Dave takes a brave pill and buys an L322 V8 Range Rover without a warranty: Rusty shite, Pg4 updates.

[DaveDorson]

It's too fucking hot to be working on cars.

 

The arm turned up today so I might get that done tomorrow, I did investigate my suspension issues...

 

 

The verdigris (it's made of sintered bronze) on the compressor silencer is a bit of a tell really that the drain is probably a bit moist, this likely means it's clogged up with broken up desiccant material.

Soaked it brake cleaner and tried to blow it out, managed to get some flow, also made a small modification.

 

 

However I'm still getting the error, so I've ordered new desiccant, new filters for the drier and new rings for the exhaust solenoid.. I can make it dump air OK, I just need to do it twice to get it fully into access mode by restarting the car, but it's filling, holding air and dumping air out as it's meant to, so I reckon sorting the drier out will help.

Hopefully I'll get some stuff done tomorrow but it's proper balls soup weather 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

On 8/23/2023 at 9:16 PM, DaveDorson said:

Thats closed recently from what she tells me.

And apparently they are going to build houses on the golf course too.

Progress eh? 

The museum closed at least 5 years ago, if you saw a green VR6 Corrado or blue Golf R estate that’d be my little brother , he lives just along from the shop.

[DaveDorson]

6 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

The museum closed at least 5 years ago, if you saw a green VR6 Corrado or blue Golf R estate that’d be my little brother , he lives just along from the shop.

He lives opposite Lian then pretty much, she's got an A5 cabby.

[DaveDorson]

Replaced the ball joint today, because I might need to be using the car again and the part has been sat in the boot since the MOT.

 

I neglected to take any photos as it was fairly easy, nothing broke and it took less than an hour to get the arm and offending ball joint swapped over, and I had golf stuff to try and sort.

 

Tomorrow I plan to sort out the exhaust valve and drier in the compressor.  I might remember to take some pictures, I might not.

Total cost of ownership has increased by £40 or so with the new part fitted.

What I did do, was modify the new part a bit, I should have taken some photos of this really.

So the ball joint is part of the front lower arm, it's got a tab where the height sensor bolts on with a 10mm bolt, a larger through bolt at the chassis side and then the ball joint where the arm meets the hub carrier.

 

On the ball joint for the new part, it's a single rubber boot with a single retaining clip on the boot at the base, the part I removed, which I suspect was original to the car, has a wire clip at the top of the boot as well to stop dirt ingress.

I also noticed that there's not a whole lot of grease in there.  So I resolved that and removed the clip from the old part and fitted it to the new one. 

With that done, it was just a case of refitting the part, dropping the car down before torquing up the chassis to arm bolt fully and taking it for a drive.  

And I can report, after driving it, I probably need to get the tracking looked at, because although it tracks straight and true, the wheel is a bit off and there's quite some toe out.  I suspect it's been adjusted to the play of the old ball joint by the previous owners friendly local. 

So tomorrow I'll spend some time under it trying to get all the bolts clean and free before I drop it to my friendly man with a hunter for alignment, as I don't fancy trying to do this one with string and chalk.

[richardmorris]

Jayemm vid today on late liz’s car.

 

 

[Timewaster]

Does anyone else find him unwatchable? It's LIKE he is trying TOO hard to sound INTERESTING and over emphasising WORDS so as NOT TO sound monosyllabic.

It's almost like he is trying to be the most Clarkson like youtuber.......

In the World!!

[DaveDorson]

Just now, Timewaster said:

Does anyone else find him unwatchable? It's LIKE he is trying TOO hard to sound INTERESTING and over emphasising WORDS so as NOT TO sound monosyllabic.

It's almost like he desperately wants to be Clarkson.

He's not my favourite YouTuber but there's a lot worse out there.  Does review some stuff I find interesting.

[tooSavvy]

20 minutes ago, DaveDorson said:

He's not my favourite YouTuber but there's a lot worse out there.  Does review some stuff I find interesting.

Hmm..... this guy is so convincing >>

..... I bought the product! 🤣🤣

[DaveDorson]

Well..

 

You all warned me that it'd happen and I ignored you.. 

 

Last night I was celebrating my dad's 70th and as we left the pub, my media system (which is sort of integral to a load of stuff on these, like the clock, the trip computer, the suspension and so on) stopped working.

Those who've owned and worked on these will be absolutely aware of the MOST bus, but for those who aren't familiar, the actual head unit is buried deep in the dashboard, the touch screen infotainment bit is linked to that via an optical fibre bus, which loops to a number of other modules in the car, the CD changer, the amp, the traffic module, and the Bluetooth connectivity.. unfortunately the Nokia Bluetooth module on these gets full of condensation and blows up, and when that happens the optical fibre loop is broken and nothing works.. you get the Landrover logo, a flashing LED on the dash and you can't access the stuff you want to access.

Modules come up used all the time but they're all inherently flawed, as such the below is inevitable.

 

I'm sure I could repair this, but it's easter Sunday, I don't like driving the car without stuff like access to my suspension and trip calculator (or music) and I need to adjust the clock.  You'll probably have heard of people using loops to bypass modules, but I want to use the car today so I found a way to bodge it until I can get a new unit which I'll add some confirmative coating to the boards of and properly seal to stop this happening again..  I'll probably opt for a later module too so it's actually useful as these Nokia ones are useless.

Anyway the fix..

