Well I had to wash it five (yes five!) times to remove 99% of the accumulated exterior dust and dirt. I don’t like washing the exterior with a cloth and these days I never dry with a chamois. My technique is to use our small water pressure lance to blast off the bulky and loose stuff. Then I fit the snow foam gun to the pressure washer and spray the entire exterior with a thick layer of foam. The foam lifts the dirt whilst gravity takes everything to the ground. Then it gets rinsed with the pressure gun. Once I’m satisfied the exterior is clean I dry it using microfibre cloths.
My major issue was the build up of dirt in the areas where the pressure gun can’t reach. These areas include the door pillars behind the door panels and the engine bay. The rear door (tailgate) of the Isuzu lifts up and I discovered almost an inch of compacted dust along the recess behind the top lip of the door sill.
There was dust all though the interior. The sheepskin seat covers were removed and washed. All other surfaces were wiped down with damp cloths. The leather steering wheel cover and the side door trims have (had) fancy white stitching which is now a pale orange. Two days of work and I have the 4x4 back to an acceptable standard.
I then changed the Kumho offroad tyres and rims for the standard AT tyres before doing an engine oil change. Isuzu state the oil only needs to be changed every 20,000km. However as this is likely to be our final vehicle I want it to remain relatively fault free and one of my strategies is to do an oil change twice as frequently as the handbook recommends.
In the evening I found time to look for a website that enables users to compare country sizes. I overlayed the UK on Australia and then roughly drew the route we took on top as a green line.
Future plans
Apart from trips we have the solar array to be installed on the roof, new french doors for the living room, a sewer pipe to repair and ground preparation for the workshop shed pad. Oh, and I have a few more lithium cells to test and prepare for my battery project.
2 comments :
Thanks for all the information, sorry, a good advert for Isuzu (2.5 diesel?), good vehicles for towing.
My 4Kw solar system here saves me a lot of money. Am busy setting up a workshop at home, 28ft x 9ft, it's worth wiring it up for power needs (especially power points) first. Some fixed to the ceiling saves trailing leads.
Mike.
Mike, 3 litre turbo diesel. The expression in Oz is "Only milk and juice come in 2 litre" :-) A big lazy diesel engine with plenty of torque. Vehicles in Europe usually have smaller engines (road tax I assume)
The man cave will be 16x16ft. Once it's erected I'll dig the trench from the house for the power and water.
Tom
Post a Comment