Mitsubishi 4WD Club Trev's Tip 30. 

Trev’s Tips
 

Trev’s/ Richard.N’s Tips

Resourceful Repairs

One thing for sure about being part of a 4wd club with so many knowledgeable people in it is that you are going to pick up information that might not be useful at the time but will be stored away in some corner of your brain and will just sit there waiting for the perfect opportunity to be utilized.  The information might have something to do with a particular recovery technique, or a camping implement or even a cooking tip.  One bit of information that I heard at the last club meeting was from Richard N and had to do with one of my favourite topics of Bush repairs.

Richard explained to me how on a particular trip the sound proofing under the bonnet of his Disco came lose and pushed the top hose of the radiator down onto the top of the alternator.  Over time (probably a very short time) the cooling fan at the end of the alternator wore a hole in the hose so that he started to lose engine coolant.  For some people this situation would be enough to cause a fair amount of anxiety and would either result in a fast emergency run to the nearest port of civilization or set up camp and wait for help.  Not for Richard though.  After a quick scout through his car he found in his first aid box some white bandage (I think it is called fixomull) which he wound around the hole and then finished this off by winding some elastoplaster around this to give added strength.  Apparently it worked perfectly and was more than adequate to get him back home to do a proper fix.

Lucky for Richard that the soundproofing only partially dislodged from under the bonnet or there would have been a real chance that if it had dropped completely the disco would have cracked an engine mount and pushed the whole motor out going over the next bump.

While this repair might not have been technically complicated it highlights two very important point which is think outside of the square and never give up.

When ever you are confronted with a situation that requires some degree on ingenuity to fix because of the lack of appropriate parts use all of the resources at hand to combat the problem.  Empty out your glove box, centre consol, camping gear, caravan cupboards and even your first aid box till you come across something that just might help sort the situation out.

If you can’t find anything in your equipment then raid someone else’s.

Recalling the tips

It was suggested to me at the last meeting that I should rerun some of my earlier tips for the newer members of the club that might have missed out.  Whilst I have decided not to bore everyone with this I thought perhaps I could just mention them again and leave it for those that are interested to follow up on the web.

So this is how it all began.  With the first Trev’s Tips being how to replace your broken aerial.  For all the info on this tip go to the Trev’s Tips link on the clubs web site.  It is the first link on this page.

That is  http://www.mitsubishi4wd.org.au/

Till next time 

Happy 4wding

Trevor

Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due.