Time Is Money

[kevin the chicken]

Spent some of today changing the o rings on the heater matrix of my old range rover. Thought I would have a look at the workshop manual last night and after about five minutes decided the job was beyond what I cared to tackle. The official landrover manual says you should remove the centre console, steering column, instrument panel, fascia, radio, heater controls, wiper motor, disconnect the air con and so on. There would be nothing left inside the car! Apparently the main dealers allow 12 hours to replace these two o rings.

A quick look on the Internet found a site showing an alternative method with photos which I followed. Took me about four hours to strip it all out and replace the rings. Left it overnight full of water to check for leaks and I reckon I can put it all back together tomorrow in less than two hours.

That's a grand saved then

[agent_zed]

yep a small part of the reason i do pretty much everything on cars myself. I don't earn as much as most bigger garage jobs would cost, a clutch at ~£200-250 might take me a day and £50 for the part but i would save a lot of money if i took the day off to do it.

 

good job on finding the shortcut. The internet is pretty amazing for these types of things

[sj-bradley]

I agree. I had to replace a blown resistor pack in my seat ibiza.

 

The haynes manual said you had to remove the dash and a cross beam to do this which meant removeing both air bags !, Steering wheel !! etc.

 

Madness.

 

I also found a short(er) cut the didn't involve all that, but it still took ages and finally needed hands the size of a small child ...

 

After pondering how I could do this which didn't involve abduction of said child, I was quite happy as this would probably have cost more than the car was worth to fix at a (s)dealers.

 

Whoever designed these cars needs slapping with a wet haddock sometime.

 

Simon.

[Guest peter2b2002]

I whish i had seen that link when i had a rangy with a duf heater matrix the haynes system put me off

peter2b

Edited April 19, 2015 by peter2b2002

[Guest 2b cruising]

When I did mine I was lucky enough to find shortcut. I also d il led a couple of holes to make it even easier next time.

I then sold R/Rover about 3 month later.

Been sorry ever since.

[Guest peter2b2002]

Still miss my old rangy as well had to sell it when i was laid off work

petrr2bz3

[Guest 2b cruising]

Same same. Laid off long term sick.

 

If I do get another, it won't be auto.

 

It most defo won't be the awful Beemer diesel either.

[Guest peter2b2002]

my first rangy was 3.5 carb with 5speed gearbox great car got it with 55k miles PX 10years later with 285k miles. never let me down last one 3.9auto box ,it was OK but I prefer a manual gear box

peter2b

[kevin the chicken]

I looked at the diesel but thought it would be painfully slow pulling nearly three tons around so opted for a petrol. As it was to be an occasional use car fuel economy wasn't really too much of a concern so went for the 4.6 auto. Bought one which was fairly straight but needed a few jobs doing, which I am slowly working through. Only cosmetic ones left now.

One problem I did have was that the battery kept going flat. I was lucky enough to find a 4x4 garage that knew what they were talking about and they plugged a laptop in and disabled the key remotes so that I have to lock it manually. Job done, apparently some other cars can upset or fry the receiver so that the control unit doesn't hibernate. Whatever it was it worked.

I find it another car that puts a smile on my face but in a totally different way from my robin hood.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Had the same problem with mine.

Had to reset it often.

Once after parking near the electrical appliance skip at the local tip.