Hybrid

It's been an absolute age since I updated this blog, but Olivia's been very busy. She's the workhorse that makes it up mountains to sort out high sites, the loader of e-waste, and transporter of large things like ladders.


All this with a sick mind. Or rather a problem with her head - gasket. She's taken to drinking oil along with her horrific petrol habit, then spewing oil and water out when she starts in a huge patch behind her exhaust pipe. The water level drops dramatically in a short trip, steam pours from the exhaust at times, and the oil filler cap has a nice coating of mayo. All indicators that there's a gasket replacement coming up as soon as I have a few days free to do so.


It's a measure of her ability to keep going that she's still trundling up the mountain and to Cape Town and around town. Granted, not smoothly, but going still.

Today she nearly had a major mishap. It rained overnight and was still drizzling when Favourite Man and I headed up the slopes once more. With her big mud-ready G90s, awesome torque and a steady slow speed, we were going well. Until we hit a dangerous corner with the middle of the road washed out. The soil on that mountain is clay - and her rear end started sliding out toward a very steep slope straight down. I managed to wrestle her back just in time. Coming down was even worse - we slid and slipped sideways and forward, way too close to the edge for anyone's comfort. And by the time we reached the bottom the gears in low ratio were sounding terrible. Favourite Man drove her later, but promptly turned back when the gears in high started sounding just as bad. Tomorrow sees me under her adding greases and oils liberally all over. All that dust has made things squeak and groan.

And then there's the hybrid thing.

Olivia has two batteries - an engine bay one to keep the essentials of forward motion going, and a large one (original to my ownership of her) as secondary for the peripherals. Well Olivia has decided that she'd rather be a hybrid. The front battery is now far from optimal, wears down in a day or two and doesn't recharge - she now does what some really fancy cars do, and gets plugged in to the C-Tek charger at night to feed off electricity! Meaning we can at least start her on one of the batteries come morning.

And then there's the electric gate that opened randomly and smashed two of the rear lights and surrounding protective cage as I was reversing...

The poor girl really needs a few weeks at the spa getting all her issues seen to. Unfortunately I don't have a few weeks to spare, but I'm determined to sort them out one by one. Starting tomorrow morning with the oily, greasy things and moving on from there.

Truth be told, I'm looking forward to getting down and dirty again - as long as I don't get rained on.



PS There's a new Landy Mag going around online... yours truly is now an e-editor! :-)

Photoblog: Working Girl

I can see clearly now..

It's been a while since I updated Olivia's blog. Here's the latest.

Today, while the rest of the country was lazing around with Freedom Day, Favourite Man and I put in a bit of work on Olivia. We sorted out new engine mounts with a bit of difficulty - one needed some engineering as only Favourite Man can do, but turned out perfect with an excellent fit all round. We attacked the final electrics work, inserted the lights into her new wing, and added the light guard.

Everything's working perfectly. Yay!



Tomorrow she's off to get her radiator seen to. Then it's full steam ahead and hitting the road once more.

Yay again!

(Dreading dealing with her drinking habit... must get engine tuned properly...)

----

I never did finish the tale of woe re the brakes blokes. We eventually got her back after nearly 2 weeks - only to find that brake fluid was streaming down behind the accelorator, eating away at the protective coating we'd applied in the footwell. Unfortunately she was required for work and we didn't have time to go back and beat people up over that - sometimes the effort to sort something out just seems too much, and not worth it. But she does have brakes that work well now. Which, on a Series Landy, is a very good thing.

Horn

Olivia has a new accessory! :-)

It will soon be supporting a couple of long bits of metal on a trip up to our high site. That front receiver is a very useful bit of kit indeed.

Slamming on Brakes

I'm really worried about Olivia.

In July last year Favourite Man took his Discovery II to Ferobrake around the corner from us in Strand to have the discs skimmed prior to fitting new shoes. When he arrived at the appointed day and time, he was told the mechanic was sick and he'd have to go to their branch in Cape Town. Which he did. Only to be turned away for some arb reason.

After Olivia's altercation with a lamp pole, we decided to have the brakes redone while we were killing time waiting for various other things to fall in place. Favourite Man contacted Ferobrake Strand and - you guessed it - was told the mechanic is sick, we can't bring the truck down.

Last week we called and made an appointment for Olivia to have her brakes done. Before we dropped her off, we popped in to make sure - and yup, we were booked in.

So we went the few metres down the road to where she was having a radiator redo, and fetched her.

