Well That Reunion Didn't Flippin' Last Long!

You won't believe this but I just spent the last forty minutes giving you an update on my car and I went to submit the post and I'd timed out! So here's the short of it which should save you a lot of time.

Got car back 23rd Jan.

Worked for a few days.

Brakes/handbrake went 28th Jan.

Needs more work blah blah blah

Into garage 3rd Feb for a days work

Got back yesterday 5th.

Battery been disconnected for welding now screen won't work. No music, sat nav, computer etc. Power there as screen moves and allows tape to eject.

Crikey that took about three minutes to write, why didn't I do that in the first place!!!

You won't believe this but I just spent the last forty minutes giving you an update on my car and I went to submit the post and I'd timed out! So here's the short of it which should save you a lot of time.

Got car back 23rd Jan.

Worked for a few days.

Brakes/handbrake went 28th Jan.

Needs more work blah blah blah

Into garage 3rd Feb for a days work

Got back yesterday 5th.

Battery been disconnected for welding now screen won't work. No music, sat nav, computer etc. Power there as screen moves and allows tape to eject.

Crikey that took about three minutes to write, why didn't I do that in the first place!!![/quote]

So fast to write you posted it twice

SpanishTony said:

So fast to write you posted it twice

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I actually think I replied to my own post!!!!

If I get bored later on I might actually do the full story again so you all can truly feel my pain

Thats Real **** luck mate sorry ;( what were they welding!!

Littelwill said:

Thats Real **** luck mate sorry ;( what were they welding!!

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I knew you'd be along soon! I even gave you a mention in my mega long post that disappeared when I hit submit post. I'll put the full details on again later

SpanishTony said:

So fast to write you posted it twice

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It's an echo Tony.

Sounds like they might have disconnected the battery before waiting for the satnav drive to sleep, this can feck it....

Discon the satnav unit and see if the rest come back to life....remeber to wait for the red light to go out on the drive first.

Right you asked for it, here's the original post retyped ....

Well anyone who has been reading and offering help and advice on my previous thread “8/12/14 Going Great etc” will know about my tales of trouble with my love/love relationship with my L322. If you haven’t read it or haven’t got the time (who has with my posts) then the long and short of it was that the front diff went on the 8th December and I got the car back on the 23rd January 2015.

This is what happened next …………….

Saturday 24th went without a hitch, went everywhere I could think enjoying all the gadgets back on, music nicely echoing around the car.

Sunday 25th, pretty much the same.

As the weekend had gone so well I decided a treat was in order so a trip to the petrol station for a full tank of LPG and half a tank of the good stuff were in order.

Tuesday the 27th she was not used.

Now Wednesday the 28th the day I was waiting for. My first day back at work since she had broken down. I wanted to see the look on my workmates face’s as I pulled up so there can be no more snide digs of “you’ve only had it five minutes” or the ever so classic “not got it back yet”. Oh how I never tired of those. What a great ride into work.

Throughout the day I kept looking out of the window and checking that fate didn’t want to kick me in the nads further by letting the bloody thing get stolen!

So the end of the work day I went outside to put my things in my car and all of my work colleagues lined up excitedly to see if she was going to start. Oh yes, I work with some great people. Nervously the key went in the ignition and I could see their glances looking over at the steering column coming out to meet me and the seat and headrest going into position. As sad as it maybe, I set the seat on the wrong setting when I got out in the morning as I figured I’d earned a bit of showing off. Vvrrooomm the V8 purred into life gently rocking the body. I have to admit that they looked a little disappointed! Seat belt on and reverse engaged and then, ping, that damned dashboard ping. I jumped out of the car and they all looked startled and I told them not to worry as it was just a warning that the screen wash was low. Phew. Then something strange happened. They all disappeared in different directions and one brought me a kettle of water and the other went and got me some screen wash. A third who really had no purpose was wiping a bit of dirt off my grill with his sleeve. Maybe they aren’t a bad bunch after all. Back into the car and into Sports mode I roared off up the industrial estate watching them in my rear view mirror. It probably cost me about £9 but again I figured I’d earned a bit of showing off to accompany the electric seats.

