Wet morning with a lot of freezing fog. We set off on some trails to mixed success. We got stopped by slick mud, an overfull river ford, and a couple locked gates. Also picked up a TON of new pinstripes, but that is part of it, so I'm told.
Tomorrow we head back to our respective homes and call the trip complete.
Hopefully I'll get to the write up this week after I get media from the other two.
After a long battle replacing the power steering suction hose in temperatures well below freezing with a major winter storm on the horizon, for the first time since owning it the Land Rover failed me. The problem was not the suction hose (though it wasn't far from being bad too) it was, indeed the pump.
As the temperatures plummeted into the negatives (freedom units) and Oklahoma began to become covered in snow and ice, the Discovery sat in my driveway as a testament to my hubris. Finally my love affair with unreliable cars had created a problem that could not be readily solved with time, money, or both. The extreme weather meant even if I wanted to pay to have the pump replaced, no shop was open and presumably tow services were occupied helping people out of ditches and accidents. With the part unavailable locally I was forced to order it, but the major shippers were, at best, hit of miss in this weather. Understandable, but frustrating. Ultimately I ordered a pump off Amazon, even though the price ($110) was a little too cheap for it to be a quality part (most are $150 + core, OE is ~ $240) of the carriers, I figured Amazon or USPS were the most likely to be able to get me the part.
Now I should say as far as thing to worry about go, this wasn't huge. We still had my partner's Jeep to get around, all of my other cars either being unreliable or in storage, and with the city being hammered with crazy winter weather it isn't like we had anywhere to go anyway. Also complaining about a broken Land Rover when millions are without power, water, gas, heat, and food is... well, I am aware of the optics. That doesn't mean I can't be bummed about it, it was just another thing to add to the pile of dread.
Luckily by Friday Tulsa had endured worst of the weather. Our rolling blackouts here were limited and our house never lost utilities, despite threats. Furthermore, the part arrived only one day late, which was both comfortably within tolerance and impressive, considering. With the forecast showing a balmy high of 45F (7C), I made plans to start work the next day.
I was fortunate in that after discovering the sucktion hose was not the problem, I never reassembled the engine bay. As a result, most of the work to get access to the pump was already done. All that remained was to re-remove the fan, serpentine belt, idler (jockey) pulley, and power steering pulley, then remove the AC compressor and the odd bracket that houses the pump.
Of course, this didn't go smoothly.
I started by removing the fan, belt, and then the AC compressor. The latter sounds scary but isn't actually. It is held in by four bolts on on the top and you don't need to break the pressure lines to get it out of the way, so no needing to discharge/charge the system. (Compressor can be seen sitting on the throttle body in the picture below.)
Next I removed the idler pulley, and then got to work on the power steering pulley.
Attentive readers might have noticed that I donked up here. Without the belt in place, there is nothing to encourage the pulley to stay put while I remove the three bolts holding it on. I have made this mistake literally every time I've had this thing off. Ordinarily I'd go and grab a strap wrench and make it work, but mine dry rotted and I haven't bought a replacement yet. Unwilling to go to the hardware store for such a trivial item, and still lacking an actually functioning vehicle, after confirming my electric impact wouldn't fit but my air impact cleared by almost a whole centimeter, I fired up the air compressor and drug 75 feet of air hose through the melting snow. A few zips with that and the pulley was off, revealing the treacherous power steering pump.
Well... sort of. The power steering pump is buried in what Rover calls the "auxiliary housing," a big hunk of aluminum to which the AC compressor, power steering pump, and, if equipped, active roll bar (ACE) pump attach. Either way, after removing the bolts that hold that to the engine block, then I got to see the treasonous power steering pump.
And you know what? That bugger is tiny! I'm really shocked how small it is. Realistically about the size of a medium grapefruit maybe?
Anyway, a few love taps with a dead blow and the pump was free of the housing.
As with these things, installation is the reverse of removal, and everything went back together pretty quickly. I did get the chance to repair something I broke the last time I had this all apart though. The auxiliary housing is speared by this locating rod for reasons I don't fully understand and when reassembling the Disco last time I over-torqued the nut and sheared the shaft. Being a very odd part, replacements were weeks away, so with a deadline looming and not fully understanding the purpose of the part, at the time I reassembled without. But, I did order the part, so this time I had a chance to make amends and install the new one. I also threw a new bleed screw in the steering box, because why not?
Anyway, once I got the pullies and belt back on, I filled the reservoir with fresh power steering fluid, leaving the cap off to aid in burping, and turned the key.
... and was treated to a shockingly quiet power steering pump!
Followed by a very loud one.
I shut off the car and resisted attempting to set fire to it. Instead I went and checked the fluid level. It had dropped a little, and there were little bubbles in the fluid as a result, but it was far from frothy as it was before. After giving the system a second to settle, I tried again.
And it stayed quiet.
I followed the usual purging procedure (move the wheels left to right a bunch with the cap off) and the pump stayed happy. Without any major evidence to the contrary, after taking measurements for the possible forthcoming eFan conversion, I reassembled the rest of the engine.
Only time will tell if this fix will hold, but I am cautiously optimistic.
