First actual breakdown!

Submitted by visesh on Sun, 13/07/2008 - 4:41pm.

First actual breakdown! Temperature gauge shot up so we pulled over as soon as it was safe. Highway maintenance found us and arranged a tow to a nearby Toyota garage, which was closed. Shortly the manager turned up, who then rang the chief foreman. Exchanges of gestures and drawings revealed that our thermostat was gunked up and not letting coolant through. 100 euros later we're back on the road under strict instructions to keep to a low speed, watch the gauge, and get the radiator cleaned or replaced tomorrow. After seeing five other vehicles on the hard shoulder leaking coolant we don't feel so bad!

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Date	Message
14 weeks 18 hours ago	It's over! Arrived at Gatwick airport. It's good to be home!
14 weeks 4 days ago	we're on the trans siberian! 2 days and the scenery has not ceased to be absolutely breathtaking: lake baikal, endless forests and rolling hills. Meeting new people all the time on board, learnt a new card game yesterday. Finally feels like it's over - we're coming home! :) :(
14 weeks 6 days ago	Wheee! Bought train tickets yesterday to Moscow before getting Russian visas, which we begged and cajoled to get 30 minutes after the embassy closed (we had to go back to the trainline to get more pieces of paper with stamps on). Got the visas this morning and said goodbye to the charity people - who have in the last two days befriended us, helped us, and been constantly cheerful and enthusiastic. Thank you CDPF and the Mongolia Rally organisers and volunteers and everyone who helped or donated! We are sad it's over :( Moscow in four days, then we will fly home. See you in Blighty soon! - FFP
14 weeks 6 days ago	UB nightlife report: if you thought the 'hello, boys' advert was distracting, here they have tvs in the street so big they light up the whole street - I thought lightning was going off! We're heading to the same club as last night, Strings, as the house band is very good. The normal way to travel here is to just flag down regular cars and pay them to take you. Our driver for the night pulled over at speed and promptly crashed his car before asking us if we wanted to get in it and pay him to drive us. We did anyway, everyone makes mistakes from time to time, right? (written last night. We lived!)
15 weeks 1 day ago	We made it! 4 team members, 16 limbs, 1 car, 5 wheels, all intact! Just been served cheeseburger and fries by the charity people, who clearly know what people want on finishing the rally!
15 weeks 3 days ago	Got lost, almost ran out of diesel, but we've finally made it to Mörön! Hopefully Ulaanbataar soon, but things might happen again..
15 weeks 4 days ago	1100 BST, 13th Aug: 'The only appropriate recommendation should be that snatch towing should not be carried out at all.' - Four-by-four driving, Tom Sheppard. We didn't know the Mongolian for 'for the love of God, NO!', and, well, it worked. But please, dear readers, do NOT try this at home! Note for future: river crossings 50cm deep good, 60cm of boggy mud bad.
15 weeks 4 days ago	0300 BST, 13th Aug: Oh, there the lake is. We found it!
16 weeks 8 hours ago	camped here thinking we were in sight of lake hyargas. We're not. Not using gps to navigate, so only you can laugh at how wrong we are (don't tell us!). still heading east so no worries - the lake is 60km wide so we can't possibly miss it, right? Right?
16 weeks 8 hours ago	1320 BST, 12th Aug. Have left road to avoid huge marsh, following the pointing finger of a one-eyed, one-armed Mongolian. He seemed trustworthy.