Incidents / Service / Repairs

Car Connections Comments

Delay

What I Paid

What Car Connection Paid

1 April: Picked up the car which had the following problems at hand over (discovered during the trip): No fuel in tank when leaving Car Connection. Managed to fill 83 litre in an 80 litre tank at the first service station. Never managed to squeeze in that much again. Only the drivers door could be opened with a key. If the backdoor was locked, then you would have to crawl from the front seat all over the gear to open the door from the inside.  Steering very hard, see below. Only one front light worked satisfactory. Lights to number plates did not work. Bent and worn out air filter Front diff had not been serviced for ages. Chassis seriously twisted Under-dimensioned brake discs

4 April: On the third attempt to start the car, the starting motor went dead.

Kurt Weidner agreed to pay this repair, included in the 5.000 km warranty

5 days

$505

$505

17 April: After sliding into a tree on the Gunbarrel Highway, the car got a dint in the front right guard, smashed the top of the snorkel. Probably a combination of too high speed and the faulty front diff and under-dimensioned brake discs, see below. 

A window fell out at the same time, see below. 

While examining the vehicle, we discovered that the front diff leaked seriously. A nipple to a breather hose was obviously the wrong kind and was clogged up. Previous hard driving of the vehicle plus the nipple problem are the probable causes of the leaking diff. Nipple fastened temporarily with sealing mass.

18 April: 5.000 km service in Meekathara, according to contract. Recommended to change air filter which was old and bent and useless.

Wrote a formal complaint to Car Connection about the state of the car, which they never have replied to or commented.

$60

20 April: Got new filter for snorkel in Newman at mine workshop. Cheapest repair on the trip.

$12

23 April: Got new window at panel beater in Roeburne. The panel beater told me that the window had been hanging on by the isolation to the frame and that it might be a great risk that other windows might fall out as well.

Car Connection has denied all responsibility for this faulty installation.

$80

24 April: Consulted Toyota in Broome. Their representative Arthur, told me that the vehicle shouldn't be driven into the desert, due to the leaking front diff.

Phoned Car Connection. Kurt Weidner stated that (1) nothing was wrong with the car, (2) outback mechanics were just fishing for money after the rain season, (3) the 4WD shouldn't be used anyway, especially not in the Kimberley (4) I could suit myself since I had taken the car over the Gunbarrel "anything can happen there".
Note: Car Connection had been informed about my route prior to the journey. Their representative Hartmut Meier even commented that it was a nice route. Nothing was mentioned about that the Gunbarrel was a forbidden road.

27 April: Checked in the vehicle with BP service station in Derby, as a measurement before taking on the Kimberley. Couldn't get a time for repairs until the 29 April. Pretty depressing to hang around in Derby.

2 days delay

29 April: Leaking pinion seal at the front diff changed by BP. Hubs tightened so that they shouldn't leak so much.

$60

14 May: Checked in the vehicle with BP service station Kununurra for contractual 10.000 km service. Got time 2 days later. Bought new air filter instead of the bent one and changed it.

$25

16 May: BP Service Station, Kununurra made thorough check of vehicle. Changed oil, oil and fuel filter, attached various loose parts. They found the following problems:
  Rear shock absorber twisted, due to years of abuse. Serious diff oil leak from both front and rear diff. Serious leak from right front hub. Nipple to breather hose faulty dimension, thus aggravating problems with leaking right front hub. Uni joint to propeller shaft cracked, needed replacing.
BP advised me not to use the 4WD. My plan was to drive down to Alice Springs and make the rest of the repairs there.

BP Service Station was recommended by Car Connection's representative Hartmut Meier.

2 days.

$200

21 May: Checked in the vehicle for service in Hall's Creek, before going down the Tanami Track. Got time the next day.

22 May: BAZ Car Mechanics in Hall's Creek refused to service the car, due to the serious state of the leaking front hub. "This vehicle should not have been rented to you!" The front wheel could now be rocked like a loose front teeth. Tried to drive down the well graded Tanami Track to Alice Springs in 2WD. Had to turn back to Hall's Creek due to a heavy rainstorm.

2 days.

23 May: Phoned Car Connection from Kununurra and described the state of the front hub, the blown shock absorber, the leaking front and rear diff and the cracked uni joint at the propeller shaft.

Hartmut Meier agreed to pay for the repairs. We agreed that the car should be repaired in Darwin, a small detour of 1.000 km. Hartmut Meier recommended L&M Motors in Darwin.

26 May: Booked time with L&M Motors 2 days later. A 2 day job. Sean at L&M Motors forbid me to leave the city when he saw the condition of the vehicle. Had to skip to go to Litchfield National Park and had to stay in Darwin instead. 

28 May: Left vehicle for service.

Hartmut Meier had talked to Kurt Weidner, who had decided that they after all would not pay for all of the repairs. I was to pay for new shock absorbers, and half of the welding and repair of the uni joint.

