The self repairing fuel tank

So, after many thousands of kilometers on the blacktop,  I finally went for a decent 4x4 trip in the "RoK".  A mate in his current model hilux and me in the VW,  we traversed the Rubicon trail out the back of Eildon from the south east through to Kendal's camp ground.  It was a good trip, not hard just a bit slow due to the amount of fallen branches and logs on the ground.  In the photo below, you can see the dead trees remembering that one of the worst bushfires ever ripped through this area two years ago, the tall trees have not recovered.  It gave us mixed emotions as it was sad the trees have died but they looked amazing.



The toughest spot we came across was a big boghole. The highlux had a few goes at it as did i but after coming home I spotted this.



The fuel tank straps (front and rear) were completely caked in mud and pushing the fuel tank up to a point where I thought it was doomed!

Front Strap

Rear Strap

cleaned out the mud ....


then waited....



all fixed!  Nice! :)  :)  The fuel tank took a couple of hours to relax back into it's normal shape.  Not sure if I took a bad line through the boghole or I was just unlucky to have this happen.

Fuel tank is fixed but the sill, well ... thats a different story :(

 

Missed the door and the flare, my lucky day!

youtube Amaroks

I seem to always go back to youtube to watch the Amaroks in action.  Here is a few of the good ones i've found.

30,000 km strong!

Not much posting going on over the last few months, but there has been lots happening so i'll try to catch up.

As the title suggests, the Rok is 30,000km old.  Still performing like a champ and i'm still so impressed!  Took it back for the first service and was majorly disappointed with the effort by the VW dealership.

Here is the list of items I asked to be fixed:

• Speedo correction (reads 7 km's too fast) 
• Persistant rattle / squeak in LHS front area
• Dash lights too bright

The dealer said they would:

• Wash the car
• Rotate the tyres
• do the service

As you can probably guess, they said they were not able to resolve the dash light brightness or the speedo issue, they could not hear the rattle either!  The car was not washed and the tyres were not rotated!

I was pretty annoyed at their whole attitude and paid the bill and drove out of the yard.  As soon as I left the drive and hit the first speed hump, I heard the rattle.  Driving on, the vehicle felt terrible, I pulled in to a servo and checked the tyres pressures and they were 50 PSI all round, not even within VW spec!

Needless to say, I complained, got all the excuses but will vote with my feet and never go back to that dealer.

Another Boat!

This time, the Amarok delivery service took a boat from Melbourne to Yarrawonga on the mighty Murray river.



We launched the boat with no issues and the Rok did what it does! Bit of advice from the (ahem) experienced ... if the weir at Yarrawonga is pouring out water and you are spending the night with the boat tied to the bank, be sure there is at least a meter or more of water below the boat. The water rushing out of the weir artificially raises the height of the river which allows big heavy boats to get stuck in the mud overnight as the water subsides!

Many thanks to the very kind locals who spend time and effort getting the boat "unbogged" from the riverbank!

The Boat

It's funny in life these little opportunities come up. A good mate of mine bought a boat from Port maquarie about 1500 km's away. I'd been wanting to try out the Amarok with a bigger tow weight than the camper trailer. Here was my chance!

Here we are filling up the boat in Port Maquarie (didnt really matter since we ran out of fuel on the water anyway!) 

The trip north was uneventful as expected, the Amarok perfomed really well.  Coming back home with the new beast attached we cruised at 110km/h most of the way and averaged 14.5 lp/100km.  

Fuel consumption is one thing but the ride and handling is what blew me away.  There was no sway or pulling, you really didnt know the boat was attached, it really was that good.  It reminded me that although the landcruiser was a great powerful tow vehicle, it is coil sprung and wallowed a bit.  The Amarok with the leaf springs has a superior towing design and that was easy to recognise during this trip.

Hi Flow

Filling up with fuel the other day and thought I'd give the "hiflow" diesel pump a go and it worked well!  Hiflow (if you dont already know) are the pumps trucks use to fill up at the servo.  They have larger diameter hoses and pump fuel in at a great rate of knots. :)  Be sure to watch and listen as the tank fills up and slow down as soon as you hear the gurgling near the top or you will get "splashed" with diesel   I dribbled in the last litre or so and was back on the road in half the time!  Good to know ...

Easter Bunny

Took a trip to Adelaide with some friends over easter.  We ended up in and around Moonta which is a nice part of the world. Below is a pic from the old copper mine at the back of the town.

To get here, we loaded the Rok with 5 people, filled the ute with camping stuff to the top (bottom of the canopy windows), hitched up the camper trailer and loaded 120 Litres of water (we were camping out bush)

The Amarok did not disappoint.  With this load we averaged about 12 - 14L/100km.  I am not a road racer but I do stick to the speed limit and was doing 110 kph as long as the limit allowed.

