..
The dramas of weather in the region . . .
Dept Trans really stuffed up on BV Tk road conds the other day.
Was down as open from BV to
Marree on Thurs night when I got in, lots of western cloud building though.
So I took off 1730 for Mungarannie, got there fine with just a little light spotting here and there, and arrived 1045, getting in the swag at 1100.
Fri morn, road to
Marree Open (which is all vehicles, 2WD inc !!).
Left Mung at 0550, was reasonable to
Lake Harry, but then . . .
Soup.
B double tanker stuck on track right side just adjacent
Lake Harry, all sorts of Variety Bash (?) vehicles coming up the track !! 2wd and others.
It's a mess.
Couple of army recovery vehicles there helping a few bogged bash vehicles (later heard one of them got stuck !), truck without trailer coming up the track sideways (possibly to help tanker truck or bash members), tilt tray tow truck coming up the track sideways, me having to keep out of their way and maintain progress myself.
Got to
Marree 0845.
Road closed to
Lyndhurst, Borefield Rd closed.
Only exit William Ck -
Coober Pedy, another 536km to the same exit point at
Stirling North.
Or from another angle, 371km of potential boggy trk versus about 70km !!
So met another 4x4 Earth member there at
Marree, and with no idea how long
Lyndhurst / Borefield Rds would be closed at 1225 we decide we should just take WC - CP exit and at least get on the way.
Locals are in the dark as much as anyone, except I found out that . . .
1. Dept Trans uses rainfall data from local stations to decide to open / close tracks.
2. Signs are changed electronically from
Adelaide.
So
Marree to WC - CP Rd are classed as open to 4WD, so off we go.
Was so tempted by Borefield Rd, but carried on knowing it was the right thing to do.
Was great, up until about half way from William Ck to Cobber Pedy.
It was as bad or worse than BV Tk.
Not so much the continual mud soup, but the patches were wetter, much more driving through wet foot deep mud required, and 40km out of CP, whoops . . .
I touch the brake before entering bog, peripheral vision noted speedo drop to 0 in a blink.
Stopped . . . did I lock it up slowing and the speedo went to 0 ?
No.
Was in LIMP MODE !!!
At perhaps one of the worse bog sections on that road.
Companion in front, advised situation, said hold up for me to come through.
Got through ok, but had a series of issues going on . . .
No power, very laggy, no turbo
No speedo function
No odo / trip meter function
No 4WD indicator lights
No gearing (auto) seemed to be in 3rd (worried about torque converter stress !)
No overdrive indicator light
Noted later on Stuart Hwy . . .
Cruise control not functional too
Some Garmin OBD2 fuel econ info not working
Got to Stuart Hwy, think I'm in 4WD, last mode in action before problem, or I wouldn't have got through the bogs.
Switch to 2WD but with no light can't tell if it's actually disengaged.
So limp into
Coober Pedy literally . . . driving on and off the blacktop to avoid binding if in 4WD, and park up in the big park bay just outta town, call RAA.
RAA guy can't get anything from OBD, over rode something to find out in limp mode but can't diagnose, dealer required, closest Pt
Augusta (540km !).
So, with him watching the 4WD front drive, I was able to establish it was in 4WD or 2WD as per the electronic switch.
So all good, drive into CP to think through issues and what to do.
First, try and clean up mess under the vehicle !!
The one and only commercial pressure cleaner in
Coober Pedy is broken, next one at Pt
Augusta 540km away !!
Decide to drive
home in limp mode, seem to be able to maintain about 75 - 85 km/hr.
I fill up main tank (126lt) and put just 50lt in the aux tank to ensure I can get somewhere through the night.
Get pretty good pizza and coffee at the
Shell, sit and eat half pizza and then get ready to go.
Had the battery disconnected to see if I could reset ECM, no good.
So off I go at 1915.
Hmmm, down the road aways, vibrations appearing.
Mud drying ? Balance out on wheels ? Drive shaft / other stress with mud ?
Pulled into Imogur (sp?)
rest area, removed each wheel and cleaned up wheels inside and out and around hub, brake lines etc, scraped of as much mud as possible with shovel around the arches.
Removed transfer case bash plate and it must have weighed 10kg, rather than the usual 3 or 4.
Had to be quiet so not to disturb others there, so left main engine bash plates to do up the road a bit, not as much on these but left all these off in bag in the back.
Stopped a few k's further safely and did these.
Helped, a lot, but still an issue with vibration, figured it was all the rest underneath around various mech components, perhaps shockers was the problem.
So all the way further, I was looking for ways to keep the mud soft / supple.
Big puddles at Glendambo and
Pimba were a godsend, and rain coming into Glenbambo and further down helped too.
Stopped at little
rest area south of Glendambo (before
Lake Hart) at 0100 yesterday.
Woke 0545 and got going straight up, more rain which was welcome.
Got to Pt A at 0930 and topped off main tank, only seemed to be using just over 12lt/100 which I was surprised with, only a couple more than normal hwy use.
Hit the carwash . . . I am so sorry carwash lady !!
She said it wasn't too bad, but while the outside had had some rin blasting during the night and drive down, I really don't think she know what it was like underneath.
Went into the muddy bay, got most off, pulled out for reassessment.
More needed.
Went into cleaner bay now it was pretty good, had to left / right lock to get all off cv boots / shocks etc properly, and more taken off on hands an knees from all driveline.
Left the bay looking pretty clean keeping it rinsed down.
NOW it's much better :)
Stopped at BP for a coupla bottles of Coke to get me
home, and left Pt A 1035.
Back passing west of CBD at 1415, and
home southern subs 1450.
A trip I'll never forget.
I really think I'd rather have driven
home via
Cunnamulla and West NSW than do that again !!
A couple of our group went down Strz Tk and you should see their vehicle pics !!
Was just as bad if not worse.