110969 The car is dead, 500km from Irkutsk

Hi all

Unfortunately the car has died.
I left Moscow on the evening of the 19th and made really good progress, getting to Omck on Friday the 23rd, from there i headed east and encountered a few problems on the Sunday evening when the car started overheating, i noticed that the water pump was spitting out antifreeze.

Being fortunate enough to find a garage somewhere near Kemepobo and spending until 03:00 on Monday morning fixing the fault by plugging the holes in the water pump which i can only assume must have been for some pressure release but obviously the seal had become faulty.

After getting back on the road and some very slow driving i got as far as НИЖНЕУДИНСК, arriving late on the 27th, I stopped at the ATM to get some money and then when starting the car hear the tragic noise of the engine failing, after closer observation at the garage i found that the crank shaft had given up the ghost.

After making several enquiry's as to obtaining parts or even an engine that would fit it became obvious that it would not be possible to fix the car before my visa runs out, The spare part would need to be ordered into the country then travel via Moscow and Irkutsk before any attempt could be made to start the repairs.
As the car is french the are no suitable parts or means to fix it without ordering via renault dealers and the part would take one week minimum to arrive and would cost more than the car was worth.

I have therefore left the car in НИЖНЕУДИНСК and am hoping that i should be able to cross the boarder without the car and hopefully not encounter any problems at the boarder when going into Mongolia by train.

The only upside is that whilst we waited to hear back about parts, the person who owned the garage put me up at his home with his family for the past few days, this was really kind and has made my time in Russia so much more enjoyable.
I was intoduced friends and family who all think im crazy, got to sample the delights of home cooking and Russian foods along with Russian Vodka so despite the car not making it to Mongolia I'm still having a great time. I jsut hope i dont encounter any problembs at the boarder.

Sorry Chris i made it to St Petersburg. 7K miles on the clock

Well it took a while, mainly because i wasted 1hr getting out of Riga, due to road works and poor / no signs, and each time I asked somone for directions they politely pointed me the wrong way. (nice)

had to get snow tyres in Estonia as the roads were very snowy around the boarder. They cost about 75 pound for the four and fitting which wasn't bad, everyone at the garage thinks im insane as I answerd Mongolia to the obvious question of "where are you going?".

Also spent about 4hrs at the boarder getting into Russia. They had minimal english skills and my russian consists of "hello" and "do you speak english". along with "i dont understand".

That went well.
I was taken from guard to guard, booth to booth trying to answer all the questions about my car and where I was going and why. They also think i'm insane. in fact at one point i thought they may have asked for the men in white coats... they didn't.

So after smiling politely for what seemed an eternity and filling out forms left, right and center and taking them to another office to get stamped then another office/ booth for another stamp and then waiting, and more waiting...and a bit more for good measure... it went on a for a while.
The smile still remained although secretly inside I had a compulsion to jump up and down, tear my hair out and hit a few of them, ( I resisted the urge, it would only delay things more and i was starting to tire).
They were however very nice and even offerd me Vodka whilst sorting the insurance / road tax, I declined exspecting to get pulled over the instant i moved the car.

So when finaly the last stamp was placed neatly on the last little bit of paper and filed at the correct office/ booth they let me in to Russia. and that when the real fun started.

I proceeded to avoid total disaster on the roads, (some bumpy snowy thing between 15-30ft wide with a scattering of pothole's like some acne ridden teenager escaped from the loacal Mcdonalds.) dodging oncoming lorrys. It felt like what ice-hockey in wellington boots may feel like, Your never totaly sure your in control as the road keeps jumping about the place like a frog on LSD, too make matters worse there are only two lanes but nobody has told anyone else this so you frequently end up with three or four cars abrest the two (albeit sometimes wide lanes) narrowly averting near catastrophe by the narrowest of margins. Its even better when the three of the bigger trucks perform this stunt and some daring car driver tries to squeeze between them.
and running through my mind i have "They asked me all those questions, and they just let all these idiots on the road, this country surely is insane".

So I'm now in St Petersburg, last night I slept in the car, am at a hostel tonight and possibly tomorrow night then Moscow for a night and driving so many miles after am not sure when i will get a chance to update the site.

Have just worked out im drinkinbg baltika or "балтика" in russian, are 12 differnt kindes, just had number 6 which is like a porter and similat to Old Peculiar, #9 next, lonely planet says its lethal and 16.5% proof. o joy. i can feal my mind slowly slipping sidways already. or am i about to fall of the chair. Just wait till i get on the Vodka.

thats it im off.

I'm steeing off tomorrow (21/09/2007) the car has 101600 miles on the clock. lets see how good it is. I guess i'm going to add about 10,000 miles or so.

The "how far will the car get" post

Well as suggested a post for how far will the car get. Hopefully all the way to Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) but for a list of destinations between Sheffield and there click on the Google map link.

So rather than answers on a postcard just add a comment.