The Test Drive

A major part of us being able to travel half way round Australia, was having a vehicle to do it in. Once we had made the decision to do the trip, we started looking into vehicles that would be suitable .... ie 4WD Jeep style things. A research browse of Google brought us to Travellers AutoBarn. Not only did we find useful information about the travels but we spotted an old 4wd Mitsubishi Pajero selling much cheaper than anything else. Feeling aprehensive, Doug and I took a couple of trips to view it - the first attempt we were unable to test drive it as being a saturday - there was only 1 person in the shop. This 1988 Pajero seemed to fit the bill perfectly - it was full of character, it had seen some k's and had been sat unwanted for far too long. We were sold, and the only dissapointment the sales guys had with us taking it was that we wouldnt be taking it off then for nearly 8 weeks! Still - this gave them plenty of time to fix it up and get it in good shape for the obligatory road worthy they needed to do. Pick up date loomed close, and we realised we'd need to stretch its legs a bit - just to make sure she was up for the long drive we would be making her do. We organised a trip to the ski hills - inviting colleagues along. Plenty of space we said, its got heaps of room for 5 of us plus equipment. Plus - it's 4wd so we wont need to get chains! Interest peaked and waned, and before we even had the car signed into our name we were set with a group to test it out. The big day arrived. We'd been warned it was going to take 2 hours to sort all the paperwork, so with the afternoon off work we were set to pick it up. Having filled in all the paper work, when we eventually got it home, we set about repairing the damage inflicted on it to make it "Backpackable". A double bed had been installed in the back, with 2x4 and planks drilled in everywhere, and curtains round every window. No thank you. A night with screwdrivers had it looking like a proper car again, with plenty of firewood now available for when we got to the Outback. Our little excursion to the ski hills had been planned for a Saturday. Due to weather issues (who'd have thought it in Melbourne?!?!?!), Doug and I had to complete our Open Water diving qualifications in the morning so we planned to leave Melbourne at 1pm (ish) for a leisurely drive up to Falls Creek. We'd booked accomodation - thankfully low enough down the mountain that we weren't at too high a risk of altitude sickness (after diving the rule is no higher than 300m - we were staying at an altitude of 320... perfectly safe) and wouldn't be hitting the slopes till Sunday. 1pm ish turned rapidly into 2, but we were finally away. All passengers were loaded, the snacks had been opened and the wagon was on its way with barely a mumour. But the luck was not too last. Roughly 20km into the 350km trip, the wagon started bucking like a Kangaroo on heat. It started of gently, a few spurts here and there as we reached 110kph- but enough to cause some worry. 10 minutes later and we were experiencing it at 100kph, then 90. We pulled over to the hard shoulder of the freeway and had the bonnet up to check it out. In typical man fashion.- 3 blokes stood around an engine and went "ummmmm.... yeah. oooh" Women think that mechanics have to practise theses sounds for when they diagnose some unheard of fault in the car - but actually all men are born with an inate ability to do it - despite not knowing the faintest thing about engines. We had no clue, and to our great dissapointment - neither did Google. We resolved to tough it out, and give it another shot. After all, we were barely out the city and were psyched to get out to the ski hills. A change of driver to see if a different tactic would help - and so that nothing could be blamed on Doug if the engine did blow up - and we we still hitting the same problem. We eventually limped into Craigieburn, and sat at a garage to call Travellers Autobarn. We were still within the 7 day money back warranty period, and wanted to get them on the case straight away. Despite many suggestions over the phone - nothing could be diagnosed, and we made the gutting call to limp back to Melbourne. Determined to still have a good weekend, we managed to borrow a car (albeit much smaller and much more cramped) so when we arrived back in Melbourne we transferred the luggage and still managed to head off for a weekend of skiing - but it was a poor start for a car preparing to take us 8000km round some lonely difficult roads. Once the car was checked out by a mechanic, the fault was discovered to be the fuel filter. Having been sat for so long, and us having used a voucher meaning we got a free full tank of petrol meant that the scum from the bottom of the tank had mixed with the clean petrol and was clogging up the filter. It didn't long to effect the performance and the engine just wasn't able to fire - resulting in the sudden loss of power and the kangarooing effect. The moral of this story is - Always have a backup! or just a clean fuel filter :)