In the previous episode I broke down
in Turkey with the transmission problem. Got the car fixed and broke down again
30 kilometers later, with the same issue. In this episode, I try to fix
the problem once and for all. Managed to drive 30 kilometers
out of town after the repair, big repair of the transmission. And, you know, I was driving
at 80 km/h, just cruising, and suddenly I heard a squeak
and then like a clunk kind of noise, and the car battery icon went on,
lit up and the gear stopped working. And here we are. Waiting for the same mechanic. So, Mike is doing some work over there, and I'm just trying
to understand what happened. And whether, finally soon,
I'll have a bit of luck. I'm Eva and I'm a full-time adventurer. I want to bring you on a journey
that's all about being brave, experiencing the world
and feeling truly alive. My travels have been
one hell of an adventure so far, but last summer I bought
an old Land Rover Defender and converted it into
an off-road expedition truck. I now wander around the world
and live in my 4x4. Hit subscribe to join my adventure crew and watch real, raw
travel videos every week. The mechanic is here, so... Let's hear some good news.
I'm ready for it. Good news. Yikes. He has a magic wrench,
he just touches it and it works. Hello! It later turned out that
this mechanic in Cappadocia made a serious mistake
when reinstalling the transmission, and made the whole breakdown
a thousand times worse. We were heading through
the middle of nowhere. So, we're 30 kilometers outside of Ürgüp. I'd rather this happen here
than somewhere in the middle of it all. That's true. And by the way guys, I'm not gonna be reading the comments
for this video because I know what the Land Cruiser owners
are gonna be saying. Shut up, haters! We do what we want. - Is that what you want?
- Mechanics. I'm not reading the comments. I will and I'm gonna be super mean. The mechanic came to see
what's wrong with the car. Came with some tools. He couldn't fix it,
so he ordered us a tow truck. But the problem is that the tow truck
will only arrive in two hours. So I'm just gonna catching up
on my morning routine, things I didn't get to do this morning. My teeth, brushing my hair. Taking a shower, meditating, you know. Just getting time to pass. Oh, my God. It was supposed to be here in
two hours and it came in like 45 minutes. I love getting good news. Well, she's on a tow truck
for the second time in one week. Let's see how this pans out. The mechanic assured us
that if it was his fault, if he didn't fix it properly
the first time around, he's going to pay. He's going to do the second repair
for free and pay for the tow truck. If it's something else... Well, let's just say that
the costs are adding up. During the course of this fiasco
I went through all five stages of grief. I'm just really, really, really hoping that it's a quick fix,
that it's something small. Maybe we will be able to go
again on the weekend. Why does it keep happening? I'm starting to think we should
just buy a tow truck of our own and just drive it around. Around the world on a tow truck. When I finally reached acceptance,
that's when I realized that the obstacle is the way I have to push through this. This is an opportunity for me
to learn about my car and get to know the local
Defender community in Turkey. Moved out. Again. - We rented a car. Or rather, Mike...
- ..and sold the 4x4. And we got another Ford Focus. Yay! Focus life. Actually, Mike needs to get going. We talked about him staying,
we talked about me going, we talked about different options,
but it's clear that I just need
to sit this one out, stay with Odyssey, and Mike needs to get on
with his life, his projects. I had planned a few videos
up North we've already delayed for quite a few days now. Yeah. So, we're just gonna go,
get some stuff out of Odyssey, check up on her, see what's going on,
and then say goodbye for now. Say goodbye! Goodbye, for now. For a week. All right, I'm gonna go to
a coffee shop and do a bit of work. Meanwhile, Mike is going to drive to the same place that
we were trying to drive to yesterday. I hope you have better luck enroute. Get that truck fixed. - Fingers crossed.
- Bye! I'm gonna miss you. You guys. And you. See you on the road. I spent the rest of the day
figuring out my plan of action. I reached out to all my contacts
here in Turkey. I couldn't believe just
how helpful people were. A guy called Emre,
from "Overland Anatolia", put me in touch with another guy
called Rifat, who sells Defender parts to the Turkish Army
in the capital of the country. I knew I had to take Odyssey
to a qualified mechanic this time, and so I started to organize
a tow truck to reach Ankara. Look, you've got to believe me when I tell you this story
because this is stranger than fiction. So, I was pretty convinced that the truck, the tow truck, would come
tomorrow in the afternoon. But as you can see, it's not the afternoon
and it's still very much today. So, it is...
