After developing an unnerving metallic pinging noise on full lock we decided the car might be sick. After some swift diagnosis by Matt and an Austrian chap at MTI Land Rover in Cairo it was revealed to be the CV joint – the failure of which would result in a complete loss of drive. But then, salvation, a helpful Egyptian mechanic revealed that they had the part we needed in a container at the back of the workshop. Unfortunately it was the penultimate working day before Eid and the Austrian service manager proved uncooperative, leaving us in the waiting room for over 2 hours without bothering to look for it.
So back where we started we tracked down a Land Rover parts shop in Cairo’s downtown, but after a few phone calls to various possible suppliers we again came out empty handed. Undeterred by the painful sounding noises we pushed on south to Aswan, but after an afternoon spent driving Waleed from the internet café around town to various mechanics and parts stores we have again had no luck.
Next stop Khartoum, a mere 1000km of desert tracks away. Wish us (and all fellow Land Rover drivers foolish enough to leave their vehicle unattended in the vicinity of our toolkit) luck.
chasing status 