A little western “safari” in the Disco in Grand Teton national park today many roads and facilities still closed, including all dirt roads

Saw a well known local grizzly and her cubs, and a bison up close. Very nice day.

Disco gives perfect view, lots of glass, very comfortable at park road speeds.

 

Yesterday was a mixed bag. We saw Yellowstone,, including bison, moose, elk, and mule deer. But we missed Old Faithful by 10 minutes due to an overheating issue.

The temp woukd flate to 221-224 before cooling to low 200s again. Did this repeatedly. I was preparing to change the t-stat in the parking lot near a thermal pool in Yellowstone. I found the overflow reservoir empty. I filled the system with about 5 bottles of drinking water, left the t-stat alone, and continued the drive. I also noticed that the previously pristine bright green coolant was just a touch darker. I also bled a bunch of air from the bleeder screw in the T.

Truck ran between 194 - 204 for the next 5 hours of driving. It never lost a drop of coolant all day. The cause finally occurred to me. We had run the heat since it was 33 degrees. The heat was nice, but cooled off quickly. Then the temperature flaring started.

The car spent its life in SoCal. It had a new t-stat and coolant flush when I bought it. Coolant was beautiful. At home, I just did a coolant flush on my Porsche 986, and it occurred to me - its a complex job to get all the coolant out of a water cooled 911. So my theory is that the heater was never turned on during the flush. We ran the heat, big air bubble, flaring to 224 because of that, t-stat probably not fully immersed in coolant, etc. bled the air, added water, problem solved. Discoloration was the puddle of old coolant in heater core.

Anyway, it now runs cool and normally, and we have heat. Whew. That one had me worried.

2nd problem if the day occurred in Billings MT at a gas stop. White knuckle driving in 60 wind gusts. We passed a camper and pickup truck in their side, blown over by Thee winds near Liviingston MT. 18 wheelers were off the road due to high winds.

Stopped for gas, reached for the low door latch, and the instant it unlatched, the 59/60 mph winds yanked the driver’s door out of my hand and tried to turn it inside out. Damage is pictured below. With the door release where it is, and the wind, I had no chance of catching it. Lots of colorful language ensued. Lots.

I will need to to bend the door panel back st the door stop, The pulled out section is dimpled outward, and now interferes with the door stop bracket in the last 2-3 inches of closing. Otherwise, thankfully, the door closes normally and is straight. For about a minute, when that door whipped backwards, I had visions of the trip ending right there.

Today we head to Mt Rushmore, along with the threat of 5-8 inches of snow. Despite it all, still a great trip.



When we stopped for gas in Billing, 60mph winds yanked door right out of my hand.

Wind pulled door backwards, twisted metal at door stop (pulled it outwards Ľ”), and door hit front fender.

Northern entrance, leaving Yellowstone.

 

This morning I went next door to the Walmart and bought a BFH for $7.24. I used this with the pipe from the tool pack for the jack handle, and whomped on the washers on each of the door stopper studs. It pushed the panel back into shape, and everything shuts as it should now. Just need a couple of dabs of touch up paint after the trip.

The truck used some more coolant, or took more in to compensate for a bubble in the heater, not sure. But still running 195 - 203 range all day, including 80 mph highway running for 2-3 hours at a time.

Oil clean and full, no issues there.

Mileage dropped to 16.2 and is now back up to 16.4 for the entire trip.

Used the JVC stereo with my wife’s iPhone, thru the Harmon Kardon speakers and amp, and it sounds great. Fantastic sound. Really helped the ride go a little faster.

Hammer, jack handle pipe, and a few choice blows put the driver’s door back into shape. I did remove the door stop pin, so I could open door farther, and get a straight shot on each washer. Worked the treat.

Mt Rushmore. Changed a lot since I was here when I was 11 (1972). The old visitor center as in “North by Northwest” is gone, there’s a parking garage out front. Very different.

These guys were hanging out right next to the visitor center at Mt Rushmore.

 

I should have mentioned that my Disco came with two complete tool kits, and a couple of additional loose spare tools. So I had a spare jack handle to whomp on when I fixed the door. If I only had one, I might have been more careful, or chosen a different tool/method.

 

Cool trip, thank you for sharing.

Brian.

 

I


so yesterday should’ve been a relatively uneventful drive across Nebraska. And for the most part it was.

Do not put 87 octane gas in your Land Rover if it calls for 91, even for a short period of time. We had no choice and had to put some 87 octane in. It immediately started throwing codes. Oxygen sensor code because I’m sure there was ethanol in it. Knock sensor codes because we were in rolling hills with acceleration up the hills.

And shortly after this started happening, we got a busted windshield courtesy of a rock truck in eastern Nebraska. We managed to find an AutoZone right before we stopped for lunch to visit a friend in Sioux City. So during lunch I set up the bracket and glued the starburst. It’s about the size of a dime, so I don’t have hopes for hiding it completely. I just want to keep it from spider cracking across the windshield until we figure out what to do when we get home.

So we followed the instructions on a slightly cloudy day, and left the bracket and the resin to cure while we ate lunch. We came back out and did the second step where you fill in the final bit with resin, cover with clear plastic, and are supposed and point it towards the sun to cure. It was cloudy, so we solved this by turning the defrosters on high while we sat in our friend’s car and talked about old times. We taped the clear piece of plastic over it and left it on all day for the ride, just in case.

We got a fresh 3/4 of a tank of 91 octane, and it’s been behaving perfectly well ever since. No more trouble codes and no issues. I cleared the codes and reset everything with the ultra gauge, so I should be able to get plenty of miles on it to be OK for a smog inspection when I return home.

The only question remaining is whether not I’ll be able to pass my Maryland inspection with that chip in the window that has been partially repaired. It’s less than 6 inches from the lower edge, so I think I’ll be able to get through it. I will probably do a secondary repair on it when I get home.

Since today is a slow day and we have a long day of driving ahead on Friday, I am considering going outside and looking at the adjustments to the window frames. In the right conditions, it’s dead silent inside and lovely. But in the winds that we’ve been enduring, the wind noise through the side windows upfront can be quite loud. The downwind side gets pulled outwards and makes a lot of wind noise. I may try a slight adjustment of the window frames before we leave today.

Some of yesterday’s travel was limited due to flooding and close roadways. Our plans to visit Davenport Iowa today are shot, because they are unfortunately dealing with Mississippi river flooding from a broken wall. So today will be an easy day into Illinois. Tomorrow we go to Michigan and see our goddaughter and her family.

Expect to be home in Maryland by Saturday afternoon. So far I have been on the road, including work for two weeks. My wife two days less. Looking forward to being home.

 

Hope you have safe travels from here on out. Always going to have little blips of issues along the way.

Brian.

 

Today was totally uneventful. Drove 3.5 hours to Le Claire IA, Saw the Antique Archeology store, and had lunch. Also saw some really high water on the Mississippi River. Spending the night in Ottawa, IL, at the confluence of the Fox and Illinois Rivers. More flooding. They are evacuating the firehouse near the rivier.

Tomorrow, Grand Rapids MI to see family.

 

I have been meaning to mention the book “Maintenance and Upgrade Manual, Land Rover Discovery, Series 1 and 2” by Ralph Hosier. I got this as a Kindle book, read through it once on a long flight, and then studied it again before the trip. After the first read, I went out west and checked over everything again. Then I read the book again in the week before the trip.

I even consulted the book during the trip, to check on the side window frame adjustments and wind noise.

There is a bunch of info on the TD5 diesel that doesn’t apply to us over here in the States. But otherwise, it is a simple a very helpful book of what to look out for with these vehicles. I highly recommend this book.