Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Here follows the first part of a cautionary tale containing lots of water, in more than one phase:

We left Joburg on 16/12/2010 in the pouring rain. I was especcially wet having just completed packing the roofrack and tying everything down. At this point I probably need to point out that my Trol dosn't fit in my garage if there is anything on the roof. The rain never stopped untill we reached Underberg. We arrived at our first campsite at the Nip Inn in Bulwer in wonderful sunshine, but as we unpacked our spirits were dampened, as all our bedding which had been transported in plastick crates on the roofrack was soaking wet. Fortunately it all dried out by nightfall. The next morning we headed up Sani Pass. By now it was obvious that good rains had been falling for a while. Our next stop was at no. 10 Riverside, a community project campsite. The ablutions consisted of a couple of badly built longdrops, but the people were friendly and the scenery pretty. The plan for the next two days were to drive to Katse dam via the shortest route, which according to T4A should take 2 days, but according to the head honcho at our campsite would be an easy one-day trip. At about 10am we arrived at the place where we had intended to overnight, but we decided to press on. A short while later we came across this: However walking across it seemed quite safe despite the fact that there was a taxi eying it out and looking concerned, so we carried on. Several kilometers later we came across another river in flood. This time there were several vehicles on both sides and we were told that it was impossible to cross, even on foot and had been that way for six days. We turned around and drove up the hill to a quite place where I could interrogate the GPS. Shortly a 60 series Cruiser came by and we stopped them and told them about the river. The driver said that they were worried about fuel as his gauge had stopped working, but they wanted to go take a look anyway. We said we would await their return, and had a little picknic while we waited. They returned shortly and we decided to take the tar road around as we all had accomodation booked. The intention was that we could siphon some fuel from my car if he ran out.

Shortly thereafter we came across a couple of Canadians and an SA girl in a borrowed Fortuner. Passing bikers had warned them of the river and as they were also concerned about fuel the tagged along behind us. The day was getting hotter and I started suffering with overheating. The second time I stopped to allow my car to cool down, one of the smaller hoses in my cooling system burst. We managed to affect a repair using self-curing silicon tape and carried on, but shortly thereafter I stopped to check it again and discovered that the fan belt had chewed it's way through the now thicker hose. I removed one of the two fan belts, taped up the hose again and carried on. Unfortunately not long thereafter I heard a whistling sound and discovered that the pipe had sheared off just above the nipple and was now beyond repair. By now it was getting dark, but we were only about 30km from Afriski. The fortuner took the Patrol on tow and in the gathering darkness we carried on. By the time we arrived at Afriski it was half past eight and my battery was almost completely flat. It was also drizzling. I had to switch all my lights off and when I braked (which was virtually all the time), the wipers would stop. It was thus with great releif that we managed to acquire accomodation in the backpacker's lodge at R90.00 per person.

The next morning the mechanical manager helped me to affect a reasonable repair using a piece of 1/2" hydraulic hose stolen from a broken TLB. In a light drizzle we set of down Moteng pass, where we came across a truck which had stalled and run backwards, jack-knifing across the whole road. A Pajero with a trailer had tried passing through the rock-filled rain gutter beside the road and gotten stuck, from which predicament it was being pulled by a Triton as I arrived. When it had been extricated, the Triton got through and we followed them. On the steep pass leading to Katse I had to stop three more times to cool down, despite it not beeing a hot day. As we crested the pass a tremendous storm broke, complete with some light hail,

but by the time we reached the dam we had passed through the rain and the dam was bathed in glorious sunshine. We stayd the night at Katse Lodge and the next morning took the dam tour. Very informative and great value at R10.00 per person, made much more memorable by the fact that the dam was overflowing by 42cm and we got soaking wet in the 20 seconds it took us to sprint from our cars to the dam wall.

The intention had been to take a rough track from Katse to Glen Reenen campsite, exiting Lesotho via Monantsa Pass ( a route estimated to take two days) but we shelved this for three reasons: Fisrtly when we intered Lesotho at Sani we were told that there were no Lesotho immigration officers at Monantsa and therefore we would not be able to get our passports stamped, secondly I though it quite likely that more roads would be closed by rivers and lastly as we were now travelling alone again I did not want to take chances on remote roads. We therefore took the same tar road back and exited the country at Cullidon's poort a day ahead of schedule. Arriving at Glen Reenen we managed to negotiate a camping spot for the extra night and discovered that despite having packed all our bedding in plastick bags it was all soaking wet again.

