St.Jude

Just an FYI - I’ve only ever heard about sawdust in the gearbox from Matilda in the 90’s. I’ve not got a car with a fucked gearbox to try. I’ve nothing to add to victims of sellers, but I’ve got one where the dealer was the victim of a part exchange. My dad had a Rover 820Si fastback, and it developed a fault where the engine would just die randomly. You could be doing 50mph and it’d just die, or pulling out of a junction slowly and it’d die. RAC came out, identified that it could either be a relay box that was screwed (because after a while you would hear it flutter and then it’d fall open) or it was the ECU. Dad was sick of sticking a bit of cardboard in the relay to keep it closed so we went off to buy a car. Closest second hand dealer was about a 5 minute drive, and the Rover died once on route. It’d start first time, but it decided to die again as he turned in to the dealership. There was a portakabin that was the office for this place, and the 3 salesmen stood there watching him drive in. I ask him what’s he going to do, and he says “it’ll be fine”. The car rolls past without the engine running and my dad parks it up at the bottom of the site. There was next to fuck all there, my Dad liked big cars and hated hatchbacks, and the only thing that was semi appealing to him was a Mk1 Ford Focus saloon. Dad took it for a spin, muttered it’ll do, then struck a deal where I think he got £750/£1,000 PX for the fucked Rover. I can’t remember right the figure, but it hurt the salesman. The salesman, btw, was quite proud in saying he was a good judge of character and my dad seemed to be a top bloke. Which he was tbh, if you weren’t selling or buying from him. The car, apparently, needed an MOT. My dad was adamant he loved the car and wanted to get going with it, so why not let him have the car and he’ll drop it back for the MOT in the week? Sure. The Rover was left, and we drove off in the Focus. He turned round to me driving off and basically said whatever happened that he wasn’t going home in that Rover. He hadn’t even been for a look before hand. Few days later he rocks up with the Focus, and the Rover is in the same place he left it. Salesman goes to him “here, how do you start that Rover?” ”You put the key in and turn it, why?” ”It won’t start” Surprised, my dad goes “well that’s strange, you saw me drive in with it didn’t you?” ”Yes, I’ve had every electrician out to look at it and no one can work it out” ”Well that’s strange, it’s been great for me really” as he left the keys to the Focus and walked off. About 3 months later there’s a knock at the door, and this bloke is at the door and is asking for the radio code of the Rover. I look behind him and the Rover is stood there. I go out to it, and the only thing I can see that’s changed is a rubber nipple switch was installed by the radiator. That’s all I could see that was done, the bloke bought it from someone that wasn’t the dealer, so not sure where it went. Saw it milling around for years after that. It was a great car.

I have this after market cat from my Peugeot 107 taking up room in storage. I know full well it’s after market, it’s obvious its after market. It makes the car run like shite so it came off in exchange for a £60 genuine one I got off eBay years ago. I’m asking for a rough price. I got given a rough one years ago of £5, so I know it’s not worth a fat lot. But even £10 is two pints of lager, so why not? Personally, the one offering £180 is smoking something that Podge has sold him. Although I’m half tempted to sell the genuine one I’ve got if it’s worth that, but I also know that down the line if the car needs a cat in the future I’m not going to have £600 to buy one! I mean, just give a fucking answer. Where does “any idea of a rough price for this?” Invite being told “aftermarket”. What currency is that?

That only works up until 20mph for some silly reason, at which point it goes back to a normal level. Yeah I’ve not touched the tyres, just wanted a base line (especially as the 24mpg was with lovely inflated tyres).

Well… 274.7 miles of mixed driving. Around town, country roads, a bit of motorway action. The result? 29MPG!!!!! An increase of 5MPG - the Land Cruiser guys reckon they get 30MPG on motorway runs, so this is bloody good! Now I’m going to mess about with the Aussie box of tricks to see if I can get 30MPG on my normal commute.

