desertdude

I think mike was referring to the newer Maybachs and Rolls

Me and you can no longer be friends! How can you call that Chinese knock off looking thing classier than a Rolls! The Rolls is the epitome of class and beauty, inside and out.

I was also going to suggest grease or oil. Another option is synthetic fibre rope. Costs more but with none of the hassle of a steel rope.

The new BF goodrich's are much much quiter due to having to meet eurospec 5 standards and also they realized because of being no noisy no body was using them as OEM tyres right out of the factory

wasn't in the middle of the sahara desert, so just call a recovery truck It was a safari operation, we had three fully functioning campsites within minutes of each other with at least 30 other vehicles on site, And a whole load of fruits including bananas ! lol

Good to know, there are charts available as to what amount of beads to put for what tyre size.

Do what the Camel Trophy Discovery's did. matt black the hood to cut out glare

Think I can be of help here too as I just recently stated in the previous thread I started off with a manual and after a numbers of years moved on to an auto. Same car, 100 series Land Cruiser, almost driven daily off road with a full load of 6 pax and I can tell you I prefer the auto and it performed better and most of all many times we had very long days starting very early in the morning long drive on the highway then good part of the day spent in the mountains or wadis then another long drive on road then entire evening in the dunes then at night stuck in city traffic to drop off the guests, those were the days I really appreciated having an auto. And in all my time I experienced one catastrophic failure with a manual and one with an auto. The manual was in a Land Cruiser pick up fully loaded till the roof with heavy gravel, I gave it to a newbie collegue and he managed to burn out the clutch plate. On the Auto, just when it was time to call it quits, loaded up my people hit the first climb out of the camp and within minutes lost drive. Torque converter seal gave up and all the ATF leaked out, refilling did nothing as it would leak out again in minutes. So IMO same car same duty over a period of years Auto wins

Not too hard though, I know 2 people in my other LR group one has an Auto P38 Range Rover and the other a L322 Range Rover which never came in manual form, both have converted their vehicles in to expedition vehicles and done the entire length of Africa, north to south, east to west all alone, and they had no issues what so ever. The guy even put his fully converted L322 up for sale at a very reasonable price, just didn't have the $$$$ at the time to buy it. Manual for expedition always wins simply because as stated above unless they exploded into a million pieces, can still be driven or even fixed out in the bush if you have the right parts along with you and any good prepared overlander carries atleast a spare clutch plate with them. You don't have that luxury with an auto.

Thats true the stupid BMW V8 I have in my range rover runs hot like brick oven and mineral oil in it will be cooked to a crisp. Use to wonder why only strictly full synthetic oil is listed as a must for it. Last time I buy anything with BMW, BMW engineering my ass!

You know I will, IF I can remember to that is, as you know I just need to a certain amount of research before I'm satifised and will just go ahead and do it, and not listen to the naysayers, be it diesel oil, water injestation, fender trimming, sawing off bumpers etc etc And till now none of my DIY hacks or ghettos mods, even if they didn't add anything, did not have any negative effects. At least they killed my curiosity on a certain subject.

Hello...comprehension issues!, I'm agreeing with you here! That yes just stick in D and drive.

I've always wanted to try this, but by the time its time to change tyres I've forgotten about this! Note to self remember to use balancing beads the next time you change tyres!

That wasn't a revival or comeback even, Toyota just plonked their badge on a Subaru, hoping to cash in on the name, which obviously didn't work. Toyota doesn't seem to be too smart when it comes to revivals, they brought in the FJ as a rebooted version of the legendary Toyota FJ40, which also failed because its just a LWB prado rolling chassis bolted on with a totally impractical body. Hence due to poor sales had to discontinue it. Only reason it took off here was once again a Prado with a lighter body gave it good desert performance. So people overlooked all of its flaws.

Interesting, just a week back I came across this video where big name brands were tested against exactly what you describe, ATF and an acetone mixture. The results were surprising, to me at least. Till date I have used WD40, but I leave in it to soak and usually overnight, if I know I'm going to work on something. I spray a generous amount on the bolts the day or night before and sometimes reapplying a second coat somewhere along the way too. Another old school trick that usually also works if the bolt is not too far gone or just being stubborn is put a wedge, pick or even a thick screwdriver on it and give a good couple of raps with a hammer, this usually breaks it free.

