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pomonastik
04-30-2007, 03:36 AM
g'day
well i'm new here having just bought my first range rover. it is an '88 highline 3.5efi 5 spd 4dr. for which i paid au$1850 sight unseen off ebay. i collected it on friday from sydney. i flew up there, caught a cab to the address where i'd been told the key was in the letterbox. i checked the fluids (at night), started it, fuelled it and drove 1020km straight off through the night in a droughtbreaking rainstorm. arrived home some 16 hours later !
so what has my 750 quid or 1500 greenbacks bought me in terms of problems?
sunroof (factory glass) leaks- i did say 'droughtbreaking' !
rear electric windows no-go
clutch is 'short' in take up, signs of a new master cylinder so possibly not bled properly. this makes for a fairly jerky change through the gears.
a split in the fabric on r/h bolster of drivers seat and a saggy rear headlining are the only things amiss inside.
thats about all that was wrong as purchased except it also needs new tyres all round. the spare is a brand new michelin 205/80r16 but finding a match to match across an axle might be hard.
literally in the last 5km of the drive home the alternator light blinked on dimly. belts are in place and taut. somewhat curiously the light brightens if the engine is revved. it is a lucas A127/65.
it is ironic that the very first 'failure' i get on my first british car since my '73 xj12 has the dreaded 'L' word on it. the fact that there would seem to be some italian influence (magneti marelli?) on the alternator design probably hasn't helped.
that'll be the first job, to strip and clean it up whilst looking for anything obvious like worn brushes.it does'nt 'feel' like it's failed dead, maybe there's some internal shorting going on. would other members recommend ditching it in favour of something beefier or persevering with the lucas unit? 65amps does seem a bit weedy.
ah well the dreaming is now over and RReality bites. hopefully i've managed to attach pics.
cheers
simon
(pomonastik)

TSR53
04-30-2007, 08:08 AM
Welcome aboard! Very nice Range Rover Classic. Looks as if you have factory headlamp perspex covers? Keep the posts, questions and photos flowing from down under :thumb-up:.

pomonastik
04-30-2007, 11:19 AM
howdy tsr53
thanks for the cheery welcome. i'm on a very steep learning curve at the moment.
i have to admit that this purchase has been 35+ years in the making. i was on a family holiday on the spey river in scotland in the very early seventies. my dad's friend had a green 2dr, brand new with tan interior. at that time ownership of one of these was almost unique. i remember we drove off the road and up a meadow which would have slowed even a landy with the v8 just working gently, riding like the earth was adapting its shape to us. i was only about 8 but it made a deep impression, obviously.
now at 44 and on the other side of the planet, i have decided that i need a range rover. i'm just at the end of one of the longest fire seasons for years, working in a fire tower perched on top of one of the world's most inflammable places. each day i drive 20km each way along bush tracks varying from kenyan safari grade ruts and corrugations to fast but treacherous bluestone rock sheeting.
this years 'steed' has been an ancient renault fuego coupe that cost $100 (you gotta luv ebay). i do my best impersonation of ari vatenan going up pikes peak each day but sadly lacking the turbo,the 16v and the 4wd of his peugeot. the little renault has served me well but one shocky has actually pierced the bonnet due to its strut pan being distended upwards a good few cm and it is only weeks/days/hours (who can tell?) from a death like that of the blues brothers cop car. if it lives out its current registration 'til june i'll just drive it to the metal recyclers and get my money back for scrap.
meanwhile i've applied the shock&awe school of thought to its replacement. so i bought a range rover. now i have a month or so to prepare it for registration which includes a roadworthiness test. no big deal, just tyres and maybe a set of brake pads all round. i notice the hand brake feels a bit taut, with only 2 clicks to its operation. i've got shop manuals coming on cd's but will admit i've never dealt with a prop. brake before. any tips ?
i'm also guessing that the non-op rear windows will turn out to be that lock out switch, or maybe they are fused separately, front and back ?
as soon as it stops raining i can dry out the interior and try to stem this leaking sunroof too. the staining and drooping of the headliner points to the leak being at the rear of the opening, or at least draining that way. is it more likely to be the fixed seal twixt roof and frame or the seating of the actual sliding panel itself into the frame when closed? if the latter i could just sikaflex the thing shut and pull the fuse. end of story.
i presume this is a factory roof? see pics.
many thanks for reading thus far and i'm sure there will be somebody out there shaking their head and muttering "been there, seen that,done that". its you guys i wanna hear from.