It was yeah. All of my family are from there, she’s got no Irish at all. I tried to get a TV on in the place but the wife said no. A cousin of mine had the game on her phone and 20 of us were all huddled around it. Not that they did any good in the final but there you are

Excuse the quality, but I’m now a bit paranoid that my wedding photos aren’t where I thought they were. Took this with my camera as it’s on the staircase… Rare photo of the wife who hates all of my cars. We got married in Ireland and the only place that did wedding cars local to where we were getting hitched had a lot of cars, ranging from brand new Jags and Range Rovers through to the standard “Daring Buds of May” era Rolls. Both of us saw the Mk 2 Jags and said we’d have them for the wedding car and they said we’d have the better one. I looked at both of them on the wedding day, as Mayo were playing Kerry in the all Ireland semi final so a lot of us were hanging round the cars listening to the radio. I was hard pressed to work out which one was better, as both were well used. Never been restored, neither had been repaired really, the veneers were peeling and the leather was starting to tear. But it wore it all well, the wife wasn’t bothered and she usually is a stickler for this sort of thing (see every car I’ve owned). Even that photo, the drivers were a bit anxious to have the photos wrapped up so that they could go and watch the game. This didn’t annoy my wife so much, what annoyed her was me going to the drivers after each photo asking what the score was.

So here’s what it’s like right now. When I filled up Friday, that was at 266.7 miles and just over a quarter tank left. That’s partly down to the injectors but mostly down to the Aussie box of tricks. It’s still set to it’s default and I won’t play with it until I know what the MPG is now. I took it for a mad jaunt today so the boy could sleep, and took it on a mix of roads. The smoke has gone, even revved to 3,000 and nothing was there. So I’m thinking the smoke I did see was just crap being burnt off. The car did remind me though that the suspension needs looking at, as after a period of time the suspension got so hard it was bouncing so much it’d give you brain damage. Pulled over on the flat, turned it off for 5 seconds and started it again and it sorted itself out. It’s just sensors on the back causing this though. Could really, really do with the air con working though!

Never had a DPF fitted thank God!

Yeah I’m not rolling coal, it’s just whisps of it. It seemed to be less and less during the day so I think it may have been just shite in there that needed burning off. 60 miles done so far, seems to be going well. No smells, no smoke, no banging. Sound!

Well…. I’ve done 14 miles, it’s swallowed 51 litres of diesel (so I was getting 24mpg before this work), the car feels more responsive and it gets to 30/40 quicker and stays there at lower revs (probably because of the EGR butterfly removal and Aussie box of magic) - but it is producing whisps of black soot from the back when I rev at 2,000rpm. Starting to feel that’s normal for an old diesel with no DPF? What has made it worth it is comfort. I’ve missed this whip. Again, nothing has broken or exploded, whisps of black soot are a fly in my ointment but fuck me it was lovely going to Costa drive through and being eye level with the lovely server.

Thanks! I've not had a diesel for a long time and the last one was a hateful piece of shit. So I thought it sounded alright, and I'm glad now that someone has confirmed such a thing. Genuinely can't wait to drive it tomorrow. Won't be going anywhere fancy, just Birmingham, and not going near the motorway. Not until I've driven it a bit around town to make sure it's grand.

For the attention of Mr @Crackers crackers4.mp4 Video enough for ya?! Barring the fuel clamp which I couldn't get today - left work at 4pm, every dickhead in the country was going my way so my 25 minute commute turned to 45 mins so couldn't make it to Toyota - it all works. Sounds fairly good, I think? That yellow box in the left hand corner is the aussie box of magic, which is set to "factory" standard as I need to re-re-read the instruction manual that I got sent for it. I'll go in to this a bit more when I've figured it out. Eventually I want to fix it to the car properly (as currently it's tied to the loom with cable ties, which is fine as it's only 150g in weight) but not until I know it's configured right etc. Tomorrow I've got the day off, so in the morning I'll be off to Toyota to get the clamp, fit it, then off to Sainsbury's to fill it up to work out what my MPG was before the aussie box of tricks (and EGR butterfly removal) were done. It's been off the road so long, the last time I put diesel in it diesel was 145.9p a litre. The same garage I'll be going to tomorrow is now 176.9p. That's what, 2 months?

Could still happen!

“So everything’s bolted down, everything’s tight, now just to start the engine… fucking fuel lines leaking. now I gotta take everything back off again” Honestly if it goes like that I will happily throw myself off the roof of my house on to the damn thing.

THERE IS NO YOUTUBE VIDEO YET FUCK SAAAAAAAKE

Good news! After much faffing with injector codes - mistaking a D for a 0 - injectors are coded! Good news! After a long start… it started! Good news! Nothing exploded! Good news! No visible signs of diesel fuel leaking from the lines! Bad news. It sounds rough… BUT I’ve not got the intercooler attached which has some sensors on it, it wasn’t warmed up when I turned it off, and I may have started it first time without Cylinder 1 injector not being plugged in. It sounds like a tractor without an exhaust, but tbh I can’t even remember what it’s meant to sound like. Tomorrow I will put the intercooler back on, tighten everything down, throw the car back on Techstream to see if I can clear the codes it threw up (two lights came on so somethings not happy) and give it another go. Fairy sure everything is fine though, I mean I heard nothing metallic banging around, it just sounds like a diesel. Also, no black or white smoke, no smoke at all I could see. So no pope announcements anymore!

