Well it's been a while! Towards the end of summer, in September I noticed that I had some free play in the steering on the passenger side wheel. Further investigation proved that the steering idler was to blame. It was tight to the bracket, which was securely fastened to the chassis but jiggling about with a pry bar you could get some movement from the base of it. There was also a tell tale clunk over bumps that tallied with various posts on here. I decided that it wasn't a good idea to continue using the car for daily duties until I had this resolved, and so the Land-Rover was pressed into service:
I was saved by one of the members on here from down under: mikecoombs
- he very kindly dug out a replacement he had and shipped it to me! However, its arrival took longer than expected due to the incompetency of the UK courier service "Yodel". It arrived shortly before Christmas.... they had evidently managed to smash up the box it was in as it was covered in tape that said "Repacked by Yodel"
:
But inside the package all was well (Excuse the shot of my hand/finger at the bottom):
So a few weeks later (having a 6 month old baby can make finding a window for this kind of work tricky) and with the weather being perfect for tinkering on cars I got to work:
The old idler was definitely dead - it had almost zero resistance and just flopped back and forth in your hand. The new one was much stiffer and took some effort to get it to move.
After fitting everything back together I used some scrap steel to make up what was effectively a massive set of calipers so that I could measure the toe setting accurately:
This took a lot of mucking about taking measurements, making adjustments, shunting the car back and forth to get it to settle to its new default position, before repeating the whole process again. It didn't help that a couple of times as I was getting close I did not engage brain and then turned the adjuster the wrong way!
So the car was back together, but at this point the amount of salt that was being spread on the roads was horrific and I didn't want to get that stuff all over my lovely P6 (Sorry Land-rover). It was treated to a wash:
And that's how it sat for a few more weeks. The snow came, and the salt content grew steadily higher on the roads, so the P6 was confined to the driveway for its on safety. The 90 took it all in its stride, here it is as we were packing up to leave Center Parcs in Longleat:
So the P6 sat and sat....until yesterday!
The salt had been washed away by the recent rain we've had and I had to go Richmond for my offshore medical. Not knowing where I would be able to park I decided not to risk taking the Land-Rover as its height can be a limiting factor when finding car parks. I fired up the P6 Tuesday night, let it warm up and checked everything, took it out for some fuel and that was it. Next day it performed flawlessly taking me to my appointment and then to work:
It was great to be back behind the wheel again, especially in the sunshine. The EV6 style injectors I fitted prior to taking the car off the road seem to be performing well and the car is definitely faster than I remember! It just goes and goes, and is especially lovely cruising on the motorway with the throttle barely cracked open, window down, listening to the rumble of the engine. It's funny how different the P6 and the Landrover sound, considering they are both 3.5's - the big difference is the exhaust, as the 90 has a 4-2-1 system that is slightly bigger bore than the P6. Somehow the P6 sounds a little bit more raw in a good way, the 90 is still good, but a bit more muted perhaps.
May not last long though, they are predicting another cold snap and the signs on the M3 this morning said they were salt spreading again...
Luckily I took the Land-Rover today!