A Week After Leaving Home
At some point over the weekend the truck developed a diesel leak. We smelt it on the way home and once back found the cause easily enough, which was a hole in one of the common rail injector pipes on the top of the engine. On the plus side the engine block was probably the cleanest Conor’s ever seen it due to diesel being sprayed all over it for a sustained period. However, even though diesel and petrol are significantly cheaper here than at home (@£1.50 for diesel and £1.30 for unleaded), it still made financial sense to fix the leak and just buy Gunk or Coke for cleaning purposes in the future.
You’ll wonder about Coke every time you drink it now, won’t you.
Unfortunately, Conor’s usual mechanic was away for a week, so rather than leave the truck unused I said I’d try to get a length of fuel pipe and we could just replace the damaged section ourselves. I tried 2 places in Port Douglas with no success, but the second one suggested a HGV workshop in Mossman, about 20km away where Kerry works, so as it was a hot, sunny day I pointed the Honda in the right direction and set off. I like these sort of shopping trips!
Once in Mossman I used google maps and found I wasn’t far away from what was a workshop with no retail department. Once there however a very helpful gentleman there cut me a length of pipe sufficient to replace all the sections on the Ranger, for a very reasonable 10 dollars. I hope he enjoys his beer after work!
Back at home I cut a piece to the required length and fitted it in place. The rest will do as spares in case the other sections split, as the new pipe is thicker-walled and better quality so should last longer. As everything about the job had so far gone smoothly it was reasonable to expect that once I fired the engine up it would explode, or similar, but surprisingly it ran perfectly with no leaks so I turned it off, closed the bonnet and walked away while I was winning.
Later afternoon we took Murphy for a walk on the beach and back via the Tav, following which tea was lamb koftas done on the barbie, with halloumi, pitta bread, salad and tzatziki. Just right for eating sat outside on a warm evening!
Pictures below are some more from the weekend.
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