BrianH
3rd Jan 2005, 10:03
My Discovery broke down on New Years Eve while travelling the heads of the valleys road from Abergavenny to Merthyr :(
Luckily it was nothing too serious - the fan belt had snapped. First I noticed the red indicator on the dash which told me the alternator was no longer working (so I guessed it might be fan belt immediately) and then as I attempted to navigate a bend I found that I had no power steering either. I was about half way between my destination and starting point, but would have much better luck getting things working if I turned back, so I decided I'd drive back the way I came and then see what's what.
Unfortunately the water pump is also run from the fan belt so I noticed the engine temperature begin to rise above the half way mark. It was at that point I realised there was no chance at all of me making it back anywhere - that engine would be blowing it's top in no time at all, and I didn't want that.
I ended up on the side of the road walking to a phone box to phone for rescue!
A quick trip to Halfords later on revealed that the fan belt I required was actually special order and they'd need to order it in for me. With it being the bank holiday there was no chance of that anytime soon. We ended up going to Bearmachs in Cardiff who were happy to give us a replacement belt.
Fitting was actually very easy - the belt is tensioned on a spring of some sort so it was much easier to fit the belt at the correct tension. As it happens the LandRover was going to have it's fan belt changed during the week anyway because she's going in for her cam belt and I usually get the two of them done at the same time. Typical eh?
Brian
Luckily it was nothing too serious - the fan belt had snapped. First I noticed the red indicator on the dash which told me the alternator was no longer working (so I guessed it might be fan belt immediately) and then as I attempted to navigate a bend I found that I had no power steering either. I was about half way between my destination and starting point, but would have much better luck getting things working if I turned back, so I decided I'd drive back the way I came and then see what's what.
Unfortunately the water pump is also run from the fan belt so I noticed the engine temperature begin to rise above the half way mark. It was at that point I realised there was no chance at all of me making it back anywhere - that engine would be blowing it's top in no time at all, and I didn't want that.
I ended up on the side of the road walking to a phone box to phone for rescue!
A quick trip to Halfords later on revealed that the fan belt I required was actually special order and they'd need to order it in for me. With it being the bank holiday there was no chance of that anytime soon. We ended up going to Bearmachs in Cardiff who were happy to give us a replacement belt.
Fitting was actually very easy - the belt is tensioned on a spring of some sort so it was much easier to fit the belt at the correct tension. As it happens the LandRover was going to have it's fan belt changed during the week anyway because she's going in for her cam belt and I usually get the two of them done at the same time. Typical eh?
Brian