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Fuel Filters

We bought 3 extra fuel filters before heading into Mexico; be prepared and all that! The first swap came in Loreto, Baja. The second made it all the way to the Belize border. The third made it a few hundred miles after we picked up some really bad fuel.

On our way to Celestun and the flamingos, the Wee Rover started sputtering and bucking. We opened the bonnet and found the fuel prefilter packed with packing tape! We drained the front tank, replaced the prefilter and crossed our fingers.

A few hundred miles south of the US border, the final fuel filter sputtered to a slow death. Unfortunately, Mexico is not the land of diesel cars so no fuel filters to be found. Luckily, the Napa near my parents had them in stock. My parents made a quick trip there and FedEx’ed a new set of filters to us. Problem solved.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

The remaining bits of what looked like packaging tape after cleaning out the filter as much as we could.
The elusive fuel filter. We now have a healthy stash of them, again.
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Tuk Tuk vs. Beep Beep

So…you may remember the Wee Rover beeping her horn at the horses in Utah. Since then the Wee Rover decided to become a mute, perhaps from shame. To get her honking again, we had to rewire her horn a bit. We were short of time so the rewire was a cobbled together quick job. Because of this, the horn wires will sometimes come loose rendering the Wee Rover mute again and sometimes the wires short when turning a hard corner and the Wee Rover toots to her heart’s content! We kept thinking we would fix it better…some time.

Well, we stopped in a small village in route to San Cristobal to grab a couple of things. The tuk tuks were everywhere zipping in and around the cars, trucks, buses, people, and dogs. They are really quite crazy, sometime we are going to have to catch a ride in one.

So, we were leaving the store when the fun started! We cranked the Wee Rover around to merge onto the street, realizing as we did that we were heading the wrong way on a one way street. Just by chance, there were about 8 tuk tuks coming our way. What does the Wee Rover decide to do…why she decides to blow her horn at the tuk tuks. Her small single Utah beep was way too subtle for live out loud tropical Mexico! She let off her air horn blast at the little tuk tuks coming our way.

Again, we hung our heads and slunk out of the village. The Wee Rover tee hee’ing as we went!

This is a tuk tuk.
Our current horn wiring.
New tuk tuks and old.
They are everywhere.
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Valve Job

Since all of the rigs at Overlanders Oasis had their hoods up with odd jobs being done, we thought we would take the time to adjust the valves on the diesel.

With wrenches and feeler gauges in hand we dove into our first valve adjustment on the Wee Rover’s new diesel motor, although we probably can’t call the motor new anymore!

An hour, or so, later all of the valves had been adjusted, and rechecked. And most important, the motor started right up and purrs like a kitten.

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Diesel Mod #??

Prior to heading into Mexico we stocked up on a few spare parts for the Wee Rover’s diesel motor; oil filters, fuel filters, etc.. One of the items was a set of seals for the used turbo on the motor.

After travelling from Oregon, down the length of Baja, and traversing the mountains of mainland Mexico, the seals on the old turbo began to leak a bit of oil. Every so often we would leave a small white cloud, or a small puddle of oil (even by Land Rover standards!)

So, we arrived outside of Oaxaca to “Overlanders Oasis”, our latest camp spot, and we find a true overlander’s oasis. Calvin, the owner, noticed the few drops of oil, and he asked about it. After a quick talk, Calvin, states, ‘my turbo guy can install those seals if you want’.

So, we pulled the turbo, and a neighbor, Antonio, was gracious enough to offer us a ride to drop off and pick up the turbo. The next morning the new seals had been installed, and the turbo was ready to go back in!

My handy mechanic.
I have given up trying to keep him clean…but the turbo is out and ready to go to the shop.
Ewwwwwy, goeeeeyyyy, oily mess.
Kind Antonio our fearless driver.
And voila 24 hours later the turbo is all rebuilt and ready to go.
And the old parts are ready for recycle.
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Diesel Modification #???

Who knew that diesels don’t produce their own vacuum to help power the brakes. We didn’t!

Our new motor has an added vacuum pump that creates some vacuum…we needed more.

As we drive into La Paz, Baja, we see the big orange Home Depot sign and stop in to get the components to fabricate a DIY vacuum tank!

We broke out the Swiss army knife and drilled a hole for the brass fitting and cemented everything together. We spliced the new DIY storage tank into the brake booster line. And voila lots of extra vacuum to power our brakes!

The Wee Rover is much happier now because after updating the throttle cable in the last blog she just wanted to go, go, go! We wanted to be able to slow her down and brake, brake, brake!!

Now we should be all set for our next adventure!

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Another Diesel Modification

High winds kept us in Loreto a few extra days so we took the time to do a bit of maintenance on the Wee Rover.

Over the past few weeks, we have had a couple of little engine stumbles at odd times, so while we had wifi I did some research. The hesitation, and the few mini stalls are a fairly common indication that the fuel filters needed to be changed. We carry a couple of extra filters, so we popped the old ones out and the new ones in. Voila! Problem solved.

The other maintenance item was to make the change from bell cranks & rods to a cable actuated throttle. This is what happens with the “crank & rod” system. We try to slowly climb some nasty bit of track and the rover hits a bump, the diesel rocks a bit on its motor mounts and the wee Rover pops a little wheelie! Just kidding, but it does jerk forward a bit like we jabbed the gas peddle! Makes it tough to pick our way around over a rough patch, or a tiny cobblestone village street. Switching to a cable should fix the problem.

The mounting brackets for the new cable system came with the motor conversion kit, but we needed a bicycle front brake cable to complete the swap. Off we went to find the only bike shop in Loreto! Broken Spanish, pointing, and hand gestures were used to get a custom brake/Wee Rover throttle cable. A second trip to the bike shop, the next day, to shorten the cable to the right length. And a third trip, the next day, to find 2 bolts to mount one of the brackets. Three days, a few miles on foot exploring Loreto, and we had all of the bits ready to install! Even the little things are an adventure on the road.

Old fuel filters switched out and new throttle brackets ready to go in.
The new cable throttle system all installed. The arrow pojnts to the bicycle cable.
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Diesel Modification #?

So things have settled a bit with the new motor, literally. The miles of exploring rough dirt roads, washboards, and just general travelling showed up via the oil filter housing snuggling up against a bit of the firewall. More vibration from the diesel began to make itself heard! With mini hack saw in hand, surgery was started. A couple of hours later a nice relief notch was cut, re-bent, and sealed! No more rubbing!

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Airing Down!

Given the extended time we spend traversing rough dirt roads, the chore of airing down the tires happens pretty frequently. The process is simple. Hit the dirt and let air out; hit the pavement and put air back in. Kind of a pain, but nothing like hitting 4 miles of washboard road at 40 psi in the tires! Dropping them to 30 psi smoooooths the Wee Rover’s ride to something like a Cadillac!

Air down for dirt.
And back up for pavement.