What! No Tank?

gomezhome ♦ 25/01/2022 ♦ 2 Comments

Tank has been conspicuous by its absence these last 2 weeks. It is at the mechanics. We are due to leave in a weeks time, for around 6 months. Yes, 6 months. After the mechanic, Tank needs to go to the auto electrician. This is going to go down to the wire! It is a real test of just where we put our hope and trust. And learning to not totally stress out in the meantime.

Why is Tank at the mechanics? I was hoping that you wouldn’t ask. It is because of a dodgy (prior) mechanic – whom I will never use again. The knocking noise started around 10 km from home, on our way back from Busselton in December. The knocking was prominent above 3000 revs and felt like it was something to do with the transmission, maybe the universal joints. The noise was particularly bad going up hills. I took it to the mechanic (a good one) who had a test drive and gave me a few suggestions as to what it might be – one of the suggestions was maybe the gearbox was going ($3,000 and a month to fix – I hoped not!). He didn’t have time to look at it properly before January. When I did take it back to him to have a good look at it, he tried a number of things. He just couldn’t find the problem after a week and a half (he was busy with a lot of other buses, trucks and coasters too). We were praying that he would find the problem and that it would not be a big deal to fix.

The mechanic had a eureka moment and found that it was the air filter that had come loose and was rattling around! The previous mechanic (let’s call him grandpa, so as not to shame him too much 😉) had changed the air filter a few months earlier. It was a 2 minute job – done badly the first time. It was a 2 minute job to fix (thank you Lord!). In the meantime, looking for the rattle, the mechanic found that the rear brakes were not working properly and is now in the process of fixing them. Am very glad he found that before we hit the road. Am very disappointed that the previous service (different mechanic again – not grandpa), 6 months earlier did not find the brakes problem.

Best case scenario, we will have Tank for about 1/2 day to finalise a few things in it, pack up and go! Worst case… well, let’s not go there now. There is faith and hope in the waiting.

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