THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL
A QUICK TRIP?
NOT SO FAST
WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO
BE A FEW DAYS VISITING
FAMILY IN ADELAIDE
STRETCHED INTO A WEEK.
WHY? MURPHY. THAT’S WHY.
I left you last week as I headed to Adelaide
for a few days with my son Chris and
daughter-in-law Marijana. At least, it
started as a few days but Yemmy managed
to turn it into a week!
Parking outside Chris' home I noticed a leak
of something under Yemmy's engine. At first it
looked like water but it turned out to be diesel.
It was leaking from the diesel pump and the
repairer had to order some ‘O’ rings from
Melbourne to fix it.
Chris was off work with broken bones in
his foot and that meant we had more time
together – a good thing from bad.
While in Adelaide I cooked a lamb curry and
Marijana's son came over to have dinner with
us. He had just bought a Mini Cooper and took
me for a burn in it. As well as looking good it's
a herby little beast and I enjoyed the ride.
I once had an unfortunate incident with a Mini
– I was working under the bonnet and caused
a short circuit because a metal wrist-watch
strap came in contact with a live wire on the
starter motor!
I threw the watch and strap across the
workshop and shouted words that I dare
not put in this column! The burn went to the
54 \
bone and I still have the scar. The lesson?
Never wear a watch with a metal strap when
working on engines!
Not content with delaying my home-coming
for a few days in Adelaide, Murphy ensured
I stayed alert by making Yemmy drop into
‘limp home mode’ every so often – particularly
if I let the engine revs go too high when
accelerating. I took him to my Sprinter genius
friend in Gippsland, Vic, and we fitted another
transmission computer that lives under the
driver's seat.
Then we did a scan that seemed to show all
was well. After a road test when everything
appeared to be fine, I drove home only to have
a repeat limp-home episode when accelerating
back up to cruising speed after Ballarat.
Fortunately, when that happens I can stop,
switch off, wait a few minutes and everything
is back to normal. It's done it again a couple of
times since then so my friend is reconditioning
an automatic transmission for a future
gearbox swap.
See you down the track.
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