Carsick…
It’s all seemed a little bit sunshine and roses here at Granite Glen lately, hasn’t it?
All going a bit too swimmingly?
A bit on the saccharine side of sweet perhaps?
So I thought that I would let you in on a little of what goes on behind the pretty pictures on occasion. Like the one above. Which was taken out a car window on the way home from our beach holiday last week. Are you ready for a sharp does of reality?
Careful. It might bite.
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We own a four-wheel-drive. Quite a nice vehicle which we purchased when still city-ites. When people pooh-poohed us for owning a 4WD – after all our trips to the bush were sporadic and not exactly off road. Still, it seemed like a great investment, especially seeing we planned to move back here to Granite Glen. And to be honest, it’s been a terrific and safe car for our little family.
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However the work it has been asked to do (going along dusty, bumpy paddock roads almost daily) and the kilometres it has put under it’s bonnet (see here for estimates of our usual trips) have taken a bit of a toll on our once-shiny-shiny white 4WD.
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Red dust from our gravel roads (while extremely photogenic, see banner as example!) has worked its way into every nook and cranny in the car. I battle constantly, it in the interior with the vaccuum cleaner, and with the hose and chamois externally. One section of our lawn is luscious with a fabulous topsoil of this red silt. What has been going on under the bonnet (unseen and unnoticed) finally caught up with us recently.
Our recent long-haul trips to bull sales has been marred by increasingly sluggish acceleration… slowing the vehicle to less than 30km/hr at times. When you are facing a 300km (plus) trip with two little kids in the back seats, and are alone with a shuddering car on a lonely open stretch of highway… well, let’s just say, it ain’t a good feeling.
Quietly sickening actually.
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We nursed it (shuddering, surging, shuddering, surging) to the town/small city where our bull sale was being held and got it to the dealership.
We need this problem looked at” we said.
Sure. No worries. Want us to do a service while you are here? said they.
OK. As long as you fix this problem.
Oh and can you look at the back door too? It’s jamming… said we.
Ten hours later, we went to pay and pick up the keys.
All fixed – we cleaned the air filter, said they confidently as they handed over an exorbitant bill for their efforts.
Great – and the back door? said we, sucking in oxygen after registering the cost of their day’s work.
Oh, said they, we couldn’t get it open to check it out.
Ummm that … thought I…. would be our problem!
And this semi-comical oversight would be an omen of things to come.
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For less than 80km from picking up the freshly serviced and ‘fixed’ car, the shuddering began once more.
Exactly the same.
The air near the driver’s seat turned blue.
SSB nursed it to the next town.
To another mechanic. One with a great repuation, and whose doors were miraculously open at 4.50pm on a Friday.
Ah, said he sqeezing us into his schedule, the fuel filter, for sure!
Great, said we, can you fix it?
Let me make a phonecall, said he. And he did. Replaced one filthy fuel filter. And soon we were on our way.
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Within a week, the same thing happened. Every time we travelled more than 80km, it would start. Every time we took it to a mechanic, they would diagnose something different. Mostly dust or dirt affected. More money was spent, more parts ordered, more hours invested. And each time, we would think “Finally. It’s fixed!”
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It was with this thought that we left Granite Glen on our holiday trip – some 6 weeks after the problems first surfaced. On the road, filled with anticipation and excitement for our little beach break. Our mates were all organised, rendezvous sorted, eskies packed, kids primed for sand sports of all kinds. Then, approximately 75km into the journey, we felt it. Shudder. Surge. Hesitation. Surge. SSB grew quiet and grim. My fingernails dug into my palms as I tried to stay calm.
Not again.
*Shudder* Would we make it to the next town?
*Shudder* Would we make it to our beach holiday at all?
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Trying to keep the kids amused as we travelled slowly, nursing our sick car onward, we managed to lurch to our beachside town some five hours after leaving home. Unable to get a local mechanic to see us until after the weekend, we decided to put aside our car crisis and enjoy our break. We knew we would be OK with the little around-town trips for the duration. But the journey home was ahead of us… looming. A cloud on our holiday horizon.
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A small one-stop mechanic shop had agreed to fit us in. The owner/mechanic was very nice and asked to repeat the whole saga as he dropped us at the local shopping centre while he diagnosed the problem once and for all. Call me crazy, but a little cynicism crept into my mind as those words left his mouth. It would be nice, mate, thought I, ungraciously. For a freaking change.
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After some three hours of inspection, with no repair work done, he charged us $60 for an opinion. Another part would be needed (in his opinion). Perhaps our local mechanic could order it in when we got home? But (in his opinion) we could rest relatively easy that the car wouldn’t completely stop – well, he couldn’t actually guarantee it, but he was pretty sure.
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So we set off towards Granite Glen knowing that very soon, the trouble would begin. And right on time, it did. Except much worse this time. It got down to 10km/hr at times. And we were unable to pass anything when we were going a half-decent speed. And when we pulled up at a service station, SSB popped the hood and saw the engine cover broken. By the last mechanic. The air turned blue for quite some time. Luckily the kids were still in beach-induced comas in the back seat!
