Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Breakdown - saved by nylon zip-ties

Although things have been extremely hectic lately, I can proudly state that we haven't had any breakdowns for several months...until today.  I have almost broke the Land Rover code...and figured out what needs preventative maintenance on a regular basis. 

Tonight, our serpentine belt starting shredding because our oil cooler pump disconnected from our engine block.  We were driving from Talek to Mulot.  Somehow, four out of the five bolts either vibrated out or broke off.  With one remaining bolt holding it to the engine block, the pulley bent off at an odd angle and pushed the belt into another pulley which then started shredding it.  

We searched through our spare parts and could only find a bolt that would halfway fill one of the holes.  Amanda was able to fit it securely with a little loctite.  We then used three nylon zip-ties in a through-hole part of the oil cooler pump to secure it back to the engine block.  After replacing the shredded belt with one of our spares, we were on our way and actually made it to Narok before dark!





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