What time is it? It's 10 pm. 9:55 to be exact. And apparently, the tow truck just arrived. So, I had to leave my hotel urgently
and rush over to the mechanic's. We're going to the capital of Turkey, guys.
We're going to Ankara. Odyssey is here.
The mechanic is very much closed, but I called him with the help
of a Turkish speaking friend. To get the car out of the garage. Because we would be coming at
an unreasonable time with the "çekici". And the "çekici" is the tow truck. And "çekici" is the word that
I will never forget in Turkish. Never, because I've had to use it
so many times in the last week or so. Çekici. Forever embedded in my memory. And Odyssey's memory. I guess now we just have to wait. I'm lucky that I've got a home
on wheels that I can sit inside. It's my transmission. Some more parts. So, we're taking all of this stuff
to Ankara, to a very qualified mechanic, who I hope, will bring an end
to my car woes. We might get there by 2 am tonight. Here we go. He's arrived.
Let's get this show on the road. And back in the tow truck,
for the third time this week. Çekici. Wow. Wouldn't it be ironic
if the tow truck broke down? With a broken truck on top of it? The driver is adding water,
like mineral water, to the engine. I don't know what he's doing, but I'm just gonna have
to trust the process. Just got pulled over by the police. It's 2 am. I have no idea what's going on,
I've just been kind of napping away. Well, the problem wasn't a problem,
we just had to turn on the lights in my car. And now it's all sorted,
the police have left. We're just fueling up and we should be
on our way again shortly. That was a journey and a half. A drive that should have taken
three or fours hours took us seven. It's now a quarter past six in the morning. It's still dark, and I'm alone
in this industrial zone of Ankara, Turkey. Need to sleep in my car tonight,
well, for the next two hours, before their workshop opens. But my bigger problem is
that I really need to pee. Let me show you around this place. Well, there is that bush over there. That seems like the only reasonable
place where I can go and do it. Should I go for it?
Think there is CCTV around here? There is probably CCTV around here,
but I don't really have a choice. And in case you've forgotten,
I also don't have that much shame. I just hope that these dogs don't jump out
of the workshop and bite me in the butt. Don't tell anyone. Well, the car is filled with spare parts. They are absolutely everywhere,
in the front and here. So, I cannot actually extend my bed. I'm gonna have to sleep
on a quarter of a bed tonight, because I can't take these out. What am I even doing? Tell me. What am I doing
with my life right now? You know, I would totally go to a hotel. I would, but I'm in the middle of nowhere, and I'm so shattered
that I just have no energy to go anywhere right now. So, I'm basically
just doing this to myself. Well, this is probably
the least comfortable set up I have experienced in this car as of yet. But you know, at the end of the day
I'm just taking a quick nap. I'm not really expecting to get
a very good night of sleep. So, I'll just get cozy here,
with my spare parts. And my transmission. For the last time. Oh, yes, a warm duvet. Oh, my God. See you in an hour. That was cold. That was a cold hour and ten minutes. I think like very close to zero degrees,
maybe two degrees Celsius? I couldn't turn on my heater
even though I have one, because of all the stuff that's in here. The car is completely packed
and I didn't wanna risk setting it on fire. OK, now I understand why
I was so freezing during my nap. It's because I have a gaping hole
in the middle of my truck, instead of a gear box. Tow truck number four. Don't get too comfortable up there, OK? I'm not gonna let you be one
of those Defenders that spent half of their lives on a tow truck.
That's just not gonna happen, Odyssey. Forget about it.
No, forget about it. I don't want...
No, no. I don't wanna hear. The Land Rover hospital.
