toby1234abc:
The mechanic that used to service my 142,he emigrated to Oz,and told me that the engines caught fire if there was a fuel leak,with the intense heat,did this ever happen on ME trips?
I had a 142 for two years on the m/e and never had any problems,either with fuel leaks or fires.Again,down to good servicing between trips!
I could not fault Expo Freight for the quality of servicing or the cost of the amount of spares we carried.
GS OVERLAND:
I remember one trip on my way home, the splines went in the end cap on my driveshaft. i was just coming into Yugo from Bulgy, and I lost drive right in the customs compound. I got a lift to Belgrade but no joy, so i got another lift to Thessaloniki where I found one in a scrap yard. Got another lift back to Nis and then another lift back to the border where I fitted the cap and got going. All this with twenty tons of Bulgarian wine for Alison Moss.
Gs
Ha!
That’s what it was like then - you ‘boys’ always managed to get going again - and managed to keep in touch even though mobiles and emails weren’t about then… thankfully, I hear you say?
Water pump, was able to make a new bush and keyway for it in Thessalonica, air pump plate came off dumped all my oil, able to refit and refill with oil, between Romania & Bulgaria in the mountains on those cobble roads. Turbo linkage broke in Turkey, brazed it lasted back to UK. Only two times I couldn’t repair, my crash in Turkey and my air-conditon which broke down in Saudi 
I had to wear gloves to drive, the bloody steering wheel was so hot! They wanted £50 to re-gas it in Jeddah, I said I am not paying that, that might not be the problem.
bestbooties:
toby1234abc:
The mechanic that used to service my 142,he emigrated to Oz,and told me that the engines caught fire if there was a fuel leak,with the intense heat,did this ever happen on ME trips?I had a 142 for two years on the m/e and never had any problems,either with fuel leaks or fires.Again,down to good servicing between trips!
I could not fault Expo Freight for the quality of servicing or the cost of the amount of spares we carried.
I had a 142 go up on me near Cherbourg. Loose injector pipe, diesel pooled in the V and ran onto very hot turbo (I was in a rush) 
Local council van got it with extinguishers but bleeding it up in front of Gendarmes was a bit tricky as it was full of Cherry
SheepLady:
Ha!
That’s what it was like then - you ‘boys’ always managed to get going again - and managed to keep in touch even though mobiles and emails weren’t about then… thankfully, I hear you say?
A case of having to.If you had no initiative,you’d probably still be there.
When my 111 dropped a valve halfway back up the Tapline,Big Cliff on Funstons towed me 1,000 miles back to Incerlic in Southern Turkey before we could get through to the UK on the phone to discuss repairs.
bestbooties:
I was lucky in that all the firms I worked for had good tackle and it was well serviced before every trip.
Did that include ‘Simons’ Ian? They used to put terrible remoulds on the trailers when I worked for them and as we were often well freighted, punctures were my biggest headache! Apart from that, I remember having a wheel bearing seize up on my trailer between Ankara and Adana. The local Turks sorted it out within a couple of days and payment was made via our agent in Istanbul (Taci Kocman). My worst breakdown was when the end plate on the oil cooler on the Transcon I was driving broke away in Bulgaria. I was stuck there for TWO weeks. I’ve related the story before…most probably on the Simon International thread, so I won’t repeat it again here.
Billybigrig,the pre-filter glass bottles on the 142 were weird,they looked like drink shot bottles,with the wire clip to secure it,the Douanes would have seen the cherry if they stuck their nose a bit too close under your bonnet.
toby1234abc:
Billybigrig,the pre-filter glass bottles on the 142 were weird,they looked like drink shot bottles,with the wire clip to secure it,the Douanes would have seen the cherry if they stuck their nose a bit too close under your bonnet.
Ah but Toby there’s method in the madness. Mine was sprayed black except for a small part at the rear which you checked with a mirror 
Yes they were but most drivers painted them,little glass jars
Me it was losing my range change cable on the way down Tarsus to Adana ,had to go on to Kizeltepe to find a second hand one it was slow slow and not quick quick slow ,got a few Tonka’s up me old ■■■■■■■■■ ,stopping at nearly every sign that said Volvo ,after that I carried a spare ,but never used it,sods law. I did eat a couple of Alternators as well dont know why,most likley rubbish rebuilds,
Also did a pushrod comming out of Rumo with the Wing Comander Long lucky he had a scania one bit shorter and with a bit of filing the end down as Volvo had no blob on the bottom.it was good as new.Happy days
Roger Haywood
but with success, as the vee-eight came to life for the first time in 72 hours.