Peelies travels

It started on the last trip. A little flicker of the charge light on the dashboard. Of course I was quick to deal with it and because it also came with an alternator voltage flicker, I started to ‘question’ the alternator regulator. After some good sleuthing I was nowhere nearer finding a replacement. That was until I contacted Namesh at Greens Starters and Alternators in Leicester. He was able to point me to the exact replacement regulator that is manufactured by AS in Poland. Before I knew it, a new one was in the post. A few days later, having removed the alternator, I swapped it over in the laboratory. All was fine after that. I even fitted a new solar panel of 175W, to give us an extra 75W of DC, and also a proper 16A AC hookup power connection,  until sometime after that, the engine wouldn’t turn over, as the battery was low. I gave it some help and put the event onto the list of ?s. Then a few days before the next trip, it did it again. Another flat battery. So what have we ...

I seemed to spend all of January, February and a lot of March, in the garage. Following the last trip, I did say that I’d sort a couple of issues. One was excessive engine oil ‘consumption’ and the other a drivetrain clunk. I was perhaps not quite expecting to almost-but-not-quite-strip the engine but that’s what happened. Very fortunately I have the old CRV with the side-hung rear door. This happily swallowed the block and I took it to Sheffield Engine Services for a cylinder bore hone. Once back home it was fitted with new piston rings to all cylinders  and plenty of care and attention. Quite a few oil leaks were addressed and I hope that I can run-in the rings and get good ring fit to the bores. Only time will tell. Then it was onto the clunk. I believe that this is from the rear axle. Unfortunately by prying yet again on the suspension mounts, I discovered that the brackets on the axle tube were crusty. This needed a purchase from YRM of lovely new ones and also a suitable weld...

Here we are again, preparing for the slightly delayed 2023 Spring / early Summer trip. Originally this was to be a 'big' trip to Greece via Italy and home through the Carpathian mountains. However events at home meant that we couldn't leave soon enough to ensure a not-too-hot period in Greece. As it turns out, the weather in 'Europe' through April and May has been terrible and we would have had no heat issues in either Italy or Greece. In fact it sounds as though we could have floated through Italy, en-route to the ferry ports of Brindisi or Bari. We have been delayed by personal matters but also by the needs of the Land Rover, which decided to spit diesel out of the wrong parts of the (high pressure) fuel injection pump. This needed to be rebuilt (at Sheffield's own Sheaf Diesel) and whilst it was off I thought I'd better replace the timing belt, idler pulley and tensioner. It was last done in 2017 so it was really time anyway. So I had a few days of disass...

 I had to remove my Roamerdrive (overdrive) in order to get at the transfer-box so taht I could remove it too. I want to do some routine maintenance on the T Box. It's been on for 26 years and covered 170K miles. A few months ago, when the OD was last engaged, I thought I was starting to hear a noise and it's been in my mind to investigate. However I have continued to use the vehicle for local journeys. Here is a video taken today straight after removing the unit. I am assuming horrible things are happening inside and I will need to open it up, hence this thread Whilst I think about whether to do the LT230 overhaul / upgrade myself or ask Ashcroft Transmissions to send me an exchange unit, I cleared the bench and started to look into my Roamerdrive. The only problem that I have had with this was in the first few long miles with it engaged, driving through France. I had been unable to deselect it as it dropped into a 'neutral' position. I had needed to stop before it wou...