Yesterday I spent the morning finding a mechanic and the afternoon fixing our oil pressure issue. It was a pressure sender problem combined with a clogged filter in the oil sump. How to fix that he Russian way? You fill diesel into the engine instead of oil and let it run for a few minutes. The diesel dissolves the clogs but still provides enough lubrication. We repeated that procedure twice and then did a real oil change and the warning was gone.

In the evening we started our 3600km Siberian trip. Having done more than half of it I can say that it is a diverse experience: you see one and two lane highways, good (mainly) and potholed (rarely) tarmac, birch and pine trees, the occasional patch of fog, gas stations, and lots of reckless and dangerous driving. Yes, those YouTube videos are real.

We are approaching Irkutsk now (ok, it’s still 700km away, but hey, this is Siberia) and hope to cross the Mongolian border tomorrow.