Plans continue to move ahead, sometimes one step forward and two steps backwards, and curve balls continue to come our way.
Whilst I’m writing this post on a stormy wet day in Perth, Sunday 6 July, you won’t see it live on the blog for a few days. Due to various Visa application issues, I’ve removed the blog from the internet until they have all been approved and we are on our way.
The application for China went okay; eventually. Jacob has arrived home from the Hunter Valley and took the completed forms for Kerry and Tim into the Chinese Visa application centre in Perth. But we had not provided enough details of our itinerary, so had to get more details from the trip organisers, and re-lodge.
Second time lucky the forms were accepted, and we have to wait four days to get our passports back and apply for the Russia Visa. They say they take ten business days to process the application and costs $120 each. There’s been some confusion over our own itinerary for the Russian applications and it all needs to be checked back and forwards with the tour organisers. We only have 12 business days until I need to be in KL, so have to pay double the fee to get the Visa application done in two business days. 🙁
And we are yet to received the information we need to apply for the Mongolian entry. Yes, time is tight. Looks like a last minute rush once again. I’ve purchased Express Post Platinum satches from Australia Post to ensure secure overnight delivery both ways – more expense.
On the up side, the Carnet de Passage en Doune has arrived and looks correct and complete. They’ve given me a nice big oval AUS sticker for the back of the car, so it looks like a real overseas traveller now.
Speaking of the car, it has tested may patience over the last few weeks but is now resolved. On it’s first freeway drive after fitment of the new engine with turbocharger and intercooler, the engine overheated. No boiling over, but the temp gauge was very high and took a while to come down. Long saga, but in the end the thermostat was faulty and was replaced. The fan clutch was faulty and was replaced, and the radiator was blocked and was cleaned out. In the meantime we purchased a water pump, which we didn’t need but will now be carried as a spare on the journey, and a new radiator, which will be resold somehow somewhere. The block was quite dirty inside the cooling system and with the help of Brian’s brother, who teaches about cooling systems to mechanics, I followed his advice and used some chemical corrosion dissolver called R20 which really helped to clean things out. Plenty of flushing of the gunk helped to block the radiator, which was the last thing we replaced. Each of the above items was replaced one by one, checking to see if the problem had been resolved – it was a laborious experience, thankfully now resolved.
Neil is also an AC expert and adept at making things work on farms. The AC lines had been damaged and lost prior to the purchase of the vehicle some time ago, and during the gathering of bits we found the important filter, receiver drier, could not be connected. News to me is that there are a multitude of fitments for these devices, and our model is renowned to be hard to fit up. Add to this our own mixing up of pipes, in the end we found an end that fitted, cut the lines and joined it in place. Joining high pressure aluminium tubing is highly unusual and not ever attempted by normal city repair shops. We appreciated Neil’s assistance to get the AC going.
Yesterday I fitted out electrical cabling so we have a myriad of options for plugging in powered devices, phones and iPads, chargers of various types etc. Today I’ve loaded up the drawers with toilet paper, tuna, cracker biscuits, Nutella and Vegemite, all of which will come in handy in various ways I imagine.
Perhaps the biggest news is that tomorrow the car goes to Fremantle, where it will be loaded into it’s own container for it’s journey to Port Kelang, Malaysia. Cargoonline have been the shipping agent this end, I’m yet to receive an account from them, but they’ve been relatively attentive and helpful so far. Not at all helpful is the need to drain the vehicles fuel tanks to the point of stalling the car before loading. Or pay $490 for dangerous goods. I’m hoping we have not too much trouble restarting it once it is at Port Kelang. Fortunately I installed an electric fuel pump which should help the critical priming process for the diesel engine.
Later:
After posting this blog, I went outside to check that the car would start and run. It didn’t. With all the overheating problems we’d been having, and really only finally assuring myself that it was finally running cool today – the day before departure – I’d wanted to check on the coolant once the engine cooled down.
Turn on key, try to start engine. Half a turn and clunk. Nothing more.
Please imagine for a moment my position. Half a turn and clunk could mean the engine cylinders were filled with water, leaking in from a blown head gasket, or other cooling system malfunction. Once a diesel engine turns over and goes clunk, it often means a bent conrod that joins the crank to the piston. The piston rises up and finds it cannot compress the water in the cylinder, so the conrod bends. Essentially it is an engine pull down – the night before the car was to go on the boat.
However…. half a turn and clunk might also be the starter motor not working correctly. Not ideal at all, but not as catastrophic as a bent conrod. I rolled the car down the hill a little and got it to turn over easily, assuring me it was not water in the cylinder, and it also started and ran smoothly. Good news, sort of. It still wouldn’t start on the key.
With Chris holding the key in the Start position, I hit the starter motor with a long piece of wood – not sure what might happen. A big spark came out, the starter engaged and the motor started. The piece of wood was designated as ‘the solution’ and was definitely going to Mongolia. Deeper investigation found a corroded terminal. Problem resolved. Sigh.
It was late. Very dark. Relief from exhaustion is hard to find when it’s all tangled up in stress.
