Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

We value determination in society. We use manly words like "grit" and "drive" to remind us this is the way that real men's men are. But just like power is nothing without control, determination is nothing without the bloody common sense to know when you're beaten.

Yesterday's task was to drive from Edinburgh to Tilbury docks in Essex to collect an F3 racing hovercraft. The plan was to head off early (6ish), get to Tilbury for 2-3ish, spend an hour loading up and chatting, then head back up the road to my godmother's house in Wakefield. If all went well, I'd be pouring a nice glass of red by around 9-9.30 ish. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the weather, for starters. On the basis that the Disco is pretty unfazzed by a bit of snow, I ignored the forecasts and pressed on anyway. The fact that it was -7 when I left the house didn't put me off, neither did the fact that the Disco's heater has only partially worked for the last couple of months (flushed the system and added some K-seal the previous day, which made a substantial improvement, but still not 100%).

So all was going swimmingly, until Leeming bar (50 miles or so south of Scotch Corner), when my now well-trained eye saw the first northwards flicker of the temp gauge. Got it pulled over straight away and found a 2" rip in the top rad hose. Bugger. I had tools, but no replacement pipe, so it meant a call to the AA. Give them their due - they were there in under an hour and immediately recovered me to the nearest services. But then they wanted to stick me on a truck back to Edinburgh. How I now wish I'd taken them up on this offer! But no, I insisted it was only a hose ('tis but a flesh wound ;) ), and persuaded the local recovery guy to take me back to his yard. A small unofficial donation to the recovery drivers' benevolent fund allowed me to raid a written-off Astra for a suitable bit of hose, and the boys were kind enough to top me up with anti-freeze. I was back on my way and mentally readjusting the timetable - it was all still do-able :D

All was good for the next hour and a half, until there was an almighty bang front under the bonnet, and another visit to the hard shoulder. The expansion tank had burst. It was at this point that a lack of common sense verged on stupidity. I've run with cooling system issues before, and I was only 3 hours from my destination, so I made the highly suspect decision to bandage it up with tank tape, keep going and just keep re-filling with water. Or at least run it to the next services and assess the rate of coolant loss.

So I soldiered on for the next hour, undeterred by the fact it was snowing, I now had no heater at all, and all the service station water taps were frozen solid (begging 15L at time from Costa/Subway!). However, by somewhere around Grantham, the rate of water consumption was getting unmanageable and with another 2.5 hours to go, I finally threw in the towel, and decided to try and limp home.

At this point I was very cold. Very very cold (no comments about arctic preparations at the back ;) ) Splashing from the constant refilling had left me a bit wet, I still had no heater and the temperature was dropping fast. In the next two hours I made it 100 miles or so back north, but by this time the stops were getting very frequent (less than 5 minutes between), and the final straw was when the neat washer fluid started freezing solid on contact with the unheated screen. I hobbled to the next "rest aea", which just happened to be the same Leeming Bar services I'd been at with the AA 6 hours previously.

Except now, they were a lot more reluctant to offer me a ride home. Despite pleading and trying to sound as technically competent as I could, they insisted on sending a patrol to "assess". Another hour and a half unheated in what was now seriously sub-zero temperatures, only to be booked in for a two hour wait for a truck. And by the time it arrived, it was too late for a full ride home, but I felt nothing but joy for the lovely warmth of the cab.

By the time I was deposited in an empty Morrisons carpark in Berwick at around midnight, outside temp was showing a parky -8. Lack of mobile reception, and the fear that they'd made some logistical cock-up, made the lonely wait for my relay was the longest 20 minutes of the whole sorry story. I eventually fell in my front door some time after half one, with some fairly dented pride and no hovercraft to show for my troubles.

Looks like there was an underlying slight HG leak, and the K-seal the previous day had seized up the pressure relief valve. When the pressure built up, something had to give. The rad hose was the warning, but I ignored it. Now the HG is well and truly FUBAR (if the head is even recoverable at this point). Warmer clothes might've been a good idea too, given the weather.

