One problem with the factory temperature gauge on most modern Land Cruisers is that it has a "dead spot" in the middle.  While the motor is anywhere from about 185 to 225 the factory gauge sits exactly in the center of its sweep.   That isn't specific enough for my preference.

One of folks on ih8mud.com has taken the time to figure out how to make the gauge indicate a better range- by changing some resistors.  I'm going to try to duplicate his efforts...  we'll see if I succeed or if I need to buy another gauge.  It'll be one of the other, I imagine.

These are some before pictures:  In taking the gauge apart, I also realized why my oil pressure gauge doesn't work.  It seems to have burned out at some point, probably because of bad grounding on the motor swap.  I'm going to try to repair it as well, can't break it any worse than "not working".  I'm not sure yet, but I wonder if the bent portion in the photo below, with the white wire wrapped around it,  is supposed to be straight.  If so, then something went horribly wrong at some point.

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Update: Wow, it didn't take much time to de-solder the two bits (a zener diode and a resistor) and re-solder on two resistors. The new parts look about like two dark grey sausage-shaped things. Here are some pics of the finished product.  The first picture is before I trimmed the "legs" on the resistor.  The 2nd picture is the final version.

I look forward to assembling it tomorrow to see if it actually reacts to temperature changes now!

Labels: land cruiser, photo, repair

For many days now Jocelyn has wanted a day trip to Marbella Beach.  Playa Frijolar, to be more precise, named for the gravelly beach that looks like a pile of beans in some spots.  An apt name.

I've been reluctant because I've spent a lot of time on the road recently and didn't particularly want to be in the car on a Sunday unless we were going somewhere new and thrilling, or particularly difficult to reach which involves a reasonably high chance of getting stuck.

Regardless, her feminine wiles overcame my masculine stubborn-ness and so to Marbella we went!

The key to the story is the simplicity.  We drove south for a while (40 minutes or so).  Stopped to snap some photos of my favorite windmill (which I never photograph despite tremendous being tremendously photogenic).  Then proceeded to a beautiful beach with very few other people.  We bathed.  We snacked.  We enjoyed a cold beer.  We strolled.  We read.  We harvested some driftwood.

The breeze was onshore and cooling, the water crystalline.  

We drove home mellow and sunkissed, stopping for another photo or two.

Turns out that Jocelyn was right, it was a great way to spend a Sunday.

Better-than-typical gravel road, Guanacaste	Beach, Wife, Dog. Happines	Goats!! We always yell "Goats!" when we see them, for some reason.	The roads are already dry and dusty, I predict a dry summer.

Labels: beach, Costa Rica, day trip, dog, photo, weather

While Nicolas was here (see last week), one of the things that we did was to install an electric temperature gauge so that he could have some sense of the actual temp of his coolant vs. the stock gauge that basically says "ok" or "about to boil over" with not much info in between.

There are many options as to where to put the probe in such a setup, we chose to take an easy route that may or may not stand the test of time.  I post some photos here for others who are keeping track and to open the door to "I told you so" later.  Either giving or receiving (hopefully me giving). 

Installing the probe was darn easy:  the plastic top of the radiator is a thick section of high-quality resin that drilled nicely and was stiff enough for a 1/8" NPT tap to get a good bite.  The thickness is about 1/4" in this area, and not too rounded.  In all I estimate that we had 4 or 5 threads in radiator into which the probe could get a good hold.

Because the probe relies on a ground path through the probe housing, we added a washer and a short wire to a nut on the upper radiator support, the ground wire has a blue shrink-wrap cover.  The top wire goes to the gauge.   The wiring tucked neatly into the corrugated wire sheath as seen, and in general was a clean installation.

To prevent getting plastic bits in the coolant, we detached the top hose and stuck a bent soup spoon into the radiator.  It caught a large amount of plastic from the drilling and tapping.