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We struggled on. Kids waking up. Me amusing kids. SSB grimly but gently coaxing our car onward, kilometre by slow kilometre. Sometimes we got up to 100km/hr. But up a steep mountain range, the needle fell back down to just above 0. And the “When are we going to get home, Mum”s began.
You know how you begin to play those car games that drive you a bit nuts even when everything is cruisy? Well I resorted to these, desperately, to maintain some level of sanity in the interior of that lurching car.
What shapes are the clouds, Dash?
Can you see a goat? Oh, a princess, TLW? That’s exactly right!!
Now let’s play ‘I Spy’!
Luckily a pretty sunset helped distract us all for a few minutes.
And we did make it home that night.
And back the 50km to town the next day.
Where ANOTHER mechanic looked at it.
And he said: I know exactly what it is.
And I have fixed it.
Something completely different than previously dealt with.
A sensor filled with dust.
Something SSB could have cleaned himself…
Uh huh.
(Wouldn’t that tear the fork clean out of your nightie?)
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But so far, so good. Two trips to our local town completed with no sign of the shudder.
I have a trip this week that will test our Mechanic Number Five’s bold claim.
A drive to Paradise to help my sister prepare for her wedding.
Without SSB. With TLW.
A 280km journey.
It’s fair to say I am not really looking forward to this drive.
It’s also fair to say that I pray my cynicism proves completely groundless.
…
Wish me luck?
12 Comments
Loulou
Don’t you just love mechanics!
Hope you have a safe and eventless trip out east. Wish your sister all the best from me on her wedding and have a wonderful day. Lou x
Jayne
Our son-in-law-to-be was saying just the other day there’s no decent old fashioned mechanics around anymore who can fix a car without relying on gadgets and gizmos to tell him what the problem is. If the bells and whistles can’t diagnose the problem, then they have no idea where to start!
Fingers crossed and good luck for your solo trip!
Debby
Ooooh. Nothing worse that a sick car. I’m lucky I married my mechanic. We have a pretty good barter set up.
jeanie
The barter system over here never got me any walls built, Deb!! Mind you, in our courtship V did fill in the mailbox, so small mercies.
I know the feeling, sis, and am looking forward to Wednesday.
No meaning but it is sweet – WV is mistise
Pencil Writer
What a saga. Have had a similar experience many years ago. Ours all began with bad gas. I forget how many mechanics, and fuel filters, etc. it took to get us to and from, but when it was all over and one, several things had to be replaced–including the coroded gas tank! Of course, since we could prove where we bought gas, the oil company actually, yes, miracle of miracles pick up the tab!
Oh, and I’m not sure I want to know, but what the heck do you mean when you say “Wouldn’t that tear the fork out of your nightie? A euphemism, I’m thinking. I am a bit naive, I’m afraid.
I pray you great success (and no future trips to the car mechanics) on your trip to/from Jeanies. Prayers for a lovely wedding for her and V–and all involved in it’s success and celebration!
My word verication may be related to the troubles your vehicle has been recently experiencing: thoxic ;-}
Kate
Wow! I am so sorry about your car! I am very lucky to have a dad and three brothers who love to work on cars and they get plenty of chances between my old Jeep and the families four Toyota trucks. We love our Toyota’s and they keep multiplying 🙂 Mechanics are a pain in the tush though! My wiper motor just went out and they want hundreds of dollars to fix it. My dad is doing it… 🙂 Have so much fun at the wedding, i trust we will see pictures! OH! and the WV sounds like something SSB said when he turned the air blue “phitagsf”
Bush Babe
Hey ladies… thanks for sympathies.
LouLou – I DO love mechanics. When they get it right!!! Fingers crossed!
Jayne – couldn’t agree more!
Deb – Am quite jealous at the moment!! I think SSB would have married Tim if he could have saved all the recent dramas!! Well…
Jeanie – I’ll get there if I have to blinkin’ well walk!!
PW – I always thought “tear the fork out of your nightie” was an example of HOW VERY OUTRAGEOUS something was. So bad, that it could tear the fork out of something that doesn’t HAVE a fork. Anyone else??
Kate – hmmmm. Can I borrow Deb’s Tim AND your Dad and brothers?? Pretty please??
Oh, and PW and Kate? Together I think your WV’s have identified my mechanical issues: thoxic phitagsf!!
🙂
BB
dykewife
luck is wished for you.
i hope it stays fixed.
Pencil Writer
BB–By George, I think you’ve got it! Then you can add this WV, too! malistes. It is to laugh!
Tami
I have a jeep that ‘susposedly’ needed a new transmission 40,000 miles ago. It’s sticky the tranny. Sometimes it shifts, sometimes it doesn’t. If ya know how to drive it…you can make it shift. It’s better in the summer then in the winter.
The end result is that I’ve put 40,000 miles on it without changing the tranny. Much to the disdain of several mechanics and my father. Well…that’s not 100% accurate. My father insisted I need a new tranny about 30,000 miles ago. And I said ‘nah…it’s just got a little computer hitch or somethin’. But now he’s a believer too.
Bush Babe
Tami – you are a braver woman than I…
UPDATE: it’s doing it again!!! Oh dear Lord… it’s going to be the trip from Hell!
Fingers crossed
:-0
BB
rhubarbwhine
I was expecting green gilled child photos then, by the header!
Hope it’s fixed for good, BB