Once we’d made it to Ghanzi and refuelled we decided to check the damage on the car after our stretch through the Kalahari. The rear Diff looked like it had a leak and the CV joint needed some attention. As we couldn’t do anything about either issue without possibly doing more damage, we decided to take it easy to the next big town, namely Gobabis in Namibia and to get repairs done there if needed.
Driving along towards Gobabis, our oil pressure dropped to nothing. This was a very different problem, as you run the risk of ruining your engine completely if there’s an oil leakage. Not sure what to do and how to fix it, we pulled over and made camp. Chris and Mike spent a lot of time lying under the car on cardboard boxes trying to find the reason for the oil pressure dropping so drastically. After much discussion it was decided that the problem might be electrical and that simply cooling the car might solve it. This meant that we spent a quiet evening trying not to think too much of what it would mean if the car had broken down to such an extent that we would have to turn back.
4:00 AM the next morning we broke up camp to make it to the next town 80KM away while it was still cool and dark, hoping that this would confirm our guess and give the oil pressure gauge the temperatures that it needed to function properly. Arriving in Charleshill the oil pressure was still extremely low and we then tracked down a bush mechanic who confirmed our guess that our oil pressure was fine, but that the gauge reading it was malfunctioning.
Very much relieved we carried on to cross the Namibian border to Gobabis where our first stop was the local Toyota workshop. The mechanic had a look at both our Diff and the CV joint and gave us a fright by telling us that half the bolts on the Diff lid had not been tightened properly, allowing seepage of the Diff oil through the seal.
Our Rock Rabbit has a few quirks with which we will have to learn to live, but she got us through the Kalahari Desert with just an electrical fault to show for it!
hi looks like a sightseeing tour me Toyota workshops