Got rid of the Scooby and bought another Ranger. It was on Gumtree locally at a grand with a suspected HG failure.
These trucks are famed for HG failures (although not as bad as a Rover) so I was ready to accept that.
Here is the gumtree picture, she's sitting on 31x10.5R15 mud tyres..
I went and had a look last sunday (8 days ago) and it was either HG failure by combustion pressure into coolant or there was a block in the coolant system. A suspiciously hard top hose and soft bottom hose with heat at the top and cold at the bottom had me leaning that way. A quick test showed that the freewheeling hubs weren't locking when you engaged 4WD and so I told the bloke that with the work it needed I didn't think it was worth much more than £500 and I'd text him in a couple of days once I knew how much I was gonna get paid.
2 days later I text him and set about haggling. In the end we agreed on a price of £725 and I picked it up last Thursday. Attempted to drive it home as I've driven cars with blown HGs hundreds of miles no issues. Got a couple of miles down the road and it started overheating but there was no heat out of the blowers and when I stopped the temp went back to normal after 30secs of idling. Still had a hard top hose and soft bottom hose with heat at the top and cold at the bottom, topped up the coolant. Tried to carry on but my stops got more and more frequent until I wasn't even making it between laybys without it overheating.
Took the rad cap off after 5 mins of being in a layby and I have never seen a coolant cap like that, I thought they only did it in the movies. I'd used a rag to hold it and was gradually letting the pressure out but the steam started to burn my hand, I tried to get the cap back on but failed and it shot into the air, bounced off the bonnet and landed on the slam panel. There was then a 30 second volcano eruption of coolant out the top of the rad.
As my AA membership ends in a couple of days I decided I'd better get my moneys worth out of it. Called the AA who took nearly 2 hours to get to me, told me they didn't have the right adapters to do any tests, agreed with my diagnosis it was probably a blocked coolant system and refused to just take the thermostat out. They wouldn't do a flat tow due to the weight of my truck compared to the Transit Custom AA van so called me a flat bed from a local firm ISIS Recovery (No, Seriously) which took another 2 hours to arrive. By this point I was freezing cold and severely pissed off, partly with myself for not trying one more stint and breaking down on the forecourt of a rather nice pub (The Long Dog, Waddesdon) about half a mile closer to home.
I'd had the foresight to order alot of parts off Milner Off Road for next day delivery before going to pick the truck up including a full service kit, water pump, thermostat, aux belts and a de-cat and new wheels.
I love Milner deliveries.
I took the front of the truck off, flushed everything through with a hose, it was a tad sludgy but nothing terrible, the water pump was in one piece and the thermostat worked perfectly when I tested it on the hob but I fitted all the new bits anyway.
Decided it must have been HG failure as there was no blockage, poured in 2 bottles of Steel Seal with the new coolant and followed the instructions on that. Took it for a drive later and it's been perfect ever since.
I also fitted a stereo and swapped the viscous fan for an electric one but no pics of this.
Next morning (Saturday) I took it up to Norfolk and picked up my Cummins lump, again no issues.
The truckman top is staying off as it's too unwieldy for me to move on my own regularly and I often end up carrying garden rubbish, bikes, engines or scrap so it's a tad impractical for me as well as being worth a few hundred quid.
Plans are taller narrower tyres (for a little less road noise), Snorkel (already ordered) and a suspension lift of a couple of inches (longer shackles ordered, front is torsion bars). Gotta fit the EGR blanks and De-Cat that I've got here too. I'd love a massive body lift, 35" mud tyres and a 52" 300w light bar but we all know I'll of sold/scrapped this before then.
These trucks are famed for HG failures (although not as bad as a Rover) so I was ready to accept that.
Here is the gumtree picture, she's sitting on 31x10.5R15 mud tyres..
I went and had a look last sunday (8 days ago) and it was either HG failure by combustion pressure into coolant or there was a block in the coolant system. A suspiciously hard top hose and soft bottom hose with heat at the top and cold at the bottom had me leaning that way. A quick test showed that the freewheeling hubs weren't locking when you engaged 4WD and so I told the bloke that with the work it needed I didn't think it was worth much more than £500 and I'd text him in a couple of days once I knew how much I was gonna get paid.
2 days later I text him and set about haggling. In the end we agreed on a price of £725 and I picked it up last Thursday. Attempted to drive it home as I've driven cars with blown HGs hundreds of miles no issues. Got a couple of miles down the road and it started overheating but there was no heat out of the blowers and when I stopped the temp went back to normal after 30secs of idling. Still had a hard top hose and soft bottom hose with heat at the top and cold at the bottom, topped up the coolant. Tried to carry on but my stops got more and more frequent until I wasn't even making it between laybys without it overheating.
Took the rad cap off after 5 mins of being in a layby and I have never seen a coolant cap like that, I thought they only did it in the movies. I'd used a rag to hold it and was gradually letting the pressure out but the steam started to burn my hand, I tried to get the cap back on but failed and it shot into the air, bounced off the bonnet and landed on the slam panel. There was then a 30 second volcano eruption of coolant out the top of the rad.
As my AA membership ends in a couple of days I decided I'd better get my moneys worth out of it. Called the AA who took nearly 2 hours to get to me, told me they didn't have the right adapters to do any tests, agreed with my diagnosis it was probably a blocked coolant system and refused to just take the thermostat out. They wouldn't do a flat tow due to the weight of my truck compared to the Transit Custom AA van so called me a flat bed from a local firm ISIS Recovery (No, Seriously) which took another 2 hours to arrive. By this point I was freezing cold and severely pissed off, partly with myself for not trying one more stint and breaking down on the forecourt of a rather nice pub (The Long Dog, Waddesdon) about half a mile closer to home.
I'd had the foresight to order alot of parts off Milner Off Road for next day delivery before going to pick the truck up including a full service kit, water pump, thermostat, aux belts and a de-cat and new wheels.
I love Milner deliveries.
I took the front of the truck off, flushed everything through with a hose, it was a tad sludgy but nothing terrible, the water pump was in one piece and the thermostat worked perfectly when I tested it on the hob but I fitted all the new bits anyway.
Decided it must have been HG failure as there was no blockage, poured in 2 bottles of Steel Seal with the new coolant and followed the instructions on that. Took it for a drive later and it's been perfect ever since.
I also fitted a stereo and swapped the viscous fan for an electric one but no pics of this.
Next morning (Saturday) I took it up to Norfolk and picked up my Cummins lump, again no issues.
The truckman top is staying off as it's too unwieldy for me to move on my own regularly and I often end up carrying garden rubbish, bikes, engines or scrap so it's a tad impractical for me as well as being worth a few hundred quid.
Plans are taller narrower tyres (for a little less road noise), Snorkel (already ordered) and a suspension lift of a couple of inches (longer shackles ordered, front is torsion bars). Gotta fit the EGR blanks and De-Cat that I've got here too. I'd love a massive body lift, 35" mud tyres and a 52" 300w light bar but we all know I'll of sold/scrapped this before then.