When we arrived at Ferobrake - you guessed it - the mechanic had gone home sick and the rest of the "workers" were standing around twiddling their thumbs, picking their noses and scratching their gonads, waiting for (apparently) the only mechanic Ferrobrake possesses to turn up and tell them what to do.

Olivia has now been there for a week. Favourite Man has just phoned them to find out when our darling girl can be returned to the fold.

You guessed it - the mechanic is sick. ETA for finishing completely unknown. Should the mechanic die of his many illnesses, it's likely Olivia will stay there for the rest of her life...

Unless I take my largest wheelspanner and go knock someone over the head very very hard.

Step 1

Olivia's new / replacement fender has arrived. Complete with ex-army light bits. Nope, we're not going to leave it that colour - but work starts soon!

Love/Hate

Life with Land Rovers is very much a love/hate relationship.

When they're going well we love them to bits. When they're giving problems we want to kick their tyres and take a hammer to the offending parts.

Actually... the word "relationship" is kinda the root of the problem. We start to see these hunks of metal as "people".

Take Olivia for example. She's my girl, part of the family, and yup - the truck is a "she". When I slam my hand in the door it's "Olivia's way of reminding you she loves you". When something breaks "Olivia's being kak / moody / obstinate". She's taken on human characteristics for her mechanical quirks - and there's been an emotional investment from before she was officially mine.

But not all Landy drivers feel that way about their vehicles.

This morning on the way to work I passed another Series III. Usually us Series folk wave madly to each other, and we'll even wave at Discos - this bloke (and I've seen him often around town) just drives and ignores no matter what we're driving. I'm probably making snap judgements, but it seems his Land Rover is merely a tool, a vehicle to get from A to B that does what he wants it to do. There's no enthusiasm for the old beast, nor for other old beast drivers.

By contrast, I got a wave out of a fellow Discovery owner a few metres later...

And now I've gone off topic, but here's the thing. Lately I've been struggling with the love/hate balance vs Olivia. I'm really not lus for the hassles that await us as we fix her up post-lamppole-greeting experience. I know it's going to be a knock-on thing where we breadcrumb from one issue to the next - and we've been there, done that for many months last year as she was fixed up front to back. I've had some big anti-Landy moments in the last week or so.

But at the same time I still love my Landies. And Olivia particularly, which is why I'm going to be doing what it takes to get her not only back on the road but better than ever before. She's still my girl, part of the family, and in spite of the occasional love/hate battle it does lean a whole lot more toward love than hate.

Getting there

After Olivia's minor altercation with a lamppost thanks to horrific driving on the part of an old tannie who crossed her path (literally), the red-tape battle began. There was not a whole lot of real damage - not a single light broke in the accident - yet insurance wanted to write her off, stating that repair costs far exceeded the value of the vehicle. Well Favourite Man was able to cut that bill in half or more by speaking to the right people and getting the correct info on exactly how much it will cost to repair what needs it. And insurance has agreed not to write Olivia off.

Sjoe. After all the hard work we've put into that beast, it's a very big relief.

Now the repair work starts. Another learning curve, another little while off the road.

But we're getting there.

For the Record...

...I miss my Olivia.

She's still sitting quietly at the panelbeater. I'm still waiting for word from insurance. I know she hasn't moved, as I've geofenced the area and told her Protector unit to SMS me if she starts/moves/leaves/enters/stops in that area. Her battery is still fine, as is the unit's - so I can keep an eye on her.

But I miss her.

Oh Crap

Shake, Rattle, Roll

Roughly once a week I take a trip down a very bad road to drop off some stuff. They're fixing the road, but this is Africa - in the months that I've been doing this, they've done about 500 metres of road and are now 100 metres away from my destination. On the other side of it. Which means I still get to travel the dodgy road.

It is, quite frankly, the worst tar road I've been on. It starts out well except for an occasional sunken trench. But then it deteriorates into 1km of hell. I can see my destination from the start of the worst section - but getting there... Potholes, canyons, random uneven bits. I have to take it very slowly and aim carefully - but I still end up feeling like I've been through a tumble dryer every time with my insides shaken to jello.

A few weeks ago I had some breakables in the back - old stuff, not necessary to reach the end of the road in one piece, but preferable that they do. Two minutes into that stretch I heard a loud crack, just as I hit a hidden hole. Oops.

Two weeks ago I not only had to dodge holes, but a run-away cow too, udders swinging as she made her escape across the road into the orchard beyond.

