Now, I live about 3 miles from work.Simple drive really, just up Lampton Road, through the double round-about then east on the A-4, and left at Gillette Corner. (At which one would hear in a harsh Capitol accent, "Sharpest corner in the world is that!") I pull out of the parking garage and at first, I thought it might be an exhaust leak thwp thwp thwp thwp thwp.... it is related to engine speed. Then I make the right on the A-4 and it got much louder. It became continusous approaching the Osterley tube stop, I came to the realisation that it was actually this metal on metal scraping sound--low down under, maybe aft of the bulkhead ?.

I thought, will this get me home ?, and start keeping to the left, keeping an ear to the curious sounds the Dang Rover is making. The next light was red, I put in the clutch pedal. BANG ! Serious BANG. The engine stalled. It wouldn't start. Luckily I'm in the curbside lane at the stop light, it is after rush hour and there is a phone box across the intersection.

I rang the AA. Two hours plus they say. I leave a note on the windscreen and go over to a curry house. I met up with the AA man and his little van gives me a tug to the next bus stop. He said it wasn't turning at all, but then when I tried it, it cranked OK, and we even fired it up, so we eliminated the starter and, well, that leaves the clutch. I reckon the pressure plate went to bits...

I get the curry take-away and he gives the RR and me a tug home, barely a mile away.

Well, so I set out to find a mechanic. Persuing the Land Rover Club Friend of a Friend network, I start making calls, and sooner or later I track down the number of a man who knows the number of the designated mechanic, but he is a lorry driver but won't be home 'til the weekend. Come the weekend I get the number of the designated mechanic, who runs a garage in Barkhamstead and not only races Land Rovers himself, and also prepares vehicles for other folks. He'll be down Tuesday evening to cart it away, and set off to work on it.

Seeing how I'm not driving anywhere, and I've got all this free time on my hands, I decide now would be an opportune time to work on the Dang Rover, and in doing so, change the oil and filter - and didn't notice anything out of sorts.

After work, at the appointed time, there arrives Andrew, and his dad (I think), they drop the prop shaft of the Rangie and hook it up for the tow, I relate to them the story of the break down and they ask a couple questions and haul it of, ostensibly to do a clutch job.

Andrew rings me up and asks me to recount the story again and there is the occasional Uh-huh. from his end of the phone he asks a couple questions, inquires about the oil change, and then tells me that the diagnosis was a bit off.

As it happens, they did the clutch, and the old one wasn't even beat. They went to fire it up and had no oil pressure, saw the clean oil, deduced there had been an oil change and then packed the oil pump with vasoline and tried to start it again. This time there was still no oil pressure, a large POP! and a puddle of oil on the offside of the engine. In the puddle was a chuck of the block.

Here is the e-mail I sent off when I got the story from Andrew:

Subject: I thought it went bang, I diid, I really diid....

What went bang ?

Barney: Oy Fred, whuz it ?

Fred: Look like bits-o-piston ring Barn.

Barney:Uh, say Fred, I though the piston rings came off after you took the piston out of the block.

Fred:Gee, Barney, you mean they're not supposed to fall out, of the side of the block ?

Yabba-dabba-do, I guess that clutch diagnosis was a bit off the mark.

One of the inlet valve springs in my Range Rover's V-8 engine broke, in two places. This was probably related to a tapping noise, but not real noticeable.

Once the valve wasn't held up by the spring, the head of the valve is now getting hit by a pistion a couple thousand times per minute. The head of the valve broke off. This was probably when the engine started to make that continuous screeching sound.

The head of the valve is now getting thrown about the interior of the cylinder. Since the valve is is pretty hard, compared to a pistion head, and there isn't enough space for it to get out of the way of the pistion, the valve and the pistion attemnpt to occupy the same space. Thus, the piston destroys itself. Not something you hear every day, (you can't really tell it is hammering when the noise is continuous).

Once the piston destroyed itself, a chunk of it fell down and got pinned between the crank and the block, which was rotating at the time, so the side of the block seems have gotten in the way of the piece of falling piston, which was being pushed by the crank. This made a rather noticeable deadened metallic bang, as the engine stopped rotating rather quickly.

When the crew finally opened up the engine, the pan was littered with bits. Andrew and his men scavanaged a Rover Vitesse 3.8 short block and and built me a new engine within a week. It ran purrfectly.

Over the next few months Andrew saw the Rangie a few more times, replaced the rear suspension bushes, did the very neglected tune-up, got it to pass MOT.

After I bought the 793-PTA, the lads at Tring 4wd did the rear quarter chassis and gas tank outrigger on 793-PTA, and got it sorted so that it actually was road worthy.

So, next time you are NorthWest of London, and need your Rover serviced, find your way to Tring 4wd, at Wood View Farm, off Hog Lane in Ashley Green, Chesham. Find the unit with highest concentration of Land Rovers, give a shout for Andrew, and tell 'em I sent ya (if your rover is under 15 years old:-), but let him do the diagnosis, eh ?

Bill Caloccia
Isleworth, UK
April 1995

Empire/LRO List of charges for sponsorship of the lists/website.
Empire/LRO Policies against the distribution of unsolicited commercial e-mail (aka SPAM).
Empire/LRO fees for the distribution of unsolicited commercial e-mail (aka SPAM).
Frequently Asked Questions

<--Back

HOME

TOP

Forward -->