So I last night I decide I have a chance to get away for the day. While I'm packing up my warm camo stuff, coyote calls and an assortment of weapons..... Mountain Matt (my 6 year old son) sees me and starts the begging process to go with. No sooner do I decide to let him come than his little brother (age 3) starts begging to come. So we gather up more camo and make some plans.
I decided to head toward Baker NV and go north. Make a few stops along the way to see if any coyote has a suicide wish. etc etc
So I wake up a little after 5 and wake the boys up. I swear they were more excited for this than Christmas. We get dressed load up my 1984 BJ70 and headed out.
About 10 miles out of town we see our first wildlife. A heard of Elk are right on the road. Both boys see them which makes it nice. The little one was a little sad that we didn't get to shoot one.
Around Baker NV we head north. At our first stand, the coyotes are all around and howling like mad. I called pretty good and I'm pretty sure I could have got one to come in, but everytime they answered me, the boys would get a little excited and very wiggly. I'm sure we were busted early, but it was fun. Next stand same thing. Next time I get in the rig both of my hunting partners fall asleep so I decide to drive until they get up. By the time they wake up we are by Ibapa UT. I start heading back toward Ely when I get the first request for a lunch break. We stop and I break out a genuine US Army MRE. The boys love that stuff. While stopped I added 10 gal of diesel. We hit the road again.
I come to a cut off that shows where the original Pony Express trail cut through over what the map says is the Antelope Range west of Tippett... and I decided to take it. We went about 15 minutes up this canyon, and thats where everything started to turn into an "adventure".
The snow was getting deeper and the canyon more narrow and steep. Pretty soon I'm stuck and using the winch. No big deal. The only reason I used the winch was I was sliding off the road and didn't want to roll down an exposed drop off. The winch was more of a safety thing. Not much longer than that I was going up a steep area, going in 1st gear in 4L, having to use the steering back and forth to help with finding traction. I'm not making much progress, but I am making progress when "it" happens.
The pretty purr of the diesel just stops. I'm about 200 yards from the top of this pass that claims to be the highest point of the Pony Express trail. I also have to cross Spring Valley and another mountain pass before I get to Schelbourne and HWY 93 and something resembling cell coverage.
Wall-e (my BJ 70) won't run. I start thinking about options. I sent my first SPOT message that says I'm "OK" just in case they need a starting point to find my body in a few days . Next I hike to the top of the pass with my HT ham radio to see if I can hit a repeater near my home town. No good. I also check for any cell coverage. Nada.
So I go back hoping that a little cool down period will help the beast. Nope. I start going through a systems check. Air, spark, compression, fuel... right? I check the air filter to make sure nothing is blocking that. Nope. Then check that all the spark plugs are.. well there aren't any spark plugs so spark isn't the issue. I don't see a hole or piston so I assume that the rig is still getting compression. So that leaves us with a fuel issue.
The rig will start and idle for 1-2 seconds then it just dies. I pull the fuel filter to see if anything obvious is clogging that. Seems OK. So I pull out the manuel and start reading. I come across a fuel shut off valve that is supposed to be used in case you turn off the rig and it still runs. I play with this valve and notice it is in the closed position. I have Mountain Matt crank it over a few times and notice that the valve opens when the starter motor is engaged. I then hold the valve open and my son cranks it and it stays on!!!! I rig the valve with a tie-down strap to stay a little open and it starts again. So I figure its running go with it. I jump in and fight my way to the top of the pass. Its still running so I start toward HWY 93. The only thing that seems different is not as much power. I finale get to the Highway. I pop the hood again and take my temp fix off and see if it runs. It won't so I rig it up again and make my way home.
I made it home and put him back in the garage. I came in and collapsed. I'm beat. After eating some dinner, I went back to the garage. I take my temp fix off and try it again. Nothing. I then decide to check the fuses. On the way home the only thing electrical that would work is the radio and headlights. No blower for the heater and no dash gauges. I pulled all the fuses and found one called "engine" that was a 15 amp that was blown. I replaced it and it is running like a champ.
Anyone want to claim to be either a diesel mechanic or a CSI specializing in Landcruisers wanna inform me what I did to cause this problem? The only thing I can figure is it over-heated going up that last hill and blew the fuse. What dies that fuse run?
