customs/ quarantine steam cleaned rrs twice...

[Leo]

Car finally arrived at Fremantle port and was steam cleaned to pass quarantine. After the first cleaning, the inspector said it wasn't enough and had it done again.

Quarantine passed now, but the check engine light is on and they say it can't pass the aus compliance inspection until it's sorted. Am hoping it's just due to a low battery after being in a container for almost 2 months, and the battery is 3 years old. Would a low battery cause the engine light to come on?

Hope the steam cleaning hasn't messed up an ecu!

[Neil P]

Quickest way to sort this is to get round there with a new battery.
By disconnecting the 12volt ( whilst changing it ! ) you'll get a fresh
start on the Canbus . That's all you can do at first .
I love the way Customs compliance are so concerned about
a check light . NO ONE else in Government willgive a ****what
it drives like for the rest of your ownership of it. Empire builders !

[Leo]

Hopefully when they restart it in the morning, all will be well. I explained that they should wait for the 'system check' message to disappear before starting the engine.

Wish I could be there, but I'm still on the other side of the ocean...

There are some real jobsworths around, it has to be said.

[Mike_S]

Steam cleaned it twice ? Blimey, doesn't bode well for when mine arrives much later this year does it :mad:

I'd hazard a guess they've pointed the steamer at something that doesn't like it, my independant are going to try and seal up the gearbox ecu's before it leaves the UK but somehow I think it'll still get buggered by customs on the way in :(

Resetting the EML shouldn't be a hassle, just cycle the key a few times and eventually it should go out (if there's nothing seriously wrong)

[VladTepes]

AQIS are the steam cleaning people ! Notorious for demanding repeat performances but still managed to let fire ants in eh !

[LSD_AUTOMOTIVE]

Steam cleaned it twice ? Blimey, doesn't bode well for when mine arrives much later this year does it :mad:



Fremantle Port is somewhat of a nightmare though so hopefully yours isn't landing in WA? They flag all our imports regardless of how much documentation we have showing it's brand new.

[juddy]

Ours were recently inspected, and guess what, failed, seeds,( from where its been sat in a bloody shed for 2 years ) and flys, on the underside of one, and soil in the side lockers? strange as my old man cleaned it out, and its been pressured washed before it left.

The other one had dirty wheel arches, and mud in the tail gate, so they say, all the food that was documented on the shipping never got a look in and passed no problem, work that one out....

[bell1975]

AQIS are the steam cleaning people ! Notorious for demanding repeat performances but still managed to let fire ants in eh !

AQIS are about on par with their NZ equivalent in NZ. I had a canvas swag included as one of about 25 items specifically tagged for inspection when we moved to NZ a few years back.

It was labelled "Inspected" and "Passed" and might have been unrolled perhaps but they elected not to remove the redback that was still inside. :(

[Leo]

Steam cleaned it twice ? Blimey, doesn't bode well for when mine arrives much later this year does it :mad:

Think being shipped from Tanzania had something to do with it, but as it was thoroughly cleaned before going into the container, who knows?



Resetting the EML shouldn't be a hassle, just cycle the key a few times and eventually it should go out (if there's nothing seriously wrong)

I asked the agent to try that, didn't work. He says it feels low on power so it could be the egrs I reckon. He dropped it off to a mechanic in Osborne park 'who knows English cars' but can't look at it for a couple of days.

On the bright side, customs valued it at a fair bit less than I thought they would, so duty was ok. Worked out much cheaper than buying in Australia. Unless they've totally buggered the engine lol.

I wish I was there, would make things easier.

[Mike_S]

Fremantle Port is somewhat of a nightmare though so hopefully yours isn't landing in WA? They flag all our imports regardless of how much documentation we have showing it's brand new.

No, Melbourne. Our house contents container lands sometime round the 21st October, the RRS wont arrive until early next year by the time I get all the paperwork sorted. I'll put money on them steam cleaning the freshly rebuilt and completely sparkling Triumph Spitfire that's in our house container, despite it not having seen dirt since I finished building it last week....

[juddy]

We recently built a new car using new parts in a bio sealed level 1 containment lab, located 1 mile under ground, all staff were sealed on site until the rebuild was complete, the car was then sealed in a vacuum container, and encased in 1 meter of Reinforced concrete, and irradiated just for good measures,

Upon arrival to Australia , customs requested the car to be cleaned 3 times. As it was dirty. :wasntme:

Tossers, the lot of them.... Pen pushers and job worths, ahhhhhhhhhhhh

[Leo]

An update to the sage:

First garage said the turbos were shot - I disagreed, since they were working fine when we drove the car into the container before shipping. He wanted $5000 to fix them.

Took the car to another garage - Kevin, who was recommended on here. His diagnostics said the egrs are faulty. Fair enough, since I've had them cleaned once before when the car was Tanzania. He changed them (part in Aus aren't cheap, for sure!), cleared faults and the fault light went off. Only to come on again a few metres down the road. Back in the garage, decided to put in a new battery - RESULT! Fault light gone, and today passed the inspection. Just waiting for compliance plate and registration now.

So seems only damage caused by the quarantine pressure washing/ steam cleaning is a torn sound deadener - the one stuck on the underneath of the bonnet.

Wish I had insisted they change the battery (see first post!) before they started putting in new parts, but the old egrs were a bit knackered, to be fair.

You should soon see a white TDV8 running around Perth!

[DT-P38]

Quarantine steam cleaning... I actually saw how it happened when I brought an old Porsche in from the UK last year. Basically a few wharfies pull out the gerney in a cleaning bay surrounded by tin sheets. Same stuff you do at the car wash for $10-

It seems to me to be one of those things they always do... Perhaps as an excuse for keeping the boys busy on a Friday arvo and maybe to raise a bit of beer money from private importers.

Funnily enough, my P car was stripped down for refresh when I got it home and there was massive amounts of organic material (dirt, plant and insect) through out! I would not suggest challenging the process though, better to pay a few hundred for the silly business of cleaning than have delays and storage fees added.

[Neil P]

New batteries , spark plugs , radio valves ........... all a "first go" ,
before paying anyone to guess , at your considerable expense.

[Neil P]

Funnily enough, my P car was stripped down for refresh when I got it home and there was massive amounts of organic material (dirt, plant and insect) through out! I would not suggest challenging the process though, better to pay a few hundred for the silly business of cleaning than have delays and storage fees added. It's a gouging ****.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

the freshly rebuilt and completely sparkling Triumph Spitfire ....

:rulez::rulez::rulez::p

[Davehoos]

My first skyline from NZ was trucked across sydney to be cleaned.
having being cleaned in NZ.both cost $100.
it looked exactly the same as it left christchurch and had a dirty woolen jumper stuffed behind the headlight used to wipe the dipstick.

the other came straight through---both had be impounded for noncence reasons.

a few gents I know got aqis aproved so they could unload containers on site and save bucket loads in handling fees.

a neighbour used to import tractors from england-they had been fully stripped and painted and shipped in parts as they had to be repainted here again.I heard of a few trucks having issues due to the chemicals pumped through the chasis for cleaning and my neighours story sounded similar.the neighbour started exporting builders hiluxes to the UK and now has retired.