We were at Iveco when they opened at 8:00am. With the engine problem now consistently happening, we drove from the caravan park at half power but this was not a problem as we were part of the Townsville traffic peak.
With fingers crossed, we left Iveco and headed to Harvey Norman where we were hopeful of purchasing a new digital SLR with a 15% discount. As luck would have it, they had one body in stock so shortly thereafter, we were the owners of a new camera.
We then headed into Townsville where we found a car wash and had the Suzuki totally cleaned. The manager on duty was very kind and helped with the wash which took about 30 minutes. When we left the car wash, the car was cleaner than the day it was delivered to us.
After driving around the Townsville CBD, we discovered “The Strand”. This is a road that runs adjacent to the beach and there are numerous spots to stop to view Townsvillle to the south or Magnetic Island to the east. We visited the lookout at Castle Hill which provides splendid 360 degree views of the area.
It was during our stop at the lookout we learnt that the problem with the Iveco had been located and parts were required. We agreed to pay for air freight from Melbourne and the Townsville agent also arranged for a new sun visor to be sent from Cairns as our “repaired” visor has fallen out again on the previous day.
We were disappointed with the outcome as we had hoped to salvage part of our holiday and head to Cairns for the weekend before rejoining some of the safari group at the Undara Lava Tubes. That was not to be the case.
Whilst heading back to collect the motorhome (it had been agreed that the Iveco would be kept mobile), we noted that the weather screen on the Suzuki had come adrift. We went to the local Suzuki dealer who reaffixed the shield.
After collecting the motorhome we went back to the caravan park and were fortunate to be able to book the same site for a further two nights.
We decided to do nothing on Saturday but had to depart early to go back to Harvey Norman to replace the spare battery we had obtained for the camera. When we finally returned to the caravan park, we were able to do four loads of washing in our machine and managed to get it all dry before dark. We were lucky that our location was spared the smoke from the burnoffs that were taking place.
Whilst getting the car ready for a trip on Sunday, “He” discovered that one of the fog lights on the Suzuki had been shattered. The glass was removed and the light was covered to prevent water penetration. Reference to photographs later revealed that we had arrived in Townsville with the light intact (we would have noticed when the car was washed) and the light was broken when we stopped for lunch about an hour after the car wash. We can only assume that the cover had been previously fractured and the high pressure car wash had shattered the glass.
When we arrived at Townsville we had learnt that our next door neighbor was visiting her parents at Ingham. Following a telephone call, we were invited for lunch on Sunday.
So, at 9:00am on Sunday we headed to Ingham which was about 100 kilometers up the road. “He” drove and had a ball being able to exceed our 90 kph limit with the motorhome (that is the maximum speed recommended for the Suzuki being towed) and also pass slower vehicles.
We spent several hours at Ingham where we were provided with fantastic hospitality and a beaut lunch. We left just after 3:00pm and headed back to Townsville.
Had we still been on the safari we would have had a fish meal that evening. So we still had some connection with the safari, we shared a few prawns for our evening meal.
I’m glad the truck was fixed. Was was the problem?
Hi Greg
I have very little knowledge when it comes to diesel mechanics but understand there could have been a couple of separate factors causing the problem. We were initially informed that a hose near a valve in the engine was fractured and we were loosing compression. It was not the turbo. When we collected the vehicle the mechanic pointed to a “T” piece above the engine and mentioned there was some blockage in the tube. I don’t know the purpose of the tube.
As the vehicle was repaired under warranty, we were more interested in moving on rather than details of the cause of the problem. The Iveco dealer was also busy.
It was also suggested to us that our problem could be the result of an incorrect wired towbar harness. In our case, thast was not the issue.
We have done probably just under 1000k’s since the repair was completed and the truck is running as it did in the past.
Cheers
John
Hi Greg
Further discussion with the Iveco dealer has resulted in us learning that our problem was actually a fractured vacuum hose between the turbo VGT valve and the electro valve.
The EGR electro valve was also faulty.
We were informed that the cause of these problems is usually normal wear and tear or heat. We were under 30,000k’s when we experienced the problem.
One could speculate that our trip into the mud was the catalyst for the problem and that could indeed be real. However, if one speculated in that manner you would also have to speculate that the hose that was fractured already had the beginnings of a problem and the additional strain on the engine cause by driving through the mud was the “straw that broke the camels back”. I do know that the engine did not overheat during our venture into the mud and also we were very conscious of the engine revs and did our best to keep them within normal parameters.
It was probably “just one of those things”.
Cheers
John