29 May: Got vehicle back. Sean at L&M Motors informed me that the car had the following problems: Under-dimensioned brake discs, clearly the wrong kind for this model of vehicle. Probably together with faulty 4WD contributed to tree accident. Engine mounts cracked. Engine hanging on by the gear box. Sean's comment: Buckle up mate! Rear springs worn out. Steering damper gone, which made the steering very hard. Metal in the rear diff oil. The rear bearings about to grind down.

8 days. The days in Darwin were especially boring and costly.

$227

11 June: Problem with cracked engine mounts prevented me from driving on dirt road. Had problems with the engine rushing unexpectantly. The purpose of renting a 4WD was mostly lost since I could only drive on bitumen roads. Booked a time for service in Alice Springs with Shell Auto Service (recommended by Hartmut Meier).

Phoned Car Connection. Hartmut Meier denied any form of responsibility for the state of the vehicle. When asked what would happen if the rear bearings grinded down in the desert, Hartmut Meier replied:
"- Then you can disconnect the propeller shaft and drive back with the front diff. I do it all the time."
Needless to say, this is not how you intend to spend your holiday. Needless to say, driving a Toyota Landcruiser with only the front diff, can cause serious damage to the front transmission. If Car Connection really does this with their cars, then it might explain why the front hub was so badly damaged.

13 June: Left vehicle at Shell Auto Service for contractual 5.000 km service and to fix the problems discovered by L&M Motors. Engine couldn't be fitted back in. They needed a few more days to fix the problem. Engine mounts had been changed by someone to a faulty version for this kind of engine. Chassis appeared to be twisted, according to Shell Auto Service. The twisting could not have been caused by bumping into a small tree, according to them. Shell Auto Service provided the following explanations for the twisted chassis: A severe front crash. Something very heavy had been dragged with the vehicle. This second guess proved to be correct.

16 June: For every day, waiting for the car to be repaired, I got more and more depressed. The journey seemed to consist more of waiting for expensive repairs, than experiences in the bush. I decided that I wanted to use two more of my contractual 2 months. Felt like going to the Barrier Reef and dive.
Got car back from service. Got told that this was the best they could do, the vehicle was not road worthy in the opinion of Shell Auto Service. Record breaking expenses for the repairs.
Tried to buy new front guard from Dave's Auto Wreckers (north in Alice). Dave refused to sell me a front guard when he heard the story of how Car Connection had sent me out without diesel in the tank.

Phoned Car Connection. Hartmut Meier informed me that (1) they would not pay a cent for the repairs, (2) the vehicle had been sold so I couldn't use it for another two months.

$578

19 June: 

Phoned Car Connection who offered a replacement to the vehicle. Unsuccessfully tried to convince Hartmut Meier that it would be criminal to sell the vehicle to someone. Hartmut Meier informed me that the customer had driven the vehicle before and knew what he was getting. I further had to drive down to Victoria to pick up the new car. No exchange could be done in between. Talk about a detour!

23 June: Dave at the Auto Wreckers in Alice was on business trips. Managed to talk his employees into selling me a front guard though Dave had forbidden them.

24 June: New front guard fitted. What a beauty of a vehicle.

2 days.

$350

3 July: Drove from Melbourne to Glenluce, Castlemaine to pick up replace vehicle. Drove old vehicle together with Hartmut Meier to a panel beater. Agreed on price with panel beater for a paint job. Hartmut Meier got receipt for job for tax deduction (I couldn't do much with that receipt anyway).
Checked the new vehicle. Leaks in the rear diff.

Hartmut Meier claimed that "All Landcruisers leak in the rear diff." This statement is obviously false.

14 days. It took about an extra week to drive down to Victoria, and then another to drive up to Port Douglas, while it would have taken me about 3-4 days from Alice to Port Douglas.

$400

10 July: Left new vehicle for a road worthiness check in Longreach. I didn't exactly trust Car Connection at this point. Front shock absorbers about to break. Tested the 4WD on a sandy dirt road for an hour. Front hubs started to leak, but not as seriously as the old vehicle though.

$30

21 July: Diesel hand pump fell off. Made temporarily repair in Musgrave. Lacked the right tools due to that Car Connection had provided me with the wrong size of spanners.

$20

24 July: Contractual 5.000 km service in Normanton. No serious problems showed up, except for leaking gear box.

28 July: Run out of diesel just outside Mt Isa. Refuelled with my extra diesel, but couldn't pump out the air without the hand pump. Got towed into Mt. Isa. Had new hand pump fitted. Expensive but quick job.

$100

22 August: Returned vehicle just due for 10.000 km service. Left the vehicle in Castlemaine at Car Connection's usual mechanics. The old vehicle was still standing there! It had not been repaired or sold yet!

Car Connection's representative Ashley told me the following story. "- I might be the source of the problems you had with the first car. See, I dragged a one ton trailer off road on the Canning Stock Route constantly in 4WD when I used the vehicle as a back up vehicle on one of our motorcycle tours. I had the big six wheel army truck as well. Once that got stuck in the sand, so I dragged it out of a bog with the Landcruiser. We're sorry about that and I promise you that you will get a super treatment the next time you come." Except, there will not be another time I use Car Connection's services.