It's been a while since I updated here.
Short version: As expected, I've fallen hopelessly in love with this van. Though she is still in search of a name.
I know I'm not normal, but it's the least stressful and tiring car to drive out of any that I think I've ever owned. The Xantia is probably level in terms of just being able to dispatch motorways and have me get out feeling fresh though. Driving it just feels "right" to me, and has had me taking the long way to get places.
Given she had done so few miles in the last half a decade, I'd been making a point of using it as much as possible as a daily driver.
Two reasons for this really. Firstly that I've long ago learned that disuse is the worst thing for any car. As such I was expecting as she got more miles under her wheels that she'd run sweeter. Secondly, I wanted any of the inevitable gremlins that would surface to do it close to home.
Only had two so far.
[] First one was a sudden failure of the indicators, accompanied by smoke pouring out from under the dash. Cause for this was quickly traced to a short in the wiring to the offside indicator repeater. Well, actually traced to the lamp holder having been pulled clear out of it and floating around in the wing. New unit and a replaced fuse restored sanity.
[] Second was more spectacular from within the cab, and definitely had me scratching my head for longer. Was on my way back home, just got to the top of a hill, having dropped to fourth just to save the last couple of mph for the last bit before the top...when all hell broke loose underneath the van it sounded like. Based on prior failures I've had or been present during my first guess was that one of the universal joints on the propshaft had exploded.
Instinctively put the clutch in, and started scanning for a safe place to pull over. Realised after a second or two that the noise had stopped. Odd...so I (very) tentatively let the clutch back out and checked if I still had drive. I did. Slightly surprised but definitely not complaining I decided to gently continue for the next half mile or so to the nearest filling station as I wasn't in a great place to stop.
My theories at that point were a bit less sure, but mainly centred around part of the very well past its best exhaust having come adrift and touched the propshaft or possibly some of the very shabby splash guards having come apart in the engine bay and having got itself eaten by the cooling fan. Either way, the violence with which the event had happened meant it should be easy to see the culprit.
Yeah, about that theory. Not at all obvious! Nothing was obviously hanging off...the horribly rattly exhaust was still all present and still rattling, there were no obvious witness marks on the fan blades, nor any other obvious signs of carnage. I was stumped...so headed for home very carefully.
It took me a further few hours and a random look in the right direction to find it.
This is the centre support bearing for the propshaft and the sliding joint attached to allow for the movement of the back axle.
This joint should have a rubber boot covering it, not dissimilar to the one you'd see on the end of a steering rack. Said rubber boot was conspicuous by its absence. The pieces then fell into place. That boot, not too happy about being pressed back into service had split...being attached to a propshaft spinning at an alarming rate however means that rather than just splitting like a CV boot, it had pretty much atomised. The apparent violence it had happened with though still puzzled me - right up to the point that I realised that directly above the rubber boot in question is the handbrake cable. I think that while the disintegrating boot was flailing around, it's whacked the handbrake cable - which in the cab would resonate nicely and sound like the world was ending.
By this point I had amassed a reasonable shopping list, mostly normal service items, but a few oddball bits too. The biggest problem I ran into with that boot was finding places which would sell it on its own rather than with the whole centre bearing or places which could actually verify it was what I needed.
Salvation came from what I initially thought was an unlikely direction - one which was only investigated on a whim because I found myself in the area with time to kill. Mercedes themselves, in this case the main dealer in Milton Keynes.
They treated me like royalty the moment I walked in the door, and even more surprisingly (to me), were in seconds able to find what I needed. What really made my jaw hit the floor was that not only were they any to provide the usual stuff like brake pads, but they were even able to provide me with a replacement lens for the warning light on the dash for the indicators (mine was cracked). They couldn't have been more helpful, and the prices were no more expensive than those online, and I know the parts aren't made of Chineseium. Massive thumbs up...I really wasn't expecting them to even have a parts list for a van that's not been made for 23 years. PSA, please follow this example...
The next few weeks flew by (well, save for the heat exhaustion due to the weather) as I was frantically trying to get the living area vaguely inhabitable so we could take it away for a holiday over the weekend just passed.
Did I manage?
Yep! After spending far too long sitting doing nothing, she was used as intended this last weekend.
440 miles covered, and not a beat missed, even if the hole in the exhaust silencer is getting rather larger...has managed somewhere just north of 23mpg too, which I'm very impressed with.
Still a load to do, but she's getting there. Bathroom in particular is still in need of quite a few things done (not least finding an appropriate sink), but we're getting there.
Now I'm not scrambling for a deadline on the van, I'll hopefully get a bit more love sent the way of the Invacar as it's not been touched in a few weeks.
One thing I've not been able to do for the van het is to give it a good exterior clean... really need to do that as it's covered in moss and the paint is utterly flat.
Definitely need to try to get it along to a show before the season is totally over for the year.
I also really need to get some more appropriate wheel trims fitted...these Halfords £5 specials are driving me mad...