MARKL
Eats Squid
Finally at Thredbo, yesterday's trip turned into an epic. Share your adventures.
We were finally packed and ready to go at 4.00pm. 4 blokes/8 bikes and associated crap. 40+ degrees.
Got onto the M4 and about 200m in the panhard rod on the front of the Jeep let go, front axle moving all over the place. Pulled over, inspect diagnose decide to head back and grab other mates Grand ound: Vitara. Move gear across, repack and on our way. Mate excitedly tells us how it was serviced this week, including reverse flush of cooling system and it is now running 10deg cooler.
Driver is getting a bit excited and pressing on when the aircon dies, he then notices the temp needle has dropped to zero. Pull over and we start trying to cool the thing down when candidate for the Genius Bar turns off the engine. Heat soak, fear of engine seizing etc bit of a blow up between a couple of the boys and we are still on the outskirts of Sydney. A phone call is placed and favours called in and the absolute legend that is John Hardwick :help:comes to the rescue. Car cooled and restarted, debate ensues whether the bubbles in the radiator are left over detergents from the flush - Hanrahan diagnoses blown head gasket. Owner decides he wants to press on - who am I to argue and it's not like I will get my accomm money back.
We give owner an assessment of his driving so far and strict instructions to nurse the heap of shit. Temp gauge sits at normal level from then on, slow trip. We fill up petrol and more water at Pheasants nest and keep going. Driver change just before Canberra followed by more petrol. As we come to Cooma Hanrahan in the front seat is feeling crook. We make it to Cooma and Hanrahan disappears to the bathroom for ages. I take over the driving. Hanrahan still hasn't returned from bathroom, we joke that maybe fart was a shart and still cleaning himself off. Hanrahan returns looking like crap, told us he had been sick...don't ask about the shart. A couple of k's down the road we pull over and Hanrahan spends the next ten minutes throwing up.
I'm driving the bucket of bolts as gently as possible, one eye on the temp gauge, low revs, even if that means slow progress, weather has cooled down. Eta for Thredbo 1.30am.
Then the wildlife comes out, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies deer...my eyes a wide open it seems every couple of hundred meters something is about to jump out at us. A heap of near misses, swerves, braking moments. But we are nearly there. Through the Nat park gates, 15km to go, 10 to go...we are o close I can taste it...when I call for Hanrahan to wind his window down, it's misting up...brain working slowly in background...don't rev the engine, watch the temp gauge for change, where is the next animal coming from? I can't see...:boom: and windscreen covered in water. WTF did I hit? Drive into break down bay, open bonnet, steam everywhere, grab torch to see what happened. Then I see the top tank on the radiator has split. We cool the thing down, get some liquid into it and crawl into Thredbo....I'm fucked and we haven't even gotten near riding.
Work out how we get home later this morning.
We were finally packed and ready to go at 4.00pm. 4 blokes/8 bikes and associated crap. 40+ degrees.
Got onto the M4 and about 200m in the panhard rod on the front of the Jeep let go, front axle moving all over the place. Pulled over, inspect diagnose decide to head back and grab other mates Grand ound: Vitara. Move gear across, repack and on our way. Mate excitedly tells us how it was serviced this week, including reverse flush of cooling system and it is now running 10deg cooler.
Driver is getting a bit excited and pressing on when the aircon dies, he then notices the temp needle has dropped to zero. Pull over and we start trying to cool the thing down when candidate for the Genius Bar turns off the engine. Heat soak, fear of engine seizing etc bit of a blow up between a couple of the boys and we are still on the outskirts of Sydney. A phone call is placed and favours called in and the absolute legend that is John Hardwick :help:comes to the rescue. Car cooled and restarted, debate ensues whether the bubbles in the radiator are left over detergents from the flush - Hanrahan diagnoses blown head gasket. Owner decides he wants to press on - who am I to argue and it's not like I will get my accomm money back.
We give owner an assessment of his driving so far and strict instructions to nurse the heap of shit. Temp gauge sits at normal level from then on, slow trip. We fill up petrol and more water at Pheasants nest and keep going. Driver change just before Canberra followed by more petrol. As we come to Cooma Hanrahan in the front seat is feeling crook. We make it to Cooma and Hanrahan disappears to the bathroom for ages. I take over the driving. Hanrahan still hasn't returned from bathroom, we joke that maybe fart was a shart and still cleaning himself off. Hanrahan returns looking like crap, told us he had been sick...don't ask about the shart. A couple of k's down the road we pull over and Hanrahan spends the next ten minutes throwing up.
I'm driving the bucket of bolts as gently as possible, one eye on the temp gauge, low revs, even if that means slow progress, weather has cooled down. Eta for Thredbo 1.30am.
Then the wildlife comes out, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies deer...my eyes a wide open it seems every couple of hundred meters something is about to jump out at us. A heap of near misses, swerves, braking moments. But we are nearly there. Through the Nat park gates, 15km to go, 10 to go...we are o close I can taste it...when I call for Hanrahan to wind his window down, it's misting up...brain working slowly in background...don't rev the engine, watch the temp gauge for change, where is the next animal coming from? I can't see...:boom: and windscreen covered in water. WTF did I hit? Drive into break down bay, open bonnet, steam everywhere, grab torch to see what happened. Then I see the top tank on the radiator has split. We cool the thing down, get some liquid into it and crawl into Thredbo....I'm fucked and we haven't even gotten near riding.
Work out how we get home later this morning.
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