Acid test of 80 reliability

[IdahoDoug]

At 6am this morning, my wife and kids left on a 750 drive to ski in Utah. I was unable to go on this annual trip to meet friends due to business commitments. It felt wierd to be concerned about vehicle reliability, but I was feeling a little anxious even though I know the thing inside and out. Everything's up to date on it, and I know how it's been treated since we bought it new. But I still found myself out there in the garage crawling all around it. Checking for cuts in the new belts, rechecking the oil level though I'd changed it last week, tapping the dust out of a 4 month old air cleaner, testing the rear fog lamp, sliding under its entire length looking for that sudden leak, etc. Pumped the winter Michelins up a notch and got them within .5lbs. Even charged up the battery overnight though it's also recent.

Finally, I stepped back and let pride of ownership and workmanship wash over the anxiety and let go. This morning, when they backed down the driveway in the dark with all the lights blazing to head through several passes into Montana, I felt nothing but pride that I could place 100% confidence in a 10 year old vehicle with over 130,000 miles on it. We all frequently discuss the 80's awesome capability offroad, and legendary durability, but all too often we fail to recognize its ability to carry out a much more critical task like carrying our loved ones on a long mountainous winter trip without missing a beat. There are a few other vehicles that can get the job done offroad, but of these I can count only one that I would trust to go anywhere without it's chief mechanic onboard - the Toyota LandCruiser.

Feeling relaxed, but a bit lonely for a week.

DougM

 

[cruiserdan]

You let the wife drive it? "That little light should get a brighter red when it's seroius"


JK, Too bad you got left behind though :'(


D-

 

[landtank]

Bought my truck used with 38k on it back in 2000. Paid $31,000.00 for it, not sure if it was a good deal or not but it was the truck for me. I now almost have 130k on it. That's 92k and very little has gone wrong. What I have had to repair was either minor or a result of poor maintainence on my part or others but still very minor. I probably could have bought any number of new SUVs for that kind of money back then but I'm sure they would not have faired as well after 92k. In fact some of those other SUVs would have been on their last legs by now. My mother-in-laws boy friend thought I was crazy for paying so much. He is now on his second Chevy full size pickup since my purchase. You can't imagine some of the stuff he has already changed. I was shocked that he forked out $800.00 for a new ABS pump on a truck with less than 50k on it. And he was so casual about it, just one of those things that you can expect to go wrong.

 

[Pitbull]

Rick I paid around $30K for my 95 back in 98. A lot of $$ but with over 135K miles on it now and over 100K of that by yours truely I think it was a good investment. Even though I keep up on the LC and have new belts, hoses, phh, wires, battery, fluids, etc. Except birfield repack . I think it would go any where. Doug I think you are even more anal than I am so you should not worry.

 

[T Y L E R]

[glow=black,2,2]Doug ,

I had to smile as I read your message . Must have felt good , that sense of pride , as your family drove off ... safe and sound . It might be a quiet week there , but stick around and lend us your ears and input , and I'll bet you'll eclipse 1000 posts during this time ... you're one of our best assets here

Now grab a pint , sit back and enjoy the ... silence

[/glow]

[glow=black,2,2]T Y L E R

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[IdahoDoug]

Tyler,

Your post made me laugh due to an uncanny coincidence. You mentioned the quiet. I was sitting downstairs on the couch reading Bradley's new book "Flyboys" (incredible, BTW) and kept hearing something faint. Finally, I put the book down and walked through the house trying to identify the sound. Talk about quiet - the noise turned out to be a dripping faucet upstairs in my 6yo daughter's bathroom. Now that's quiet!

DougM

 

[SteveLCetc]

Why did you stick a charger on the battery? Have you had a problem there before or something? I'd never think of that - in fact I wouldn't do it because then I wouldn't know if the charging system was working right...

 

[IdahoDoug]

Dunno if it's superstition or not, but I've done this for years. Once or twice each year I'll just happen to think of it and I'll put the cars on the trickle charger on the belief that it's good for the battery to be slowly brought to a fully charged state now and again. I've never had any issues with the charging system and usually replace the battery at the first sign of weakness. I also have a quick disconnect on the positive terminal so I can leave it at a trailhead or while on a long trip with no worries.