Well, and here’s the twist in the tale that Will has come to expect from my posts, all was great for two thirds of the journey home. Just around the corner from my house, I got stopped by temporary traffic lights (who doesn’t) and for some strange reason, I put my handbrake on. Now I say strange as when I first got the car and had the village garage check it out, they said that the handbrake would need attending to as it wasn’t really engaging but as they were working on the alternator and the battery, I decided that it wasn’t priority and I’d get around to it.

So the lights went back to green and I took the handbrake off and after about a hundred yards or so I got that Land Rover feeling again. No not that one when you change models, the other one, the L322 feeling. Something didn’t feel right. Not right at all.

I turned the music down (classic FM as I was really enjoying a chilled ride home) and the noise I heard can only be described as if someone had thought I was a wedding car at those lights and tied some tin cans to the back of my bumper. Oh poop.

I turned onto my drive and reversed up into my place and my wife was on the doorstep waiting for me. Now this is more worrying than any dashboard ping as in the fourteen years we have been together she has never, never been on the doorstep waiting for me.

“Is that your car” she said. “Yes I think so” I replied pretending it might not have been.

“For God’s sake just get rid of it. It’s one thing after another” she threw back at me. My eyes met hers and said “you’ll go before the Rangie Love” but fortunately my voice did the talking and said the words aloud and not my eyes. “I know, I know” I humbly said. I had a good look under the car with the new halogen torch my wife bought me for Christmas (she must have known) and there were no visable problems. I then asked her to drive up and down the drive while I walked alongside and I was 99.9% sure it was handbrake related. Reluctantly she got in. Initially my first fear was that the battery would drain before she got the seat into position as she’s only short but then my second fear came true, she grinned whilst behind the wheel and admitted she liked the car! After a couple of trips up and down the noise was coming from the o/s/r wheel.

Rather than drop the car off on the morning of the 4th when the school run is at full flow in the village, I thought I’d be clever and drop it off in the dead of the night the night before when no one is around. Well, no one except the bewildered chap and his black Labrador watching as this screaming 4X4 went passed him. The sound I can only describe now as not dragging tins cans off a wedding car behind but now actually dragging an actual wedding car behind me. I pretty much reckon the n/s/r had now joined in.

So it was a lift into work again on the 29th. I made my excuses at work and told everyone I’d had too much too drink last night so she had to bring me in as I couldn’t face anymore of their jovial natured quips. Onto the garage at 0901 and explained the trouble. Typically they were really busy and couldn’t fit me in until the 3rd of Feb but if I was correct then it should only be a day job so I could go smugly back to work on Wednesday 4th.

The garage rang to say that it was indeed just the handbrake (phew) but they couldn’t get hold of the parts until Wed 4th. No biggie I thought as after being without the old girl for six weeks, another day won’t kill me.

So here’s how Wednesday 4th went for me. Phone rings, it’s the garage.

“While we’ve got the wheels off we’ve noticed that the pads are quite down.” “Replace them” I said “Daft not to while it’s in pieces”. Despite all that has been thrown at me I’m still determined that this is going to be a ten year owned car like my motorbike.

Later that afternoon another call. “We’ve noticed that the pipes and rubbers are quite rusty and perished. They’re fine now but they’ll go within twelve months or sooner if the MOT chap starts poking around with his trusty blade”. I just sighed as I truly had no more tears left. “Just do what you need” I murmured. Then the reply. “Only thing is, we can’t get hold of the parts unless we get them from Land Rover themselves and they cost a fortune but don’t worry, we can make them up in house to save you some money.” I had to agree. “But ….. (I bloody knew there would be a but) the backplates are looking past it so we’d recommend replacing those while we’re at it”. He knew I’d say yes.

Now I know what you are thinking, is this garage just generating work? No, I can hand on heart say that they don’t do a thing unless you want it doing or it’s necessary and they check with you every step of the way even if it’s a wiper blade. Still didn’t stop me holding my head in my hands at work though! So that was that, I was leaving them to get on with it.

