Given that we are driving a 24 year old Land Rover we expect (but hope not too) have some maintenance issues. Below we will record a brief history of the items requiring maintenance. We have also included our non vehicle related equipment”breakdowns”.
2 August: Leaking coolant at Heater matrix – replaced heater matrix
12 August: Replaced front right park light bulb
13 August: Small leak at clutch from Master cylinder. Purchased replacement cylinder in Hoedspruit so can fix on road. Threatening Mr Jones with a replacement seems to have fixed the leak 🙂
19 August:Not Mr Jones related. Fixed cracked wine goblet holder – Near disaster
20 August: Coolant pouring out of header tank when doing routine checks, this after the car had been sitting cold for days. Very strange! Tried many diagnostics while idling Mr Jones, didn’t find fault (perhaps an airlock or faulty expansion tank cap) but issue also didn’t repeat so will monitor for next days.
30 August: Speedo stopped working. Normally there is an indication that the cable is wearing at the speedo unit, this time nothing it just stopped. For now we will rely on the GPS, which is more accurate anyhow.
31 August: Leaking coolant at the new heater matrix. Bypassed heater and quickly back on road.
3 September: Replaced oil crank breather pipe on Mr Jones
8 September: Not Mr Jones related. Leg on portable step bent, sent off to local market for a welding job. Version 2 is much improved.
9 September: Not Mr Jones related. Tabs for toiletry bag pulling off (impact of Moz roads). Repaired by tailor in market.
10 September: Not Mr Jones related. Inverter for converting 12v battery power to 220v so that we can charge many of our electronic devices has stopped working. Will have to try replace when we get to Lilongwe.
14 October: Not Mr Jones Related. Pump for paddle board has crack in it so leaks air. This is the second Red Paddle pump to do this, very frustrating!! Thank goodness for the on board tyre compressor and adaptor for the SUP.
25 October: Temporary breakdown as we had fuel starvation on very steep inclines leaving Usisya despite a 1/4 main tank. Transferred diesel from the 3rd tank and used handpump to prime the system. 20min later we were not he move again.
26 October: Topped up oil in swivel pin housing as they are sweating quite a lot. Also fixed loose connection on spare fuel tank transfer pump.
7 November: New wiper blades now that the rainy season is upon us
13 November: Removed, lubed and fixed Mr Jones speedo. (broken since 30 August) Approx 5000km.
22 November: Not Mr Jones related. Tania Haviana slip slop broke, the first one almost 4months daily use. Good thing we packed spares.
2 December: Oil & Lube service @ 10150km interval. Replaced oil crank breather hose (again!)
17 December: Mr Jones related. Louder hooter for the sheep and matatus
22 December: Partially Mr Jones related. Battery charger for fridge overheating. “PC board” fan has stopped working. Wired up one of the bedroom fans as a temporary solution