Prep for European Adventure

[The Lovely Boyo]

I'm doing the Pair of Knees trip with Apache.

My hoses and thermostat arrived yesterday. The cooling system will get a good going over this weekend, change hoses and belts, flush, new Toyota Red antifreeze.

Full service - all oils and filters inc. diffs, tranny and transfer case (lots of off roading) - just before we go. Wheels bearings and brakes have already been sorted.

Got most of the safety stuff.

Priced a spare key last week - £91 - cor blimey mate!!!!!!

Need to sort out Euro cover

[pedrot]

Been backwards and forwards many times between sheffield to malaga and never had any problems, i just make sure i had plenty of food (i'm a greedy pig) and water and european breakdown cover and thats it. Everything thing else (fire extinguisher. warning triangle, spare bulbs etc.) are tucked away in the nooks and crannies and stay there all year round.

Buy a sim card for your phone if you can its a lot cheaper than using UK mobiles.

Motorway tolls are expensive going through france (maybe £70 one way)

Don't forget to take ORIGINAL documents for the car, Gardia set up road blocks to check these and you will be fined if you do not have them with you.

Good luck to you and enjoy the adventure (it will be november before i drive over there again )

Pete

[Sammiej]

Thanks for all the input....

great stuff!

I'm probably headin to Antibes, South of France first (I have a friend who might chum me to there) then either to Genoa or on a ferry over to Mallorca, mostly camping I reckon.

Rob, I'm in Pool, near Camborne so I'll try and hook up with you before heading off....which I hope will be in a week or less, if I can find a mechanic free to change the cam belt. I know, I should do it myself but....I'm a girl and obviously I'd make a dogs breakfast of it!

I'm ok with changing oil/filters etc and I could probably bleed the fuel at a push, but not got any manuals yet, or tools!

I wasn't too worried about the "Sunshine Bus" until I read some of your posts! Now I see that I should probably be a little more concerned about breakdowns. I got some quotes for European breakdown cover if you're interested:

RAC & Greenflag only cover you for up to 90 days (I'm looking for open ended cover) but the prices are OK - GF = 160, RAC = 130.

AA will give 350 days cover for 308, or 422 if you want to receive 500 towards parts & labour on a repair. I think this is pretty good considering they will get you a hire car if necessary or put you up in a hotel!

You might also be interested to know that I got a year's Comprehensive Insurance for all of Europe through Stuart Collins & Co. It's an AXA policy with extended European cover, with full NCB that was 403 quid including legal expenses cover...again, pretty good I reckon!

Thanks again for all the input, I may consider taking an on-board engineer (bearing in mind my techinical limitations) if anyone fancies an extended summer holiday!

Cheers
Sam

[Sammiej]

Sorry Stromforce...

I meant Richard, not Rob!!


S

[wishbone]

Get the 4runner manual for your year from here - it will cover everything except engine and gearbox.

Then get on MattFs' site for the engine and (hopefully) gearbox manuals and you're covered.

Rob.

[darkdezigns]

I meant Richard, not Rob!!


S

ask him nicely,he may help u do cambelt

[stormforce]

you have mail sam

[Rock Slide]

Does anyone have a photo of the warning triangle that is mounted in the small compartment in the cargo area on a 3rd gen surf ('96-'02)?

Very few (if any) 4Runners here in the States rec'vd this option, yet the small compartment was designed around it. Granted, I don't need one, as my cubby hole is filled with other much needed supplies, but it would be nice to see what actually came mounted in there.


Here's a shot of stock 4Runner cargo compartment: