ovalandrover
Well-Known Member
Last year I was doing my annual trip this time it was to some points on the silk road and to do the Pamir highway over a pass at 4500 m. Unfortunately the range rover had other ideas.
In Russia near Samara the turbo decided to pack it in and I was down on power even Kamaz were overtaking me on hills and also my visa was running out so I tried limping it to Kazakstan about 2000 mile away and made it there to a place called Kisylorda where the turbo decided to blow big time and all the oil went through the exhaust. I tried for a second hand turbo but no luck and by this time my Kazak visa was running out so I disabled the turbo and blocked the oil feed to it and did another 2000 miles to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
Got another turbo in Biskek and fitted it and then headed off for the Pamirs . Got over the first pass at 3800 m then headed down the valley and then a big end decided to let go. Found a tranporter to get it back to Bishkek and took off sump and checked the ends one journel was scored badly but I though I could polish it up and maybee get back to UK found some new big end shells but was not trusting it to do the pamirs so arranged for 4 x 4 tour and did the highway. After that we took public transport to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan one form of transport from Samakand to Bukarah was a fast train that reached 237 KPH and ran on time to the minuet.
When I got back to Bishkek 2 months later I had to spend time trying to get a Russian transit visa but no luck so had to make our way to Al -Maty to get one.
After about 20 miles the big end let go again but this time there was a garage on the other side of the road that had a BMW sign on it so I called in there and started talking to the manager and he said he could get hold of a secondhand engine and fit it for about $1500 us cash so I went for that.
He had some intresting cars in his workshop An old mustang a BMW which produced about 600BHP and a Subaru which produced about 1000 hp and they were taking them to a drag race in Al Maty.
Took about a week to fit and all was ok so we haeded to Al Maty to get the Visas .had to spend a week there for the Russians to issue them. While there we did the tourist thing and walk around town the temperature was about 30 c . we picked up the Visas and were going to head out the next day and when we woke up the next mourning there was 2 in snow and the temp had dropped dramatically .
We had to do about 3000 miles across Kazakstan and had about 5 days to do it in before we got to Russia and the snow followed us all the way. Had a day in Kizylorder again where I replaced a UJ on the front prop shaft and stayed with a friend there we camped one night and the temp dropped to -8 and when I tried to start the car the next mourning the battery was completely F@#$%& so I had to get a jump start from a passing motorist which took about 1 hour to get one to stop but it was the fist one along the road. Got it started and got to Actobe where I had to look for a new battery got one for about 200 euros and headed off again.
Got to Russian Border with no more drama and had a good run for about 5000 miles to the Latvian boarder but on the final day we ran into a serious snow storm that dropped about 6inch snow.
Had a bit of a problem getting out of Russia as I could not find the correct form for the car but 5 hrs later we were on the latvian boarder which is the most difficult of EU countries to enter or exit with a car as they need to see the V5 insurance certificate (which most companies do not issue a hard copy any more) and also the MOT certificate or vehicle inspection report.
Any way no more problems but still snow and dirt roads. After travelling on a wet dirt road when I got back on to a saelad road the car set up a nasty vibration at 50 mph. The mud had built up on the inside of the rear wheels putting them out of balance and had set like concrete had to find a car wash with pressure wast to clear that.
Got back to the UK and here the story starts as I decided to have the secondhand engine checked over as it hadf an oil leak and I decided to have it refreshed with new rings and bearing and maybe the valve seals done before I put the car on SORN and laid it up until april while I am in Australia.
This was14 November 2016 and I was booked to fly out on 1st December and was assured that it would be ready by then. Now its the 9 th of Febuary and finally got the car back after being told lies and also the car was road tested while on SORN and was picked up on camera so I received a penalty notice but the firm that did the engine sorted it out after I threatened to get the police to fine the driver for driving an unlicensed vehicle.
I dont know how good the mechanics are as I am still in Australia but had it delivered back to my lock up.but if its as good as their comunication with cutomers then I am in trouble.
In Russia near Samara the turbo decided to pack it in and I was down on power even Kamaz were overtaking me on hills and also my visa was running out so I tried limping it to Kazakstan about 2000 mile away and made it there to a place called Kisylorda where the turbo decided to blow big time and all the oil went through the exhaust. I tried for a second hand turbo but no luck and by this time my Kazak visa was running out so I disabled the turbo and blocked the oil feed to it and did another 2000 miles to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
Got another turbo in Biskek and fitted it and then headed off for the Pamirs . Got over the first pass at 3800 m then headed down the valley and then a big end decided to let go. Found a tranporter to get it back to Bishkek and took off sump and checked the ends one journel was scored badly but I though I could polish it up and maybee get back to UK found some new big end shells but was not trusting it to do the pamirs so arranged for 4 x 4 tour and did the highway. After that we took public transport to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan one form of transport from Samakand to Bukarah was a fast train that reached 237 KPH and ran on time to the minuet.
When I got back to Bishkek 2 months later I had to spend time trying to get a Russian transit visa but no luck so had to make our way to Al -Maty to get one.
After about 20 miles the big end let go again but this time there was a garage on the other side of the road that had a BMW sign on it so I called in there and started talking to the manager and he said he could get hold of a secondhand engine and fit it for about $1500 us cash so I went for that.
He had some intresting cars in his workshop An old mustang a BMW which produced about 600BHP and a Subaru which produced about 1000 hp and they were taking them to a drag race in Al Maty.
Took about a week to fit and all was ok so we haeded to Al Maty to get the Visas .had to spend a week there for the Russians to issue them. While there we did the tourist thing and walk around town the temperature was about 30 c . we picked up the Visas and were going to head out the next day and when we woke up the next mourning there was 2 in snow and the temp had dropped dramatically .
We had to do about 3000 miles across Kazakstan and had about 5 days to do it in before we got to Russia and the snow followed us all the way. Had a day in Kizylorder again where I replaced a UJ on the front prop shaft and stayed with a friend there we camped one night and the temp dropped to -8 and when I tried to start the car the next mourning the battery was completely F@#$%& so I had to get a jump start from a passing motorist which took about 1 hour to get one to stop but it was the fist one along the road. Got it started and got to Actobe where I had to look for a new battery got one for about 200 euros and headed off again.
Got to Russian Border with no more drama and had a good run for about 5000 miles to the Latvian boarder but on the final day we ran into a serious snow storm that dropped about 6inch snow.
Had a bit of a problem getting out of Russia as I could not find the correct form for the car but 5 hrs later we were on the latvian boarder which is the most difficult of EU countries to enter or exit with a car as they need to see the V5 insurance certificate (which most companies do not issue a hard copy any more) and also the MOT certificate or vehicle inspection report.
Any way no more problems but still snow and dirt roads. After travelling on a wet dirt road when I got back on to a saelad road the car set up a nasty vibration at 50 mph. The mud had built up on the inside of the rear wheels putting them out of balance and had set like concrete had to find a car wash with pressure wast to clear that.
Got back to the UK and here the story starts as I decided to have the secondhand engine checked over as it hadf an oil leak and I decided to have it refreshed with new rings and bearing and maybe the valve seals done before I put the car on SORN and laid it up until april while I am in Australia.
This was14 November 2016 and I was booked to fly out on 1st December and was assured that it would be ready by then. Now its the 9 th of Febuary and finally got the car back after being told lies and also the car was road tested while on SORN and was picked up on camera so I received a penalty notice but the firm that did the engine sorted it out after I threatened to get the police to fine the driver for driving an unlicensed vehicle.
I dont know how good the mechanics are as I am still in Australia but had it delivered back to my lock up.but if its as good as their comunication with cutomers then I am in trouble.
