Well, this post’s title says it all. I have a love/hate relationship with my Defender. I’m fairly certain it has spent just as much time being broken as it has been being drivable over the last 6 months.
We picked it up from the port today. My dad made the 3-hour trek down with the kiddos and I, which was eventful in and of itself. Halfway into our journey, I found out the paperwork I needed to pick up the truck was incorrect. It had Jacksonville, FL listed as the docking port rather than Galveston. I had noticed this the previous day when I first received the paperwork, but was told it would be fine because the vehicle was definitely in Galveston.
Nope, it was not fine. A phone call from the shipping company on our way down confirmed the paperwork would need to redone before I would be able to collect the vehicle. Umm… I’ve just driven over 100 miles with four children and now I’m being told I may have to turn around and do it all over again once the paperwork is corrected! Thankfully, the company was able to quickly redo the paperwork and I would not have to reprint it.
Our troubles did not end here though. When we got to the port, we were informed we would need to pay cash for a security escort in order to enter the wharf. Nope, not prepared to do that. Dad came to the rescue with the cash, but we still had to wait about 30 minutes for an escort to be available. By this time, all four kiddos were just about done with sitting in the car seeing as they’d just spent the last 3.5 hours in it, and I was starting to dread the drive back. Maybe I could convince them to ride back with Paw-paw and drive the Defender back by myself?
No such luck. Once we got our escort and found the Defender, everyone wanted to ride in it for the drive back. And that’s how we started the drive with the three older ones in the Defender with me, and Little One in the van with Paw-paw since it had A/C and it was about 100 degrees out. Notice how I said, “Started?” Yeah, we only made it about 10 miles away from the port before I noticed the temp gauge spiked, thus the continuation of my love/hate relationship with this truck.
We made it off the interstate to a gas station and I found the lower radiator hose blown off. Between my Dad and I, we managed to get the hose back on and coolant added only to realize the radiator fan wasn’t working. Don’t know if I mentioned it before but the whole reason the Defender got delayed in shipping was because of a leak, which was only fixed by removing the engine. That’s right. I’m laying the blame for this breakdown at your door Mildenhall Auto.
With fluids filled back up and hoses tightened, we were ready to hit the road and this time everybody rode in the minivan with Paw-paw. We made it a few miles down the road before I realized our troubles weren’t over yet. Once we made it back on the interstate and started cruising along the temp gauge started climbing up and up and up and up. I’m not sure how far it would have gone if I’d kept up speed with all the other traffic. Instead I slowed down to 55mph and watched the gauge drop back down into the safe zone. Speed up and the temp went up, up, up. Slow down and back to normal operating range.
Argh. This just became the longest 180 miles ever. I didn’t want to risk overheating so we drove all the way back at 55mph. That. Is. Slow. Especially when everyone else is doing at least 70-80mph. We eventually made it back to Nacogdoches – 14 hours, 380 miles, and one breakdown later. I mostly love my Defender, but today has been one of those days I loathe it.