1 September: We almost feel like locals as we drive back to Pirenopolis for our 3rd stay at the same campsite. Great news is Mr J ran perfectly and we have no coolant loss.
2 September: Mr J gremlins are back, grrr. We have had for a while the occasional issue with starting him if we stop when it and he is hot, usually if we wait a while he then start’s up just fine. Today when we stopped for both a lunch break and then again late afternoon at a truck stop, he would no start. After some investigation Stuart found a loose connection on the starter motor so has tightened that and hoping this will be the end of that.
3 September: After a very pleasant night in a remote truck stop we hit the road heading further East, it is now extremely hot and dry with daytime temps averaging 38degC and nights not getting below 23. We were hoping to spend a couple of nights at a campsite that looked like it had shade and a pool near the town of Barra do Garcas BUT Mr J had other ideas, as we drove into town he cut out! The fuel starvation symptoms are the same as when we have had a clogged filter or sedimenter so after a fiddle and drain of the sedimenter he started again, only to cut-out every time we had to slow for a speed bump (of which there are many) or an intersection. The only solution was to keep the revs high and/or use the starter frequently as we limped through town and out to the campsite.
4 September: It’s been a busy day and a half, practically the entire fuel system has been dismantled, replaced or reassembled and sadly we still have an issue!! In short we have: removed & drained the sedimenter; blown compressed air down the fuel pipes back to the tank and sedimenter; removed air filter & high pressure fuel pipes to the injectors; removed, tested & replaced the fuel lift pump; built a new bracket for the fuel filter housing as the attachment point in the bonnet had cracked; replaced the fuel filter; replaced copper washers on banjo joint for fuel filter and finally did a “boer maak a plan” (in Brazil=Gambiarra) extension of the idler adjustment screw on the injection pump to keep the revs up so that we can at least get to a mechanic. In the meantime we also had a late night visit from a local Landy owner to see if he could help.
5 September: Another stressful day as Mr J cut out twice in town on way to mechanic and in attempting to get him going Stuart got a faceful of diesel both times! Then spent a very hot afternoon in mechanics workshop followed by a mad dash for a very basic AirBnB in the evening. Mr J injector pump will now be dismantled to find the possible problem.
6 September: It appears the problem has been found but we won’t have Mr J back until Thursday as tomorrow is Independence Day in Brazil.
8 September: What a nightmare of a day! Had to walk 5km in 38 deg heat as no Uber or such in the town and have no idea how to arrange a taxi. Then get charged extra ZAR1800 for the injector pump making it an expensive ZAR9500 job. Too make matters worse, 1km after leaving the workshop all Mr Jones temperature alarms go off and the heat climbs rapidly – this is just as it is getting dark. So contact workshop owner and he sends one of the mechanics out who ends up pouring 5l water into the system and I manage to limp back to airbnb but not before the accelerator cable comes loose from the injector pump
9 September: Back at workshop early in an attempt to get them to replace the coolant. The owner refuses to accept responsibility for the coolant, even though that part of Mr J was fine prior to this or even the accelerator cable issue. End up losing my cool but it is very hard to swear when you can’t speak the language and we ultimately end up spending another ZAR900 on coolant. All round one big F@$ up!
10 September: Stopped yesterday at some natural pools and wow has it been much needed food for the soul, feeling in a much better place. Also enjoyed great hospitality from local day visitors who gave us lunch. Bit annoyed at end of day when we discover we have to pay for the night still, as they have a strange charging system which makes it an expensive campspot but ultimately worth it for the R&R.
11 September: An easy cruise into Cuiaba and very warm welcome by Eddie the caretaker/security guard/gardener at the spot we camped at. He spoke very basic and slow Portuguese with lots of hand signals and had us in stitches at times.
12 September: Disaster and disappointment! Mr J suffered fuel starvation issues on the way into the Pantanal. We broke down multiple times in a few kilometres but managed to limp to a campsite which is nothing special and again expensive but at least we are off the road. Was very disappointing when despite being on a remote road not a single car stopped of the 20 that passed as we had the bonnet up. We have no signal here so very difficult to get advice on fixing the issue. And the daytime temps are 38 deg and night time not much cooler with lots of mosquitos. Feeling very sorry for ourselves, especially after all the missioning to get here and now there is no chance we can venture further into the Pantanal
13 September: Up super early before sunrise to try and resolve the fuel issue and work before it gets hot. Ultimately only got everything done by 12 so still had plenty heat. Ended up plumbing in spare rubber hose to the electric fuel pump that we have for the third tank and everything seemed fine so tried to leave to drive back to Cuiaba. We didn’t get far, as Mr J stopped 3 times in 2km so limped back to camp. Not sure what to try now but we are very stuck. More than a little over all these issues !!!!!!
14 September: The straw that nearly broke the camels back today, shattered both physically and emotionally – could not hold back the tears when we finally stopped in “safety” at a truck stop tonight. It took 10 hours to do 100km today, with multiple breakdowns, reworking some of the fuel piping and then finally a small fire late in the afternoon. Thankfully fire damage does not appear too bad and was able to repair some wires so we could limp forward again but now on top of all the issues the driving area is covered in white fire extinguisher power.