Any other theories are welcome.
I'll throw up a pic of our lunch stop. I don't know why the pic tuned out so small but........
I decided to head toward Baker NV and go north. Make a few stops along the way to see if any coyote has a suicide wish. etc etc
So I wake up a little after 5 and wake the boys up. I swear they were more excited for this than Christmas. We get dressed load up my 1984 BJ70 and headed out.
About 10 miles out of town we see our first wildlife. A heard of Elk are right on the road. Both boys see them which makes it nice. The little one was a little sad that we didn't get to shoot one.
Around Baker NV we head north. At our first stand, the coyotes are all around and howling like mad. I called pretty good and I'm pretty sure I could have got one to come in, but everytime they answered me, the boys would get a little excited and very wiggly. I'm sure we were busted early, but it was fun. Next stand same thing. Next time I get in the rig both of my hunting partners fall asleep so I decide to drive until they get up. By the time they wake up we are by Ibapa UT. I start heading back toward Ely when I get the first request for a lunch break. We stop and I break out a genuine US Army MRE. The boys love that stuff. While stopped I added 10 gal of diesel. We hit the road again.
I come to a cut off that shows where the original Pony Express trail cut through over what the map says is the Antelope Range west of Tippett... and I decided to take it. We went about 15 minutes up this canyon, and thats where everything started to turn into an "adventure".
The snow was getting deeper and the canyon more narrow and steep. Pretty soon I'm stuck and using the winch. No big deal. The only reason I used the winch was I was sliding off the road and didn't want to roll down an exposed drop off. The winch was more of a safety thing. Not much longer than that I was going up a steep area, going in 1st gear in 4L, having to use the steering back and forth to help with finding traction. I'm not making much progress, but I am making progress when "it" happens.
The pretty purr of the diesel just stops. I'm about 200 yards from the top of this pass that claims to be the highest point of the Pony Express trail. I also have to cross Spring Valley and another mountain pass before I get to Schelbourne and HWY 93 and something resembling cell coverage.
Wall-e (my BJ 70) won't run. I start thinking about options. I sent my first SPOT message that says I'm "OK" just in case they need a starting point to find my body in a few days . Next I hike to the top of the pass with my HT ham radio to see if I can hit a repeater near my home town. No good. I also check for any cell coverage. Nada.
So I go back hoping that a little cool down period will help the beast. Nope. I start going through a systems check. Air, spark, compression, fuel... right? I check the air filter to make sure nothing is blocking that. Nope. Then check that all the spark plugs are.. well there aren't any spark plugs so spark isn't the issue. I don't see a hole or piston so I assume that the rig is still getting compression. So that leaves us with a fuel issue.
The rig will start and idle for 1-2 seconds then it just dies. I pull the fuel filter to see if anything obvious is clogging that. Seems OK. So I pull out the manuel and start reading. I come across a fuel shut off valve that is supposed to be used in case you turn off the rig and it still runs. I play with this valve and notice it is in the closed position. I have Mountain Matt crank it over a few times and notice that the valve opens when the starter motor is engaged. I then hold the valve open and my son cranks it and it stays on!!!! I rig the valve with a tie-down strap to stay a little open and it starts again. So I figure its running go with it. I jump in and fight my way to the top of the pass. Its still running so I start toward HWY 93. The only thing that seems different is not as much power. I finale get to the Highway. I pop the hood again and take my temp fix off and see if it runs. It won't so I rig it up again and make my way home.
I made it home and put him back in the garage. I came in and collapsed. I'm beat. After eating some dinner, I went back to the garage. I take my temp fix off and try it again. Nothing. I then decide to check the fuses. On the way home the only thing electrical that would work is the radio and headlights. No blower for the heater and no dash gauges. I pulled all the fuses and found one called "engine" that was a 15 amp that was blown. I replaced it and it is running like a champ.
Anyone want to claim to be either a diesel mechanic or a CSI specializing in Landcruisers wanna inform me what I did to cause this problem? The only thing I can figure is it over-heated going up that last hill and blew the fuse. What dies that fuse run?
Any other theories are welcome.
I'll throw up a pic of our lunch stop. I don't know why the pic tuned out so small but........
