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Diagnosing a Bad Battery on a Range Rover Classic (Post #677) 11/4/2024

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Yep, you read that right…bad battery. Two weeks ago that battery was fine. It held a charge…or seemed to. But this weekend it decided to cross over to the big battery charger in the sky. The only thing different this week from previous weeks, was I left the battery connected.

I had removed the alternator from the system by pulling the charge cable. So only the rest of the vehicle would be the only thing parasitically draining it. I didn’t think I’d have to work 32 hours out of 48 that 1st weekend, so the experiment was a little skewed.

So when I put the meter on it and it registered 0.00 volts, I was a bit bummed. I they decided I’d try to charge it with trickle charger. I hooked it up and the needle pegged to full. The alligator clips started getting hot. My thought, “That’s not right.”

It wasn’t right. I hauled the battery down to O’Reilly’s and had them test it on their fancy tester. (I need to buy one of these, hmmm….eBay?) It said the terminals were not connected. We guessed a dead cell was shorting it across the terminals. Not sure about that, but they weren’t connected.

So $242.00(US) later…when did batteries start being so expensive? Damn it seems like the last battery I bought for the Big White Bus was like 60 bucks.

So I dropped the battery in and test fired the engine. She fired up no issue.

I also ordered a new negative terminal. The off the shelf ones just suck. I’m going to try the same style my F-150 has. They work pretty well. The only thing left is to put terminals on the three ground cables. I’ll figure that out this weekend.

So next week I’ll test for the vampiric parasitic draw. Check back next week for hopefully some results.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Floor Pan Repair on a Range Rover Classic (Post #676) 10/20/2024

In this installment I start getting the rust sorted out for the installation of the floor pan. The cross members have quite a lot of rust on them. I used the wire wheel, a flappy sandpaper disk, and even a cutting disk to remove the rust.

The removal went pretty well. It took a few hours. The lip of the floor where the panel was cut out required wire wheel work as well. This was just a LOT of grinding.

I decided to setup and use my sandblasting cabinet. With the new air compressor it worked great. I was really pleased with the result. So much so that I’ll be building a rolling base for it. That way I can store it when I’m not using it and pull it out to make it more convenient. The lamp inside the cabinet has seen better days so I bought a cheap under cabinet lamp that I will install.

At the beginning of the video I briefly reinforce that I still have a parasitic draw. I’m going to experiment with some solution. One, isolating the alternator. I’m still fairly convinced that the alternator’s diode pack has failed. It’s happened before.

Second, I’m going to test for the draw using the “Pull One Fuse While Watching an Amp Meter” method. It takes forever (30 minutes) but should show what’s going on.

There will be a whole video for that.

Thanks for reading, like and subscribe, and as always Happy Rovering.

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Diagnosing an Alternator on a Range Rover Classic (Post #675) 10/13/2024

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There’s a lot in this video. I get the handle on the lift gate installed. And I diagnose the alternator issues. It becomes pretty clear early in the video that I haven’t wrenched in a long, long time.

I get the lift gate handle installed first. The spring failed, if you remember, and I sourced a selection from Amazon and got lucky there was one in there that, with a little adjustment, fit perfectly. I got it all put back together and reassembled all the bits using stainless steel hardware.

It feels good to have something finally done. It was a little task but it was necessary.

Then I began to investigate the alternator. The Range Rover just died in the driveway the last time I ran her. The battery was D-E-D, dead.

I removed the alternator, let’s call it the NEW alternator because it is. This took way too long. I struggled greatly. It was my conclusion that the NEW alternator had a failed diode pack. I’ve seen it before.

Once I got it removed I took it to NAPA to get it tested. Turns out Moore NAPA where the last two alternators were replaced would not look at it. They pointed me to Norman NAPA which is not a corporate store. At some point there’s going to be a pissing contest about who owes me for a core.

The Norman store pointed me to C&P Auto Electric. It just so happens they are one of the last establishments still fixing alternators and starters in the Oklahoma City metro area. Christian tested both alternators and under load. He reported both were working as expected. He said the diode pack would make a loud noise if it were failing. I asked him what he charged and he said nothing. I was very thankful and insisted I pay him something for the trouble. I thanked him for the help, gave him $5.00(US) and told him to buy a milk shake on the way home.

I brought both of them back to the house. Something Christian said, “You probably have another broken wire somewhere telling the alternator not to charge the battery.” Well it turns out that was good advise. I looked at the wiring for the back of the alternator and noticed there was a wire that was just a shadow of it’s former self.

I fixed it, got everything hooked back up and got her started up and as you will see in the next video she is charging the battery again. I’m still pretty sure I have parasitic drain somewhere. I’m testing that overnight and I’ll have to sort it out if its still there.

