Off Road

You may recall our exploits in Albania last summer. Whilst following the instructions of that damned Pratt Nav, poor Jezebel was taken up an Albanian goat track up the side of a mountain, miles from civilization. Off roading at it's most serious. Well, most serious that you would want to take an elderly camper van on anyway.
Well, she's been off road again. Not in the Albanian sense, more like just not able to get her on the road for any length of time. Firstly it was the MOT. The grim faced mechanic presented me with a list of requirements running to several pages. He even likened my van to Bambi as he pointed out that the rear wheels were pushed out at the bottom and it would need hundreds of pounds worth of welding. So, a few weeks parked up at Hairyman's before he was able to rectify the welding issues and get her road legal once more.
"She's running well" were his parting words as I pulled away, gleefully clutching the new MOT certificate. Two miles further on I was cursing him. Jezebel slowly ground to a halt at the side of the road and refused to start again. Fortunately, my discrete van had been noticed by Speccy Dave, barely 3 vehicles behind me. With some minor tinkering and a short tow, she was running smoothly once more. She got home and most of the way to work later on. Not the smoothest of rides though as we limped in to the police station on 3 cylinders, coughing, spluttering and back firing. At the end of the shift, at 7am I was in no mood for fighting with a misbehaving van. I abandoned her in the car park with her flat battery and got a lift home.
So, there she stayed for much of January. I made a few attempts to work out what her problems were. There are only so many times you can fiddle with the HT leads though. I even tried putting fuel in her.
Finally, after a month or so, we had success. Using the car to jump start her, bizarrely, she burst in to life. I headed for home as fast as I possibly could. About 5 mph as it turned out, as she seemed to be running on 2 cylinders.
Two hundred metres down the road, I pulled over, overcome with the embarrassment of having a line of cars, including a Smart car held up behind me. Once she had pulled over and stalled, she wouldn't start again. Nothing for it but to call out Green Flag and Mike the recovery driver for yet another drive of shame.
So, there she sits at present, on the driveway. I have made some improvements, she goes now, but still isn't quite right. The slightest hill has her spluttering and backfiring, but I think I know what the issue is. Some more inlet manifold gaskets ordered and will be fitted as soon as it stops raining. She will run properly again....one day.
In the mean time, my article that I wrote for the VW Camper and Commercial magazine has hit the press at last. A four page spread no less, mainly showing Jezebel off roading a couple of thousand miles across Europe. Oh to have a healthy van once more.....