Unplanned stops along the way
In preparation
for the journey west, we participated in one of the festival of Motoring
runs in the week preceding the Bay to Birdwood rally. A short run from
Goolwa to Meadows where we planned to meet the other travellers who had come
from Adelaide, and then onto Strathalbyn for lunch, and back to Goolwa.
On the long but
not steep climb into Meadows Thelma starting coughing and came to a
spluttering stop half way up the last hill. My guesses included the
possibility of a condenser failure under heat, as Thelma was definitely
working on that climb. After sitting for some time, I tried the starter
again and she burst into life and seemed to be running fine, so we continued
to Meadows without further adventure. We let most of the cars go before
embarking on the next phase of our journey, and were feeling reasonably
confident, but decided on a very leisurely pace and stayed with some much
slower cars and enjoyed the scenery on the mostly downhill run into Strath,
without further drama.
The rain came
in about lunch time, and after the Clipsal factory tour we decided to leave
the group and head back to Goolwa in drizzling rain. About 10 km's out of
Strath, Thelma again started coughing and spluttering and came to a painful
halt in the rain on a gentle hill. After some more head scratching, I tried
the starter and after cranking for awhile she started and seemed to be
running fine, so off we go again. But it happened again a few km's later,
and the rain had stopped, so I did a general inspection and could not find
anything obvious, and spark seemed to be fine when cranking, so off we go
again. The pattern seemed clear, and I was unsure where to look next, so we
persisted and staggered home to Goolwa at a snail's pace as she seemed to be
OK running at the speed, and then soon as we hit a hill she would stop
again. And it always stopped on hills in the least convenient spot, so a
very stressful drive home.
By the time I
had finished a nice relaxing cuppa after we got home, and with a few good
ideas from Bob, the problem was clear and I had no doubt it was the fuel
filter, and picked up a new one at the auto parts store before doing any
further work. Sure enough it was completely blocked, so new filter added, a
spare was added to the tool kit (Heather said we should buy 10!). We
had run the tank dry a couple times and no doubt picked up some rubbish in
the bottom, so we were
again brimming with confidence for future outings. For
good measure I used a hand pump to suck the fuel thru the fuel line and then
check that it was siphoning OK.
Thelma
ran faultlessly until day 7 of our journey.
At Caiguna
Heather and mum decided it was their turn
for a stint in Thelma, but 20 km's out Heather reported over the radio that
Thelma was "kangaroo hopping", and soon came to spluttering halt. After a short drive the
same pattern was clear, so we had no doubt that the fuel filter was again
blocked, and it was quickly replaced. But the problem persisted, and after
deciding that next step was strip the fuel system, I decided to try to limp
into Balladonia, but alas was down to 30 kmh and clearly action was needed.
Dad said carby, and I said fuel pump, and I figured I could not do much
about the fuel pump if that was the problem, so in the middle of the longest
straight piece of road in the country (140km's) we stopped on the side of
the road and stripped the carby. Nothing obvious other than a very fine jet
that was blocked, and Dad cleverly used a bristle from a hair brush to clear
it. The gaskets were all in good shape so fortunately no air leak problems
were found, and we were again on our way. But alas, same symptoms again.
So now we had nothing to loose, so removed the fuel pump and stripped it
completely. There is a non-return valve on both side of the pump, and did
not come out without encouragement, so our assumption was that it was the
cause of the problem. We tried blowing on the fuel line to ensure it was
clear, and seemed to be OK. So put it all back together, and all was well
again. After many stops, it was hard not to get very paranoid and worry at
every bump in the road that the car was again sputtering, but we proceeded
at a fairly brisk pace to Norseman.
Nightly checks
were conducted and nothing found, but Dad and I did agree that the steering
was very vague and it was almost impossible to drive Thelma down the white
line without it wandering. And there was some serious crash/bang in the
front end on the few bits of rough dirt road we had been on. While on a
rest day in Esperance, I jacked up the front end of Thelma and immediately
discovered a seriously loose steering arm on the front stub axle. The split
pin was in place, but it was VERY loose so I do not know how this could have
happened, as the bolts and mounts etc seemed fine. So we fitted another
washer to each, and were very glad that we had checked. We also pondered
why lots of water got pushed out of the radiator each time we stopped, as it
certainly was not boiling, but assumed that the heat from the manifold must
be soaking back into the head and boiling the water in the head when it
stops, so did not concern ourselves overly with this. We did wonder why the
water in the top of the radiator was so frothy, and wondered whether modern
coolants are now designed for closed and pressurised systems, and the glycol
based coolant gets more frothy in open systems.
