Servicing Jambanja

Learning My Way Around

Jambanja

 

This post is a little late but I thought I'd share a little mechanics with our blog. On Thursday morning dad and I drove our maroon and silver Land Cruiser down to Alex "Mr Cruiser" Hawkins to give her a last service. It was also a chance for me to learn the ropes so that we could perform campsite services when necessary.

 

We arrived at about 8 o'clock and it was very slick. A mechanic named Adrik was detailed to assist us and we got going. Dad had already done a service so did most of it himself with Adrik only lending a helping hand when needed.

 

First the car was driven over a pit and we clambered in. Then we let all the oil out of the sump into a tray. The oil filter was changed and the sump refilled, after replacing the plug though. Not replacing the plug can have drastic consequences. All the oil drains out and the engine blows up, literally!

 

Replacing the fuel filter is a job that guarantees spilling diesel on the engine. Anyway it had to be done and surprisingly was done with minimal fuss. We changed the o-ring that stops our fuel from leaking and remembered to seal it with a bit of diesel. Then we put the whole component back in place. Then we had to pump the fuel back through by hand.

 

We had noticed a leak coming from the front differential so took off the protective plate to have a look. It turned out that the o-ring was hard and brittle and hadn't been replaced for ages. It also looked as though someone had bodged it with silicon at some point so all of that had to be removed. The o-ring was replaced though and the leak ceased. Then after some debate we managed to refit the plate correctly.

 

The next job was to check the levels of oil in the front and back differentials and the transmission box. It is a very simple test that involves a very large spanner and nothing else. It sounds like a brutal test but in fact you merely have to loosen a few bolts. Each hole from which a bolt is loosened should leak a bit of clear liquid to prove that the oil levels are high. Re-tightening the bolts I quite important as well!

 

The last job was to fill the radiator and hand over some $$ to Alex for the use of his workshop, tools and mechanic.

 

Max