On Easter Monday I did a bit more tinkering in the engine compartment. Fitted the air intake hose and new washer pump, sorted out the heater motor resistor and replaced a leaky water hose. I’d hoped to do some debugging on the charge warning light too, but a strange problem put an early end to my day…

New air intake hose, elbow and DIY carb connector.

I’m quite happy with the air intake hose. Got the diesel version in the end, as the petrol version I got a few weeks ago is too short (the military mount the air cleaner further away to make space for the generator). The small rubber hose which joins the elbow to the carb is as rare as hen’s teeth at the moment. Couldn’t find one anywhere. So I took a pen knife to the short air hose and made myself a little adapter. It fits very well, and the air hose I butchered only cost a couple of quid more than the proper adapter would have cost me.

Heater resistor mounted on some scrap aluminium.

After fitting the air hose I ran the engine. It ran very nicely; I think the open carb had been causing it to run a little lean at idle. The resistance of the air cleaner helps cut back the air flow nicely. After this was done I did a few more odd jobs.

Two or three hours later I replaced what I thought was the charge warning light behind the dash and turned the engine on to see what happened. Nothing. The starter really struggled and the engine turned maybe once over. Turning it over on the crank was next to impossible too. Oh dear. Such a good weekend, such good work, ruined by what appeared to be a seized engine. I stormed back in the house and drowned my sorrows in lasagne and wine.

Woke up very depressed today. Chatted to Land Rover Specialist Doctor Johnson on MSN at work and we devised a plan of attack for tonight…

  • Slacken off the generator belts - in case the generator was dead
  • Take out the plugs and turn it over - in case oil or water had flooded the pistons
  • Take off the rocker cover and turn over again - in case the timing chain had broken
I got home, found a beer and my floodlights and set to work...

Under the rocker cover - all fine and dandy.

Worked through the entire list and found nothing wrong. Not a sausage. Then I found I could turn the fan by hand if I really heaved. A few minutes later it had loosened up nicely. I turned it over with the starter without the plugs in for a while, then bunged them back and fired it up…

…and it worked! Excellent news. But the real cause of the problem remains a mystery…