93. Disaster in Kazakhstan – 49 days since the breakdown

Thursday 18 October 2007

We arrived on Wednesday night expecting the vehicle to be ready to leave on Thursday morning 18 October. 

Unfortunately when we got to the Ford dealer we found the Earthroamer parked there with the transmission lying on the ground in the dirt.  It appears that after the vehicle got going on Sunday night, on Monday morning an oil leak was found between the transmission and the engine.

We were assured that this oil leak would be fixed by Wednesday evening and everything would be OK to leave on Thursday morning.

This was not to be.  We have now checked into the Hyatt Hotel, which is unbelievably expensive, and we are hoping that the vehicle will be repaired tomorrow.  Bagdat at the Ford dealership says that it will be ready by lunch time but we can’t see how it could be done so quickly.

It is all incredibly frustrating.  We have no idea how long this will go on.

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