road trip from melb to perth

Learner · Post by **Learner** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:36 am

hi all,
i'm thinking of purchasing an l series touring.
it's fully stock but has 300 000 ks on the clck engine sounds good with no oil leaks or anything i can see. would u think it would make it to perth from melb and back? it's about 3500ks one way. with many stops in between.

also what spare parts would u think i should pack up?
cheers

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:04 pm

I would be anxious about driving a car that I did not know the history of that far, only because if you break down in the right place (read wrong place) it will cost you a fortune not to mention a long wait.

Learner · Post by **Learner** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:13 pm

hm true but it's part of the adventure.....

Lapsed · Post by **Lapsed** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:19 pm

get a extensive service. get all new hoses put on and keep the old ones. same with alternator/ fan belts. carry a spare cv shaft. carry spare fluids (oil/water). Drinking water as most of the rest bays have dodgey water supply if you camp at them (cheaper than paying for accom). A small jerry can of fuel. Most fuel stops are at least 200km's apart between Adelaide and Kalgoorlie. But there are always people on the road. it is a good adventure.

chris

chriSTIan · Post by **chriSTIan** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:14 pm

spare fuel pump,get timing belts and idlers replaced or tow another one for spare!!

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:13 am

Lapsed wrote:get a extensive service. get all new hoses put on and keep the old ones. same with alternator/ fan belts. carry a spare cv shaft. carry spare fluids (oil/water). Drinking water as most of the rest bays have dodgey water supply if you camp at them (cheaper than paying for accom). A small jerry can of fuel. Most fuel stops are at least 200km's apart between Adelaide and Kalgoorlie. But there are always people on the road. it is a good adventure.

chris

Agreed with him above.
Long drive, make sure you have iPod with ya (because there is no radio transmission in some areas) and company! I wouldnt go that way in Summer but yeah right now is a good timing!
Long drive mate, I went thru in an Camira to perth and back to Melb - didnt have any probs.
Cheers
AP

Learner · Post by **Learner** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:57 pm

i'm used to long drives. beenaround australia already but never on the wa side. i was driving a luxury 4x4 though.... but i like the old bucket way of doing things that's y i'm getting the suba and building a baja

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:36 am

I was going to go from Perth across that way... i would advise investigating and planing each stop... there are some service stations only open till lunch time from what i have read. Water is the main thing... u got water then u wont die too quickly.

Take enough stuff so if you were strandard for a few days u are self contained... i would carry some spare CV's... probably only one complete front... one complete rear... and an old front outer so u can shove it in and travel in RWD if things get real bad.

Fuel hose.. water hose... radiator patches.. universal hose and patches... exhaust patches.... basically raid the quick fix section at your local auto shop. Fuel pump as mentioned... belts.. coolant... electrical wire... tape... tools... jack. etc etc... big list dude.

Probbaly be best to brake the list into sections and work from that. To cover yourself from everything will be difficult. Random **** happens as i learnt the other day... spent the whole day working on my wiring... went to close the bonet to go home and the hinge snapped off the body. Needed a cordless drill and self tap screws just to fix it enough to make it safe to drive.

Dave

Suba · Post by **Suba** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:58 pm

Nah , just jump in the car and go .
When we went to QLD in 2006 from Perth we didnt take any spares at all

it was a round trip of about 10,000 km, fuel and water across the padock really isnt an issue even if you are traveling at night which I wouldnt do because of the roos.
Seriously though taking some spares is a good idea so long as the spares that you take are going to be ones that you can actually replace yourself.

Mike.

cooloothin · Post by **cooloothin** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:58 pm

i'm with suba mike.

subarino's long list of spares is all well and good if you've got the mechanical experience..

regarding your situation its more to do with not knowing the car's history.

Knowing my car very well i quite happily do 1200km in one day with just oil and water and a tiny tool kit. Ie melb to perth is 3 days solid driving if you have mates with you to swap drivers and you're not overly concerned about roos... or more like 9 days if you drive a bit more normal, and want to look at stuff along the way.

the car you get will make it if there's nothing wrong with the engine. CVs.. meh they'll go 1000 clicks even when busted if you're faced with staying alive. Obviously you wouldn't do that around a capital city, but its an easy choice between running out of food / water and doing more damage to bearings / splines.

as you don't know the car i reckon Lapsed's idea is tops.. you'd get a full thorough service done anyway, so just ask to keep all the bits and throw em in a box.

If you've already been around the country then you already know enough to get by

Had a friend who bought an MY in darwin, a quick service and drove it to Sydney through the middle. It's luck of the draw really when you jump in somebody else's car.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:05 pm

Don't forget the old catch-22 problem...
A part just broke, wow lucky you had a spare!
But hold on a tic....I wonder if it would have broken in the first place had you not been carrying the extra 30 or 40 kilo's of spare parts =)

It does pay to be prepared but if you really need to carry a huge list of spare parts you may want to consider using a newer car that you have more confidence in it's reliability. In an old L series with an unknown history, yes I would carry a fair few spares.

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:27 am

BlackMale wrote:I would be anxious about driving a car that I did not know the history of that far, only because if you break down in the right place (read wrong place) it will cost you a fortune not to mention a long wait.

Learner wrote:hm true but it's part of the adventure.....

Then why ask just leave everything at home, do not listen to advice of others pack no spares/food/water or clothes, in addition to this leave the wallet and credit cards at home carry 50 bucks cash and have yourself an adventure… let us know if you get here ;-D

D3V1L · Post by **D3V1L** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:48 pm

i do this trip, adelaide -perth 3 times a year every year since 2000. fantastic trip. highly reccomended, but take some basic spares..its not a hard drive
depending on what time of the year you go temps accross the plain can vret upto 50 degrees and ive over heated a brand spanking new commonwhore SS, and the aircon had **** itself for 2 of the trips as well...

but everything that others have mentioned is good....a good service, and some essential spares like water and oil and hoses are the best way to go...parts are few and far between out that way...especially ceduna to norseman, and be very very very carefull driving at night from the border to norseman, ive cleaned up 2 kangaroos over the years at that time and ben involved in a near death, (roo jumped from infront of me out to the car on the other side and wrote of his car and nearly him). other then the roos its an awesome trip..

u can see some spectacular storms, awesome scenery, and if uy look in the right places and take some off the tracks off the main drag u can see some awesome sites, i can make lots and lots of reccomendations but i dont want to write a novel....self exploration is the key on this trip

enjoy it man and if u have any questions pm me and ill help out

oh yeh...be prepared to pay upto $2 per litre for standard unledded.....makes for an expensive subi tank sometimes

enjoy

dave