Last week it was a fleet of small horses trying to test Olivia's bumper...

Sjoe.

And every week without fail it takes the entire trip home for Olivia to start feeling normal again. The springs creak, the gears feel funny, there are extra rattles and I'm convinced the engine is about to drop off it's moorings.

Fortunately Pedders handed her a set of new shocks and a steering damper a few months ago. It's made a HUGE difference to the ride, smoothing it out and making general travel quite comfortable. I'd hate to think what that road would do to our kidneys without them.

Still, I really hope the roadworks guys pull finger and get a move on soon. Traveling that stretch is starting to take its toll on the both of us.

Eish

I know I'm the eternal optimist, but sometimes I take it way too far.

Like the last post here about Olivia's wonderful fuel consumption. I've been down that road before, and should have known better. The chick is a serious heavy drinker and no amount of rehab is going to cure that it seems!

The wonderful fuel consumption led to a sudden dying - yup, tank empty, fuel gauge sticking. And then it happened again, when we thought we had a quarter tank. Fortunately it was just outside the gate and my very strong Favourite Man pushed all 2 tons of Landy (and extra one ton of chick in driver's seat) through the gate and into the parking lot.

Thus it was that we started to travel with R50 of petrol in a jerrycan behind the seat.

Last weekend it was time to attack the carb again, so I hauled it out, sorted out any gasket renewals, checked float levels and o-rings, put it back in - and then the beast refused to start. All day. Meantime Favourite Man had been fiddling in the dash with wiring, fixing stuff there and rewiring the heater to the back battery, then tackling the distributor to check points gaps. When Olivia got snarky about starting, both of us dived in to check our work!

Unfortunately it ended up to be my fault - I'd over-filled the dash pot and there was too much pressure for the moving parts of the carb to lift and let fuel in. Once fixed, she started right away.

But the thing with carbs is that once they're out, then in - they need tuning. And after a week of fiddling with mix and idle speed I suspect I still don't have it right. First she was running so rich that I used up R140 worth of fuel to go 50km. And ran out as she went up the last steep hill (see "always carry jerrycan with R50 worth behind driver's seat"). Then the mix was so weak she had no power. But the fuel consumption was better. So I set it richer again. And then decided it was too rich - set it down, and she wouldn't start.

Eish. Eish indeed.

Fortunately it appears Favourite Man may have found an Expert who knows about such things. We're trying to organize a meet-up so that, once and for all, I learn how to work with the Zenith Stromberg carb. And get Olivia running spot-on.

Before I have to threaten her with a heart transplant again...

Running Wet

It's raining like crazy here in the Cape - and Olivia loves it!

She really struggles against wind, which doesn't help matters when facing a gale-force one, but give her a tailwind or none at all, stick a bit of rain about, and she's happy as... well a Landy in a mudhole!

Case in point, today's commute. I did indeed battle against the wind all the way to work, but used surprisingly little petrol doing so.

On the way back, although her windows steamed up (yay for a fan! and hot air!), although it was the usual one-man-band of wipers, heater and lights vs eye on the battery guage, she ran light as a feather, fast as she can go, easy peasy through the downpours and road-streams. Her fuel didn't even drop.

Which of course had me worried enough to open up the tank, stick my hand in and make sure the fuel float hadn't gotten stuck again... And it hasn't. She had better fuel consumption today than I think she ever has. Add in a 75c/litre DROP in fuel price last week, and I'm pretty chuffed to be driving her regularly. She is the coolest truck out.

And she does love the wet. She goes and plays on the roads when the rains come down. She holds on to the tar and seeks out the puddles to splash in.

Which makes me loathe to see winter end (eventually).

Another milestone

Two years ago Olivia arrived on my doorstep! Wow... it's been indescribable. I've learnt huge amounts, conquered hills (literally and figuratively), and gained courage to "go beyond".

Yet I still keep hitting new milestones, learning new things.

Yesterday was another. It was the first time I've driven Olivia with something attached to her tow hitch! We had a quick run into Cape Town planned to pick up a load of stuff out of someone's garage, and Favourite Man decided it was high time I learnt what trailer management was all about.

Did I feel it behind me? You betcha. Especially battling a head-wind at the tail end of the worst storm in 7 years. But hey, I drive a Land Rover, and it's got a good deal of power provided you keep it slow and steady. We hit Cape Town in a skitter of hail, worked trailer and truck into the loading area, filled 'er up then headed home again - with a tail wind this time. Brief detour along Sea Point to get spattered by sea-foam blown in on the storm front - we missed the worst of it.

