Wednesday 23 January 2008

Just as well you brought that workshop manual...



Our regular schedule of fixing and replacing parts of the Land Rover has continued unabated since the last update.

The air cleaner housing bracket is still held on to its mountings by wire, although the wires have been replaced a couple of times. Hopefully we can get a new one in South Africa.

The universal joint that I replaced in the forest in Bulgaria didn’t last the distance, and I have replaced it again in Ethiopia. So far, at least three of the other four still seem as good as gold.

After the air conditioning system was re-gassed in Amman, Jordan, it worked well for a few weeks, then slowly it again seemed to not be as cold as it should until the point where it definitely wasn’t cooling at all. It was obviously still leaking somewhere. As yet we have not looked any further into this problem, although it would have been quite useful in Egypt and Sudan… Hopefully we can have it fixed in South Africa.

The day we were leaving Amman we had our second puncture, which we promptly had fixed at a Michelin workshop. We had been considering buying a new tyre to match our unused spare tyre, but we soon learned that XZL mud tyres are hard to come by in the Middle East. Once in Egypt we started getting punctures quite frequently. We sought out a puncture repair shop in Cairo, but weren’t too impressed with their work methods. In fact, after watching them remove our tyre by hand and fix our puncture, and then having to haggle over the price (despite having agreed the price before they did the work), I decided that I would be better off fixing the next one myself. Which I did, and the one after that, and all the rest after that. We have had 14 in total! I can safely say we have got our money’s worth out of the puncture repair kit and tyre levers we bought in the UK just before we left.





Every now and then when travelling on the open road, if one front wheel hit a big enough bump or hole in the surface, there would be a serious and potentially dangerous steering wheel shudder. After much investigation, and some trial and error, we eventually narrowed it down to a very small, almost undetectable amount of movement in the bush at one end of the panhard rod, part of the suspension that holds the front axle in place. We decided to replace the bushes at both ends of the rod and see if it fixed the problem. After finally finding the Land Rover dealer in Cairo, then driving 40km to a satellite city to their servicing and parts department, we got the bushes (and another oil filter), and put them in in the western desert the next day. Luckily it was the right diagnosis, and the problem was fixed.


Once into Ethiopia, the roads became very rough and very hard on tyres, so much so that the two front tyres that had worn considerably before we could have the wheel alignment corrected were now almost completely had it. After our fruitless search for Michelin mud tyres, we had emailed the company directly, and they responded (eventually) with the name and address of their importer in Addis Ababa. It was a joyous day indeed when we found the workshop and had three new tyres fitted, along with our good spare. Fortunately we have had no punctures since then. Touch wood. The day wasn’t without drama though, when the Michelin hoist suddenly lowered while our Land Rover was on it, with both wheel off on one side. It ended up sitting onto the brake discs in a pool of hydraulic oil while the workers scurried around trying to get trolley jacks underneath. No major damage was done (that we know of).

Even before we left the UK we had had the odd problem with the speedometer cable. We ended up buying a spare to take, just in case the existing one gave up completely. When travelling long distances each day, sometimes with considerable gaps between fuel stations, we have come to rely on the odometer to keep us out of trouble. Sure enough, the cable did eventually give up the ghost, and I replaced it while we were in Addis Ababa.

Just as we were looking for a spot to camp on our second night in Kenya, Catkin noticed that the transfer lever felt strange and would not engage the diff lock. As well as this, we could not change ratios. The lever felt like it had broken. We were still in Low, so it was potentially going to be a very slow drive from here on. The sun was setting, but I began investigating, and eventually had the transmission tunnel off exposing the transfer box and gearbox, and the transfer box lever housing in bits. The pin that holds the lever and its workings together had become dislodged, and once it was all apart was relatively easy to fix. It was a late dinner that night, but a peaceful sleep knowing that all was sorted.


Also on the bumpy roads in northern Kenya, one mounting on one of the guards for the rear brake discs snapped off. We managed to fix this using a piece of tin from a can lid that we had saved. So far it’s still holding.

