Update on Defender

December 11, 2016 - The Defender was picked up in Salina Utah by Joe of Inter-City Auto-Transport.

December 16, 2016 - The Defender arrived back in DC and is now at my mechanic's garage, Euro-Sport in Lorton VA. (John Kinter)

January 6, 2017 - John called and he is puzzled by the Defender's issue, but he has isolated it to the Distributor.  But, he said, there is a solution for this. I will not give up until it is found.

January 13, 2017. John called me and told me that the new distributor arrived last week but he could still not get the Defender running. However, after spending several days trying to track down the problem, he discovered that somehow the the timing mechanism that coordinates with the firing timing in the distributor was out of sync with the distributor.  He was puzzled by this because it could not have happened on its own and had to be changed manually. Puzzling indeed, especially since the Defender was working just fine just prior to the fuel pumps's failing.  

January 19, 2017....I picked up the Defender today and drove ti for the first time in exactly two months.  There is still work needed to get it to fire up and ride well, probably because of my need to replace the catalytic converter, which I knew as needing attention.

January 27, 2017...took the Defender back to my mechanic today for him to figure out why it is not firing up right away and some other thigns that need to get done.

March 29, 2017..my mechanic called me today and said the Defender is ready and drives beautifully. He changed the fuel pump rely and plugged in the fuel pump gauge, which somehow became disconnected.  I wonder how that happened? I said I'd be down to pick it up on Friday.

March 20, 2017...my mechanic called me and told me to forget about coming down to pick up the Defender. He left it out in the rain the night before and now it won't start at all. This is the same problem I have had about six times over 13 years. When it rains, water is somehow getting into the electrical system.

April 3, 2017. I did some research of my own and called my mechanic with suggestions to check ever single electrical connection from the fuel take to the fuel injectors.  Thirty minutes later he called and said he checked the connections beside the fuel tank and they were caked with mud and the connectors corroded green. He cleaned them out, reconnected everything, and the Defender started up beautifully.  Hopefully, a 13-year old problem solved. I pick up the Defender on Wednesday.  Keep your fingers crossed. I still need to do more work, but that'll come.