The first 9 lessons I leared on my own.
Well, there have been some issues so far: (US '92 RR County)
1) New Tires - The shop told me the stock size is no longer being manufactured and that next time I need tires they probably won't be available anymore. Is this true? What ize should I be looking at next time to keep the stock rims?
2) Shocks - The second owner (I'm #3) apparently thought he knew how to off road and sheared off two of the bolts from the RF shock tower. I had all the bolts removed and replaced
3) Brakes - I think I made a Newbie mistake and had Midas do them. Now they squeal all the time and I'm not sure what the proper fix is. Do I have to get the stock LR pads and put them on?
4) Code 44 - yes the Left O2 sensor has failed. I looked at how the wires are run and where the connector is and I have a hard time believing that everyone does not know what a code 44 is. I have 2 new O2 sensors coming and will fit them onto new harnesses tis weekend and route the wires away from the exhaust manifold/engine block.
5) Code 2-6 (or was it 2-7?) - hum, why did my ABS light turn on? Hum, why can't I take the car out of park? Hum, why do I not have brake lights? Hum why did Land Rover redesign the brake light/ABS switch years after they stopped using it in their cars?... I'm hoping the new, redesigned one is not the POS the last one was.
6) Nice job spot welding the left strut bracket to the frame of the car, NOT. I guess the welder had a few pints to many at lunch. Easy job to weld it back on and reinforce the other one and get after market struts to replace the original ones...
7) What was Mercedes thinking when they designed the seat controls? Oh ya, that no one eats or gets sand in their Mercedes. To bad Land Rover used these switches on their Range Rovers... I figured out how to rebuild them myself and now the seats actually move again.
8) The head liner is sagging a bit in the luggage compartment. I’ve been pondering what the best way to fix it is and noticed I can buy a new one. This makes me believe I could actually remove the existing one with out damaging it and then lift the fabric and apply spray adhesive to the underlayment and roll the fabric back on. What have other people done?
9) New belts and hoses – The only repair that did not come with some surprises!
Well that’s the short list I developed in the last 60 days. Any one want to let me know what other surprises my new baby will give me?
What can I do to stem off the common failure of the head gasket and other seals?
I’ll keep posing all the little surprises I get from my little Range Rover, but it still has fewer problems then the ’72 MGB had… (don’t get me started)
