By marco g4 - 18 Sep 2012
Hi all
Been following Julian's blog as he travels the five olympic continents in his G4 D3, quite interesting with some pics on his facebook page. His blog is http://sportstrek.blogspot.co.uk/ with links from it. May be of interest to some!! Mark
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By Emon - 19 Sep 2012
Yes, I have been following too. Quite a bold undertaking on his own, wish him luck and a safe journey. The challenging part of the trip is about to come, hopefully he will have some means of posting using his satphone.
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By J - 20 Sep 2012
Hey! I really appreciate this. I'm now in China and have been meaning to catch up with the club for sometime now, but the planning and preparation proved to be rather hectic and was not helped with having to sell my flat and beloved 2nd car. You can see the additions and modifications made to Tango on my website but had decided that I should keep everything as original G4 spec as possible.( see www.sports-trek.com with links there to the Blog and Facebook)
I finally managed to leave from London and to get away 2 weeks later than hoped on 26th July, and I'm pleased to say all is good :)
Internet has not been readily available and to be frank I'd rather be out there doing and enjoying the journey than worrying about internet etc too much. But I wanted to update you on a few things. Obviously as you can see from the website, blog and Facebook and twitter that I made it all the way across to Vladivostok some 9000 miles, but not without "D3" issues.
The travelling has been great and all helped along the way with waves and honks of appreciation from drivers, pedestrians and 4x4 owners. And the driving in Russia is actually not so bad once you get over the shock of the state of the roads and some of the crazy driving, lack of road signs etc . But I think it helps to be a little bigger and bright orange and when I got it wrong, most were pretty forgiving. I was only stopped by police 3 times and each experience was good and no hint of corruption etc Borders too were good but just take forever and I'd say that most were helpful and never went into any degree of searching or difficult questions.
So about the issues.. First was before I left home - I had a full on EPB failure, which cost me loads. I was lucky that Brit Part have come on board with the project and Richard Pigg has been very helpful. But I had a fairly well known independent expert come to fix it, service the car and give it a once over before I left. He was obviously very knowledgeable and showed me tips and even how to remove the alternator. I had also taken the time to research D3 issues and learn some mechanics on here and the other disco forums.
But it was only the first day and 500 miles in to the journey that it so very nearly all ended in tears. Having got to the fast autobahns of Germany I noticed a squealing fan belt just a few miles from my first stop. It was dark so I decided to continue and look at it in the morning. If you haven't already seen my blog and pics thereon you will the full story there on how the alternator fell off!!!
http://sportstrek.blogspot.hk/2012_08_01_archive.html
I'm still waiting for a response from my expert on this as I think he should bear the responsibility. (What do you think?)
So after this all was good I made it through to Siberia and in Mongolia I decided to get adventurous and stray into the wilds of Altay Mountains, afterall thats why I was there. I was on top of a mountain in the snow line about 3000m up when I had just traversed a snowy slope and lost traction as I scrambled to get to the other side. It was a little hairy! But it was the only way over. So of course a long way from anywhere, when I then got a suspension fault and all the lights came on with the car dropping so low it was impossible to drive. It was cold up there and sunset was not far off so I had to risk some damage to get off the top and out of the wind.
In short - VDU showed suspension failure on all 4 wheels and my Brit Part diagnostic read ; Vehicle Dynamic UO 421 - invalid data from ride level control module. Red and amber lights flashing all over the place!
After hard reset attempts failed, and a chilly night I endeavoured to jack up the car up in the morning to get the rear n/s wheel arch but the car was so low it wasn't easy. Then the jack handle broke under just a little strain (clearly not fit for purpose). But I had the Takla air jack and was eventually able to get to the module and wiring etc under the wheel arch. After checking the connections and seeing all was in place, all was suddenly and miraculously good again. So maybe it was a poor connection or earth I do don't know, or maybe it was the computer system resetting itself after recognising it was grounded on the air jack?
I had before and intermittently afterwards been getting an "HDC Fault" "Suspension lowering" read out which cleared after a switching on and off and applying the EPB. Land Rover in Ulaanbaatar serviced the car and said the HDC fault was common and would look at it. I have only had it come up once more but have not driven anything too tough since.
Apart from that I'm meeting some great people along the way and fellow adventures on motorbikes and some are driving very large cars called Toytos or something and now looking forward to Australia and venturing to the outback.
Of course I have sat phone, emergency equipment, spare water and food, survival eqpt etc but I have to say that I'm now very wary about travelling anything too difficult solo and will definitely be with others when I venture into the extremes of the outback.
