dealer to the rescue

[gghaggis]

Not often people praise the stealers/dealers. BUT .............

A big thanks to Rob and Jason at Southerns Land Rover Cannington!:TakeABow:

I've been driving around for the last three weeks or so with this niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right every time I took off from home. But no warning messages, no DTC codes?? So I ignored the liitle voice in my head after a while.

Anyway, we left Monday afternoon for the big road trip Perth-to-Melbourne. 36C and towing a 3 tonne van. Left at 4:30 hoping to make Southern Cross for a late dinner. Got as far as Greenmount Hill outside of Perth, and the temp gauge went through the roof - warnings, red light, power cut (going up the hill with rather large, annoyed truck drivers behind me!!!!), and somehow managed to pull over onto the verge.

Managed to turn around on the hill (don't ask!!), and in a cloud of misery head back home - SWMBO was NOT impressed! Phoned Southerns on the way, and although it was 5pm, Rob said to stop by and see if it was something simple. So stopped at the dealers, hmm - the fan didn't seem to be kicking in as it should. Then it hit me - that little voice suddenly vocalised just what it was that had been niggling at me. I hadn't heard the 'roar' of the viscous fan in the mornings when I left for work!!

First thing Tues morning (7:30am), dropped the car off to Rob and the boys. Got it back, fixed and ready to roll 10am - warranty, no charge :D:D

Tackled the hill once more - 40C and still loaded to the hilt. Car didn't miss a beat! I'm writing this 700km later from Norseman, after driving through one of the biggest electric/hail storms I've seen.

Still love the Landy!!

Cheers,

Gordon

[drivesafe]

Thats good news about your dealer and your wheels.

[DiscoSaffa]

Always nice to hear good things about dealers! What is really good is there seem to be more and more good dealer stories out there....

Glad it wasn't anything major!

[roamer]

Great news story about dealer, hope the rest strive to provide service as well I'm sure they can.
Cheers Ken

[RichardK]

Taking the positives Gordon, better it happened there and not perhaps Caiguna or Nundroo:eek::eek:

Hope the rest goes well.

may see you on the way back

[gghaggis]

Hmm - bushfires around Norseman (from the electrical storm), Coolgardie-Esperance Hwy and Eyre Hwy are closed. So maybe have to do some sightseeing here for a while!

Cheers,

Gordon

[CSBrisie]

Whats the van Gordon? 3 tonnes! Sounds like it must be the Taj Mahal! 20plus feet?

[DiscoSaffa]

Whats the van Gordon? 3 tonnes! Sounds like it must be the Taj Mahal! 20plus feet?

And how about some pics of the rig?

[oldsalt]

Good luck Gordon,
I hope the rest of your trip goes without a hitch......as to "stealers" I have just had my D3 serviced at Lance Dixon and it's running like a swiss clock - so far so good, 96k service - new windscreen (RWC) - 5 new tyres - some very minor warranty bits and pieces, all on time and on budget - can't complain about them so far.
:)

[Dingmark Jim]

I've done the Perth-E Coast (or reverse) trip 5 times. Twice had an analagous cooling system problem - both times on the same hill out of Perth (first time in months the vehicle in question had been up a hill. Note that these were not with the D3 which had a trailer tail light wiring fault caused "safe transmission" , "lowered suspension", "engine reduced power" Xmas tree lights on the dash. This was solved by removing the trailer tail light bulbss and using our bicycle LED lights tied to the rear of the trailer. :D This worked all the way to Sydney.

I think every person taking this route ought to expect a problem. Luckily Gordon, you've had yours and the rest of the trip should be thoroughly enjoyable.

OTT, the first time I got well and truly stuck in my D3 was east of Balladonia (first fuel stop east of Norseman) on Highway 1. The road was being re-built so there was a temporary dirt bypass. Stuck in the mud was a 120+ wheel truck with a huge LNG heat exchanger on it headed for Karratha. I tried to get around him and got stuck for 20 minutes. Took me that long to try de-activating traction control and it drove right out:blush:

[gghaggis]

Well, Eyre Hwy was opened early this morning, so off we went - now in Border Village SA. Pauline just won $4 on the pokies!!!:o You can tell we're big spenders .............

For those that want pics, SWMBO has started a travel bog at:

http://acdc2010melbourne.shutterfly.com/ (http://acdc2010melbourne.shutterfly.com/#%3aemid%3dsite_addmembers%26cid%3dSHARE3SXXXX)

The van is an 18.5' Supreme Executive, but modified for off-road (basically raised 4" + all the extra bits and pieces required). Empty weight is 2.6 T, loaded is 3 T (gennie's, extra fuel, water, small - ahem - amounts of alcomohol).

The D3 pulls this at 100+ kph without fuss, no wandering, staying up speed up most hills. I'm paying the price in fuel though - 19 l/100 into the wind ... :eek:

Woo - hoo, road trip - AC/DC here we come :D

Cheers,

Gordon

[DiscoSaffa]

Those pics look great...... you forgot to mention in your first post that it was an AC/DC pilgrimage..... what a way to do it!! enjoy!!