Thread: One 24hr Landy Adventure

Well this looong tale seems perfect for the campfire especially a campfire surrounded by Landy Lovers.

Well I've got it...the short wheel base series three I was after (check out the link http://www.aulro.com/apc/showproduct.php/product/2818/cat/4). Left from the Central Coast (going to uni between Syd and Newcastle but I'm a vic boy out west by the mountains) at 3am Wednesday morning last week headed for Wodonga in the EF XR6 admiring the ease with which it did the highway and wondering why I was getting rid of it. I did recall the long list of problem it had had since Feb, headgasket, water pump, power steering pump, etc. but still enjoyed the drive and arrived around 11:30 before heading around to Clarke Automotive around 12. The guys were just sitting down to lunch so I had 45 minutes to kill and again wonder why I was planning on getting rid of a perfectly good car for one 37 years old. After lunch was had the Blue Shorty (I'm still trying to think up an appropriate name for her) was brought into the workshop for a fluid check and wiper blade replacement before the long trek to the other side of Sydney.

Paperwork was signed, cash handed over and my gear was swapped out of the Falcon into the Landy before I headed to Vicroads to change ownership. I was fortunate enough to pick the lady having a bad day and since I had a NSW license she told me I would have to register it there or have a letter signed by mum and dad proving it would be garaged in Vic. This means I would only have 14 days to get the letter and drive the Landy back down to Vic to visit a Vicroads office. What to do? I was feeling a little annoyed when I realised all I had to do was transfer back to a Victorian License. I went back in and was served by the colleague seated next to my aforementioned friend. I stated my purpose and the 'grumpy' lady piped up and said I couldn't do that unless I got a letter from my parents seemed strange to me and all I needed to do was show my Medicare and health care cards in the end. So I was finally on my way with a full tank of fuel and a new Landy to my name.

The story doesn't end here however.

The rain had hit and set in to stay and I was glad that the wiper blades were working well though the left wiper seemed to be playing games and was working spasmodically. This didn't worry me as I could still see and was having enough trouble learning how to drive again (do they issue special series licenses?). The trip went along without hiccup until about 10:30 when I was still 350km from Sydney. I was being overtaken by a truck with another sitting on my tail when I smelt something burning and noticed when the truck got a little ahead that my headlights had failed. The parkers were still working and I wondered whether I should try and stick with the truck as I needed to make in back to Uni for classes the next day. It soon became obvious that I wouldn’t be able to keep up and I was left with my parkers only to drive by. I realised I would have to pull over but needed a safe area to do this so I kept on driving along for about 5km looking for an exit or rest area. For some reason I tried flashing my lights and they came on. As long as I held the blinker arm as if I was flashing someone I had lights albeit high beam only. I continued my journey but my arm tired surprisingly quickly holding the light on so a battery packet stuffed behind the lights came to my rescue. The rest of the trip to the other side of Sydney continued uneventfully enough apart from having to remove the left wiper as it had started wiping the back of the left mirror (it turned out when I went to put in back on that it was actually a right hand side wiper so the screw wasn't sitting in the groove and was free to spin around).

I was barley twenty minutes away from my destination and by this time I had completely fallen in love with the beast despite it only doing 80-90 for me and despite the leak dripping on my leg and the very loud road noise. The character and lack or pretence had won me along with the amazing potential that I could see in it. Yet a test of this love came when I noticed the temperature rising rapidly (I'm very glad the temp gauge works) I pulled over as soon as I could and opened the engine. It wasn't the prettiest sights. Brown water was leaking quite rapidly from around the lower radiator hose at the engine end. I didn't have any water left with me as I had drunk it all and I couldn't see any water sources nearby except the windscreen washer water. The leak had stopped by now but when I emptied that into the radiator it started again. I decided that I would have to risk driving another 300m to a service station where I could take the pipe off and see what the problem was and still fill the radiator up again. It was about 1:30 am by this time, 22 hrs since I had last slept (only for four hours the previous night though). I opened the hood again and undid the lower pipe and as I did the metal that it was attached to simply broke away. I was horrified and soon realised I wasn’t going any further that night. At first I thought that it was the actual engine that was corroded (I haven't had a lot of mechanical experience) as it was all red but then say the three bolts and decided to rip in apart ready for the morning. The radiator, fan etc. was removed before I pulled out a very corroded water pump (looked like the original). Dirty water poured forth and I was reminded once again (after the Falcon's problems almost all caused my lack of care for the cooling system) of the importance of using proper corrosion inhibitor. Now that I was ready for the new parts and was feeling much better about the whole situation since it only took be about 45 minutes to pull it all apart I tried to call up my friend but no luck there so I left a message and went to sleep curled up in the back of the shorty at exactly 3am, 24 hours since I left!

