| 28 Year Old Learning How to Be An Adult - Maintenance Day | |
Good evening Komrades,
I am a 28 year old who has never done any upkeep on a vehicle before in my life. I purchased my 2008 4.4L AJV8 last February with 86k miles. I have done 2 oil changes on it, but today I grew up and performed some well needed adjustments. Some background:
On my way to Milwaukee my check coolant warning dinged on the highway 10 minutes until my first stop light, got to the spot light hood starting smelly sweek and smoking white. Turns out it, my heater core hose at the 180 degree loop was being clipped by my fan and finally developed a hole. Turns out a close family friend of my fiance dwells a minute from my destination. Pressure checked my cooling system found the hole and spliced it together with a PVC nipple and two hose clamps. I limped it home and learned how to bleed the system whilst having little to no understanding of the system. I drove the vechicle until recently lost my heat and realized the cooling system has either developed another leak or the bad hose was not holding. I was planning to buy the hose but you know I am a lazy gutter rat sometimes. I decided the bench the car. As I have been living with my fiance and my close friend I have been able to save up. I purchased new reverse light manifold, RH Taillight housing (I bought it was a 3 inch star crack in the housing), a passenger side side mirrow (I foolishly tried to clear a tight squeeze in the hippy part of Madison, Wi), iLand Rover Diagnostics Tool, Front and Back rebuild kit, cabin air filter, pressure testing kit, heater core hose, a trim kit (my windshield developed a crack and I had it repaired, but some pillar clips were not replaced), Pilar A clips, Rear Windshield wiper, and an oil filter wrench. I found an online manual for the 2006 - 2010 workshop manual and I also purchased the same manual for some reason. I dove in to the manual and between today and yesterday this is the upkeep and maintenance I performed. I have a personal sense of accomplishment, and I am happy it was a Land Rover. I have ambitions to purchase an older model one day to avoid the electronics/computer aspects of the engineering. Provided it has been above freezing during the daytime where I live I performed the following maintenance:
Yesterday:
I replaced the heater core hose. There was no propylene glycol in the hose or from the heater pipe or engine. After realizing the vehicle holds 15ish liters of coolant I assumed I was extremely low on coolant. I attempted to bleed the cooling system, and started to fiddle with the side mirror. I failed both. It got dark and cold. I didn't understand how the cooling system operates. The side mirror was connected with two heater wires and an extremely challenging electronic clip. I was standing in mud, hands were cold, and getting dark. I gave up.
Today:
I walked the dog, wrote out the bleeding procedure per the manual, researched some posts on fullfatRR, obtained the AJV8 Jaguar Engine manual, listened to Mettalica's Kill Em All on vinyl, and bought more coolant. Right off the bat I was able to troubleshoot and changeout the read taillight housing, side mirror, reverse tail light, and rear windshield wiper. The bleeding of the coolant was another story. Through trial and error I have discovered that this engine is a thirsty girl. I probably wasted a ton of coolant by overfilling. I started at 1500ish and was not getting heat. There were no overheating issues, however no heat. It was getting dark and I started to add the appropriate amount of coolant with the blowers on max. I had to have the bleeder valve open, and cap off. I was able to find that nice balance point where I realized it was drinking and burping at the same time. Just as I was about to give up I realized the volume of coolant was close to recirculating with no bubbles, and creeping towards the threshold. I closed up the radiator cap, closed the bleed, and popped in the cabin. I finally had heat, but I noticed the thermostat was creeping upwards. I shut it down, and was so amped up that I immediately went to change the oil. I finished my oil change in the dark. Filthy and tired I cleaned up my work area and tools. My goal was to get a car wash with my fiance at the end of the day. We went and got that car wash. After the car wash I showered up, and drove my accomplishment for the day with my best friend (person, not the LR) to have two well deserved Miller High Life's.
The next round of maintenance will be to replace the rotors and brake pads for front and back. I realized I might be missing an engine undershield, and the radiator splash undershield is held on by 3 different screw/bolts. I might research a different option other than the plastic genuine shield. I do not know what is out there, but who knows.
I am excited to use my iLand Diagonistics tool, but do not know where to start. If anyone knows the right direction to using it feel free to let me know. I will probably start with the manual.
It was a good day. The experience was surreal, and I hope I can get better at this because I have a feeling all the repairs/upkeep for my RR will be a whacky exciting ride.
Cheers.
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17th Mar 2019 5:37am