How appropriate. Can I take this for barbecue? Before I go to the bathroom, I wanna show you
that I think I got to the right place. This is all, just Land Rover parts. A lot of them, Defender parts. And there's several floors
of this in this building. Finally, I see a light
at the end of the tunnel. So, Rifat here is building
his own Defender from scratch. This is just the chassis and the wheels, and this will be
a proper car in a little while. He's going to build it himself, using the parts that
he himself sources and sells on. I think I'm in good hands. Rifat welcomed me like family. He took me around
the industrial zone of Ankara, and home to all the mechanics in town. Introduced me to everyone and promised
to help me out with anything I needed. He really turned out to be
my guardian angel. We're just doing the rounds
and visiting some of Rifat's colleagues here in the industrial zone
and I gotta show you this place. That is just the coolest office
that I've ever seen in my life. Right. Well, this is a car couch. Wow, you're actually sitting
in the back of a car, but it's cut in half, and obviously
all the stuff from inside like taken out. It's all gutted, but this is
an actual couch, like a legit couch. Man, am I becoming like a car fanatic? Sofa bed. Rifat's kids are helping me
bathe my gearbox basically. So I'm getting plenty of assistance here,
which is great, I'm not complaining. The gentleman behind me is the transmission
surgeon, or the transmission doctor. He is checking to see
whether we can repair my really messed up,
ground up transmission, if there's any chance of fixing it. Or alternatively, will let us know
in a few minutes if we need to buy a new one,
which would be hella expensive. So, here's the crux of my problem. My gearbox shaft took a serious beating and because of a poorly installed
transmission the first time around, a couple of the gears
actually melted down. You can see the damage even without
knowing much about car mechanics. Issa here has been fixing
Defender transmissions specifically for the last 20 years,
for the Turkish army. As he worked away, I tried to make
the time a little bit more pleasant for everyone, with the simple pleasures. It's been a very long day. It's 10:40 pm. I haven't slept since yesterday,
and I'd really love to go to sleep. This is my gearbox, transmission
and a transfer box, all in one, all fixed by Issa yesterday.
Today is a new day. And today is the day that the gearbox
will be installed back in Odyssey. I've been given permission
to go inside the car. Special access. Look at this. - Hello!
- Hello! So, it looks like the gearbox is
finally about to go back inside the car, which is really, really exciting. And you know,
just watching these guys work, I'm actually finding really inspiring to learn more about mechanics
and about my own car. Something that I just never thought
I would be capable of, but I'm like motivated now,
which is great. Sometimes these things happen
and I'm like: "Why is this happening to me? I just don't wanna have
issues or problems anymore". But at the end of the day, I think taking a crisis as an opportunity is probably the best way
of dealing with a crisis. And I just need to be
more conscious of that going forward and that's the attitude
I want to adopt in my life. What do I do? Where? This side? This side? Like that? Tamam? - OK.
- You show me. I was hitting the wrong thing. Turkish tea. Yes! Three sugars. Don't judge me. I've had quite the welcome
here in the workshop. I've just been sitting here,
drinking "çay", filming, watching the guys work,
trying to learn something. And the car is almost ready it seems. I'm very excited to take it
for a test drive. High hopes, high hopes this time. I went deeper into learning
about car mechanics, and signed up for an online course. But I got to be honest with you. Once you start learning about
how a car works, you realize that it's actually quite terrifying. I mean, the way the engine works,
it creates thousands of explosions per minute and they're all
just blowing up there, under the bonnet of the aluminum box that you're driving. At a 100 km/h. Dude, what the hell? How would that not freak you out? - Rifat, this is your Defender?
- Yeah. Check this out. Rifat is actually
pretty much building it from scratch. So, it's just coming down
the "çekici" right now. But there's nothing inside just yet. - TD 5?
- Engine. That's my engine. Gearbox is same. - Same like mine?
- Yeah. Same gearbox, same engine. He's a true Defender fan, because he's building
his car from scratch. And you can see. Like...
Just step by step. Oh, nice. Oils are back in the gearbox
and the transfer box, so it's time to bring her down
and go for a test drive. No start. Well, it's evening time. We're still working on
one hopefully last thing. And though I was really
hoping to leave today, it looks like one more
night here in Ankara. With travelling the world
overlanding in a car, I guess you just have
to be patient sometimes. And things like this happen. And as much as
it annoys me or infuriates me, I'm really doing my best
to learn to cope with it in a more stoic manner, let's just say. Spending one more night in Ankara
does not sound terrible. It's annoying but I'm just
gonna take it for what it is. Maybe it's supposed to, it's meant to be. It's fine. Bye, Odyssey.