All in all this trailer lesson wasn't half bad. OK, it wasn't loaded up too much - in fact most of the goods fitted into Olivia's back, with only one heavy box in the trailer. But I was pleasantly surprised that I managed turns etc with relative ease.

One more notch on the belt this morning. Millions more to go.

Photoblog: Water Hazard

It keeps falling over on my Landy! :-)

Would you like Wipers with that?

Winter in the Cape is characterized by cold, rain and traffic jams. The Capetonians turn into idiot drivers as soon as a few drops fall from the sky.

On Monday I had a run in Olivia through to one of our e-waste processors, loaded down with the insides of monitors. In the rain. Over horrific roads. And back through Stellenbosch rush hour.

Being the Cape, and specifically the winelands, folk are generally laid back and slow moving. Factor in the post-school pick-ups, the end-of-day uni students and the general office worker / manual labourer traffic - it turns into chaos.

So there I was pottering along in Olivia through 5pm traffic. It's cold, it's raining - and by law you need your lights on in this weather. Except, if I put O's lights on, I can't do anything else! Her battery isn't holding a charge too well. Add a heater to the load (yes, this is a Series III with a heater thanks to her previous owner, along with Favourite Man's fan restoration and ducting) and the voltage drops to the point where her tracking unit starts sending "low battery warning" SMSs! Add wipers... well, same effect. (Add in the dodgy brakes and who needs gym when you're playing in a one-man band to keep everything ticking over while struggling through the gear changes)

Here's how you do it then. When you're idling at a red light, the lights are on. When you pull away, you give a few brief swipes of the wipers as you accelerate to see where you're going, then put them off. Once you've gathered speed, you hope the wind resistance will clear the screen, then hit the heater switch to defrost your hands and feet until the next red light - where everything except the lights goes off again.

Olivia is going to need a battery transplant very soon...

Faith

Driving to work in Olivia this morning, I realized that you have to have faith to travel in a Land Rover. Especially one you work on yourself...

A while back we had a go at sorting out the back axles. New oil seals were needed, and the bearings were checked at the same time. This of course involved taking the wheels off, plonking the beast on axle stands, and then putting the wheels back on again.

Which is where faith comes in. I have good faith that those wheel nuts were tightened properly - which is why I don't have to worry about things coming off while I'm driving!

Same goes for the engine. I've been in there and fiddled with stuff. I know that Favourite Man has sorted out the points (and I have faith in his abilities). I have done the carb myself. The wiring is perfect (Favourite Man again). Faith in our abilities has me unworried about potential problems - and knowing who to blame if something does go wrong.. :-)

I have faith that the bumper's not going to fall off. Faith that the roofrack will stay put. Faith that my seat won't fall out onto the road. Faith that the truck will start in the first place.

Yup, driving a Landy's a pretty much religious experience.

Photoblog: Cape Roadtrip

Oily matters

This morning Favourite Man checked Olivia's oil before I left for work, reporting back "if you ever wanted to take a photo of oil at a perfect level, that dipstick is it right now".

Yay! That's quite the achievement for an old Landy. Instead of emptying a couple litres into her belly every day, she's doing OK on the oil consumption at last.

Months ago I put diesel oil instead of petrol oil into her by mistake during an oil change. That probably scrubbed crud to a level where compression was lost and oil found new exits... But we added Prolong and it seems to be helping.

Today she was going very well again. Except for the wipers. Blown fuse last time, apparently the same thing this time, and another interesting bit of commute until the windscreen cleared. Favourite Man and I will be spending some time with the electrics this weekend before we take her to stretch her legs and see some whales.

For now I'm just happy the oil level's staying constant. It's amazing how much difference that makes to how she functions.

The Call of Africa

(from a forward, just a bit of inspiration for the day)

When you've acquired a taste for dust,
The scent of our first rain,
You're hooked for life on Africa
And you'll not be right again
Till you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark
And know that they're around you,
Waiting in the dark.

When you long to see the elephants.
Or to hear the coucal's song,
When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,
You've been away too long
It's time to cut the traces loose
And let your heart go free
Beyond that far horizon,
Where your spirit yearns to be.

Africa is waiting - come!
Since you've touched the open sky
And learned to love the rustling grass,
The wild fish-eagles cry.
You'll always hunger for the bush,
For the lion's rasping roar,
To camp at last beneath the stars
And to be at peace once more.

C. EMILY-DIBB