We might be gone for a while

[Noggins]

They were still in Mandurah WA last week.
T1 and Margaret dropped in home for a quick cuppa and the off to camp near the river / estuary.
So they're still touring around ok


Ron

[BruceS]

I do believe they are back in Mannum!!

[Coolabah1au]

Now the holiday starts [emoji120]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Greynomad]

John (Riverlander),
I think you had the right idea, there is a life better than Ceduna!
Have sent you a PM...

[T1 Terry]

Hello everyone, we is back home in Mannum and recovered enough to resurface and start paddling again in an attempt to stay above water We were on track to be home by Sunday night/early hrs Monday morning, till we received a text message to call in at Crystal Brooke on our way home. We were just about to pass the Port Pierre turn off so headed to that "wish it could be" 24hr stop over/rest area that is part of the RV friendly town thing ..... well it had a dump point so and a spot to park on the side of the road so I guess it met the criteria. We parked down a back street where the traffic was only a dull roar, then off to Crystal Brooke first thing. It appears the inverter has been doubling as a vacuum cleaner because it clogged with dust that had set into crusty dirt. The result is the unit shuts down after 30 mins or so, yet another problem from left field to sort, does it ever end?
The Hino limped home from the other side of Southern Cross where the problem became really noticeable, but in hind sight it may have been showing quite a bit earlier. In the end we were down to the 40km/h to 90km/h if we found a long down hill run (not many of those between Southern Cross and Mannum) the temp would continually climb until we had to stop. First one was actually on one of the freeways into Perth so this leads me to believe the problem was possibly showing its ugly head back then. The most severe was between Madura lookout and the Nullarbor roadhouse. Even light throttle would not slow the temp rise and it headed off the gauge by the time we pulled into the roadhouse at 5pm. Had all the signs of a blown head gasket, a stream of bubbles in the overflow bottle while the engine was running and no sign of the temp coming back down.
Fell back to the old adage, any problem can be sorted over a cold beer or three, so into the bar we went. The Thermometer said 48*C, but it was comfortable inside the bar, so after a few cool drinks and a bowl of hot chips with gravy, back out to have a look and see if there was any hope of getting back on the road. 5 ltrs of water later and all was well, at least it looked that way, so off we went to a spot about 160km before Ceduna, so we could camp up and cook up the vegies etc so we didn't have to hand them over at the quarantine station.
Another early start and we reached Kimba before the overheat started again. Each time around 5pm, not the middle of the day strangely enough, but appears that may have actually been the hottest part of the day. Had a Curry takeaway from the Shell as you approach Kimba from the west, top stuff so well worth checking it out. By the time we reached Port Augusta we decided travelling at night was by far more comfortable than travelling during the day, so the decision to drive on home, then we received the txt message to call in at Crystal Brooke.
Left Crystal Brooke around 12:30pm and headed home via Burra so the trucks weren't held up by our amazing top speed of 80km/h on the flat. Amazing how many trucks actually use that road, maybe we should have stuck to the highway but ya don't know until after you've done it eh
Now to fix the ever gowing list of problems before Easter and Stone The Crows, then Taggerty a week or so later.

T1 Terry

[Cuppa]

Phew! The thought of a T1 vehicular trouble free trip was something too hard to contemplate. You have reassured me Terry, more trouble & as usual you managed to get home! Well done. Get it all fixed for Stone the Crows & Taggerty. Will you need to wear crash helmets when driving there this year?

[pet-els]

Iveco update.

All done under warranty [relief] only wheel alignment tomorrow, I have to pay for but they are trying to get that as warranty too.

PeterH

[Greynomad]

Had perennial probs with wheel vibration on The Late Lamented Jim. Five wheel alignments in 12 months failed to permanently remedy it (usually lasted 4~6 weeks -- of highway driving!).
Then local Suzuki dealership owner overheard me complaining to his Service Manager & came over. Took Jim for a drive, came back and promised to fix it for free, as I'd already paid them to do two alignments! (They reckoned I'd been scrub-bashing without telling them.)
... and he did!!
Said it was the pre-load on the front suspension, not alignment, and his blokes should have twigged when we came back so soon with the same prob!

[dapope]

Glad you made it back in one piece. I would be keen on seeing the insides of those buggered cells when you get a chance to explore...