Saturday, February 11, 2006

must...vent...now...before...head...explodes

Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
And double-Grrrrrrrrrrr.
My freakin' VW camper. We need to get rid of it because it doesn't work with the goob's booster seat and we want a different van anyway. So last May I sent it away with this guy who takes them, gets them all gussied up and sells them. He was supposed to do this for me and take a cut. He's done it many times and has a good reputation. He didn't really do crap. He let it sit all during the prime selling season and did not work on it. Finally, in September, I gave up and got it back from him.

One thing he was supposed to do when he had it was investigate why it occasionally missed when driven under load at freeway speed. He said he checked it out and it ran fine. But when he dropped it off, he said, "Oh, I think you need to get it checked out. It was missing when I drove it at freeway speeds." Uh, duh.

So, a few weeks later, in the beginning of October, I took it to the best shop in town with the VW/Porsche guru. I thought it would take a week or so. It sat. And sat. And sat. I'd call and he'd tell me how busy he is and promise to get to it. Finally, last week, he spent a little time on it. He found some debris in a fuel line and blew it out. Yesterday afternoon, more than four months after dropping it off, we picked it up. WooHoo! Finally! Now I can detail it and get it sold. Sigh of relief. We came home, even though I thought we should test drive it, because we picked it up at 5pm on a Friday, which is not a good time to break down on the freeway.

This morning I took it out for a drive, deciding it would be good to bond with it and feel the love again before spending the next few days detailing it for sale. And it's doing the same damn thing. It made it just as far as it ever does before starting to sputter on the freeway. So I pulled off, came home, and slammed a bunch of doors. I'm trying to contain the cussing, but it's very difficult. Very very difficult.

4 Comments:

Blogger Somebody's Mom said...

Sometimes shuddering, sometimes it just seems labored, sometimes it's a more violent kachunk kachunk. It's been happening for a few years, so we just haven't driven it because nobody has fixed it. Mostly because they won't test drive it enough to freakin' diagnose it properly. Sometimes we hear, "It must be electrical." Sometimes we hear, "It must be related to the fuel system."

It has been flushed, grounded, tested for this and that. But nobody will just try to drive it to Avila Beach. It always does it to me before I even reach the Avila offramp.

A guy that works at Trader Joe's has the same bus. He turned me on to a mechanic he found. I'm making the call next week. Sigh. Here we go again.

4:55 AM  
Blogger Lesley said...

What year is it?

1:41 PM  
Blogger Somebody's Mom said...

Dude, what are you smokin'? It's been 2006 for a month and a half!

Oh, you mean, the bus? It's a '78.

3:03 PM  
Blogger Lesley said...

Shit, that is the second implied pot usage joke I've had in 24 hours! Do I *look* like a stoner? Har Har Har.

So, here is what you do: you start now, driving very very slowly, and give it to us. We will feed you and put you up for the night, and you can hitch your way home. :)

6:47 PM  

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