I turned onto the drive on Wed night after being picked up and there was no car. My heart sank. The garage always drops it off after work has been done even if it’s just an MOT.

So Thursday the 5th comes along. I had run out of lifts as I’d kind of exhausted my favours for the previous six weeks so I had to reluctantly ride into work in -1 degrees conditions. Wasn’t pleasant I can tell you.

My phone goes at 930 and there was the name of the garage flashing on my screen.

“Hi it’s Tim at the garage, there’s a problem”. Of course there’s a problem, why wouldn’t there be. “Now these backplates can’t be removed without blah blah blah”. Basically it seemed like they’d have to do to the rear of the car what my Indy LR garage did to the front to replace the diff. Long story short, too big of a job for them. “Do you mind if we weld them up and make them look like new?” Who the hell was going to say no to that!

It gets to about 430 in the afternoon on the 5th and I text my wife to see if my car is back. No sorry comes the reply. There was a sad face at the end of the text so she did feel for me. After that the office got quite busy so when I returned to my desk my phone was flashing with two texts from my wife. The first was a text picture of my car keys and the second was a text from her saying “can you guess what it is yet?” I was so happy that they’d dropped it off that I didn’t mention that it was no longer PC to mention Rolf Harris quotes.

I raced home on my bike forgetting about the cold and ice and turned onto the drive and there she was in all her glory. I run into the house and threw my stuff down giving the dog and kiss and a cuddle and then my wife a peck on the cheek. Yes, the Dalmatian puppy gets first as she loves the Rangie whereas my wife has been quite negative about the whole thing and hates my motorbike as well!

A quick fly around the block and the brakes are spot on and the handbrake will actually now hold me on a hill. Life is good. Oh, hold on, it’s an L322. What the hell has happened to my display?

There’s nothing on the screen, no Landy logo, no sat nav, music nothing. I’ve lost my computer to owning brakes. Some would say that’s a better deal but is it too much to ask to have everything working????

So all being well, I’m going to have a good play over the weekend along with a wash and polish and post some pics up. Hopefully a battery reset or fuse 49 might do the trick.

Who knows, maybe Mr All Comms might be able to do something.

Thanks for reading and feeling my pain peeps.

PS I re-read my old post the other day during my diner break and Saint mentioned the front diff within the first few posts so I thought I’d give the chap a nod to his knowledge and expertise.

Thats a marathon read i do hope there is light at the end of the tunnel and its an easy fix, but then its a range rover what could possibly go wrong

The sound you can hear is people on a Range Rover forum laughing nervously.

Love the post... Just hope your wife doesn't read it I think we all know what one of those dreaded calls from the garage feel like... Glad its all (almost) up and running... Will await your next post with anticipation haha..

weimieman said:

.......
PS I re-read my old post the other day during my diner break and Saint mentioned the front diff within the first few posts so I thought I’d give the chap a nod to his knowledge and expertise.

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Pleasure.

Your story is so familiar to us all, all the best, but do try to disconnect the Sat Nav drive (after waiting for the light to go out first) and see if the screen re-awakens, if it does the Sat Nav unit is faulty....

800jimbo said:

The sound you can hear is people on a Range Rover forum laughing nervously.

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Not from 38 owners.

weimieman said:

The sound I can only describe now as not dragging tins cans off a wedding car behind but now actually dragging an actual wedding car behind me. I pretty much reckon the n/s/r had now joined in.


“Hi it’s Tim at the garage, there’s a problem”. Of course there’s a problem, why wouldn’t there be. “Now these backplates can’t be removed without blah blah blah”. Basically it seemed like they’d have to do to the rear of the car what my Indy LR garage did to the front to replace the diff. Long story short, too big of a job for them. “Do you mind if we weld them up and make them look like new?” Who the hell was going to say no to that!

.

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What you describe is exactly what happened to mine, in fact most things you will read on here in the l322 section has happened to mine.

Basically in the good old days of Mk1 escorts and the like, your brake shoes are held in place with a pin with a large head that pokes through from the back plate and through the shoes, over which you put a spring and then a slotted washer that retains the lot when you turn it through 90 degrees.

