What to look for when buying a Rover?

ExplorerExplorer

ExplorerExplorer

Adventurer
Alaska Mike said:
I was kinda wondering about heat dissipation on an expoxy covered board, but a conformal coating from any electronics store should help a bit. It's amazing that more manufacturers don't do it at the factory just to keep down warranty claims. Some environments are just death to electronics. When I worked on F-15 avionics down in Florida, we used to get in some crusty looking boards just from the salt air and humidity. Conformal coatings were our friends just to keep the backlog on our bench down. A $20 bottle would save hundreds of thousands in depot-level repair.
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I've seen some surprisingly chewed up PCB's, you'd be surprised what beer, sweat, rain, and most commonly, just plain humidity will do (I service my own and some good friends guitar electronics)... Being that I know this will be driven through a good amount of water I'd like to stop the problems before they start... Now, I've never heard of conformal coatings, can you give me a heads up as to what this is?
 
Alaska Mike

Alaska Mike

ExPo Moderator/Eye Candy
ExplorerExplorer said:
I've seen some surprisingly chewed up PCB's, you'd be surprised what beer, sweat, rain, and most commonly, just plain humidity will do (I service my own and some good friends guitar electronics)... Being that I know this will be driven through a good amount of water I'd like to stop the problems before they start... Now, I've never heard of conformal coatings, can you give me a heads up as to what this is?
Click to expand...

Conformal coatings are just that- a thin protective layer that conforms to the surface of an electronic component- kinda like a clear coat. We used to brush it on, and used a separate product (solvent) to remove it if we needed to perform a repair.

Here's a link, but there are many manufacturers:
Master Bond
 
Alaska Mike

Alaska Mike

ExPo Moderator/Eye Candy
ExplorerExplorer said:
This is what I've been seeing... Most of the time it's followed up by either, "Well, I expected this to happen, because I hadn't done it yet", or "Oh, I'm supposed to do this at xx,xxx miles?" It seems like it's just keeping up on maintenance, and keeping the vehicle in proper shape that is key... It seems to be these vehicle are rather reliable, until you start neglecting maintenance (this is just what I've gathered from my research)...
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I'd say the same thing, if I hadnt seen and heard of some rather random fails that couldn't be explained through failure to maintain a vehicle. Some wiring, some electrical componentry, some mechanical... One day it's running fine, and then "poof", it won't start. Won't shift. Starts throwing random codes... you get the point. Not a case of not doing X by date Y.
 
ExplorerExplorer

ExplorerExplorer

Adventurer
Alaska Mike said:
I'd say the same thing, if I hadnt seen and heard of some rather random fails that couldn't be explained through failure to maintain a vehicle. Some wiring, some electrical componentry, some mechanical... One day it's running fine, and then "poof", it won't start. Won't shift. Starts throwing random codes... you get the point. Not a case of not doing X by date Y.
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Yea, electrical gremlins are what seems to just "go whack", I think... I haven't read about many mechanical things going off the hook for no reason (then again, I've only been at this for a weekend or so)...
 
R_Lefebvre

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
Alaska Mike said:
Good to hear the positive stories. What do you think were the primary characteristics that led to them being reliable? Simplicity? Overall design? Weekday it was made? Just curious why one Rover owner will claim his (fill in the blank) is the most reliable vehicle ever made, and another with the same year/model will lovingly curse it as the spawn of Satan.
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No, not day of the week. Just blind luck. I think many/most vehicle problems are component failures, not assembly problems. The components from a Friday truck could have been made on any day, not necessarily Friday. And in all the time I spent in plants, I never noticed a particular difference between any day of the week.

Something to pot/completely encapsulate the board, thermally conductive so overheating isn't a problem... Looks like good product, I'll have to grab some and try it out... Maybe by the end of the week I'll have a Rover to try it out on...
Click to expand...

My research in this was showing that one concern of the potting compounds is to try and match the rate of thermal expansion of the compound to that of the PC board. Some (cheaper?) compounds are hard, and they don't expand at the same rate as the board when it heats up. This can stress the pins on the chips until they fail.

This is doable, don't get me wrong. We just need to figure out what the best product will be. I'm guessing it's just a matter of spending a little more money for a better product.
 