The fear of it breaking on my watch is what drives me to do it, plus I quite like driving it and do miss it! Had to go to work today because someone couldn't turn a laptop off (wish I was joking), so went to Toyota to collect the bits. They ordered the wrong clamp, but that's now on order and if I was at home I'd have been able to pick it up today. But I'm not, so I got to wait until Friday morning before I get it. I've read up on the oil catch can thing, as the EGR is effectively blocked off now I don't need to install one. So that'll save some time. Tonight, when I get home, I can fill it with oil, code injectors and then fire it up and test the fuel pressure to make sure I've no leaks. If that goes to plan, which it probably won't, after a quick half an hour of fitting the fuel line clamps and other bits and pieces, I'll be driving it on Friday on my day off. Can't fucking wait.

Had a quick hour after work, decided to put the throttle body back on to the car. Slight faff with it, as the EGR cooler (box with blue/white sticker) needed to be loosened a bit in order to get the throttle body back on, as the EGR cooler feeds in to the EGR valve here. It was a further faff putting the screws/bolts/nuts back on as I've got massive hands and some part of this car weren't designed for people with shovel hands like myself. Now the magic box I bought from Australia plugs in to the top of the EGR valve, which I've not connected for the moment. I've also done a little "upgrade" to the throttle body, removing the butterfly flap. This valve stays open when off, and when you drive it tends to close so that the engine sucks up the gases from the EGR cooler. Now, though, it'll only suck in cold air from the intercooler and not bother it's arse with the EGR. Which is a good thing, as it will improve engine response and fuel economy, without affecting emissions (apparently). The chap who did this to his Land Cruiser reckons he's seen a marked improvement on MPG doing this mod alone, and the response at the low end is more akin to a 5.0 litre diesel. He's also using the magic aussie box as well, so it all helps. Now I had intended to put an oil catch can on the car, but I'm getting conflicting messages about it. Some say it's a good thing, but others are also saying that if the EGR is blocked or taken out altogether then a catch can isn't needed. Given the absolute state of the rocker cover, I'm still inclined to use a catch can.

Spoke to Toyota, that clamp costs £13 plus VAT. It was shagged anyway as whoever had the lines off before fouled the clamp so I couldn’t use it again, not really. Great morning though as I have gone to work without my wallet, and he wanted payment to order. I politely reminded him of the amount of money I’ve spent in the last month or two and that I’m good for £20. He agreed, so it’ll be ordered and turn up on Wednesday. Depending on the weather, I may attempt to install the oil catch can tonight, or at least mount the magic Aussie box to the car.

I would demand one 😂 Thats fine, if anyone else has a car with gangster glass let’s form a coalition and get some printed!

Cheers bud, tbh she was like this with the RAV4 as well so it’s not just the baby. I’m usually not like that, but that happened and even when I was under it I felt a bit panicked like I was going to be trapped. I wouldn’t, as it’s not on axle stands or anything just sat there on its four wheels. I don’t know, but I did a random thing on Friday morning too when the wife hit me to stop me snoring, and apparently I got out of the bed to look for something. I was asleep and just got back in to bed. Well odd, that never happens. Theres probably something in the back of my head that’s not happy, who knows

Ah I know, I don't know what's wrong with my head today really I just have a nagging feeling about it tis all.

Anything that looks like a 4x4, Dacia Duster, it's a Jeep. My mom calls my Land Cruiser a jeep, I try calling it a truck, but I end up reverting back to jeep as "broken land cruiser on my driveway" is a mouth full. It doesn't bother me so much. It winds my wife up though, so I do it to wind her up about it really.

In Ireland, for some reason, every 4x4 is referred to as a jeep. Land Rover Defender? Jeep. Land Rover Freelander? Jeep. Toyota Land Cruiser? Jeep. Jeep? A whip. I catch myself doing it too, I blame my dad.

Roger Taylor, the world's greatest drummer*, having a chat. Interesting stories about Under Pressure and We Will Rock You, along with being 100% right about drum machines.