Well,
we took the RRC all the way to Shaver Lake and back (almost).
I am getting a little on the hot side on long steep hills at freeway speeds, causing it to spill coolant all over the place. I am almost positive it is the fan clutch and I will replace. The pressure relief cap on the coolant bottle seems to be worn too, so I'll replace. And as the coolant sensor level failed on me and did a field repair, I cracked it so it will be replaced too.
Did I mentioned I almost made it home?
But, let me explained what happened:
Friday the 13th, we headed north to Shaver Lake, as mentioned we had to stop from time to time to let the RRC cool down and refill coolant or water. At the end I decided to go in Low range, as the final uphill to Shaver Lake is long and very steep (I remember 11% on a signal...)
We met Ron (from LRRF follow links to it, is worth it) when we were stopped for water half way up.
We reached destination a million hours after leaving the LA area (or so).
Saturday,
We met at Dorabella camping site and met the other guys: Tony, Frank, Dan and Mike with their families. Great bunch, I realize soon how nice it is to be able to mix family and Land Rover time. I was just hoping that my girls would have a great time...
I tried to find a new cap for the coolant bottle in the NAPA store... no luck.
We head there anyway, I was kind of expecting it to starting bleeding coolant any second, but to make it short, it didn't happen at all during the trail.
We reached trail head, aired down and the fun started.
Let me show you what I mean:
Unfortunately, Frank's D90 broke a joint and some more stuff, and forced him to return to camp. His brother Tony went with him to help. Here working on the truck:
Our families taking it easy on the shade. Nice day, by the way, almost hot, but nice up there...
Mike's DI and Tony's DII tried the same spot that took Frank's drive shaft.
Well,it was sad to see them go back to camp, but the show must go on, so we went ahead. Uphill is the word.
My RRC (Spikes as my daugther calls it) showing some muscle:
Until we made it all the way to the top where we had lunch and played around...
Nice view by the way...
And down we went...
And after airing up (thanks Ron and Frank for the compressor and airing down tools...).
A happy family, they had a great time too!!!!!
Well, after all, Shaver Lake is a beautiful place:
We had some fun sharing mojitos, orujo, almonds, sweets, .... back at camp.
Monday we visited Yosemite... I know I'll go back there:
Our return trip was very easy, up to Fort Tejon, when the RRC was bleeding coolant again. After cooling off, refilling and turning the car on again, a rattle noise was coming from the Power Steering / Alternator area.
Well, after losing my Tachometer, I knew the Alternator was starting to do weird stuff. Sure enough it died 5 miles from home, I jump started again and it failed again 2 or 3 miles from home when I decided to call AAA and have it towed.
A new alternator is on its way.
Overall, one of the best long weekends of my life.
David.