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ExplorerExplorer

ExplorerExplorer

Adventurer
Well, had a little backtrack in the search today, I think I found a nice Disco, no sunroofs... Had a little mishap in my Camaro today though... Was driving down the road, had to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping... Pulled out onto a local rural road and lost all my go... Hoping right now it's just an axleshaft, or something with the R&P... That, or it might be the tailshaft of my tranny... Bout to head out there and tow it back to my house, check things out to see what the deal is...
 
SeaRubi

SeaRubi

Explorer
Waterproofing the ECU is just one step. I'm not sure I'd go overboard about it because submerging the harness and all the other wiring in the floorboards of the truck is going to lead to more gremlins.

The other spot that should be considered, which is critical, is the connector to the fuel pump. In my next truck I'm going to proactively go in there and test the harness for full voltage, make sure the terminals are good and clean, grease the pins, connect, and then seal it all up in heat-shrink tubing. (if any of you guys good with keeping the smoke in have an alternative I'm all ears).

My water proofing plan has always revolved around not getting stuck in the middle :coffeedrink: door locks, window motors and switches, overhead lights, dash gauges, all kinds of whacky stuff can just stop working after a car has seen serious water damage.

When it comes to deep water crossings I think should really be left to the diesels. :snorkel: It's for this exact reason that I've never been that big of a fan of snorkels. People put the snorkel on their truck and then do nothing else to waterproof the rest of the truck. Then they bog it up the window sills and flood it out to the dash and wonder why nothing works. My advice is to just not go there, or if you have to, plan on carefully disassembling the interior of the truck and go through all of the wiring and connectors up to the window sills and fully prep it.

my .02

cheers
-ike
 
ExplorerExplorer

ExplorerExplorer

Adventurer
SeaRubi said:
Waterproofing the ECU is just one step. I'm not sure I'd go overboard about it because submerging the harness and all the other wiring in the floorboards of the truck is going to lead to more gremlins.

The other spot that should be considered, which is critical, is the connector to the fuel pump. In my next truck I'm going to proactively go in there and test the harness for full voltage, make sure the terminals are good and clean, grease the pins, connect, and then seal it all up in heat-shrink tubing. (if any of you guys good with keeping the smoke in have an alternative I'm all ears).

My water proofing plan has always revolved around not getting stuck in the middle :coffeedrink: door locks, window motors and switches, overhead lights, dash gauges, all kinds of whacky stuff can just stop working after a car has seen serious water damage.

When it comes to deep water crossings I think should really be left to the diesels. :snorkel: It's for this exact reason that I've never been that big of a fan of snorkels. People put the snorkel on their truck and then do nothing else to waterproof the rest of the truck. Then they bog it up the window sills and flood it out to the dash and wonder why nothing works. My advice is to just not go there, or if you have to, plan on carefully disassembling the interior of the truck and go through all of the wiring and connectors up to the window sills and fully prep it.

my .02

cheers
-ike
Click to expand...

Waterproofing the ECU is just what would be done to protect to ECU... Everything else would be protected with marine quality self sealing heatshrink wrap...

So, after getting it home and diagnosing, my Camaro just snapped an axleshaft... Easy fix now and I'll be on my way... Easily less than $50 which is nice for me...
 
Alaska Mike

Alaska Mike

ExPo Moderator/Eye Candy
You've got some work ahead of you. That's one extensive harness. Ike's suggestions for the harness (cleaning, testing, and greasing) are much easier to do and easier to service in the future than heatshrinking. In some environments, it's also more effective as pockets of air in the heatshrink can trap condensation. I usually leave the heat shrink for single wires at splice or chafe points.
 
ExplorerExplorer

ExplorerExplorer

Adventurer
Found 2 Rovers... Getting one of them...

Well, I talked to a guy today, he works on Rovers, and builds accessories for them as a living (www.roversplus.com)... He has a ROW-spec (from Oman) 1996 Disco 1, 5-speed, no sunroofs, 3.9L, it's in great condition, gray, cloth interior... One of my buddies claims one of his buddies is bringing cash money to buy my car tomorrow... So, if that pans out I'll get the Disco, if not, this same guy has a 1992 RRC with a rebuilt engine with 20k miles on it, and he wants to trade for my car... :coffeedrink:
 
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