Number 5 in the following pic. show them in place.







Just to be different landrover decided to do it the other way around so rather than having the nice round head of the pin against the back plate, they decided to swap it around so the relatively small section of the pin shown in the attached by a red arrow pokes through the back plate.



The back plates are made out of very thin steel plate that only needs to rust slightly and the force of the retaining spring pulls the head of the pin through the back plate.

This now leaves the shoes free to move around inside the drum and before long, as happened to mine it all gets tangled up and starts to graunch and grind and try to find its way out from the drum making a terrible mess and noise.

As the garage said, to change the back plate you need to remove the hub and suspension parts which is a major job so what i did was purchase the kit similar to the one on the following link

Range Rover L322 HandBrake Shoe Kit | eBay

I then took the posts that are supplied with it to my local motor factors and matched up with some of the old style slotted washers shown in the pics and also bought a tube of chemical metal putty.

The company is , Aghabridge, shameless plug there, as they are the only decent motor factors i know who still have a trade counter and boxes upon boxes of handy car parts which you just don't find very often now, no affiliation.

Commercial vehicle components in Kent from Aghabridge Ltd

All you need to do then is clean up the back plate that has rusted where the pins protrude and there is already a recess there and i just bonded the washers in place with the chemical metal and its now much stronger than the original design and I think the repair cost about £6.

i did have a photo of them in place but i've lost it so if you don't have a welder and need a quick and easy fix, this might help somebody out

Basically in the good old days of Mk1 escorts and the like, your brake shoes are held in place with a pin with a large head that pokes through from the back plate and through the shoes, over which you put a spring and then a slotted washer that retains the lot when you turn it through 90 degrees.

In the good old days of simple technology eh I restored a Morris Traveller many moons ago and I could have built those brakes in my sleep, simple but effective.

Quick update for you.

Had a play around with the sat nav yesterday, red light out etc etc to try and kick start the head unit into life but no joy.

Had a longer play with the battery off and the sat nav unit out and voila, after about 20 mins everything fired up, screen back, sat nav back but ..................... at the expense of the "air susp inactive" warning back on!!!! Is it too much to have it all I ask again.

Still I figured that after all the trouble I'd had since buying she still deserved a wash and a polish so I could post some pics on here but ...... then it rained!!!

Weirdly enough I went back out this morning to have a play with my All Comms which I've hardly had chance to use as the car had spent more time in the garage than it as with me and except for clearing an engine fault light that it's had since I drove it home after buying it and guess what? Air susp back up and running, every switch, button and light working. Miracles do exist after all

Just start the car and turn your steering from full lock to full lock and back and it clears the suspension inactive
i have still got my Mk1 that needs restoring, it was either restore that or buy the l322.....what a fool, i could have had a fully prepared mk1 cosworth by now

weimieman said:

Quick update for you.

Had a play around with the sat nav yesterday, red light out etc etc to try and kick start the head unit into life but no joy.

Had a longer play with the battery off and the sat nav unit out and voila, after about 20 mins everything fired up, screen back, sat nav back but ..................... at the expense of the "air susp inactive" warning back on!!!! Is it too much to have it all I ask again.

Still I figured that after all the trouble I'd had since buying she still deserved a wash and a polish so I could post some pics on here but ...... then it rained!!!

Weirdly enough I went back out this morning to have a play with my All Comms which I've hardly had chance to use as the car had spent more time in the garage than it as with me and except for clearing an engine fault light that it's had since I drove it home after buying it and guess what? Air susp back up and running, every switch, button and light working. Miracles do exist after all

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Probably the rain got into the electrics and made good a bad contact. Sorry, I'll get my coat.

holidaychicken said:

Just start the car and turn your steering from full lock to full lock and back and it clears the suspension inactive
i have still got my Mk1 that needs restoring, it was either restore that or buy the l322.....what a fool, i could have had a fully prepared mk1 cosworth by now

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And a lot more hair on your head and cash in the bank :lol: