The Defender lives
I had mentioned that we got the truck back together last week after a long struggle. It was spitting and not running well but we figured with all the crap we cleaned out there was going to be problems as valves and rockers reseated, etc. Well, I took it over to my parents’ place last week and on the drive home it sputtered to a halt and died in a construction zone. There was no shoulder so here we were stranded in the middle of traffic with people whizzing by at 60MPH+. I grabbed a flare from my kit real quick and as I was waving it to keep traffic from clobbering us I burnt my hand badly. Flares are hot, folks.
After a couple of minutes a guy in an older Land Cruiser stopped and asked if we needed help. I asked if he could tow us up to a turn-out before we got killed and he obliged. My father showed up and towed me the rest of the way home.
I pulled the plugs and discovered they were very fouled with carbon. I cleaned them up and took the truck to the shop to get help with the problem. Within seconds the mechanic pointed out I had crossed the 1 and 2 plug wires which cause all my problems. Doh! Got that sorted out and it’s running great.
I also got in a new ignition to replace the one that tried to strand us when offroading last month.
It was a good week for the Defender. This weekend I’m pulling the A/C that I don’t use and will sell it to buy some more upgrades.