TL;DR - 800 miles through a blizzard in a shonky 20-year old land rover is a bad idea in the first place, but when it does go wrong, accept defeat graciously, and ride the big yellow taxi home.
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
User avatar
Mike1215
Posts: 206
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Mike1215 »

Nefarious wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:47 am but when it does go wrong, accept defeat graciously, and ride the big yellow taxi home.
Bad luck Neil

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone!
User avatar
nuttinnew
Posts: 8726
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:14 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by nuttinnew »

:(

is now the wrong time to ask how you're getting on with the homebrew diesel?
User avatar
Jobbo
Posts: 9173
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:20 pm
Currently Driving: S6 Avant, Jimny, Macan, Mini

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Jobbo »

Bad luck - I didn't like the sound of your regular top-ups on your way back with the speedboat but that's a fucker of a day :shock:
User avatar
McSwede
Posts: 3307
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:04 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by McSwede »

Shame you didn't post last night. I'm 6-7 mins from Leeming Bar and could have offered you lodgings for the evening and a seat in front of the log burner
RobYob
Posts: 2467
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:03 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by RobYob »

Ouch! Having recently played chicken with the E39s temp gauge (lost the battle, won the war) it's good to see someone else with "grit", "sticktoitiveness" and "willsomeonepleasenoburnittothegroundness"
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

nuttinnew wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:03 am :(

is now the wrong time to ask how you're getting on with the homebrew diesel?
Yeah, it's been pretty good. Haven't changed the recipe in a year-ish. I have learned from the couple of times I've been caught out and had to fill with regular that the baseline is very variable - the juice brings anything up to the max usable cetane, but there's a wide variety in how necessary it is. I've changed the head since the original experiments, and am now running slightly lower compression, which I think makes the difference between juiced-regular diesel and super smaller. Still well worthwhile though, IMO.
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

This is the 'craft, BTW
Image
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
speedingfine
Posts: 2158
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 1:05 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by speedingfine »

Did you actually enjoy most of it or are you the most obstinate man in Scotland? :lol:
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

speedingfine wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:33 am Did you actually enjoy most of it or are you the most obstinate man in Scotland? :lol:
I don't think those two are mutually exclusive ;)

The joy of getting rolling again after the first fix was amazing. Waiting for the final relay was genuinely scary.
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
User avatar
ste
Posts: 877
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:16 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by ste »

Nice report, felt your pain reading it.

I've been in similar scrapes and for some reason something in your head keeps telling you to ignore the logic and that somehow, it'll be alright. Right up until it really isn't.
User avatar
Marv
Posts: 1374
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:33 pm
Contact:

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Marv »

Have you considered buying a Land Cruiser?
Oui, je suis un motard.
User avatar
scotta
Posts: 3010
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:28 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by scotta »

Marv wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:58 am Have you considered buying a Land Cruiser?
I did suggest he buy our mutual mates Pathfinder when it was for sale a month or so ago..
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

Marv wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:58 am Have you considered buying a Land Cruiser?
Dedicated to the winners and the losers
Dedicated...
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

Pathfinders snap in the middle
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
User avatar
scotta
Posts: 3010
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:28 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by scotta »

Nefarious wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:37 pm Pathfinders snap in the middle
Really?
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

Japanese reliability ain't what it used to be
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
User avatar
dinny_g
Posts: 5251
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:31 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by dinny_g »

Next time, have you thought about flying down and then driving the Hovercraft back up the east coast... ;)

Good practice for the cold at this time if year.. :lol:

Edit - Is Drive correct ? what do you do with a Hovercraft - "Pilot" ??
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
User avatar
Nefarious
Posts: 833
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by Nefarious »

dinny_g wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:46 pm Next time, have you thought about flying down and then driving the Hovercraft back up the east coast... ;)

Good practice for the cold at this time if year.. :lol:

Edit - Is Drive correct ? what do you do with a Hovercraft - "Pilot" ??
Fly is the term they prefer, apparently.

Would've been a bit of a challenge in this case - it's a racing craft, so has a range of about 12 miles. I'd've been stopping for fuel nearly as often as the Disco needed stopping for water!
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
V8Granite
Posts: 3894
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:57 am

Re: Well, that was a long and completely fruitless day

Post by V8Granite »

I would look at your injectors when they come out, any deposits or build up could be a sign of bad combustion and a high combustion temp.

The 300tdi hates overheating, most people fit a coolant level sensor.

These never get hot unless something is wrong or someone fits an electric fan.

Admit it though, if you turn around when the logical part of your brain says to, you would only have half as many adventures!

Hope it’s a simple fix and on your next try, if something is wrong stop by mine and we can have a bash at fixing it.

Dave!
Post Reply