First Run Out of the Year - February 3rd The Dodge hasn't run or moved since the Historic Quay event at the end of September and the Jeep was last out for Remembrance Day. I wanted to get two of the three vehicles on the road to stretch all their joints and splash some oil around the engines. The GPW needs a head gasket change when the weather warms up. While it felt mild today, it wasn't warm, I began with a fan heater under the Jeep sump to pre-heat the oil. After that, I turned the engine over several times with the starting handle, to get some oil moving around the engine. Once I felt I'd moved enough oil, the carb was primed and I went for the start. Oil pressure was up straight away.

I took the Jeep for a 5 mile local drive and shot a few photos around the route. When I got back, it didn't go back in the garage straight away, as I had some work to do on Lynne's Juke. That was parked in the garage out of the wind, for a sensor and electrical plug change. An RAC man managed to mangle the plug during a call out after the sensor failed. Fixing that took until noon, then the Jeep was put away and I had lunch.

The Jeep start up procedure was then repeated on the Dodge, starting with pre-heating the oil while I had lunch. Once started and warmed through, I gave the Dodge a run out, but just a couple of miles around the village, as there wasn't much fuel in it.

I stopped a couple of times for some photos, then returned home and tucked it back up in the garage again. Springtime servicing can wait until the weather warms up.

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