Many thanks go out to PaulP38a

[Keithy P38]

Hey everyone,

What a day it was today... My new Rangie and I ventured from Albury to Nowra with a breif stopover in Queanbeyan (spelling?)! And when I say 'breif' I really mean 'the alternator in my new Range Rover decided that enough was enough'!

It was quite coincidental that it happened to die in Paul's home town, and my many thanks go out to him for lending me his spare alternator, and his time and expertise in fitting it at his place!

I'm off north in the morning, most likely get to Coffs Harbour or somewhere around there by day's end!

If your up in Townsville let me know mate, i'll buy you a pub!

Cheers
Keithy

[PaulP38a]

Happy to have been able to help Keithy... yes you did spell Queanbeyan correctly.

It was really just a fortunate coincidence that I had a spare alternator here Andy sent me a couple of weeks ago.

I must say how impressed I was that your car made it from Yass Rd to my place on the other side of QBN in what passes for peak hour traffic here, with virtually no charge left. I was sure I was going to see you stalled behind me with the locals going off at you. Funniest thing was that it finally gave up just as the bonnet passed under my garage door ;)

I was back at work by 6pm, finished my reports and home again by 8pm in time to watch Top Gear, so it all worked out well there too.

May have to take you up on that offer of emptying a Townsville pub one day:D

Have a safe trip home.

Cheers
Paul.

[Keithy P38]

Another good day today, didn't do too many kms but got a lot done! We're pulled up in Maitland (near Newcastle) today. Reason for the short trip was a morning visit to my Uncle's auto eleccy shop, a wheel balance in Nowra (what a difference it makes too), and a trip to the heart of Sydney to drop off my pop's car. I'm making a conscious decision never to go to Sydney again! I'm not good with traffic, let alone heavy traffic!

My alternator issue was the brushes! My uncle in Nowra is going to rebuild the alternator for me and ship it up to Townsville, and then i'll pull yours off and clean it up then it'll be on its way back to you!

And my wheels were out of balance like a clown is out of sanity! Much better to drive now!

As soon as I can find a Supercheap i'll be buying some vacuum hose and getting that cruise control working again!

Cheers
Keithy

[PaulP38a]

As soon as I can find a Supercheap i'll be buying some vacuum hose and getting that cruise control working again!


...and I thought all that silver tape would do the job for a couple of days, or until the engine heat made it peel away. Is the super glue still holding that PCV/Breather line in place?

[Grumbles]

What an adventure you are having - buying a P38 [sight unseen I think] and then taking it on a 3500 kilometre drive just to get it home. Bravo!! And a braver man than me - I'd be keeping it within 100 kays of home for a month untill I got to know it better.

Please keep up with the travelling installments - they are great and I look forward to them each day. :D

[Keithy P38]

The PCV hose has held on and is feeling very sturdy! I checked it tonight! That superglue is legendary stuff!

The hoses for the cruise are alright, although one popped off today, the reason the cruise doesn't work is also due to the brake pedal switch not working! Press the brakes - no brake lights... Bugger! I don't have the tools to repair it at a motel!

I had the Rangie inspected (thoroughly) by a pro, that's half the reason I bought it, but i'll be buggered! He only took it to 60km/h in the test (the vibrations in the drivetrain begin above 85km/h so he wasn't to know!), and the battery was recieving charge at the time he checked it (brushes died about 1000km from Melbourne... Bugger again!). I'd say that sitting at 2800rpm on the Hume didn't agree with those brushes! Every time I look at the car I find something else i'd like to fix (or correct, some things are not broken, but looking like they'll need a fix soon).

The list (and i haven't even gone over the car properly yet)...

Brake pedal switch
PCV to manifold fitting (in brass rather than plastic)
Allow engine oil cap to be removed rather than the whole neck
Free up accelerator cable (very hard to press in gently)
Power steering hose clamp
Timing Cover seal (i think)
Sump gasket
New tyres badly (one even has a nail in it so I was told this morning)
Find out why it's blowing the RH Rear Brake light globe all the time even though it doesn't come on when the brakes are pressed
Other than that it's just general oil changes and a flush of the cooling system. It's not a bad unit, just needs a small tidy up! And that engine is so much quieter and smoother than my green one ever was!

I'll throw another update in tomorrow arvo when I should hopefully be in QLD again!

Cheers
Keithy

[Keithy P38]

And Paul, I just thought of this... It's a shame we didn't get a side-by-side pic of our two dark blue Rangies! Stock vs Beast! Yours just towers over mine hands down!

Cheers
Keithy

[PaulP38a]

And Paul, I just thought of this... It's a shame we didn't get a side-by-side pic of our two dark blue Rangies! Stock vs Beast! Yours just towers over mine hands down!

Cheers
Keithy

yeah true, that would be like a before and after shot... both 99 models, both Oxford Blue.

I guess we were so excited at the prospect of changing the alternator that it didn't occur to us at the time.

Looking forward to your next installment tomorrow.

Cheers, Paul.

[Keithy P38]

The next installment has arrived! Pop and I are in the Sunshine Coast (QLD) now! We arrived around 5:30pm local time (6:30pm to you southerners)! Hit the peak hour traffic in Brisbane, but when your in a Rangie that doesn't matter!

No dramas today, she ran like a dream!