Oooh...what an interesting conversation, wonder how I missed it the first time round. Lemme put in my own two cents into this. As most of you know, I worked for a decade as a Safari Tour Guide, learned to drive on road and then off road on a manual, more specifically a Land Cruiser Pickup, used for hauling really heavy stuff deep into the dunes. As work required I was pretty much working 7 days a week during season time and 3-4 times a wee during the 3-4 months summer off peaks months. I was also from the camp, that manual is the best and only girls and whips do autos, and TBH actually scared and not very confident to take an auto off road into the dunes, so for many many years I avoided autos likes the plague. But later caved in after thinking rationally that I spent more time stuck in city traffic than in the dunes so got an automatic, which was considered a pretty big no no in my field that time and all my colleagues went, what have you done, you will regret it, but I went ahead anyways and the rest is history. And to this day I can say I don't regret a single second of that choice, there was never a single moment where I though. I wish I had a manual right about now. But there were countless moments where I did find myself saying, than god I've got an auto and not a manual. To me people who complain about Autos performance in the dune, to me simply just don't know how to drive with an auto properly and like Gaurav. 99.9% of the time my selector was or is in D hi range. Learn your car and its transmission and you wont have any problems Now not blowing my own horn, I actually got pretty nifty with gear shifts in a manual, a lot clients even commented on this after the drive, they were impressed. One of my tricks was not lift my foot of the clutch, but just slide it to the side and pedal comes up with its own force combine that with quick shifts of the lever, so gearshift times were not my gripes about manuals. To conclude let me just say not all manuals and auto are created equally, all have different rations and shift point and even different purposes. And to me auto or manual really does not add or take away any pleasure or performance of driving off road, unless its something really stupid which is usually because some manufacturer thought XYZ would be a good idea. Like for example we were given the new facelifted 2005 Patrol for testing in Liwa and the model we got was an auto with triptronic gears, was a big deal back then, So in this huge bowl. I put in 2nd, went down got some good speed on the downhill then started to climb half way up, it started to lose speed and power, so dropped or tried atleast to drop in 1st and the cars computer wouldn't let me because at the speed I would be over revving in 1st gear. So I needless to say right close to the top car stopped. :/ Earlier in life I prefered manuals and was told by everyone autos are the devils spawn but once I tried them now my personal choice is auto for all situations. And would avoid manuals if I had the choice. Like Barry says hes only ever owned one car with an auto, so naturally his bias is towards Manuals, Because I myself was like that as Ive explained earlier So as the saying goes don't knock it unless you've tried it.

I don't disagree at all ! LOL But that would only apply IMO if you have the car from new, you buy it at 50-80-100-150k. Who knows what he previous owners have been doing. So just to better your chances, would do no harm to frist try to bring it into original specs and then follow the what it says in the book..

Watch from 7.30 on wards if you are impatient

What I would do is run a couple of cycles of the "getting dark soon" oil and change it every 3000kms, just because a oil is dark or opaque doesn't means it lost its capabilities, and see if it makes any difference, A slow overtime long term flush if you will. Also another old mechanics trick is a 100km or so before you change your oil drop in 300 to 500ml of ATF, since ATF has much stronger detergents and it will give the internals a good wash and in such low quantity it wont effect you other oil properties. But hey do it at your own risk, I'm a known rebel and do stupid things like use diesel oil in flat tappet motors and feed water down the airtake! ALSO very important. Semi Sythentic oil is a crock, not because there is anything wrong with the oil but because most companies even well known ones are crooks, what one usually thinks is a semi syn blend is a 50% syn oil blended with 50% regular dino oil. But thats not the case as there is no standard as to whats qualifies as semi-syn oil. There could be as little as 10% syn oil in regular dino oil and that qualifies as semi-synthetic oil unless the % mixture is mentioned, which I don't think anyone does, So better to fork out a little extra and go full synthetic rather than have to deal with dubious blends. ( I know I know before anyone gets to it, I know even fully synthetic oil is formulated from a mineral oil base )

Good for Toyota, although I'm not a techphobe by any means but I think the latest trend on incar infotainment is getting a bit over the top, which huge screens, with layers and layers of menus and submenus, apps etc etc. And even worse is that the instrument cluster is also starting to get invaded by these with new LCD screens. How much information and entertainment does one need!

