But not without major drama's. As you know we had the engine in the cruiser rebuild in
Coffs Harbour. We drove to
Grafton (85kms) and the belts shredded. Got towed back to coffs and spent weekend in a motel thanks to RACV.
Monday morning mechanic drops around replaces bent pulley on water pump and new belts. While they are tightening them I notice the belts don't look straight in line with the water pump pulley. Mech has a look and sure enough they are not lined up. He checks the alternator (this is the one we had replaced at Sale auto electrics back in March) and it is not the right one for the 1hz motor. The pulley is sitting quite forward of the other pulley's. So we are now up for another new alternator. The belts came off in Bairnsdale also which caused the engine to overheat causing the rebuild in the first place.
We head off about 10 o'clock, get to
Grafton and do a
check over on the engine. Belts are all ok but when I
check the oil it is about 2mm above the empty line on the dip stick. Remember
Grafton is only 85 km's from the mechanics. I ring him to find out what the heck is going on. He says fill it up and go to Repco in
Ballina.
When I get there the oil is almost empty again. A few phone calls later and find out it is going out through the breather hose off the rocker cover. Apparently there are small metal tabs inside the cover that should be bent to 30 deg's off being closed, about a 10 mm gap. Factory setting is 90 deg's. At 90 it allows oil to enter the rocker cover and get sucked out the breather. It basically sucks the sump dry.
When we open the cover we find the tabs are bent almost shut causing the rocker cover to pressurize and then blow the oil out.
Got them set right and now it has not used a drop. Had to get belts tightened as
well as they were loose and making a noise. Anyway we finally made it
Childers.
Was ready to work here until I got gout in my knee so now laid up in bed for a few days. All up 3 weeks off unplanned and about $10,000 dollars later. Now working out what I am sending to Sale auto electrics for reimbursement. At minimum $7000 for rebuild, maybe also accom and car hire plus lost wages. It is going to be a long road to travel I think.
Just glad the car is good now and we are in Qld. The girls were so over Coffs. Anyway a couple of days watching videos and I should be right. Still looking forward to
Cape York.
We were saying imagine if we were at
home with these problems. At least we are out still having a look around. Yes it has been a real bugger and stress levels have not been this high since I quite my job back
home lol but we are still on the road and having fun. The budget is stretched a bit now but we will manage, better than stretching the budget on a mortgage LOL. Thanks for your previous comments and support.
Josh, Maree, Julia and Jasmine