Problems with the Van?

If I didn't have enough to worry about, I'm now worried about the reliability of the van.

When I collected it from the dealer (Barrons, Herne Bay) I had to point out a couple of (fairly obvious) faults which were happily sorted immediately. It only had 20 miles or so on the clock so I was anticipating the odd thing here or there. Having looked at the forums, it seems as though I was blessed by the quality of the pre-delivery check (despite the obvious flaws), but, nevertheless, I was still anticipating a couple of hic-cups. I was glad, therefore when I spotted one early on.

When I say early on, I mean on the first trip out, of course. We (all six of us) went to Bury St. Edmonds (about 90 miles) and when we left to come home, it was getting dark. Imagine my surprise and terror when I turned the indicator on to find that every single light went out! Total darkness. The road in front turned blacker than a black thing on national black thing day and we instantly became more invisible than David McCallum. Eddy the Eagle without his glasses could have seen more than I could at that point and Stevie Wonder could have seen more than him. In fact, to any other motor, we existed less than our still non-existant list of things still to do. Fortunately, when I turned off the indicator, the lights came back on and we could see and be seen again. However, this process of jumping beneath Harry Potter's invisibility cloak repeated itself the whole journey.

The next day I called Barrons and a few days later they took the van away. They had a couple of other things to do as well like adjusting the habitation door which was very hard to open/close which they managed no problem. The problem with the lights on the other hand was more difficult, in fact impossible to fix because, according to them, there wasn't anything wrong with them. Er, hello. Calling me a liar? I had no choice but to accept the return of the van and since then, I have been trying very hard to work out whether there still is a problem. I haven't, of course, but that doesn't make me feel any better because I haven't been out in the dark and trying to see if the lights are working properly during the day is, well, a challenge to say the least.

My freind who fitted the camera told me that the problem was probably created when the radio was re-wired to be powered by the leisure battery instead of the cab battery. I didn't know the radio was powered by the leisure battery, and, if I'm honest, I don't really care much either, but it does seem kind of plausible. In any event, I hope they have fixed it but have just chosen not to tell me there was ever anything wrong because at least that way, I know it's fixed. The last thing I need is for that problem to still be there when I get to France.

I took the van out again today on a 200 mile trip. I was aiming to familiarise myself with the handling a bit more and also get the van weighed. I thought I might also benefit from some more general experience. I was right. Within 50 yards and one bend, doors swung open, things slid about and the waste bin that had been near the sink flew about a bit and crashed into hundreds of bits on the floor. Mrs.F loved that bin. I tied everything down, closed every door properly and moved on. I then stopped and checked the aerial and steps, but that was just paranoi stepping in.

I drove to a freind's house that I hadn't been to before and the Tom Tom took us right there. Brilliant. It brought us back home again but, oddly, using a different route. A bit like Mrs.F in a way. The only concern that I have with the TomTom now in relation to my trip is that it makes no regard for the size of the vehicle it sits in. For example, there were a couple of country lanes today where tree branches whipped the side of the van and a hump-back bridge moment which could have been nasty. I hope it doesn't take me down any dodgy roads in France. The other worrying factor of Tom Tom's is that it is only as good as the person setting the route into it. I completely forgot to programme the weighbridge's address into it which meant I didn't get the van weiged after all. Der. That's a problem, because the next time available for me to get it weighed is next Saturday which is likely to interrupt the packing performance. Ho hum.

During my trip today and again when I got home, I smelled burning oil. Not chip fat type burning oil but knackered piston rings type burning oil. Not the sort of smell you expect to associate with a brand new motor and one I hope has been caused by a drip of oil somewhere like the exhaust. I'll have a look tomorrow and hopefully be more useful than I was when I had a look at the washing machine. If not, my trip could be even more challenging that it already is which reminds me, I must add 'Do I have continental breakdown cover?' to my list of things to do. That can join 'Get a Camping Card International (why do they call it a Camping Card International and not an International Camping Card?) and EHIC thingys. and another hundred or so similarly important things I still have to get around to.

Finally, they say we should try to do something new every day. It's not always that easy, but I managed it today. In fact I nearly managed it twice. The first time was going up the A12. I saw on the other side of the carriageway another 'caravan car'. As we passed, the driver waved to me and I waved back. I hadn't done that before and I suddenly felt as though I had been granted honourary membership to an exclusive fraternity. A smile broke about my face not too dissimilar from when I had a mini; a mix of jolly belonging yet slight embarrassment. The second time was when I was coming back down the A12 when the same thing happened yet this time, I was first to wave but the other driver didn't. That was total embarrassment and now I don't know what the 'rules' are.

I expect I'll find out for sure by the time I get to Calais, assuming the van is fit for the trip.