To my mind the elephant in the room here is: what would you do if this had happened on the trail. I'll admit, complete failure of my power steering system is not an eventuality I even thought would happen. Presumably after frothing all of its fluid out of the reservoir the pump would eventually run dry enough that the system would be stable... until the pump seized, eventually breaking the serpentine belt, at which point the water pump and alternator would cease their critical functions.
It would not be ideal.
However, this failure was not without warning. I think I'm right in saying the power steering pump has been groaning on startup for at least a year, but looking into it has always been on the "I'll get to it eventually" list. Until this failure I never considered power steering to be an essential function of the vehicle, but hot damn apparently it can really mess things up with the right failure, depending on how it is set up.
I am fortunate that while I didn't have the Land Rover to drive in the snow and ice, the pump was kind enough to die in the driveway rather than the multitude of horrible places it could have.
Overall I don't see this as affecting our (the Landy and I) trust relationship. It tried to tell me something was about to go bang and I didn't heed the warning. In the future, I'll be more proactive in hunting down unusual noises. Ultimately, this thing will fail me on the trail one day, and I've accepted that. My only hope is it will fail in such a way I can at least, one way or the other, get back to the road.
Either way, I still love it and don't hold this "fun" against it.
@haveacarortwoorthree Jalopnik? Never heard of it. Is it some sort of Oppo spinoff?
I knew this was coming and I'm actually surprised I'm the first (that I've noticed) but HEY GUESS WHAT?
One year ago today I drove home from my last out of town work assignment in a very long time. My team was stationed in Branson, MO, to do... whatever it is that I do. While the work event itself was pretty OK, boring but fun for team building and I was super new at the time, there was this nagging threat of some virus that had, allegedly, just made landfall in the US.
I, like most people, assumed this would be like the swine flu and SARS before that: hyped as the end of the world but eventually will just peter out. (lol)
Over the course of the two weeks I was in Branson, the warnings became more dire that this was going to be "an thing." On the last day we were there we had a huge meeting with everyone involved in the work thing. The last thing we did was shake hands with all the senior leadership. This was my first time thinking "Should we be doing this? Is this ok?"
I took this picture right before I took off back for home.
When I got back, my partner filled me in that things were indeed serious and we should consider not leaving the house for a few weeks. (lol) He, however, had to go for orientation for a new job, flying to the west coast on Sunday, only to return early the following Tuesday after his new company closed all their offices and made everyone mandatory work from home.
The day after he got back, Wednesday, March 11th, we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant.
We have not eaten inside a restaurant or been to a bar since.
What a difference a day year makes.
It is much more terrifying the 2nd time because I didn't know it'd happened the 1st time until way later.
First post that got shared was the 2nd installment of the 1st cheap car challenge. I was wondering why that one had so many more views than the others (14k) and I guess now I know. Badges and shares both send DMs, which I didn't realize, so I didn't catch the "shared to the main page" DM until much later.
Today the Project Dumpster Fire post got shared to the front page for the US and I think is scheduled to be on the UK one too? Unclear but I think I remember seeing a message about that.
Thing is, this amount of exposure scares me. I like my stuff getting read, but also acknowledge my writing and wrenching skills. Which is to say I am happy with my skills at both, but by no means a professional at either. Also I have this (perfectly rational) fear that one day this is all going to blow up in my face...
Anyway... hooray they like me, they really like me.
Most of my extended family knows I am into cars and tools, so occasionally I get tools as gifts. Sometimes they're useful, oftentimes they're not. Some time ago (5+ years?) I was gifted one of those universal sockets. You know the ones, with all the little pins and are supposed to be great at... stuff? Basically they're the type thing that gets trotted out as a "great gift for dad!" that seems like it is almost certain to make any problem worse.
Anyway, it has been sitting in my tool box all this time, waiting for its moment to shine, and that moment was, apparently, yesterday.
I installed the Disco's new power steering pump with the plugs intact, not wanting to risk contamination. When I went to remove the plastic plug from the high pressure output, it said no. I figured the thing would be hand tight, but no amount of leverage was going to shift it.
Ok... how about a screwdriver? Not enough room.
Sometimes these have hex on the outside for this very reason? Nope.
Umm... on maybe stick a ruler in there? Nope too thick.
Uhh... well I've got that dumb universal thing. I guess I could try that? Worked amazing.
So good job weird universal socket thing, apparently you have a use after all.
Luckily I was also the person who broke it.
I ran an errand today. Because Oklahoma, the temperature has gone from "unbearably cold" to "exceptionally pleasant" in less than a week's time. As a result, the Land Rover's automatic climate control kicked on the AC.
Except it didn't.
All I got was tepid air out of the vents.
Well... not surprising. To do the power steering pump I had to remove the AC compressor. I guess jostling it while it was that cold out finally made one of the 20 y/o lines and/or compressor give up the ghost and lost its charge over the next couple of days.
As I pulled in to get gas (not playing the range game after running out last year!) and trying to decide if I was going to try doing the repair myself or paying to have it done, I remembered there was one other component of the AC system I touched: the clutch connector.
While filling up I popped the hood and... despair! I had remembered to plug it in.
