2014-05-09

A very unlucky tourist.

This tall German chap had broken down not far from the very remote Suggan Buggan in Victoria, only about 15 km or so from our destination. My diagnosis, stripped timing belt, I couldn't do anything much to help him but told my family when I got to our destination and they sent an elderly rescue party down to haul him out. In the meantime he had managed to get a bar of phone signal and had organised a tow truck to get him. The job will cost him a fortune even if my diagnosis is wrong, but I think at least the Camry has a non-interference engine.
Gaining access to things isn't easy on this car but a lot of my diagnosis is based on the car having over 300,000 km on the clock and a sticker proclaiming a belt change way back at 125,000 km, also it still having oil and not smelling cooked, with the engine spinning freely enough on the starter motor.
Being a tourist you can't expect them to do maintenance things like a timing belt change, so that's not really his fault but he sure picked a lonely remote place to break down. I hope I can find a record of his trip on-line in the future, he was a nice friendly chap, made Jimmy look like a midget too.

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