Holiday in Dalwallinu

The best laid plans of mice and men...

Right now I'm at the Telecentre at the little town of Dalwallinu. A "Telecentre" is a community resource centre, particularly for the Internet.

Dalwallinu is about 130Km south of where I live. I was driving to Perth early this morning,and was just cruising into Dalwallinu when the engine stopped dead. Amazing, I pulled to a stop just a few minutes walk from a garage. The mechanic found that the timing belt had broken.

This being a little town, the timing belt has to be ordered from Perth, and it should arrive tomorrow morning. I am a member of the RAC, which is a breakdown service, and they are paying for me to stay overnight at a motel.

Great hey, this is like going on a mini-holiday!

Dalwallinu is a great little town, very nice appearance. I have often admired the place when driving through. Really nice main street. Here is their website:
http://www.dalwallinu.wa.gov.au/

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Comments

Good Luck
Username: GeoW
Barry, I hope this works out OK. When the timing belt breaks, things that were synchronized and running around at high speeds can become unsynch while still at high speeds. They can bang into each other. This is the voice of sad experience. Doesn't always happen. Hope it turns out alright for you. Enjoy your forced rest. GeoW

Good Timing!
Username: ANOSage
"When the handbook says "replace the timing belt at 50,000mls or three years, whichever comes first", they really aren't joking this time. Another reason not to buy a Mercedes - damage is more extensive, more often and more costly. Nissan still use a timing CHAIN and have solved the problem of it being slightly noisier and more costly. Notwithstanding - one of those rare occasions when insurance (RAC) actually benefits the insurer rather than the shareholders. Enjoy your sojourn.

timing belt
Username: mouldy
"Way back when, I had a '76 Volvo. Timing belt broke on it out on hiway, it just died and rolled to stop. Pain in rear to find another belt since Volvos werent common where I lived then. But it was simple once I got hold of a spare, I changed it out right there on side of road in less than half hour and was on my way. Not going to do that on modern cars with all the golly gee stuff where you have to half disassemble the car just to get to it. And some cars especially Hondas, you just know to change belt and water pump (driven by timing belt for some unknown reason) every 60k miles. If not you will demolish the engine should timing belt break or water pump seize and break the belt. Valves hitting pistons not a pretty sight.

A Place to wait
Username: Ted Dog
"name "Dalwallinu" is derived from the language of these people and means "a place to wait a while" http://www.dalwallinu.wa.gov.au/people&lifestyle/history.htm

Tags: general