Heading home, we of course had to go up and over the Adelaide hills.  If you have never been, it is a very very long steep gradient with a speed limit of 100kmh once you leave the bottom.  As a test, I clicked on the cruise control and let the beast take over.  Surprisingly, we were able to reach 95kmph and overtook much of the traffic on the hill, again, the torque in this vehicle is very impressive! 

All up we did a little over 2000km's in 4 days and filled the tank 3 times 

Marlo

Went for a spin down to Marlo a few weeks back (about 800km round trip) and did some light 4x4 work in the sandy/dirt roads down there and the VW performed very well!

On the way back, the transmission gear indicator on the dash came on with the flashing spanner. Not sure why, the car had only been driving for a few km so I pulled over and switched off the car then started her again and the light never came back on.  several weeks later, still no sign of the light so looks to be ok for the minute. :)

The dash lights on this thing are so bright at night I think my retinas are sunburnt!  They are supposed to be auto adjustable but far too bright for me ... another thing for the dealer to look at on the first service!

Quick Update

Filled up the fuel tank again today, 4th or 5th tank overall.  80 litres of diesel and 900km on the trip meter!
The Landcruiser is fading fast from the memory as I get more used to the difference in power, size and weight between the two vehicles.

I have noticed there is a slight turbo lag at the point of takeoff after slowing down (but not quite stopping) at an intersection.  Its not something too bothersome but maybe it will get better when everything loosens up after a few more k's.

There is a slight / tiny squeaky rattle thing going on in the front left area.  It is barely noticeable but something for the warranty guys to look at when the first service eventually comes around.

Woo! Towbar :)

Fast forward just a bit and the news for today is the Hayman Reese towbar has been fitted! Less than an hours work by "Prestige Towbars" in Hallam Vic and we are ready to go!  They even came out onsite to fit it ... cant ask for much more :)

Not a big deal you might think but actually it is.  The Amarok was ordered with a towbar (and paid for)  but there is an issue at VW's end and factory towbars are not allowed to be sold currently. Apparently this has been since at least November 2012.  No one knows quite what the reason is but let me have a guess!

Either

1. A compliance issue and the plate is incorrect or not accurate
2. Engineering, there may have been issues of the bar coming loose, breaking, cracking etc and it needs to be tested and a solution found

Whatever the problem, it doesnt appear to be "too dangerous" or a recall would have been sent out almost immediately. (fines are high in Australia for un-reported automotive safety issues).  Due to the lack of information from VW feel free to speculate :)  

And FYI VW, you have handled this whole towbar thing badly!  

More info required

After deciding to look around at alternatives to the V8, (forgot to mention it was a petrol) I had pretty much settled on the new Ford Ranger.  This was a nice machine with plenty of power and lots of improvements over the previous models.

I particularly liked that the Ranger been designed from the ground up and no components were used from previous models.  The reviews looked good and I took one for a drive.  Another plus in the Rangers direction was the many electronic features which appealed to my gadget minded persona.

The drive was nice, plenty of room in the front, the rear seating was a bit cramped but not too bad. Overall it was a good vehicle. Upon returning from the test drive, we sat down to negotiate the price.

The next series of events were quite comical.  I am not sure if the sales guy had never heard of the internet or he was hoping I hadn't but the price they quoted me for the base model was several thousand more than the price advertised on Ford Australia's website.  I departed, explaining that charging more than the advertised price was probably not going to get him a sale.

The search continued ....

The trouble with a V8

Two and a half years ago I walked into a car dealer and purchased a 4 year old Landcruiser V8. A machine with more grunt than any civilized traveler would need ... and I loved it !

An awesome machine, it cruised the highway with ease, plenty of power in the dirt and sand was no problem either. Sure and steady on the road, the family drove in comfort anywhere we went. The seats were like lounge chairs and interior room, second only to the Holden Statesman I owned before it.

The cruiser towed the camper like it wasn't there and the constant four wheel drive kept us safe when things got slippery.  It was a great family vehicle.

Despite all the good points about this vehicle, it had one BIG downfall. All that power and comfort comes at a cost. A minimum 16L of fuel used per 100kms (upto 25L/1100km's while towing). When 90% of the daily driving was me alone in the car, it became harder to justify the costs of running the big beast.

After a couple of years, I started to investigate alternatives .....

Why?

The Amarok has been purchased and delivered, my first new car!  Only recently did I decide to write this blog and document from start to infinity, the thoughts and activities surrounding the new machine.  The first few entries will be catching up with the history (hence the probable same dates and times), then adding excitement and drama as it unfolds.  Enjoy!