Somewhat overdue an update here. Just now we’re in the spectacular Argentinian high desert (La Puna), more to come on that later as maybe the more urgent update is a summary of Chile.
First Chile leg was south through the Atacama Desert to Santiago, late last year.
Exited at Paso de los Liberatores, bolting to get the boat for Antarctica, mentioned elsewhere.
Second Chile leg was south to north between late January and mid-March. The route took us through Tierra del Fuego, Torres del Paine, the full length of the Carretera Austral from Villa O’Higgins to Puerto Montt, and out via the Lake District into Argentina.
Got the first puncture across three continents nearby Torres del Paine, pretty incredible performance by the BFGs. Present set are KO3s in 285/75 fitted back in San Antonio. Can’t recommend highly enough.
Busted out the battery booster to get Albert and his Ducati back underway
Only mechanical issue worth flagging occured after extended exposure to heavy rain. In Villa O’Higgins on a ~2C morning Iggy lit up with fault codes and wouldn’t crank. Eventually started after a couple of attempts. Cold start issues persisted for days until at some point we heard the sound of sloshing water. Got underneath the vehicle and released 10-15 litres of water from the passenger side sill.
My working theory is that the water in the sill was shorting the loom. Worth checking your sills after sustained rain… I believe others on the Forum have seen this. I reckon the water is entering via the scuttle, as there’s been a bit accumulating behind the dash on the drivers side as well. Plus side is that it’s easily drained and appears to have returned to normal functioning. On the list for the next service, but less of an issue up here in the desert.
Sunset at Puerto Montt, start/end of the Carretera Austral
Full Chile trip log and more-than-Gren pics at
globalgregors.com.
globalgregors.com