15 September: Thanks to the help from friends of the Brasilia mechanic we had an address for a mechanic in Cuiaba, but still broke down in rush hour traffic, thanks to running out of fuel,as we were running off the 3rd tank, so had to spend 30minutes changing pipe directions so we could pump fuel from main to 3rd tank and then reverse pipes again to run with electric pump off the 3rd tank. Mechanics were great, including the boss called “Brazil”, and by the end of the day they had replaced the fuel pump, dropped and cleaned the fuel tank and replaced most of the rubber fuel hose.
16 September: A long day in camp as we attempt to resolve the electrical damage from the fire (indicators, hooter, one brake light, fuel pump switch, radio), cleaned powder from behind dash and all over the inside). Only thing can’t fix is the low coolant alarm (a concern) and the turbo boost gauge.
17 September: a quick couple of hours to do laundry and some shopping before heading out from Cuiaba to Chapada do Guimaraes which involved fair bit of climbing in extreme heat (40 deg plus). Mr J struggled and temps rose but that was too be expected, suspect though may be losing some turbo power from damaged turbo boost gauge pipe. Pissed off in the evenings ss we go out for a beer on the square, the restaurant has a person playing music and when the bill comes it is 3x the cost of a beer as they add in a charge per person for the entertainment – no attraction in Brazil is just “on the house”!
18 September: After reconnecting turbo boost gauge pipe we left town and started working our way south. Mr J seems to be going fine and we pulled into a little oasis with a pool after about 200km. The pool is a necessity as it is once again very hot!
19 September: Not a good day, Mr J seemed to lose coolant overnight and then just as we were about to get going a huge thunderstorm arrived to drench us all while trying to fix the headlights which weren’t working. So started off in foul mood (so frustrated with all our issues), then had bad miscommunication around lunchtime as to what to do – just all round over the issues and travelling right now. Even had to refill coolant halfway down the road. It is just impossible to enjoy yourself if constantly worrying about whether Mr J can get us to the next destination.
20 September: Fortunately, our camping spot has a lovely river, the hosts are great and we have decided to take some time out and relax, it’s been a hard month. Spent a lovely day chilling in and out of the river and gained some perspective – bottom line we need to get Mr J fixed and still want to travel so have decided tomorrow to get to Campo Grande and attempt to get to the bottom of the coolant topic.
21 September: Woke up to “gunk” on the oil dipstick, Stuart has for a while suspected an issue with the head gasket and perhaps we finally have evidence of that. Thankfully Mr J got us the 200km into Campo Grande and iOverlanderr had a landy garage marked so we went straight there. Within 10 minutes of pulling in they also suspected head gasket so it was off to another AirBnB while they pull the head off for repairs.
22 September: More bad news, not only is the head gasket needing replacing but turns out the head itself has a crack in it. The quote for a replacement is expensive and for a while we have flashbacks of being ripped off when our friends and mechanic in other parts of Brazil tell us cylinder heads are half the price quoted. It turns out though that they are not fully informed, some headsets are cheaper but good quality ones aren’t and there is a shortage of stock in the country in general.
23 September: Great progress today, the head has been received and partly installed. We also got a new fire extinguisher and Stuart repaired the wire for the invertor where a fuse had mysteriously melted – no idea how this one occurred as it is nowhere near our other issues.
24 September: We are back on the road, pretty amazing to consider that in 2,5 days the garage sourced from 100’s km away a new head and installed it. Denilson and Land Car have been wonderful. Sadly we lost the last remaining digital temperature probe as a small mistake by them when pulling a pipe damaged it – rather bummed about that as we have until now relied heavily on the prompt feedback from that versus the standard engine temp gauge.
26 September: Stuart’s 50th birthday! After some quick catchups and well wishes from friends and family we headed off with Louis and Karen to drive the anteater road in the Pantanal. Not your typical 50th but if Mr J behave himself and turns out to have no more issues that will be the best present of all! Mr J did throw in one small protest before we left when the zip on our awning cover gave up the ghost – one new thing to fix sometime soon.
27 September: Louis and Karen had some bubbly from Argentina which they kindly shared so we had small celebratory drink last night together with a campfire. Today took a leisurely cruise along the road and got some cool sightings of to anteaters, bush pig, some small antelope, capybaras, cayman and many many different birds including a really cool Jabiru (a giant stork). All in all, a great day.
28 September: Last night we had a massive thunderstorm with scary lighting and woke to more rain and very muddy roads so changed our plans a bit on route. We decided to escort Louis out as they only have a Hiace camper which is 2wd, it was a good thing we did as it wasn’t long before the mud was too much and they needed a small tow. After 100km we were back on tar and driving a very pretty road back to Campo Grande.
29 September: A day of cross-crossing Campo Grande in search of a place that could repair our awning cover (zip and stitching). At the fourth place and after much google translate we found an auto trimmer who said he could do it, so quickly removed entire awning in the car park.