In other news, I got my new TUP codes from Blackbox Solutions, and being a P38 nut I plugged my Faultmate in and had a look! Very impressed! I have one fault on the HEVAC (LH Blower motor stop mode fault), the only other faults related to the battery running out of volts to give in Queanbeyan the other day! That's great to see!

Anyone got ideas on the HEVAC fault? I'm presuming that Relay 7 has given up the ghost, but thought i'd put it out there!

Tomorrow is a nice 900km to Mackay (or 1200km to home depending on what time we leave in the morning)!

I'll keep you all posted!

Cheers
Keithy

[Keithy P38]

Another day goes by! Travelled about 900kms today! We are now in Mackay, only 400km from home now so tomorrow will be a nice easy trip!

First on the list is that cruise control! My right foot has had a hard time this week!

No dramas with the car at all today, as per yesterday! I threw a wheel weight a few hours before knock-off this arvo, but it hasn't really made a difference to how the car drives so i'll worry about it when i get my KM2's in a few weeks time :-)

No doubt i'll be online when i get home tomorrow, i'll update again then!

How's the weather in Queanbeyan Paul?? I heard that it's underwater!!

Cheers
Keithy

[daljames]

Dont start me on cruise control issues!! Haha i finally solved it! And just before i was about to get a new BECM....

[PaulP38a]

Sounds like a good day for all of us then...
Keithy's car is going well,
Dallas' CC is working,
And downtown Queanbeyan is drying out again so we can get to KFC, Hungry's and the Golden Arches on the other side of the river.
Cheers, Paul.

[DT-P38]

Anyone got ideas on the HEVAC fault? I'm presuming that Relay 7 has given up the ghost, but thought i'd put it out there!

Check fuse box for signs of burning and cracking around the relay... some can be repaired otherwise may need replace. Apparently it's more expensive but easier than doing blower motors.

Also check plenum filter/cover and pollen filters and clean/replace as required... these can let through gunk that will destroy HEVAC mechanical components like blowers.

[Keithy P38]

Cheers for that! First thing tomorrow i'll be putting some sort of foam into the plenum as mine has decintegrated! I'll pull the pollen filters out and give them a birthday too!

I'm back home now! Arrived midday local time and have cracked the top off a Toohey's Extra Dry now! It tastes like 3500km of goodness!

Tomorrow i'll get cracking on a tidy-up of the big girl, a good gerni down of the engine bay and under-carriage and will give it a few oil changes while i'm at it!

-End of installments-
Total distance travelled - 3476km
Average fuel consumption (including city driving in Sydney) - 13.1 L/100km
Average speed according to trip computer - 93km/h (not bad)!

Some things I learnt about the car:
- Alternators need brushes to work
- Cars need wheel balances AS WELL AS wheel alignments
- Budget for 2 litres of engine oil when travelling 3500km of highway
- Cruise Control would have been nice
- Nails in tyres CAN travel from Melbourne to Townsville without giving grief
- Had I stayed in Melbourn an extra 5 days I would have met Oprah
- Two-way radios are excellent to communicate with wide load trucks on the highway, and also make it easier to pass B-doubles
- If Paul didn't live in Queanbeyan i'd be there still now (officially not rich anymore)!

Thanks everyone!
Keithy

[daljames]

This coming April doing a trip from Sydney to Adelaide then up to Hervey Bay then back to Sydney. Ill take on board your tips Keithy! Glad i got the cruise going! Ill do a wheel balance and alignment before i go then. Might look at a UHF radio too then??

[DT-P38]

My UHF saved me a couple of possible minor infringements last time I went Melbourne > Canberra > Sydney > Melbourne. It paid for itself on that one trip, let alone what help (& fun) its been when off road or convoy driving. All you do is find the most used truckies channel for the area and listen in...

FWIW I bought a portable style unit (still 5W) so it can leave the car and travel with me in the event of break down (obviously not whilst in the Rangie - he, he, he!) or for spotting on the track for other vehicles when in nastier off road situations.

[Keithy P38]

Yeah a 2-way is a great idea! I've got a hand held ICOM 5watt unit that I take everywhere with me! I'm glad I bought it with me for this trip too! I was thinking about getting something wired up, but for now the little ICOM does the job! And it's got better range than most in-car units anyway!

I gave the car a good clean-up inside this morning. Previous owners were nut fans! So many nutshells beside the seats, in the ashtray, everywhere! That's the worst thing about getting a privat-sale car! No money laying under seats or anything either, so disappointed!

I've pulled out the Gerni now, time to cover up Paul's alternator and give the engine bay a good going over! I'm stocked up with degreaser and have got my old grease-covered duds on - here goes!

After that i'll give the car an oil change and i'll do the diff oils while i'm at it seeing as i've got the oil here and ready! Will probably put it in to my local guy for the transmission and transfer case oil changes though!

The Sat-nav in this car is definitly not factory! When you pull the cover off the stacker/subwoofer unit there's a million wires and computers in there for it! It's not a neat install by any means, looks like i'm going to get confident at removing the jumble of wires to change a simple light globe! I'll speak with my people and see if it's possible to shorten some of the wiring somehow.

And Paul, i've ripped the extra 2 seats out of the rear now too, my god they are heavy little buggers!

Cheers
Keithy