Vehicle Breakdowns Whilst on holiday!

Submitted: Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 18:49
ThreadID: 135263 Views:3512 Replies:7 FollowUps:6
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Is there anything Worse ?, My son inlaw is in stress mode at the moment as his pajero is giving him major grief at the moment while trying to grab a few weeks caravanning after 6mths of flat out work. And it appears by the workshops in a lot of country areas its a on going saga. The other concern seems to be getting quality work done, and getting the problem diagnosed correctly,With out mentioning Names and towns it is a worry for some travelling out there.


Cheers Axle.









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Reply By: terryt - Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 19:15

Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 19:15
It's a real problem isn't it when you can't get something sorted in double quick time in the middle of nowhere. The guvmint should do something. Seriously I have nothing but praise for mechanics in the bush. The times I have needed assistance they have gone above and beyond.
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Follow Up By: axle - Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 19:33

Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 19:33
Yes it is a real problem Mate!!, When some so called mechanic does a chit job and your stranded with wife in the middle of the bundocks!....Yes there is good service out there, But I wouldn't be so naive to think that its all the same.


Cheers Axle.
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Reply By: terryt - Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 19:42

Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 19:42
Why pick on the bloke in the bush. I'd bet you get more Cowboys who don't give a rats and provide bad service in more populated areas
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Reply By: Member - ACD 1 - Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 21:43

Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 21:43
I have the appropriate vehicle workshop manual (in a cryogenic vac bag of all things) under the passenger seat of the Land Cruiser.

When I have needed assistance, if the bush mechanic didn't know - out comes the manual. I have never been left on the side of the road in the bush with a breakdown that has required a tow truck.

Also suprised at their generosity on loaning tools and workshop space if they were flat out with other jobs.

The only time I have needed a tow was recently in the city and RAC and the dealer didn't have a clue what the cause was. It was "rumpig" from this forum who diagnosed and solved the issue from my description. The info he provided gave my mechanic a lesson that left him admitting he would never have though that was the problem.

Cheers

Anthony
AnswerID: 612537

Follow Up By: rumpig - Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 12:01

Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 12:01
I'd like to take all the credit mate, but I found that info out via LCOOL forum whilst sitting in a pub in Tasmania having a counter lunch. I was several thousand klms from home on holidays with a vehicle that was playing up big time....vehicle specific forums are a god send these days...it's just a shame Photobucket have made many thousands of valuable threads on them practically useless these days, as we all know a picture paints a thousand words, and many of the pictures are now gone thanks to their recent action.
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Follow Up By: Member - ACD 1 - Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 12:24

Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 12:24
Yep! Might be rumpig...

...but you had the info, I didn't, you shared it and I benefited (as did heaps of others who read it).

The internet is a big place and you can't be in all of them at once.

Cheers

Anthony

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Reply By: Member - Mark (Tamworth NSW) - Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 23:42

Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 at 23:42
Axle
My father had a similar problem in my old NS Pajero both in Canberra (country area?) and NSW south coast
If it's a diesel I suspect he needs a Pajero experienced mechanic, which my father only found after a flat bed truck return to Sydney and a lot of unnecessary $s in Sydney as well .
If it's the Paj exhaust manifold clogging up or DPF, it is quickly fixed by some one who knows Pajeros. In my father's case he was reliant on the Mechanics NRMA referred him to

AnswerID: 612540

Reply By: Member - Cuppa - Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 08:44

Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 08:44
Yes it is stressful/traumatic.

We had major mechanical problems requiring a replacement motor to be sourced & fitted, after nursing the vehicle through the north west. We almost reached Katherine, but the last 60kms was on the back of a low loader. We were in Katherine for 7 weeks before leaving with a secondhand motor sourced from Melbourne. Not a cheap exercise, but we have nothing but praise for the folk who did the work.

Best advice I can offer is:
1. Accept that things take longer in the outback, so try to make the most of your time.
2. It will eventually resolve one way or another & the experience will become 'just part of the story'.
See 'My Profile' (below) for link to our Aussie travel blog, now in it's 6th year.

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AnswerID: 612544

Follow Up By: rocco2010 - Monday, Jul 17, 2017 at 19:37

Monday, Jul 17, 2017 at 19:37
Good advice.
Was chatting to an young overseas traveller at Tom Price a week or three ago.
He gave me the old line about WA being an acronym for wait awhile. He though he was so funny.
He was pissed off that the local workshop didn't have the parts to fix the stuffed clutch on his Kia (not sure of model) yesterday and it would most likely be a couple of days before they arrived from Perth and he really didn't have the the time to be hanging around waiting and what a crappy place it was ...
I politely tried to explain that things like this were what could happen when you ventured a thousand kilometres or two away from major cities but he wasn't having any of it.
I decided to extricate myself from the conversation by asking if he had confirmed that the parts were in fact available ex Perth and were not coming from Korea ...
Could that be right, he asked.
dunno mate, good luck with it ...
Cheers.
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Reply By: Paul E6 - Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 19:09

Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 at 19:09
In 2014 we lost a caravan wheel 8km west of Cocklebiddy.
A call to the insurance company, and it was sorted. Next morning, we found the van had been trucked out during the night back to Kalgoorlie if you can be live that.
The driver had come several hundred kms (and return) at the drop of a hat to pick up our van. Look at a map, it still blows me away.
AnswerID: 612554

Follow Up By: rumpig - Monday, Jul 17, 2017 at 06:39

Monday, Jul 17, 2017 at 06:39
Several hundred klms isn't really that far to travel relative speaking when outback...I had the rear main seal fail on a newly rebuilt diff just outside of Innamincka a few years ago (looked like a waterfall of diff oil coming out, not just a small leak), a mate and myself left Innamincka just after lunch and drove the 350klms to Toyota in Thargomindah to get the part we needed, then left there after the sun went down (so as not to be driving into the setting sun), and drove back to Innamincka, arriving back around 1.30 a.m....took us just over 3 1/2 hrs to get there, dodging roos and cows on the drive back to over 5 1/2 hrs.
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FollowupID: 882824

Reply By: patsproule - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2017 at 04:58

Tuesday, Jul 18, 2017 at 04:58
Axle, get your son to post the model and symptoms over in the pajeroclub.com.au forums. Highly likely that another owner will have been through same and can help.

Pat
AnswerID: 612577

Follow Up By: terryt - Wednesday, Jul 19, 2017 at 19:58

Wednesday, Jul 19, 2017 at 19:58
In addition to what I said earlier. Noticed I was losing coolant. Rang a radiator guy who said bring it in when I got to town. After arrival he diagnosed water pump gone. He tracked down a new one which arrived next day. He already had a full day but started early when freight arrived and was done by 10am. Try that in suburbia. Thanks Kevin at St George radiators.
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