the wires are exposed and you hit your brakes they “short” against the brake disc. This tells something else to illuminate the light. Anyway that’s how I understand it works. When you pull a worn brake pad you will see the channel very well and the wires too.
I can’t see the wires or any reason other than this that the light should be alight. I noticed a black burned substance on the top of the pad where the wires enter the channel. My hypothesis (21 point Scrabble word, impressive) is that the brake pad was heated up, due to what I am not sure. But this heating has caused the filler substance to “boil” out and the wires inside now are touching.
Is this verifiable?
Am I insane?
What business do I have making these types of hypothesis in the first place?
Who invented aerosol cheese products and why?
These are all valid questions but unless someone can tell me differently I’m gonna stick with my hypothesis. The solution is to unplug the sensor plug.
But aren’t you disabling an important sensor?
Yes and no. Yes it is no longer part of the diagnosis system. But the front pads will wear much faster than the back and they still have sensors on them. Besides, I’m not some Rover Noob. I check my brakes when I rotate my tires once a year or so.
And my Dad was a television repair man, I have an awesome set of tools, I can fix it.
(Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1982)
February 24th, 2003 (Post #23)
February 24, 2003
Great Stuffage
This weekend we had an Ramp Travel Index get together at Rover Cannibal. I got to meet a few members and future members I haven’t seen before and chat with some I have. I was surprised to see how many of our trucks are white. It looked like an Extreme UNSCOM Convention was going on. As we pulled our trucks up to the RTI ramp I saw a few other colors.
As I was being measured on the ramp Alan Bates came around to my side of the Big White Bus
and said, “You’ve got some great stuffage going on there.” Seems my right rear tire was way
up in the wheel well. We ran the trucks on the ramp inside, because of the weather, and then
as we were not entirely pleased with the results we ran them up outside off of the concrete. Alan
has a very awesome 1992 Range Rover. A really great looking truck check out his pics on the Member’s Page.
With the shifting of the transfer case I found another annoyance that had slipped from my memory since the last time it occurred. The microswitch that activates a bell that noisily informs you that you are in neutral would not go off. Finally after a few minutes it did finally go off. It has been chirping on bumps ever since. With every day that goes by I feel like it would be a worthy project to park the Rover and take it mostly apart and fix all the little problems. I do not have another vehicle to drive and no place to do this maintenance close to home. So it will have to wait for later when the average daily driveway temperature to climbs into the 60s fahrenheit.
February 13th, 2003 (Post #22)
February 13, 2003
Whooo Hooooo
Off road driving can some times be done ON ROAD. Near my home they are widening an intersection from the quaint two lane county section-linesque road to the behemoth 5 lane with traffic light.
There are several level changes between the old road and the new road beds. They are sharp and should not in a normal car be taken at more than 10 miles per hour. While driving home with my family from a school function the other night I learn that the Big White Bus can get it’s tires off the ground. Did I say we were going 30mph and decellerating.
The snow had fallen the day before and this day it had melted enough to flood the lower sections of the road construction zone. Fog had rolled in and obscured my vision to a few hundred feet. As normal we transitioned down a gentle slope. Great fun, the kids loved it. Then I saw the other transition point. A 15 foot wide puddle that we quickly learned was a foot deep. Water came up on the hood and then we hit the HOLE! and as we came out the other end the ramp up on to the new road had a nice lip on it and we all came out of our seats. My wife and kids screamed, RovErica hit her head on the roof and all the tools and equipment in the back reordered itself. Great fun!! We all settled down and had a big laugh.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Sir Issac Newton.
The opposite action is the creaky and growning the Big White Bus now makes when the suspension is tested. A simple turn into the driveway presented me with new sounds of creaking and growning. It seems the suspension will be the first thing this Spring I will need to look at. It has passed the radiator cooling problem by a few points to take the lead in requiring my attention.