 

So I'll take these.. some tesa branded electronics tape and the plastic tube from an empty bottle of oven cleaner spray, washed out and dried off.

 

Unplug the faulty module.

To reveal my optical cables, as you can see "in is working, out isn't and won't if plugged into the module as that's cooked.

So I trimmed a patch lead.

Used it to make the jankiest ever fibre splice

Don't do this..it's stupid.

Badly taped it together and cable tied it out the way.

As a result I've now bypassed the module and it all works again.

Total cost to fix, albeit temporarily, £0.00.

These cars man..too complicated, to expensive to run..

[grogee]

17 hours ago, DaveDorson said:

Well..

 

You all warned me that it'd happen and I ignored you.. 

 

Last night I was celebrating my dad's 70th and as we left the pub, my media system (which is sort of integral to a load of stuff on these, like the clock, the trip computer, the suspension and so on) stopped working.

Those who've owned and worked on these will be absolutely aware of the MOST bus, but for those who aren't familiar, the actual head unit is buried deep in the dashboard, the touch screen infotainment bit is linked to that via an optical fibre bus, which loops to a number of other modules in the car, the CD changer, the amp, the traffic module, and the Bluetooth connectivity.. unfortunately the Nokia Bluetooth module on these gets full of condensation and blows up, and when that happens the optical fibre loop is broken and nothing works.. you get the Landrover logo, a flashing LED on the dash and you can't access the stuff you want to access.

Modules come up used all the time but they're all inherently flawed, as such the below is inevitable.

 

I'm sure I could repair this, but it's easter Sunday, I don't like driving the car without stuff like access to my suspension and trip calculator (or music) and I need to adjust the clock.  You'll probably have heard of people using loops to bypass modules, but I want to use the car today so I found a way to bodge it until I can get a new unit which I'll add some confirmative coating to the boards of and properly seal to stop this happening again..  I'll probably opt for a later module too so it's actually useful as these Nokia ones are useless.

Anyway the fix..

 

So I'll take these.. some tesa branded electronics tape and the plastic tube from an empty bottle of oven cleaner spray, washed out and dried off.

 

Unplug the faulty module.

To reveal my optical cables, as you can see "in is working, out isn't and won't if plugged into the module as that's cooked.

So I trimmed a patch lead.

Used it to make the jankiest ever fibre splice

Don't do this..it's stupid.

Badly taped it together and cable tied it out the way.

As a result I've now bypassed the module and it all works again.

Total cost to fix, albeit temporarily, £0.00.

These cars man..too complicated, to expensive to run..

Top skillz that man! "Can't touch fibre optics m9, your car will explode". 

[DaveDorson]

28 minutes ago, grogee said:

Top skillz that man! "Can't touch fibre optics m9, your car will explode". 

I've been working in IT for years so I knew I'd he able to "hack it" should something fuck up, it's not complicated really it's just different.

[DaveDorson]

Soooo.. I decided to take all the plastics off while it's in the workshop and take a look at the rot I really should have done, as it's now lapsed in MOT and.. well.. yeah,

[DaveDorson]

 

 

 

Plastic skirts hide a multitude of sins..

As you can see I've got the sill repairs, I also bought some arch panels, but not jacking points..so I've ordered a pair of them too.

 

 

 

[lesapandre]

11 minutes ago, DaveDorson said:

 

 

 

Plastic skirts hide a multitude of sins..

As you can see I've got the sill repairs, I also bought some arch panels, but not jacking points..so I've ordered a pair of them too.

 

 

 

For a 'premium' vehicle it's really a disgrace isn't it? I'm no expert in vehicle construction but the multiple crimped pressings look abysmal. Just a lot of crap. 

I see from the catalogue these are now £128,000+ with options. 

[DaveDorson]

3 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

For a 'premium' vehicle it's really a disgrace isn't it? I'm no expert in vehicle construction but the multiple crimped pressings look abysmal. Just a lot of crap. 

oh yeah, but people who pay the premium vehicle money are long out of them by now so won't care.    It's the lack of any proper rust proofing that's caused this.

[lesapandre]

Yes. Great of you to take it on. 

What's left of the British motor industry just seems to continue it's inexorable decline into oblivion.

Jaguar are apparently not producing any cars next year whilst they retool.

 

[DaveDorson]

someone has to do stuff like this, otherwise we'll all be moaning how they all got fragged and anyone who liked them is now priced out of buying.

[bangernomics]

Looks on autotrader, then remembers weekends spent messing about with old bodges.

Good for you though investing in it. Lovely to drive when you don’t have to fix them.

[Stinkwheel]

I'm genuinely amazed how Range Rovers of all flavours from day one were prone to rust, you would think after all those years they would have at least pumped a load of decent rustproofing into them all

I'd still quite like one, but i think my eye is being drawn by Jeep Cherokees currently (which also rust for fun)

[DaveDorson]

56 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

I'm genuinely amazed how Range Rovers of all flavours from day one were prone to rust, you would think after all those years they would have at least pumped a load of decent rustproofing into them all

I'd still quite like one, but i think my eye is being drawn by Jeep Cherokees currently (which also rust for fun)

To be fair, mines been neglected and it's a good one, but there's a reason people started making panels for these cars and selling them on eBay.

 

I've had a couple of XJ Cherokee's and they're awful for rot, and everywhere, even the roof! The 2.5 Sport was comedically crap, the 4.0 HO was OK, the diesel was terrible. They're also remarkably small inside.