The last bit of the video I show you what my wife’s brother-in-law John cooked up for me on the engraving laser at his college. I had a crazy idea to make a logo for Tumbleweed Garage. I’ve mentioned his Youtube channel before. Any way, I drew up this logo from one the Willys Overland company had for their automobiles and John burned it on some anodized aluminum.

I had him burn some of my logo too! It was fun to do and now I’m wondering if I really need one of those in my shoppe. (probably not, too expensive).

I’m off all week for “vacation”. Mrs. Okierover has started calling the shoppe a “resort” because that’s where you go when you are on vacation.

Like and subscribe. Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/rvntDd87GBI
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Prep, Plan, Re-organize Range Rover Classic, Floor Bed Repair (Post #674) 10/4/2024

This post and video are ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I got so distracted when I went out into the shop this weekend. My frustration with the disorganization finally got to me. I reorganized the workbench. I moved the screws and bolts. I re-ordered some shelves. Reorganized the yard tools. It was a busy weekend.

I also talk about a new project to built a jerry can holder for two jerry cans. I have most of a 4×8 sheet of 16gauge sheet just taking up room. I think I can make a template and cut out a jerry can holder from the sheet. This would accomplish two things:

  1. Take care of a need to store stuff on the Range Rover Classic when I’m out.
  2. Get most of the sheet steel cut down to a manageable size.

It’s a win win for me.

I also want to make something from the two ancient jerry cans I found in the old shed before I tore it down. They are pretty crusty inside so they are only going to be good for a project like one of these….

I actually want to make a storage for my recovery gear. So that will be awesome if I can make that be as cool as it sounds.

The Big White Bus showed me it still has an issue with either/and/or the battery and alternator. While running her to prevent the varnishing issues she just died. Turned out to be a dead battery. So either the alternator is not charging the battery, or the battery won’t hold a charge. I’m pretty sure its the first. I will be getting a new alternator via warranty. It will be my 7th replacement from NAPA. I think I’ll also look for a NEW alternator with a similar lifetime warranty.

That’s about it. Told ya this post was all over the place.

Thanks for reading, like and subscribe, Patreon if you have the means to support the page.

https://youtu.be/JxiPtaaCecc
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Upper Tailgate Repair on a Range Rover Classic, Part 3 (Post #673) 9/29/2024

In this post I finish up the upper tailgate repair. I finished up all the rust removal and put the frame back on.

This went “good”, I guess. I broke one bolt on the passenger side latch mechanism. I didn’t finish the seal. There were two holes that the rivets would not work in. I tried to tap them for a 10/32 bolt. I need to but the bolts and see if my tapping worked.

I tested the latch but it didn’t work super great. So I have some more work to do to get that adjusted again. It was working perfectly before I took it apart. So it may need more adjusting.

I took a few minutes to investigate where my backup camera will need to be mounted. I’ll have to experiment more once the head unit is installed. I only get one shot at drilling and installing. I gotta make it count.

I didn’t get to finish the job this weekend. One, the tapped screws did not get bought. Two, we had torrential rains happen today. At one point the rain was falling at 2 inches an hour. It slowed down some and in the end we got 5 inches of rain in 6 hours. It’s still sprinkling. This will break the drought we were under.

Next week I’ll wrap up the tailgate probably off camera. Next project is the rear floor. I still haven’t sorted out how I’ll get the rust off. So that’s the research I need to do this week.

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Thanks for reading, and watching, and Happy Rovering.

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Upper Tailgate Repair on a Range Rover Classic, Part 2 (Post #672) 9/22/2024

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In this video I continue to refurbish the upper tailgate frame. It’s crusty. I ordered some 30 inch wire bottle brushes to attempt to get the rust out of the frame.

They worked great. I ordered them from Justman Brushes. Made in America too!! I eventually nipped the ring off of one and inserted it into my drill. This was pretty clever of me if I do say so myself.

Once I got as much of the rust out as I thought I could get, I moved to get the paint in there. It did occur to me that I could have dipped the frame in sulfuric acid. But I would have had to start all over and in the end, I still had to rely on the paint pouring to coat the interior.

I will still have to lightly sand the frame to even up the paint. The rust preventative paint is some very thick stuff.

At the end of the video I go on a rant that I liken never finishing the Range Rover Classic to Shipwright’s Disease. I posted on this previously back in 2022. You can see that by clicking the link Shipwright’s Disease [Okierover].

Read Tailgate Repair Part 1 here….

Carry on to Part 3…

Thanks for listening to me whine, like and subscribe, and Happy Rovering.

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