DougM

 

[Riley]

Good write up Doug. I was cheering in the den.

Good thing for your wife that you got that CD player fixed.

So was the dripping tap due to lack of PM on the washer OR just a forgetful child?

I figure your home plumbing is almost as tight as your truck but then who's got that much time to keep everything tip-top.

Have a good week, I think I'd missing my gang in about 12 hours.

Riley

 

[IdahoDoug]

Riley,

Yeah, that departure was my deadline on the CD player, which is why I frantically asked for head unit suggestions a couple weeks ago. Whew. The dripping faucet is always dripping for the cats to drink out of. Years ago, those two rascals learned to drink that way, and now we cannot get them to touch a bowl of water. Given that it's always dripping, I got quite a kick out of the fact that I could hear it for the first time in years....

Yeah, being a bachelor was fun for - oh, about 4 hours. Then I'd gotten over the feeling that I had no responsibilities other than myself and started wishing I had gone
:-\

DougM

 

[turbocruiser]

[quote author=IdahoDoug link=board=2;threadid=12284;start=msg112938#msg112938 date=1078117040]
Dunno if it's superstition or not, but I've done this for years. Once or twice each year I'll just happen to think of it and I'll put the cars on the trickle charger on the belief that it's good for the battery to be slowly brought to a fully charged state now and again.
DougM
[/quote]

Doug, hi, just curious, whenever you trickle charge, are you doing it with the battery hooked up to the vehicle as well as the trickle charger? The reason I ask is that I have the same superstition and charge about three times each year but I always disconnect the bat first for fear of screwing up the computer with the trickle charger. Hey given the opportunity, I will not only be superstitious, but paranoid too!!!

 

[TomH]

[quote author=IdahoDoug link=board=2;threadid=12284;start=msg113629#msg113629 date=1078206526]

Yeah, being a bachelor was fun for - oh, about 4 hours. Then I'd gotten over the feeling that I had no responsibilities other than myself and started wishing I had gone
:-\

DougM
[/quote]

I know the feeling. My wife and 16 month old son left for Japan 11 days ago. Only 16 days and 14 hours until they come home.

Tom

 

[IdahoDoug]

I leave it connected. There is no reason to disconnect or isolate it during charging unless a problem is suspected with either the battery, charger or vehicle's electrical system.

Tom,

Misery loves company, eh? My cure, which will be used this time as well, is always to make a short list of things to do that will make my wife pleased. You know - put those shelves up in the laundry room, regrout the kitchen counters, glue that creaking dining room chair, get the ladder and clean that ceiling fan, etc. Plus, my bachelor diet and increased riding time generally causes me to lose 3-5lbs a week - heh.

DougM

 

[landtank]

That's funny about the faucet. When we moved into our new home 18 years ago there was a leaking faucet in the bath down stairs. Just as your's, our cat quickly started to drink from it. Well, I fixed the faucet and for the next 14 or so years we had to wait on that cat whenever he was thirsty. He would just sit there in the sink and howl til he got his drink.

 

[TomH]

[quote author=IdahoDoug link=board=2;threadid=12284;start=msg113661#msg113661 date=1078211056]
Tom,

Misery loves company, eh? My cure, which will be used this time as well, is always to make a short list of things to do that will make my wife pleased. You know - put those shelves up in the laundry room, regrout the kitchen counters, glue that creaking dining room chair, get the ladder and clean that ceiling fan, etc. Plus, my bachelor diet and increased riding time generally causes me to lose 3-5lbs a week - heh.

DougM
[/quote]

Doug

I'm all over it - so far I have: Rewired the light switch in the garage so I can turn the lights on without having to pull the LC out (small garage), washed the LC inside and out, fixed the alarm on the LC so the lights flash when armed and disarmed (thanks for the installation instructions -B-), and spent three days in the yard weeding all the flower beds. And I still have two weeks to go. It is nice being able to get causght up on some things ( ) but I still miss my boy (oh, and the wife too).

Tom