Oz Trip - Day 149

Day 149 – 27/9/2012 – The Nullarbor (Penong to Port Perie)

Again another early start as we had a lot of kilometres to do again.

The Penong van park site just before we pulled out.

Oz Trip - Day 16

Day 16 – 17/5/2012 – Port Augusta, Still!!!

Had to wait around to about 4pm to pick the Pajero up. All fixed under warranty. Once picked up I also had to get the mounting bracket that holds the monitor for the rear view camera on the van re-glued back onto the windscreen. Luckily Windscreen O'Brians were right next door to the Mitsubishi dealer ship.

On the way back to the van park we did a final restock in hope of leaving tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.

Oz Trip - Day 15

Day 15 – 16/5/2012 – Port Augusta Again....

Well the best laid plans always come unstuck!! We hitched up and checked out of the van park. While idling through the back streets making our way to the main road, the “check engine” light came on again! So it was straight back to the dealer. They wouldn't be able to look at it again until after lunch, so it didn't look like we were going anywhere today.

We checked back into the van park and setup on the same spot that we just left. I dropped the Pajero back to the dealer and got a lift back to the van park.

That afternoon they rang back and said that the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valve need to be replaced because it was clogged up with soot and they didn't have one in stock so they had to get it sent in over night. So while the Pajero was having a sleep over at the dealership, we had a bit of time to relax and catch up on some blog posts :-)

Port Augusta seems to be a bit of a location where vehicle problems manifest themselves in our family. My uncle was stuck here for a couple of weeks getting his gear box replaced in his motor home and my cousin also had wheel problems and had to get patched up on their way through the town.

Oz Trip - Day 14

Day 14 – 15/5/2012 – Port Augusta

We managed to make it to Port Augusta just before lunch time.  Luckily the fault didn't cause the engine to go into "Limp Home" mode where it reduces the power and speed at which you can travel.  It wouldn't have been fun towing a 2 tonne camper with only 20% engine power and limited to 60kph for 200 or so kilometres through hills! We dropped the van off at the Big 4 van park and I headed back to the dealership to drop the Pajero off. Luckily they were able to look at it for us that afternoon.

When entering all of my details they found that it hadn't had an “update” applied to its computer. For the non technical, basically it needed a bit of software loaded into it, similar to applying a windows update to your computer. They said that they had just recently had another Pajero in with the same problem and had to apply the same fix. Apparently when towing with the engine under load and in certain conditions can generate a fault code which causes the check engine light to turn on. So they applied the “patch” and I was good to go.

The stop at Port Augusta also gave us the change to stock up on some food and water and ready to hit the road again tomorrow morning.