After leaving for Tehran, we made it about 100km, before the car started overheating again. We had to stop every 30 or 40km to let the car cool down, and at one point we took out ratchet straps and tied the bonnet open to help with air flow. We also had to switch the heating on while driving - combined with 35 degree heat outside Hamid and Alex were boiled to within an inch of their lives! Combining this with driving at 70km/hr or less, we barely made it to the outskirts of Tehran.
We went to another mechanic Hamid knew, but he didn’t have the time to work on our car. So, we drove on down the road, stopping at the next mechanic we saw. Unbeknownst to us at the time, this would turn out to be a disaster!
The mechanics working on our car.
We told him about the overheating, and he confirmed it was the viscous coupling, which is essentially a clutch that controls the radiator fan speed. We had suspected this earlier on our drive but weren’t sure. Not to worry he said, he made a few calls and came back saying he could get a new one for around $100 including installation. This is very cheap, so we were happy to not have to spend a fortune.
The so called "Toyota Expert at the garage, looking at our car.
However, about 10 minutes later, we saw him trying to fit the old one back! Hamid asked what was going on and it turned out the parts shop thought they had the correct one in stock, but it was actually for a Nissan! He thought he could weld it, so the fan would simply turn as fast as the revs. This would make the car very loud, and increase our fuel consumption from an already abysmal 19L/100km, but at least the car wouldn’t overheat.
After about an hour of tinkering, he installed the old coupling with two steel rods welded on it to keep it locked. However, because welding causes metal to shrink slightly, he had to force it on. We also mentioned we needed the brakes bled, so he went about doing that. Once that was done, we paid him, in dollars because we had no rials and the exchanges were closed by this point.
The mechanic modifying our viscous coupling.
Happy to have what we thought was a working car, we drove off to the hotel. Alex asked how long the repair would last. The mechanic said to us “It will get you all the way back to London!” Alex looked at Mike and said “This will either last 15 minutes or will be good repair.” We made it less than 5km down the road, and while sitting in traffic, heard a clunk. We pulled over and investigated and discovered both rods holding the coupling had fallen off and were sitting in the road! Now back to square one with the coupling, we had no choice but to soldier on to the hotel. While driving Alex noticed that our brakes were getting progressively weaker.
They had been much better when we left the mechanic’s workshop but after the coupling broke again, got progressively worse. We arrived at the hotel with brakes so inadequate that when you put the car from neutral into drive, it inched forward. Happy to have made it in one piece though, we checked in and went to bed.