The next couple of days were spent relaxing, with a couple of game drives and a trip into Clarens thrown in. Unfortunately due to the incliment weather we saw very little game, although we did see some action at the vulture restaurant:

Stunning trip report

Thanks for the beutifull pictures - whish I was there as that is one trip I really still want to do! Pitty it is so far away from Cape Town.

Ek dink dit was 'n awesome trip!!

Is jou overheating probleem nou uitgesort?

Very nice trip report, thanks for the effort.

Excellent trip report, Peter!

Your photography is inspiring!


-F_D

Thanks Guys

Family Dog my girl must get credit for most of the pictures. The sundown she actually took on the move while the Troll was being towed.

Kobus my overheating is nog lank nie reg nie, maar ons sal dit op 'n ander dag lank en breedvoerig bespreek, want ek het al baie moeite gedoen en raak nou werklik bekommerd. Een ding is seker, as ek dit nie onder die knie kan kry nie sal ek nooit daai Namib trip waaroor ek droom sal kan aanvat nie.

WOW@ - P/Ter-man.. oompie is jaloers - EDIS mos nou avontuur [laaank na die tyd is die "sukkels" wat jy die beste onthou. Die saamstaan, die 'vasbyt' - die aftree-oord stoeppraatjie stories daai. Great report

Oor die warm word dinges - van die Trolle - dink ek nou daaraan - as mens die "inlkaat kant" [tussen waterpomp en verkoeler so 20% groter [dikker] maak as die pypies wat enjin toe gaan - sal jy mos beter druk kan kry met dieselle pomp [wat nou mos nie eintlik vervangbaar is nie] wat dus 'n beter vloei deur die enjin van gekoelde water sal verseker??? (Die gedagte is nou rondom die selfde beginsel as wat "hidrollics" werk ? [Hydraulics dan as jy wil Arries ... aitog, jy en jou gremmir...:-) ????

Hello Oom Mac

Op 'n ander thread het ek gevra wie almal sukkel met oorverhitting om te probeer sien of dit 'n ontwerpfout is en of daar iets met my spesifieke kar fout is. Nadat ek amper gestenig is het ek tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die ander Y60 4.2 eienaars op hierdie forum nie dieselfde probleme het nie en dat dit net die 4.2 Diesel is wat dalk 'n ontwerps-probleem het. Dit volg dus dat daar in alle waarskynlikheid iets met my spesefieke kar fout is. My gevoel is dus dat in plaas van om nou nog verder te "modify" en veranderinge aan te bring wat dalk 'n verbetering tot gevolg kan he en dalk nie, ek dus eerder die eintlike probleem moet opspoor en reg maak.

Wat ek reeds gedoen het is as volg:
1) Die radiator is professioneel skoon en reg gemaak
2) Die termostaat is vervang
3) Die waterpomp is gecheck
4) Die sisteem is verskeie kere geflush en met die korrekte mengsel volgemaak (nie meer waar na al die gekook in Lesotho nie)

Daar is vir my nog net een of twee hope oor:
Die eerste een is dat die ouens wat die radiator skoongemaak het, vir my gese het dat daar op een of ander stadium Stop Leak in die sisteem was, en dat die goed soms die kanale in die enjin ook kan beinfloed. Dus dink ek my volgende stap is om die enjin uit te pluk, heeltemal uitmekaar te maak, alles te laat skoonmaak en weer aanmekaar te sit. Die volgende vraag is nou as volg:

Terwyl ek dit doen, wat anders doen ek ook. Sou dit byvoorbeeld goed wees om die enjin terselfertyd so goed as moontlik oor te doen (nuwe ringe, pistons, bearings, olie pomp ens.), en is dit die moiete werd om te gas-flow, te skim vir hoer kompressie en so aan ook, of moet mens eerder nie karing nie.

Wat dink julle ouens?

As jy dit kan bekostig P/ter man - doen dit - daai enjin is nie meer heppi na so "opwarm" sessies nie - ek sou mooi kyk wat doen VanderLinde en dieselle doen as hulle [soos ek oor die tye verneem het hou die 4.2 wat hulle gedoen het beter]

sit ik ook nou en dink - sowat van "maklik" warm word - is daar nie so 'n geringste van gering kans dat die gasket 'n ou haarlynfyn krakie het nie???
Maar wag - ek gorrel - om jou vraag te antwoord - Ja, doen gerus daai "oordoen" -