Car trouble
Yesterday I had my first day at Rev'it, but since I can't even seem to get around to talking with Eisirt about my first day, I'm not going to even go to the trouble of typing it up here. :-(
At five I climbed into my car, ready to drive home. But soon a light started blinking on my dashboard, so I pulled into a petrol station and checked the manual. It's a warning to slow down, stop if you can, and wait until the light stops blinking -- it has to do with "air pollution" but can indicate incomplete combustion or trouble with the catalyst. Blinking does look urgent, though.
After the blinking stopped, I resumed my trip but the light was back, so I pulled into an industrial park, stopped, took a little video and sent it to Raphael, my stepbrother car mechanic. He agreed "not good" confirmed "don't continue your trip" and advised to call the ANWB (en-route service and help for members. I'm not a member.)
Instead, I called the nearby Renault dealership, who suggested coming to them, having a coffee while a 24-hour mechanic was called to the scene. Because I have Aurum in service with an official Renault dealership, the 24-hour mechanic was a little loyalty bonus from Renault and should be free to call. Any repairs and parts would still need to be paid, of course.
So I sat in the showroom -- which was open until 8 pm -- drinking coffee and knitting. The mechanic showed up and tinkered with my car for a bit. He initially thought it was an engine coil (I've had a broken coil before), but was inconclusive. Then he read the on-board computer out, and came up with "cylinder 1" being the bad guy. All in all, pretty inconclusive, and not something he could further investigate on the Renault 24-h service. He warned me they were pretty busy, but I could leave Aurum there and have them take a look at it later on.
He then dropped me off in Veghel at the bus station half way home. I bought two saucijzenbroodjes for my dinner (ugh) and proceeded to wait for a bus. I was finally home by half past eight and crashed on the couch, nearly falling asleep while knitting (a first).
Today I had more appointments and Eisirt was busy gaming. Work has been hitting him hard, working each night this week and not enough down-time. By the time I returned from my appointment this afternoon, he was already gone to work.
By three, I called the garage. They were very busy and could not answer my call, but I left my name and number and license plate so they could get back to me.
And I just called again, ten minutes to five on a Friday afternoon, to make sure I have an update before the weekend actually starts. They had switched out the coil but that didn't work, they switched spark plugs so that didn't work, and now they have to run more tests.
I'm afraid this will be a very expensive thing to fix when and if they finally figure out what's wrong with Aurum. For now, I'll have to go rent a car to get to my grandmother's birthday party on Sunday and to work on Monday.
To be continued...
At five I climbed into my car, ready to drive home. But soon a light started blinking on my dashboard, so I pulled into a petrol station and checked the manual. It's a warning to slow down, stop if you can, and wait until the light stops blinking -- it has to do with "air pollution" but can indicate incomplete combustion or trouble with the catalyst. Blinking does look urgent, though.
After the blinking stopped, I resumed my trip but the light was back, so I pulled into an industrial park, stopped, took a little video and sent it to Raphael, my stepbrother car mechanic. He agreed "not good" confirmed "don't continue your trip" and advised to call the ANWB (en-route service and help for members. I'm not a member.)
Instead, I called the nearby Renault dealership, who suggested coming to them, having a coffee while a 24-hour mechanic was called to the scene. Because I have Aurum in service with an official Renault dealership, the 24-hour mechanic was a little loyalty bonus from Renault and should be free to call. Any repairs and parts would still need to be paid, of course.
So I sat in the showroom -- which was open until 8 pm -- drinking coffee and knitting. The mechanic showed up and tinkered with my car for a bit. He initially thought it was an engine coil (I've had a broken coil before), but was inconclusive. Then he read the on-board computer out, and came up with "cylinder 1" being the bad guy. All in all, pretty inconclusive, and not something he could further investigate on the Renault 24-h service. He warned me they were pretty busy, but I could leave Aurum there and have them take a look at it later on.
He then dropped me off in Veghel at the bus station half way home. I bought two saucijzenbroodjes for my dinner (ugh) and proceeded to wait for a bus. I was finally home by half past eight and crashed on the couch, nearly falling asleep while knitting (a first).
Today I had more appointments and Eisirt was busy gaming. Work has been hitting him hard, working each night this week and not enough down-time. By the time I returned from my appointment this afternoon, he was already gone to work.
By three, I called the garage. They were very busy and could not answer my call, but I left my name and number and license plate so they could get back to me.
And I just called again, ten minutes to five on a Friday afternoon, to make sure I have an update before the weekend actually starts. They had switched out the coil but that didn't work, they switched spark plugs so that didn't work, and now they have to run more tests.
I'm afraid this will be a very expensive thing to fix when and if they finally figure out what's wrong with Aurum. For now, I'll have to go rent a car to get to my grandmother's birthday party on Sunday and to work on Monday.
To be continued...