Oil changes have been carried out like clockwork every 3000 miles, with changes in Egypt, Sudan, Kenya and Botswana. Indications are that the fuel quality has improved in southern Africa, but until we can be certain that the sulphur content is sufficiently low we will keep to the reduced intervals. Oil is cheaper than a new engine. The only good oil we could find in Egypt was Mobil Delvac MX 20W/50. Land Rover recommend 15W/40, but as we were in a hot climate we decided that the higher viscosity would be okay. In fact we bought enough for a couple of oil changes, and we ended up still running on the higher viscosity oil in Ethiopia in very cold temperatures. Not ideal, but we made sure to let everything warm up nicely before we moved off in the mornings.

In Egypt, the motor on the windscreen washer bottle stopped working. The Defender has identical bottles for both front and rear windscreens, and we cannot see out the back window anyway, so we swapped the bottles over.

We had a couple of occasions where there would be no power when we went to start in the morning. Twiddling with the battery keys seemed to help. The Camel Trophy Defender came with a large key switch on the positive battery lead, which when removed cuts power to all systems. This is also a useful theft deterrent. Before our departure, I added in a second battery key on the earth lead to the second battery. This enables us to isolate the second battery to save for starting duty while running all other appliances off the main battery while we camp each night. It’s a manual battery management system which relies on you remembering to turn the key off when we are camped and on when we are moving. It seemed that the second key wasn’t making a good enough contact to get a big enough current through for the starter motor. I ended up pulling the key apart and adding in a leather packer to make sure that the components made a good contact on to each other, and so far it has worked.

In Luxor, Egypt, we prepared the vehicle for our journey through Sudan. The road from the ferry port at Wadi Halfa through to Khartoum was reputedly rough, sandy, dusty desert track. We cleaned and oiled the K&N air filter, replaced the fuel filter, and checked the gearbox, transfer box and front and rear diff oil levels, topping up where necessary.

In the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia we began to notice a faint noise from the transmission system. It has been hard to determine exactly what is causing it, but it sounds a bit like bearings in the main gearbox. Since then it has become only slightly louder, but not alarmingly so, and we have carried on. We called in to see Nick at Foley’s Africa in Livingstone, and his advice, after telling us it takes 6-8 weeks to have a gearbox reconditioned, was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Ian, the Geordie from Holland who we met in Dar es Salaam has given me the name of a good mechanic he used near Cape Town, so providing we get that far, we are planning to seek expert advice there.

The transfer box has been losing oil from the rear output shaft. The oil runs out onto the handbrake drum (attached to the transfer box) and then flicks all over the underside of the vehicle. I managed to get two new seals in Addis Ababa, but as yet have not installed them. If we do end up getting the gearbox looked at in South Africa we will have the transfer box attended to at the same time.

The big drama in Kenya was the day our front right shock absorber blew up with a big bang. At first there was a loud noise and a funny smell, and we weren’t sure what it was, but it was the shock, and just when we were on the last bit of really bumpy road before Nairobi. We had heard of others having the same problem on this notoriously bad section of road, and had been driving fairly slowly in the hope that we would be okay. We were able to carry on towards Nairobi, but it was a very bouncy ride. Car parts are very expensive in Kenya, but shopping around we found the Monroe stockist and with a discount the shocks only cost twice what they do in the UK. It would almost be worth carrying a spare set.

When replacing the shocks, two of the studs on the retaining ring that holds the shock turret in place sheared off. We managed a temporary fix by filing and drilling out the studs and using bolts instead, and then found a cheaper parts dealer in Nairobi who had the correct retaining ring at a more reasonable price than the Land Rover dealer. They also had a rear bump stop, a rubber block that stops the axle hitting the chassis at extreme axle articulation. We had noticed one of these missing a while back, and have no idea when it came off.


A couple of weeks later in Tanzania, on our way towards Malawi on a smooth sealed road, we heard another loud mystery noise. This time it sounded like scraping metal, like we had scraped something on the road surface. There was nothing that could have done that, and nothing looked immediately obvious during a quick check underneath. We carried on, but noticed a new knocking noise occasionally when going over a bump. Closer inspection of the suspension revealed a broken front left spring. A helpful South African at the campsite we stayed in that night told us there was no chance of getting it fixed, “it’s all Toyotas around here,” he said, as he drove off in his Land Cruiser. We decided to head back the next morning to the last town we had passed and look around for a new or used spring. The people at the campsite gave us the name and location of someone in the town to ask. The person turned out to be a mechanic rather than a parts dealer, but loaned us one of his staff to help us locate the spring we needed. Sure enough, after driving all around town and finding out that new springs were far too expensivein this part of the world, we found a second hand one that looked okay and should do us until we get further south, where we will look for a pair of new springs. We stopped in a forest that afternoon to swap the broken spring over.


