logbook - 6th day
Yesterday was a hard day, so I'm writing this report today, a bit late. It all began at around 4AM GMT+6, when we had our road accident. As we found out later the fuel from our last refuel was, well, let's say "homemade", it happens in this oil-rich Tyumen Oblast. And the engine fuel line, fuel filters and fuel line all went clogged mid-run. And the engine stopped on our way, just the moment when we travelled at roadside at 65 kmph, It happens unexpected enough for our dragon driver to sway a course a little (as the power steering went down with the engine) and we fall out of the road, into deep road ditch, filled with show. The ditch was deep enough (something like two -three times height of our truck) and had the harsh slopes (something about 45 degrees), but the deep snow, from ankle-deep to waist-deep stopped our fall and cushioned our speed. The truck stayed upright and undamaged, even on the bottom of ditch, we all - unharmed. And the long night struggle begun.
First of all we tried to restart the engine. After some manipulations it started, through it lost much of it's power and runs with conks. Still the truck was able to move and we decided getting out was our first priority and the engine our second. Even with unstable engine and deep snow (sometimes it was so hard to walk in it we had to crawl) the truck could move with 4WD and demultiplicator on, thanks to it's huge tires and locking differentials. But it lacked the power to crawl on the slope and the angles was dangerous high to it to overturn. So after some struggle we decided to travel along the ditch in search of a easier slopes. The truck travelled down in the ditch and chetah and I walked on the road above. After kilometer of such long and tiresome travel with frequent engine stops we found slope easy enough visually to get out.
We stayed there for awhile trying to start the engine, and after an hour we could make it run long enough for the escape attempt.
It was dawn already, and after few run-downs and some digging the truck was free from it's snow prison.
We was tired enough from the struggle and sleepless night to start engine repairs right away and we just went to sleep. And only afrer sleep and few test runs we determined the reason for power loss and engine unstable work - not enough fuel. First step - checking the fuel filters. All clogged up by dirt and rust particles. After a cleaning and replacing the filters we did the test run - bah, no effect whatsoever. Next check - fuel pump. Dirt inside, clogged out pretty badly.
Cleaned it and washed with petroleum, reassembled and installed. All in the field, just on a roadside, at -18 celsius. We even made makeshift "hand warmer" fire, from aluminum cup filled with petrol, just to allow us to work on cold metal parts and fuel without risk of cold burns.
Engine runs better but still not as good as before, without full power. Next stop - checking out the fuel line. Also clogged, in the multiple places, even inside the fuel tank. To disassemble it we need to disassemble the fuel tank, and we had only one tank in a working condition right now, so we can't do that in field. So we worked out the makeshift solution. Using the hose we had in our spare parts, smaller hose we salvaged from remains of military air purification and filtering equipment (those things above truck's cabin, we should only need those in case of a nuclear or chemical war) we made new makeshift fuel line.
I'm afraid we getting better and better at those makeshift things. And I thought the joke about duct tape and WD40 as universal solution to all engineering problems supposed to be a joke. Silly tigah is silly =-_-=.
All those repairs makes us tired so much, that after a short travel we went to sleep without daily report.
The temperature outside is -18 degree celsius;
temperature inside living space of our truck is +12 celsius;
temperature inside truck cabin is -2 celsius;
stress level of the crew - absolute zero ;
2800 km to our destination.
First of all we tried to restart the engine. After some manipulations it started, through it lost much of it's power and runs with conks. Still the truck was able to move and we decided getting out was our first priority and the engine our second. Even with unstable engine and deep snow (sometimes it was so hard to walk in it we had to crawl) the truck could move with 4WD and demultiplicator on, thanks to it's huge tires and locking differentials. But it lacked the power to crawl on the slope and the angles was dangerous high to it to overturn. So after some struggle we decided to travel along the ditch in search of a easier slopes. The truck travelled down in the ditch and chetah and I walked on the road above. After kilometer of such long and tiresome travel with frequent engine stops we found slope easy enough visually to get out.
We stayed there for awhile trying to start the engine, and after an hour we could make it run long enough for the escape attempt.
It was dawn already, and after few run-downs and some digging the truck was free from it's snow prison.
Click to viewWe was tired enough from the struggle and sleepless night to start engine repairs right away and we just went to sleep. And only afrer sleep and few test runs we determined the reason for power loss and engine unstable work - not enough fuel. First step - checking the fuel filters. All clogged up by dirt and rust particles. After a cleaning and replacing the filters we did the test run - bah, no effect whatsoever. Next check - fuel pump. Dirt inside, clogged out pretty badly.
Cleaned it and washed with petroleum, reassembled and installed. All in the field, just on a roadside, at -18 celsius. We even made makeshift "hand warmer" fire, from aluminum cup filled with petrol, just to allow us to work on cold metal parts and fuel without risk of cold burns.
Engine runs better but still not as good as before, without full power. Next stop - checking out the fuel line. Also clogged, in the multiple places, even inside the fuel tank. To disassemble it we need to disassemble the fuel tank, and we had only one tank in a working condition right now, so we can't do that in field. So we worked out the makeshift solution. Using the hose we had in our spare parts, smaller hose we salvaged from remains of military air purification and filtering equipment (those things above truck's cabin, we should only need those in case of a nuclear or chemical war) we made new makeshift fuel line.
I'm afraid we getting better and better at those makeshift things. And I thought the joke about duct tape and WD40 as universal solution to all engineering problems supposed to be a joke. Silly tigah is silly =-_-=.
All those repairs makes us tired so much, that after a short travel we went to sleep without daily report.
The temperature outside is -18 degree celsius;
temperature inside living space of our truck is +12 celsius;
temperature inside truck cabin is -2 celsius;
stress level of the crew - absolute zero ;
2800 km to our destination.