See you tomorrow. Today is day 10 or maybe even 11
of the whole breakdown saga, and I hope it's the last day. And I was just sitting here thinking about
the things that this experience gave me. Because you know,
focusing on the positives, generally makes life a little bit
easier to live, in my opinion. And I'm so glad. Because this experience,
this breakdown, gave me an interest in mechanics. I just signed up for a mechanics course,
which is really exciting and I'm really interested to find out
more and learn more about my car. It gave me friends here in Ankara,
people who really prioritized my repair over everything else, and tried everything
in their power to get me out of here. People who really had my back
and if people like that exist here, they probably exist in other places too. And that gives me a lot of faith
for my ginormous project for 2022, which I'll tell you about in due course. And three, I think most importantly the gift
that I got from this experience was: Do not fear. There will be obstacles in your way, but all you need to do is keep a calm head, break them down into small steps
and just push through them. Push through the obstacles. You know there's this really
great book I've started reading, called "The obstacle is the way",
and it's true, the obstacle is the way. So, I documented
this entire breakdown not just to document the story of the breakdown
but also to kind of share that. And show you that the thing
that I personally feared the most happened. And it was a pretty major one. And yet, despite all the frustrations, and anger, and sadness and confusion
that I experienced, I'm still here. Still making videos, I'm still alive,
still enjoying my days. And just pushing through, you know,
just pushing through that obstacle to get to the other side
and emerge stronger. Maybe with a little bit
more experience. But I do hope that
I can get out of here today. I just wanna go camping, oh my God! So what happened yesterday
and the reason why we had to leave the car -
thank you - in the garage for one more day,
and take out the gearbox again, and do another repair on that
is because of the oil pump in the transmission that wasn't working. It's this little part here,
and apparently it was just letting in a lot of oil,
like letting it flow through. Which was causing a leak. So, we had to switch this one
for an original part, which was this one. And that is much higher quality,
so that was the latest update. This is me. This is the Defender, right? Thank you so much! So, I hear some drilling down below
where the workshop is for the transmission, so I've just come downstairs
to see what's going on. Issa is working hard. Defender family. - You like it?
- Yes. - Yeah? What's your favorite car? Defender, yeah. What about you, John? What's you favorite car? - Defender.
- Yeah! You know, indoctrinate them
early on, it will pay off later. Nothing like a coffee on a roof rack,
on top of a Defender in Turkey. OK. She has come down. The transmission is back in for like the third time, maybe fourth time
in this entire repair. Second time in this very workshop. You know what I'm hoping. You know what I'm hoping. That I get out of here today. The guys are busy checking a few
last-minute things after the test drive, just to make sure that there's no leaks,
that nothing is sitting in a weird place. Meanwhile, I'm just enjoying sitting
by the fire because it's so cold. Here's the thing. Breakdowns happen.
It's all part of the adventure. All part of the process. And the best thing about this process? Well, I realized once more
that when I bought the Defender, I didn't just buy a car. I also became a part
of a global community of people who love these cars just as much as I do. So, whatever happens in the future, I know that there it'll always be
an opportunity to make new friends and learn something new. All right, we're gonna go for
a little test drive to see if she's working properly. So far, so good. Doctor Ibrahim, tamam? OK. It took me 350 kilometers of driving
yesterday to believe that the Defender is actually fixed. But she is. She is fixed.
I drove all the way here to the beach. And camped here last night and it's... I'm just so happy. You know what?
I'm happy that all this happened. I'm happy that I had that breakdown. Not because I like breakdowns,
but because it showed me that I can deal with that kind of breakdown. I can deal with any kind
of breakdown and it's gonna be fine. I'm grateful. No more fear. Let the adventure continue!
I'm so excited. In the next episode, I find myself
at the end of the road, in some very snowy mountains
and survive sub-zero temperatures, sleeping in my car
for the very first time. See you next week.