Before crossing into Zambia we filled up with diesel in Malawi, where fuel is cheaper. That afternoon, on our way to South Luangwa National Park, we noticed the rear side tank leaking from a small rust hole near the top of the tank. We siphoned a bit out into a jerry can to get it below the hole, but with the bumpy roads, still lost a bit, making an oily mess of the rear of the vehicle. We had travelled through some wet weather and on some muddy roads, and some dirty water had entered the tank. Catkin made a temporary repair using a piece of chewing gum, which worked a treat. Further south, in Maun, Botswana, I found some steel putty in a car parts shop and replaced the chewing gum with this. When I drained the sedimenter, loads of water and gunge came out but not much diesel! At some stage we will look at having the tank welded, or even replacing it with a new one.

At various stages, depending on road conditions, we had been swapping over two new tyres with our two old spare tyres. In northern Kenya, on the lava rock roads we put the old tyres on the rear, as they seem to get cut up the worst. For long stretches of seal we put the old tyres on the front to save wear on the new tyres. For muddy roads, like in South Luangwa National Park or north-eastern Botswana, we put the new tyres on all round for maximum traction. Because the old tyres had worn a bit unevenly they had become out of balance and were starting to cause steering wheel vibrations. In Lusaka, Zambia, we found a good tyre service centre and had one of our spare tyres changed with our extra spare and three wheels balanced.

Also in Lusaka, we met Kirsten in the supermarket carpark. She came over to see us and told us that she and her husband also had a Camel Trophy Defender, and were members of the Camel Trophy Owners Club. She informed us that there were actually a few Camel Trophy Land Rovers around Lusaka, and later that day we even saw a CT Discovery on the road, the first we had seen since leaving the UK.


In Botswana, on the muddy road to Maun, we got well and truly STUCK! The shovel, sand ladders and hi-lift jack were all needed to get us out and back on to firmer ground. Unfortunately, the rear anti-roll bar took a bit of a hammering, and one on the connecting links had come apart. The anti-roll bar is optional, and has now been removed, temporarily.


Also after this stretch of wet muddy road, we noticed a new whining noise from the engine. We have managed to pinpoint it to a bearing on one of the pulleys for the air conditioning drive belt. We have greased the bearings and the noise has all but gone.

Our most recent problem has been an oil leak from the vacuum pump for the brake system. We the pump has an end plate which is riveted on, and this joint seems to be leaking. In Maun, I tried applying a bead of silicon around the edge of the joint, which seemed at first to have worked, but the leak has come back. Now I have drilled out the rivets, sealed the joint and re-rivetted it all back together. I suspect that the leak is a symptom of the end of the pump’s life, and we’ll probably have to look at getting a new one before too long. Unfortunately they are quite dear.

More Carnet Notes
Our intention of travelling through Saudi Arabia on a transit visa to get to Oman and then onto Yemen was thwarted by the Saudi officials’ refusal to issue transit visas to non Jordan residents in their Amman embassy. Our chances were further reduced by the fact that we wanted to travel during the month of Ramadan. After a few attempts, each time getting the same negative answer, we reluctantly gave in and began assessing other options. We initially decided to look at shipping options from Aqaba to Port Sudan or Djibouti. After shopping around for a day we found a very cheap option with little or no security (deck cargo) and a couple of very secure but very expensive options (by container). Neither were desirable, so we were forced to reconsider our reluctance to drive through Egypt. When planning the trip we had excluded driving through Egypt, mainly due to the high carnet costs and troublesome bureaucracy, and our carnet specifically excluded Egypt. Closer inspection of the ADAC carnet application forms revealed that, due to the ADAC’s low valuation of a Land Rover Defender, there was in fact no additional deposit required, and the ADAC confirmed we would only need to pay a new application fee and courier charges and we could have a new document within days. This was the best option, and sure enough within a week we collected our new carnet from the DHL office and the very next day were on the Arab Bridge Maritime ferry to the Sinai Peninsula.