So I will try to stay in touch but will be updating the Facebook, and blog with pics and stories when I can, where it will also be good to hear from you.
regards
Julian
PS. Tango will be shipped to Melbourne arriving about the first week of November. So look forward to hooking up with fellow club member MIkeS down under very soon. |
By RocKeR - 20 Sep 2012
I don't know you but you're obviously a nutter! Good on ya mate!! I ventured into France last week for some sand dunking, and I thought I was being adventurous. I'll be keeping an eye on your trip from now on. Have a good one. Journey safe!
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By adesg4 - 21 Sep 2012
Hi Julian,
Good to hear you are progressing well with only a few, though unwelcome LR gremlins along for the ride. I would think your local LR fitter would feel bad enough about the alternator falling off.
Some of our machines going into Russia by truck get stuck for upto 3 days at the border ,so you did well when going in so quickly.
Hope your travels in OZ go well,
Happy travels
Adrian
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By MikeS - 23 Sep 2012
Julian
Look forward to seeing you when you get here to Melbourne, sounds like you've had quite a trip already. Be prepared to shell out quite a few $$$'s when you get the car out of the port here in Melbourne. It'll need to be spotlessly clean underneath otherwise they'll charge you to steamclean it. Mine was pretty much brand new underneath it was that clean, yet I still got stung for $500 to clean it to the satisfaction of AQIS (quarantine). The local Land Rover club, of which I'm a member are likely to want a bit of a chat if you're here at the same time as the monthly meeting in November (1st week). They're a very large, very friendly bunch and likely to be a source of a lot of useful information for your travels round Oz. I've also started a thread on AULRO, the Oz based Land Rover forum. As you travel round Oz there's some very helpful chaps on there. Thread can be found here |
By J - 24 Sep 2012
Thanks Mike.
I've just seen the post with aulro thats really very good of you. So I suppose thats another beer on me when I get there!
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By MikeS - 25 Sep 2012
No worries. You have an open invite to the LROCV, otherwise known as "the largest Land Rover Club in Australia" to have a chat with them at either the November or December meeting depending on when you arrive. Bloody useful bunch when it comes to travel advice here.
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By J - 28 Sep 2012
Hi All, I thought I would try this as I have not heard from Iain Lambert at Offroad Essentials since I my alternator fell off in Germany and where it could have all ended in tears. All three bolts snapped off in the mounting leaving it completely free!!! (see my blog for the story and pics on this). It was Iain that came down as a mobile LR specialist to assist me in the checking and servicing the car just before my big trip and to fix and in the end replace the EPB. During which he was very helpful talking through and showing me some tips, which unfortunately included removing the alternator. I have tried to contact Iain regarding some reimbursement on the costs but have not had any reply from him since. Not a good situation as he was also to be my expert for a 'Sat Phone" helpline for any emergency or technical advice. Has anyone seen him, can anyone get a message to him? I've got lots of miles to get around the world so need to address this A.S.A.P |
By RocKeR - 28 Sep 2012
You could try his FB page, that's nice and public! http://www.facebook.com/Offroad.Essentials
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By J - 29 Sep 2012
Thanks. I'll try the FB link
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By J - 2 Dec 2012
Hello from down under. I'm nearly half way now. And after a great day as guest of Land Rover Australia at Albert Park, I'm having a great time here. I even had time to meet up with G4 member MikeS and world famous model Jennifer Hawkins etc etc. So heres a pic of me and Mike (what a good sort he is too). Thanks Mike for putting me up. 
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By MikeS - 6 Dec 2012
Great to meet up and be of assistance :cool:
Ayres Rock next year sounds like a great idea :D
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By Farmer Chalk - 21 Apr 2013
Anyone know where he is now?.... Julian owes me dinner and therefore i like to keep track of him... Spookily enough i worked with Julian in a previous life and you're all right....... he is mental!
Julian if you're reading this... the fine for lateness is the meal is now at The Ivy!!
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By MikeS - 3 Jun 2013
Somewhere in north western Oz, having just completed the Canning Stock Route.
Basically, in the middle of nowhere :cool:
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By Farmer Chalk - 10 Jun 2013
The distances people go to avoid paying their dues! Don't worry the fines are accruing nicely! Julian if you're reading this don't rush back unless you've met a millionairess! Think it will now be at the Savoy!
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By MikeS - 25 Jun 2013
Up in the Northern Territory at the moment, made the local news paper
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By Farmer Chalk - 28 Jun 2013
Hmmmm.... Getting hungry but think it will be a little while yet then.... Amazed the old girl keeps going considering what he's putting her through.....
Unfortunately he won't recognise his old job when he comes back....... Julian if you're reading this stay there!
Just send the money for the dinner!
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