The Rolling Road

For the last few weeks preparations for the rally have been in full swing, storage shelves have been fitted, new sponsorship acquired and wheels and seats replaced.

However, in and amongst this excitement a serious problem has been developing with our humble SJ. The problem has been occurring at high revs and/or when the weather has been damp. Bring the car up to any speed over 50(ish) and the engine begins to violently shudder and jolt to a complete stop. Only restarting the engine seems to bring her back to life.

Upon spending many, many hours scouring through forums we found numerous possible causes of the problem and have consequently replaced;

1. The ignition coil
2. HT leads
3. Spark Plugs
4. Distributor cap
5. Rotary arm

However, the problem still remained. With time running short we bit the bullet and took it to a professional garage, one equipped with a 'rolling road'. A rolling road enables a mechanic to run the car at 60mph, while inside the garage and therefore allow the mechanic to experience the problem first hand.

A rolling road setup

My amateur diagnostic (this being that the car was suffering from a bad misfire) was completely off the mark - I am grateful that the mechanic didn't laugh in my face for that! - and our SJ was in fact suffering from an old, ropey fuel pump that couldn't keep up with the demand of the engine at higher speeds.

A quick trip to our local Unipart dealership and the pump was ordered, 6 hours later and she was fitted. All ready for our trip to Mongolia.

A clean, shiny fuel pump inside our oily chariot

Radiator Replacement

With the car nearly 20 years old we expected some of it's mechanical parts to be a little under the weather. However, neither of us were expecting the state of disrepair we found the radiator to be in when we bought the car; it was riddled with corrosion and refused to hold nearly any water.

The radiator when we bought the car

We decided to leave the expensive replacement for as long as possible but unfortunately the time for action came after a recent drive to Buxton. On the way the engine temperature gauge peaked and steam billowed from under the bonnet, after a quick inspection the pressure inside the radiator had blown our coolant reservoir clean away and any remaining water was rapidly evaporating. The time had come for a replacement radiator.

A quick ring-round and £70 later we had ourselves a brand spanking new one and as we had quickly come to learn doing anything to this car is a bitch - and this job did not let us down; we managed to shear 4 bolts off the supports! But after a long hard afternoon we got her in, see the finished product and other pictures of the replacement here.

The new installation

Patched

A few weeks ago we found that our fuel tank had hole and we soon deduced that anything over £8 of fuel would cause it to leak over the drive. Now after weeks of infuriating £5 fill ups we finally got around to doing something about it.

With our trusty Haynes manual to hand we set about removing the tank - a job that I wish never to do again - and finding the leak. 20 years of corrosion have not been kind to us and a 40 minute job took us the best part of a day while we battled with corroded bolts and worn fuel lines. After removal we filled the tank with water and found the little blighter on the wall of the tank.

With the hole located we applied a generous helping of liquid metal to the area, hopefully sealing petrol inside the tank. With the rusty tank repaired we went about fixing it back onto the car - again a bastard - but it went on. We then held our breath, put some fuel in and turned her over. Bellowing out plumes of smoke she started first time and after a subsequent visit to the petrol station is holding petrol.

Water & petrol make cloudy exhaust fumes!

Job well done - until we realised that in our haste to remove the tank we failed to spot the order in which 3 electrical connectors attatched to it - resulting in a consistently lit fuel warning light. If anyone has any SJ experience and can help us with this please contact us at themongolianadventure@gmail.com.

Photos of the trials and tribulations of the petrol tank removal and installation can be found here.

Another Leak!

The fuel tank remains un-repaired, it has stopped leaking though. Mainly due to the fact there is very little petrol in the car.

However things have just gotten a little worse; while on a trip to Halfords to get the stuff needed for the fuel tank repair I decided to check the oil level in the car and I found to my dismay that oil has appeared, well, pretty much everywhere under the bonnet. After some time under the bonnet and a few rags I managed to clean up, though the cause of the leak is far from known.

She runs fine with no lack of power etc, so I am going to leave it and keep an eye on it! I am just praying that it is not a blown head gasket. From the forums I have been reading one user describes the job of changing the gasket as a ' bit of a pregnant dog' so I hope for the best.

The engine block, after a quick rag-down. What a beauty!

Shaznay Springs A Leak

After the first day on my drive a small puddle of petrol has accumulated directly below the fuel tank - making the drive smell like a forecourt at a petrol station.

This is not good news, not good news at all - a garage visit could be expensive. However, all is not lost since I have heard from several sources on the intenet of a miracle epoxy putty called 'Waterweld' which is ideal for patching fuel tanks whilst they are still leaking. It looks like a trip to halfords for me!