Thelma then ran
faultlessly until Albany, when after a short but very steep climb, she
coughed just as we pulled into car park at top. When parked overnight at
Albany I noticed it continued to leak water, so went looking and discovered
that there was a drip from the front seal on the water pump. I did not have
special tool number @#$%^ which the book says you need to tighten it, but
did manage to get a few turns on the nut with a screw driver and multigrips,
and seemed to tighten it enough to stop the water leaking past the packing
gland. A watch item for the rest of the journey and a half turn on the
grease cap each night as a precaution.
The
following day on the way to Tree Top Walk she again spluttered and died on a
hill. We quickly confirmed that minimal flow was coming from the fuel pump,
so checked non-return valves again and also filter. But alas same symptoms
again later in the morning during run to Manjimup, so we found a nice place
to get off the road and get serious about why. A local farmer happened to
be passing by on his tractor, so stopped and offered advice, and happened to
look in the petrol tank and happened to see a cork floating in there. We
rushed over to fish it out, but it moved away from filler neck and we could
not see it again.
And
then it all became very clear. The previous owner was very proud of the
fact that he had fixed the fuel gauge, but did not say specifically which
part he had purchased from the US to do so. It was then clear that he had
replaced the float, but it had not occurred to him that the old float was
still in the tank. The old piece of cork was still there and was breaking
down badly and clearly blocking the line, filter and pump.
The challenge
was then how to get it out, as the only access was via the filler neck and
the fuel gauge neck. We debated a few different ideas about how to do it,
and whether merely keeping the tank full would alleviate the problem as
hopefully most pieces would float. Dad then used the air compressor mounted
in the Landcruiser to blow air into the tank, and we were lucky enough to
get the cork to float past the filler neck, and then even more lucky to be
able to snag it with a bit of wire supplied by the farmer (he cut it from
his own fence!). After much rejoicing and finally figuring out what has
caused all those problems along the way, the only question remaining was
whether the fuel line was still blocked. We used the compressor to blow out
the line and ensure was clear, and then agreed to keep topped up we got home
and would then remove the tank and thoroughly clean.
The final run
home included either a 50km stretch of freeway, or significant additional
time and miles on other major roads to avoid it. We debated how fast to
travel on the freeway, as our comfortable 70 kmh average speed would
certainly have everybody whizzing past. Fuel problems aside, we had no
doubt that we could happily run at 85 kmh for the duration, but it would
then be very thirsty and might increase our odds of further problems. So we
topped up at the bottom end of the freeway, and then proceeded at a
compromise speed of 75 kmh, without further fuel problems.
About 3 km's
from home we heard a horrible fairly low pitched "squeeeaaak squeeeeaaak"
sound, so I slowed down marginally and it stopped, so we continued. We then
crossed everything we could find and after a couple more similar noises,
arrived home without needing to stop on the freeway. My feeling was wheels,
brakes or bearings somewhere, and when I jacked up the right hand rear there
was a big wobble in the wheel. The wheel had come loose on the axle, even
though the split pin was still in place. I assume the axle had
stretched, and despite some serious encouragement, we could not get it off
without a bearing puller, so merely tightened it up extremely tight. I
suspect the axle will need to be replaced, and we had one sitting under the
seat as a spare, so I don't believe this would have been a major problem to
replace enroute.
Total distance
since Sydney was just under 4,000 miles travelled according to Thelma speedo. Net summary of
problems:
- running too cold across Hay Plains,
so covered 1/3 of radiator
- ran out of petrol in Bathurst and again in Port Elliot
- cork fuel
gauge float caused various fuel delivery problems
- steering arm
came loose, and washers added to tighten
- wheel
hub came loose on rear axle, with interim fix being to tighten reeeeaaally
tight
- water pump
seal was leaking and sucking air, and required tightening of the gland
packing adjusting nut.
I think we now
have the bugs out of it and could confidently drive it back again!
BTW
- this story is about Thelma, but guess who needed a tow when the electrics
had a hernia and fried the battery? Thelma then graciously lent her
battery to the poor stranded motorist so that they could drive back to Eucla
for repairs. In the meantime, Heather and Barry relaxed in the
Mundrabilla Roadhouse for a couple hours, waiting for their battery to
return. It was pointed upon their return that the 150 km round trip to
Eucla was the fastest that Thelma's battery had ever travelled! Full
repairs could not be done to the Landcruiser until Esperance, so the
Landcruiser was not putting any charge in the battery. The plan was to
do minimum stops until then and leave the motor running in between, but it
did not quite work out that way. However no problems were experienced
driving for the 2 days until Esperance including the cold starts in the
morning.