Thread: Floods, County break down and me!

G'day all!

Happy new year to all and hope everybody has had a safe Xmas and 2011 so far. I have two Aunties and one female cousin and her family in Toowoomba right now, they live there, but luckily they are among the safe ones.

Xmas Eve 2010, the wife and I drove up to Northern NSW from Lithgow to spend Xmas around the Kyogle area with family. The drive up was great, we made it in one day and got a dozen or more waves from 110 owners along the way. The night stint of the trip from Grafton and Casino along Summerland Way, was one seriously hairy drive, in some of the heaviest rain I have ever experienced. Summerland was pitch black, full of treacherous pot holes, the roads is a small two lane, totally unlit and we hit many sections where water was covering the road and we were either aqua planing or the truck was totally doused in water where you coudn't see. Each bridge or crossing we came to posed serious danger but we made it through some how!

The days that followed saw us stuck indoors and Cabin fever was setting in ... we took a ride through some of the National Parks which was great. Before we started off that day, I turned the key in the truck and everything but the battery was dead. After some farting about in the engine bay, turns out that the wire to the starter motor solenoid was loose - crimped it tight and she roared back to life.

Running low on fuel after boxing day, we took a ride to Kyogle to find the town under water and all the Gas Stations totally submerged and out of action! We toodled back home and came back the next day ... still no good but we were able to take a shot out to Casino to get LPG fuel. Xmas day +4 ... we take a trip out around Kyogle looking at some land and as we were coming back I drove through a small ( 2 inches ) creek crossing and upon driving up the hill on the other side, the County totally lost power and died!

I got out and after rooting about in the engine bay detected that the ceramic resistor to the coil was smouldering with a tiny whisp of smoke coming from it. After moving it about I determined that the resistor had fatigued and cracked. We were in the middle of nowhere to say the least but a guy we were with was on his way back into town and called the NRMA who we had premium care with. NRMA bloke arrived from town and managed to bypass the resistor but the truck would not start, so after many valiant attempts we put her on the back of a truck and the County got a ride into Kyogle ... and us a Motel for the night, courtesy of the NRMA.

Next day we had to organize a mechanic only to find everybody and his dog was away until the 10th of Jan at the very least ... great! I opted to use our towing option to get the County carried to the Gold Coast where I knew a mechanic I trusted. I have had to leave it there until last Monday and finally got it back today and luckily it turns out that it was only the ballast resistor that was the problem! Turns out that the resistor on my truck also controls a solenoid associated with the flow of gas to the carby. As soon as we got the replacement resistor installed she kicked over straight away. Great, finally got my truck back! Cost ... $37! Wait time, 10 days!

In recent news, my wife flew back to Sydney to start wok again while I had to hang on the Gold Coast with family to get the County sorted out and now I'm watching my family members facing this nightmare in Toowoomba as well as friends/rellies dealing with the latest torrent in Brisbane!

I'll be watching the next few days to see what goes on in Notherrn NSW as I still have to pick my route home to Lithgow. Plenty of roads still cut in the Northern rivers ... Bruxton Hwy to Tenterfield etc, Ulmarra Pac Hwy ... will be interesting coming home. What a bloody Xmas New year this has been!

Stay safe all ...

Simon.

Originally Posted by Tikirocker

All good now Keith ... County is fixed and back in action - perhaps you didn't read all of my War in Peace post. I am looking forward to getting back home and going for a few runs locally. Hope your visit and trip up this way went well.

Simon.

It did the defender didn't miss a beat very happy with it,but i need to fix the air con.