The next morning a mate came and picked me up and we went to Auto Pro to pick up a few parts including a very impressive $35 water pump. Back to the landy and I was predicting we'd be on the road again in 45mins. Didn't happen however and I have quite a good excuse. One of the stud holes on the old Red 186 had been misdrilled. I attempted to put the water pump back on and instead of realising it didn't fit and thinking my way through the problem I reasoned that since this was the pump for the motor it must fit so I used a bit of force and eventually got all the bolts in and was tightening the up when on snapped. This was when my mate had to leave for Uni and classes; I still had a couple of hours up my sleeve before my first class. I acquired a bolt from a mechanic and put the water pump back on and was about to start attaching hoses when I realised the heater hose attachment from the water pump needed drilling out. Off with the water pump again and back over to the mechanics. The bloke mumbled something under his breath about this is why you bring your car to a mechanic as they have these tools but he did the job and only charged me 5 bucks. Now for the third attempt to put the water pump on. It was successful and everything went back in and I added water which immediately before I even started the engine began leaking out much to my disgust. The bottom bolt wasn't done up enough and it became clear that I would have to pull the whole lot apart again. Out it all came and I assessed the water pump. I pulled it off again and finally realised that my real problem was that the holes weren't lining up so no matter what I did for such a delicate operation the holes needed to line up perfectly. I pulled the old water pump out of the back and noticed that it had been drilled out to compensate and since I had snapped another bolt that attaches the alternator I was going to need help. I called Central Coast Thread repairs and the bloke came and saved the day. Fixing all my little problems and giving me a water pump that would actually line up the mounting holes on the block. He only charged me sixty bucks too. Everything went back together for the fourth time and this time it all fitted and didn't leak. After flushing the cooling system through once and putting some nice green liquid in the radiator I filled up with fuel and picked up a new fan belt and was finally on my way again on Thursday night, I only missed two days of Uni in the end.



Landy Adventure no.2

I had been wondering what the big red key in the passenger side of the dash did. Then came Friday night. I took a couple of guys for a short ride in the landy, they were most impressed but one of them must have bumped the red plastic key on the passenger side of the dash. I headed out after dropping them off on my first camping trip in the landy looking for a nice beach to sleep at. As I pulled over to look at the map after passing what I thought was the turn the engine stalled and wouldn't start again after spending about 45mins looking over all the electrics and checking the battery and laying dejected underneath the car trying to work out why it wouldn't go I noticed the red key on the floor and suddenly it hit me exactly what it did. I was soon on my way again.

Well there's my landrover tales for the past week.

So I still need to get the lights fixed. A mate had a look for me but couldn't figure it out so might take it to an auto electrician tomorrow. I also need to get the gears fixed as first and third are falling out of gear but I'll ask more about this in the appropriate place.

Landrover...I only know it gets me there....well at least eventually and you're bound to have fun on the way.

I love it, best thing I've ever wasted money on.

Had exactly the same prob with my comb switch lost lo beam it is the the amperage that burns them out you can fix but i got a brand new one from LVS at silverdale for $70 the permanent fix is to install a relay between the switch and lights only use the comb switch to activate the relay
and have you will quickly learn about mech stuff and auto electrics with an old landy