BajaNomad

The SQC Land Rover Breaks Again

TMW - 11-10-2016 at 07:25 PM

Roy's (The Squarecircle) Land Rover had cooling problems again this time in Death Valley Miles from anywhere. We towed it many miles and spends hours working on it but finally got him going. He went home and we went back to DV for a wonderful trip across the deadly mountains and desert past the nude hot springs. Yep Phil went skinney dipping with the girls. More to come in our trip report.

bajaguy - 11-10-2016 at 07:27 PM

Pictures or it didn't happen

willardguy - 11-10-2016 at 08:02 PM

diesel defender?

Oh no!

John M - 11-10-2016 at 08:10 PM

not again - I wonder if he has towing services on speed dial?

Hope it's not too serious like the Baja experience.

John M

David K - 11-11-2016 at 01:04 AM

He regrets not buying a Toyota sooooo much! Poor Roy!

Ken Cooke - 11-11-2016 at 12:31 PM

Were his cooling problems simply maintenance-related or did parts related to his cooling system fail? A cooling system is fairly simple.

del mar - 11-11-2016 at 12:35 PM

famous for head gasket leaks....hope not:(

TMW - 11-11-2016 at 03:33 PM

He lost fluid and overheated coming down the Mtn from Cerro Gordo to the east. Phil pulled him down to the Santa Rosa Flats area near the Lee Mines where we overnighted. We pulled the thermostat out and everything appeared OK. That was Wednesday morning. We followed him out to Hwy 395 at Olancha and I gave him my cell phone as he headed back to San Diego. I've tried to call him last night when I got home and this morning and left messages but I have not heard from him, so I don't know if he got home OK or not. Phil and I went on to overnight at Upper Warm Springs and crossed over at Steel Pass and the Eureka Dunes then came home.

Hook - 11-11-2016 at 07:30 PM

Those must be the hot springs in Saline Valley, no?

TMW - 11-12-2016 at 12:58 PM

Roy just called and said they got home Wednesday night, no problems driving back. He took it in for a checkout and they replaced the radiator due to a blockage. Some other things were done too so he is up and running again and ready for another trip.

Hook, yes they are called the warm springs on maps on the Steel Pass road a few miles east from Saline Valley Rd.

A note of interest on doing Steel Pass. It's best to go west to east due to the steps after Steel Pass. If you go east to west it would be best to have lockers front and rear to climb the steps. No full size trucks, too narrow in a couple of places. Width and wheel base to consider.

willardguy - 11-12-2016 at 01:06 PM

just last night my buddy got back from a week long northern baja land rover event, 18 diesel defenders....they had a factory mechanic and a spare car for parts, now thats how you do it! ;)

mtgoat666 - 11-12-2016 at 01:12 PM

Quote: Originally posted by willardguy  
just last night my buddy got back from a week long northern baja land rover event, 18 diesel defenders....they had a factory mechanic and a spare car for parts, now thats how you do it! ;)


If they didn't take mechanic and box truck of spare parts, they would still be there waiting on FedEx to deliver parts!
Some of the Worst vehicles ever built!
Amusing that they found a market of suckers willing to pay top dollar for poor-reliability vehicles :lol::lol::lol:
Did you notice they stopped selling the vehicles? They found it was selling/bleeding so bad, they shut down the company without having a replacement ready yet.
I heard they are going to revive the brand name by slapping the Land Rover name on a Japanese vehicle, an attempt to solve the reliability problem that they could not fix internally.

David K - 11-12-2016 at 01:22 PM

To be called "Rover-san", perhaps?

redhilltown - 11-15-2016 at 12:05 AM

Upper Springs in Saline is one of my fave camping spots on the planet...the rest of that scene I could care less about though I have had it all to myself 25 years ago in the middle of summer...but yikes, coming down the back side of Cerro Gordo and then thru Steele Pass...that is some serious sheet! Glad it all worked out.

David K - 11-15-2016 at 01:26 AM

Glad Roy and Blanche made it back to San Diego County!