To help prevent future leaks, we dabbed some silicone sealant onto the threads of the probe.  Normally that's a bad idea- because the probe grounds itself through those threads, but in this case it should help seal and keep the probe from moving against the threads and potentially stripping them (brass is much harder than plastic, after all).

We were worried at the height of the probe, but the radiator sits pretty far back under the bulge of the hood, so there is no contact with the heat-insulation and no need to fret.

Labels: expedition, land cruiser, repair

Sure is windy around these parts right now.

The beach was spectacular this morning-- wind swept, perfectly clean and neat, hardly a footprint to be seen.  At low tide we stood with our feet in the cold (for us) water and felt the sting of the sand on our back while playing with a deliriously happy dog.  Funny how sometimes a beach trip will make her happy, but other days it makes her HAPPY.  I suppose that we all do the same sort of thing, at some point.

I was frustrated to see people watering the street this morning.  For those of you who don't live in dusty 3rd world countries, around these parts some folks waste a bunch of (evermore precious) water by spraying it onto the gravel/dust road in front of their home or business.  The thought process appears to be that by wetting the ground, one reduces the dust created by cars driving by.   I'm sure it works.  Absolutely certain.  For the first hour or so, I'll bet that almost no dust is created in the area thus wetted.

But most folks only wet the area right in front of "their" space.   So dust is still kicking up from either side of the moist patch.  And it is WIIIINDY right now, like up to 50mph gusts.   The wind is kickind up dust from all over the province and moving it kilometers in various directions.  How much does 10 meters of road matter?   Finally- the same wind and the tropical sun dry out the moist patch within an hour...

I suggest that these same folks would get a lot more relief by planting a hedge or some trees in their area and watering those instead of the street.  It would lend some shade and knock down the wind a little, as well as providing a host of other aesthetic and environmental benefits.

Some day, when I'm supreme ruler of of everything, this watering the road business is going to stop, dangit.

Till then, I'll just try to enjoy the wind storm for its howling fury and hope that nothing big falls on anything expensive around here.

Labels: Costa Rica, tamarindo, weather

Nicolas Rapp is driving around the world but along the way he has had some minor mechanical setbacks.   You can read more about it on his blog, but the short story is that a steering sector shaft broke, which led to a collision that led to to front axle mayhem.

When Nicolas finally rolled into Costa Rica after a delay in Honduras and another in Nicaragua, it couldn't have come as much of a surprise that he was bound for yet another delay.   When I offered him a place to spend a night or two, I thought that we might fix some minor detail on the truck, enjoy a few beers, and wave goodbye after, um, a night or two.  But the Cruiser gods had something else in mind.

The last post I wrote has some more pics and info about finding a broken side gear in the differential.  For those of you not mechanically inclined, a broken gear in the front differential can safely be considered a major repair.  Not quite catastrophic, but very bad.   So it was incredible good luck that he ended up here, and that I noticed the problem, and that we could tear into it.

Even more incredibly lucky, on the order of "I really can't believe it" lucky, is that Toyota Costa Rica had a new differential gear set in stock.   It was even about 25% less expensive than the same part in the USA, which was a nice touch to the "Holy Moly we have been lucky on this job!" situation.  So we ordered the part and some other minor spares, and they came a mere 24 hours later.   In the mean time, I determined that setting up the differential was a little beyond my expertise level for a vehicle that will soon find itself in the wilds of Africa.  Our great luck continued when we found a qualified mechanic who could put the diff back together for us in "1 day".  Not too surprisingly for Costa Rica, "1 day" took a little longer than 36 hours.   Still well within the realm of giddiness-inducing great luck.

While we were waiting on various parts to arrive and mechanics to perform, we also took a look at what Nicolas thought was a potential overheating problem.  As it turned out, it is merely a fairly normal phenomenon for this model-year gas-powered Cruiser.  The front DS fender gets hot when you drive them in hot weather.  Who knew?   But just to be on the safe side, we did change out his thermostat/gasket and get a new radiator cap.  We also bought and installed a temperature gauge so that he has something more than just the stock gauge for helping determine if he is running hotter than he should be.  In the short period that he was here after the gauge install, it seems that he maintains temps between 195 and 210, which is perfectly normal operating temperature for his motor.  More good news!