Well maybe it wasn't making good contact? I pressed on it and it moved about 3/8". Yeah... guess I didn't do a great job there.
Finish gassing up, during which the guy driving a tow truck at the next pump asked if these were reliable and I just laughed, I was treated to ice cold AC.
Hooray!
@essextee I put that exact one on my Saab and can assure you it is twice as jankity as it looks.
Dog: I want to sit in your lap.
Me: You're too big and I'm about to go to bed anyway, we can cuddle there.
Me: :head pat:
Dog: I'm taking that as permission to just crawl on up here...
Me: ugh
Dog: Comfy now.
Me. 
It was cold as balls today (famously not a cold part, but just go with it) so we opted for no hikes and much overlanding.
Overall we had some good success. Mostly just well maintained dirt roads but the occasional washout and creek to keep us on our toes.
We ended the day at the Lake Ouachita Overlook, having taken the "hard" way, which involved about a mile of what felt like vertical driving in low range.
Lots of gunshots in the distance, which felt very Arkansas. Ended with pasta with vodka sauce and meatballs and shots of soju. Now time for some more photo editing, TV binging, and sleep.
Tomorrow we head out to the next cabin in Mark Twain National Forest.
Last year I decided to buy a CAT S61 phone for no good reason other than I liked it. I didn't need a rugged phone, though given these are $1000 mini computers we carry in our pockets shouldn't they all be rugged? No? Thinner is better? oksure.gif
ANYWAY, about just over 3 months of problem free use, it unceremoniously died. Luckily the warranty process was simple. Called and within 10 minutes had an RMA. Then I waited for the shipping label, realized it went to spam, sent the phone out Monday, they go it Wednesday, and I just got an email they're sending out my phone today.
Unclear what they'll be sending me, mind you. I assume it'll be a refurbished phone? Maybe a new one? Possibly my old one, repaired? I mean... nice thing about these phones is they're so big I can't imagine they're difficult to take apart to fix?
Dunno.
Excited to get my phone back. I've been using my partner's spare Sony Xperia 5 and while it is a lovely phone it has some surprising annoyances (though an excellent screen and camera). Furthermore it is a lot nicer than the CAT phone... so I really want to stop using it before I get used to it. The Sony has already made my work Galaxy S10e feel like garbage so... oof.
Doggo living dangerously, for your time.
@sampsonite24 I agree with @rctothefuture . The Raptor just looks better than the standard F150 so it isn't shocking people are replicating the look.
@poor_sh JFC. That sounds like an unhappy time, but at least with a positive (eventual) resolution.
I knew this was coming and I'm actually surprised I'm the first (that I've noticed) but HEY GUESS WHAT?
One year ago today I drove home from my last out of town work assignment in a very long time. My team was stationed in Branson, MO, to do... whatever it is that I do. While the work event itself was pretty OK, boring but fun for team building and I was super new at the time, there was this nagging threat of some virus that had, allegedly, just made landfall in the US.
I, like most people, assumed this would be like the swine flu and SARS before that: hyped as the end of the world but eventually will just peter out. (lol)
Over the course of the two weeks I was in Branson, the warnings became more dire that this was going to be "an thing." On the last day we were there we had a huge meeting with everyone involved in the work thing. The last thing we did was shake hands with all the senior leadership. This was my first time thinking "Should we be doing this? Is this ok?"
I took this picture right before I took off back for home.
When I got back, my partner filled me in that things were indeed serious and we should consider not leaving the house for a few weeks. (lol) He, however, had to go for orientation for a new job, flying to the west coast on Sunday, only to return early the following Tuesday after his new company closed all their offices and made everyone mandatory work from home.
The day after he got back, Wednesday, March 11th, we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant.
We have not eaten inside a restaurant or been to a bar since.
What a difference a day year makes.
@jawzx2 Suddenly reminded this is one of my favorite Oppo things because it is so random but so cool. Lamb on.
@italia Haha the joys of a tiny lot in a historic neighborhood. Sure beats having a HOA though...
@chariotoflove Well... preliminary search says "TheNounProject" has some available with CCBY, which would require attribution if usage is larger than 100 px, or pay $3/ea to not. Is that a thing would could do if we wanted, and if we do, do we care?
Either way, here are some random ones I pulled from there. I can provide attribution info as needed and I've changed the backgrounds to match the existing icons, but that is all adjustable at will.
Obv for Oppo Politics 
@krustywantout Smells like
Contractor: "Well we turned the dining room into a 2nd bathroom, but don't have the budget to finish the wall."
Flipper: "Fuck it we'll call it 'open concept' and those suckers will pay extra for it!"
@italia Preach! Trust me I tried for many years. I had a running series on OG Oppo I called "Shop Quest" wherein I detailed my (failed) attempts to purchase land to build a shop on. The issue is my house (which I like and don't want to sell) is basically downtown. As a result my 1/5th acre lot is already technically over its building-to-greenspace ratio per city code, so no new garage for me. Current plan is to remodel the garage later this year, but that will only give me a 2-post lift, it won't increase my covered parking spaces from 4 to... however many I need. Six, I guess.