I think the only way you can settle this, is read and share actually what your owner manual says. I know for a fact, I have a similar chart in my Range Rover owners manual and also recommends heavier grade oil in hotter temps and lighter oils in cooler temps. Maybe you might have been using I would not the wrong but not the recommended by manufacturer oil, hell I learn new things everday myself. Hell I was totally bored a couple of weeks back so read the owners manual back to back and realized my L322 had hidden cup holders in the rear which I would have never known about if I didnt read the manual! LOL The center in the rear seats fold down which is pretty obvious and I knew about, but the back of the headrest flips out revealing two cupholders! :D.

I think thats a myth totally created by grease monkeys in this country, that the longer the oil stays nice and golden the better it is. IMO the reality is different, along with lubrication engine oil also acts as a sponge that soaks up all the byproducts of combustion and other deposits on your engine internals. But only to a certain limit, hence we need to change oil, among other reasons If a oil is getting dirty/dark fast that means its doing its job and soaking up all the lets say trash in your engine. If not oil is not getting dark, means either your engine is squeaky clean ( not a chance ) or the oil does not have any or the right amount or type of detergent additives in it. But since other oils do get dark in your engine, means all that "trash" is being left behind in the motor If I were I you I would change to the oil which is getting "dark" fast and just change it sooner.

Thank God Mike didn't post that one, I've seen that and its super gross! And a very stern warning not to play the fool when recovering vehicles and that it is a very serious and dangerous business. But on the other hand, I worked for donkey years in the Safari business and really stucks and recovery was not a big deal at all! Mostly because the Land Cruiser has strong solid towing points front and back from the factory that dont need any shackels. All of us just had a good sturdy strap with reinforced eyelets on both ends, anyone got stuck, quickly unroll the strap, fix the eyelets on the Nato style pintle hook on the rear or the open hooks in the front and 9 times out of 10 a gentle tug was all that was needed. T Its only after I retired safaris and starting going on "private" trips did I see all of this. Maybe in the interest of safety, I think people should stop using metal hooks and shackles and modify their towing points to be able to take straps. Just a suggestion.

Every car is different man. I do a lot of reading up on how the cars I own work, mechanically and electrically. and knock on wood have been able tackle quite a few tricky situations on my rides, ( Blown ECUs, Strange electrical issues that would leave half the electrics of a car dead without notice and while driving, weird ac fan blower issues, cooling fan issues, transmission shifting issues son on and so forth ) which I am sure would have been taken to the cleaners if I even tried to get them fixed at a garage, specially being Luxury European SUV. But armed with a workshop manual, basic tools and later a diagnostic tool. I was able do all these fixes on my own for free or pennies. Mike is right, invest in some diagnostic equipment and some basic tools, be ready to do a lot of research and reading and be ready to get your hands dirty If you are the kind of guy who never likes to get under the hood or finds changing a tyre icky and menial work, then you are the mercy of the grease monkeys. Gaurav has already given the contact details of someone he trusts, and I know he owned a Cayenne too and nowing how OCD he is with his vehicles he wouldn't recommend anyone he didn't completely trust with his own vehicle. So that would be your other way forward if you are the type of guy who just wants to drop the vehicle at the garage and then come pick it up in a few days and have it all sorted out.

What kind of people are you taking your car too, that you have paid 4000 and yet problem remains unsolved!!! I have a Range Rover L322. More than a year back it developed a similar problem. Everything would come on but it wouldn't start, and it acted like it had started on the dash all check lights would go off. So went on a fault finding mission, first port of call was obviously fuses, then relays, etc etc. End result was a jammed starter. Got that sorted out and soon another similar issue developed, got hold of a LR specific scanner ( iCarsoft make some brilliant vehicle specific scanners and pretty cheap too and cover an entire manufacturer and free updates ) The scanner pointed out a steering lock releasing magnet error. Further research concluded a very shitty design on the 1st gen L322s with the locking magnet or the cogs that move the steering lock fail and those are buried deep in an steel enclosed box in the steering column and no spares are available, So you have to change the entire steering column, which equals to big $$$$ And people who know me. spending big $$$$ on my cars is not my thing. So I jerry rigged a on off switch from the steering column ECU fuse next to the shifter, so every time you trip it, it resets and gives you one start and Ive been living with it ever since. and tripping the switch is now 2nd nature. Moral of this whole shebang is get the codes read and see what they are telling you. And move on from their, just throwing money at grease monkeys is pointless!