We sent Nicolas and Nadia off with a quick trip to a beautiful local beach and vague directions towards Arenal.  The beach gave us a good location to test out his newly repaired differential lockers (they work!) and also a nice primer on how to drive in sand.

All said, their visit was closer to eight days than two or three, but they were wonderful guests and we certainly can't blame them that the Cruiser needed a little more mechanical work than anyone had anticipated.  I would be happy to host them again any time, though I must admit that we are looking forward to getting our daily schedule back towards a more normal state of affairs.   I should point out-- Nicolas did an amazing job of supplying us with Nicaraguan beer and Rum.  I'm sure we put a serious dent into what must have been his libations stash.  Nadia was 100% smiles and a dish-washing-dervish, which is always welcome in our perpetually just-shy-of-clean kitchen.

As an extra bonus, now when I follow Nicolas' website around the world, I'll get the added happy feeling of knowing the author and knowing that I was able to give back a little of the generosity that I have been fortunate to receive in the past.  I only wish that we could have spent a little more time driving around this beautiful area instead of wrenching on his truck.  Oh,well...  next time.

Labels: 4wd, 4x4, Costa Rica, expedition, land cruiser, photo, repair, travel

...not my diff, thank goodness.

Short version:  Young man starts out on round the world journey in Land Cruiser.  Steering part snaps.  Cruiser hits mountain in Honduras.  Damage ensues.  Young man fixes most damage in Honduras and Nicaragua.   Arrives Costa Rica where I help him find more damage.  We are fixing it now and he hopes to be back on the road, soon.  You can read about his journey on Transworld Expedition Blog

The part on the right of the picture is half of a side gear for the front differential.  It should be connected to the other half of itself but has sheared (shorn?) off.   In a nutshell, the diff is pooched and we are sourcing another.  The part number at Toyota for a gear set that includes 2 side gears and 4 pinion gears is 41039-34060.   Toyota charges nearly $400 for the set.   The carnage wasn't very spectacular, but you can see (below) that the section that broke is a pretty thick bit of steel.  Must have been some impact.

Labels: 4wd, 4x4, Costa Rica, land cruiser, repair, travel

Initials can be purchased separately as charms, on a necklace or on a bracelet and more than one charm can be worn on the same chain. Email Jocelyn or check our her website for details.

We awoke early on the first of January... about 5:30, but after listening to fireworks, barking dogs, drunken revelry, and various other noises, 5:30 seemed very early.

We grabbed coffee, dog, and the camera and headed to Langosta Beach to welcome the first sunrise of 2010. We were lucky enough to watch the full moon disappear into the Pacific at about the same time, it was beautiful.

Steve caught what was almost certainly the first wave of the year in Langosta (and Sapo, too). Unless someone was full-moon surfing, that is. Which would have been a pretty cool idea, but probably not such a safe thing to do in Langy. The surf was decent and Steve enjoyed it. While he was doing that, Bb and the dog were doing yoga (and doga?) and playing with sticks and plastic bottles on a nearly-empty beach. It was an idyllic way to start the year.

After a nap, Bb had to do some jewelry work while Steve went next door to enjoy a rum and gingerale with the neighbors. Ginger beer would have been even better, but you gotta do what you can with what you've got, sometimes. It was a hot day- over 100 in the sun, but sitting in a breezy (windy!) patio in the shade talking with friends was just about perfect.

We finished off the day with a bbq and a few more glasses of cheer, then came home to sleep soundly, looking forward to the weekend (also, a great way to start a new year!).

Labels: 4wd, 4x4, beach, Costa Rica, dog, photo, tamarindo, weather