Breaking Down in Pretty Places Since 2025!
Exhaust Pipe Fell Off! Limping
06 Jun 2026A routine Sunday afternoon trip to the supermarket took a very noisy turn when three bolts holding the rear exhaust section together decided to unfasten and drop off. The bottom bolt held on for dear life, but the joining gasket pivoted down and sliced right into the rear propshaft boot. Sounding like a dragster, we limped her all the way home!
Installed a new exhaust gasket, new propshaft boot, and heavy-duty exhaust bolts fitted with spring washers and serrated locking nuts. That exhaust isn't going anywhere now!
Ran out of fuel Out of Fuel
01 Feb 2026Ran out of fuel after trying to find out if the fuel gauge saying empty was correct. Rather embarrassingly, I didn't have fuel in the other tank and I didn't have a jerry can.
Added fuel, plus added fuel to the second tank!
Valve Spring Snapped Broken
11 Dec 2025After trying to break the land speed record in a Land Rover, we had a valve spring snap, which caused a gouge out of the piston and bent the valve. Nothing could be done beside the roads. She was dead. :-(
Major surgery was performed!. Pulled the cylinder head to replace the head gasket and a bent valve. Replaced the valve spring, checked the push rods, rocker arms, and lifters. Luckily found the rogue valve spring collet resting under the rocker cover.
Distributer cap failed Limping
15 Nov 2025We were out on what was supposed to be a routine test drive when the engine suddenly sputtered and died. The culprit? A distributor cap that had done less than 200km! The central carbon bushing/button inside the cap completely failed and disintegrated, leaving us with zero spark. Proof once again that "new" doesn't always mean reliable on a vintage Land Rover—always carry a spare distributor cap in the spares crate!
When the distributor button gave up the ghost on the side of the road, we had to get creative to get the old girl running again. Armed with nothing but a bit of trail ingenuity, we jammed the end of an old pop rivet into the distributor cap to bridge the gap and restore the spark. It wasn't pretty, but it fired right up and got us all the way home! Once safely back in the shed, we retired the makeshift rivet and fitted a proper brand-new distributor cap and rotor arm. Proof that a Series Land Rover will always get you home if you've got a bit of scrap metal handy!
Electrical short killing the coil Broken
01 Nov 2025We were halfway down a rough 4WD track when the engine suddenly cut out and refused to turn over. As it turned out, an electrical short on the firewall was messing with the coil—completely killing the ignition and disabling the starter motor. Luckily, gravity was on our side! Since it quit while heading downhill, we were able to coast the Landy all the way to the end of the track before calling for a tow truck. The real kicker? I didn't have a voltmeter with me to diagnose it on the trail. Safe to say, lesson well and truly learnt—a multimeter now has a permanent home in the tool crate!
Needed to be towed, and then the starter switch was disconnected to stop the short.