Let there be light!
Tim burns the midnight oil to get his Classic’s lights working
AFEW weeks back I was asked by Editor Patrick if he could use one of my Range Rovers for some photos for the What’s Hot guide (March issue). I said yes, but it would have to be my 1986 Classic, as that’s the only one on the road at the moment, while the others are tucked away for winter. After spending a long day doing a few jobs and a thorough clean, everything, so far, had gone to plan. Later that evening I popped out after tea to Ripon to fill up with fuel so I wouldn’t have to stop anywhere en route to the photoshoot. On my way back, it suddenly all went very dark. My lights had gone off! I put my hazards on and managed to get back; luckily I wasn’t too far from home.
Once there, I set about trying to find the fault, bearing in mind it was now about 8.00 pm and starting to snow outside! First, I checked the fuses that had blown, I then found a bulb in the right-hand side light had blown, and after replacing that, and the fuse, I then had lights, but only on the right side. I then removed the front side and indicator light cluster on the
passenger side, and two of the screws that hold the lens to the cluster decided to snap off in the casing, while another broke off the captive nut part, so now I also needed another front light unit. I frantically looked through my stack of spares, however they were all for earlier cars with bullet connections rather than a multi-plug! I could of course resolve that by cutting the bullet connections off and soldering my multi-plug on, but it would have been a lot easier if I found the correct one to just plug in. I eventually found one that I had to borrow from another car that I knew worked. I plugged this in, with new bulbs in, and still nothing!
I took the rear light clusters to bits to make sure it wasn’t a blown bulb or something shortening it out, but I couldn’t find anything wrong. I then went back into my part stores and dug out some spare clusters to plug in and try, but still nothing. It could really only then be one thing: a wire somewhere in the loom was shortening out and blowing the fuse.
It was now about 11.00 pm and I’d already been in touch with Patrick to say I wouldn’t make it. However, the issue was really bugging me and I was determined to find out what was wrong, and at about midnight, I found a section of wire, that where it went through the steel structure of the car, had been rubbing on a sharp edge and was shortening out on the body. The grommet had fell out so the wire just kept rubbing until the coating had all come off on one side. I cut the section of wire, put a new piece in, a new grommet, and I had lights once again!
After a very cold late finish that night, I went to bed and was back up early and leaving at 5.00 am to get down to Northamptonshire for 9:30 am, I made it with all lights working, and Patrick was very surprised to see me! Sadly, the efforts of spending the previous day cleaning the Range Rover had somewhat been a waste of time as it was now covered in salt and general road dirt. Luckily there was a bucket and sponge on hand, and it was soon looking much better for the photoshoot.
While we had a few nice days, I dug one of the non-roadworthy Range Rovers out of the shed for a run to assist me making some tree guards. We planted 82 new trees on the farm last year and, as and when time allows, I have been making guards to go around them to keep livestock from eating them. Most of the ones in the areas we graze we did straight away, but there was still around 30 to do. So with the sun shining I loaded the old 1983 Range Rover up with all the tools and some wood planks, and went trundling off across the farm to make a start.
After spending an afternoon on them I soon had five guards up around the trees. I do like to get the old non-road worthy (awaiting restoration) Range Rovers out and about when it’s a nice day. By using them once in a while it helps everything to keep working, as they don’t like being stood for long periods of time, and besides I get withdrawal symptoms!