Dodgy breakdown storys

[Citroenmad]

I remember those pictures from years back Andrew, a real shame, i imagine it was very upsetting.


Ive only ever been in 3 breakdowns that i can think of. The worst being a Bentley Turbo (who says these big old Volvos dont break!)

At the time the car was about 7 years old, it belonged to a friend of my dads who was complaining of a noise on the gearbox. So we picked it up and went for a drive to see about this noise. One of the main routes out of our town is though a little village to get onto the main dual carrigeway (A19). We were sat waiting to turn right, which ment we would have to cross the first dual lanes, stop in the middle and then set off down the other side of the dual carrigeway and be on our way. This sounds iffy and its quite an accident spot, but its often used.

So, we were stoppped wating to cross the first two lanes, there was a gap in the traffic so we set off to the middle. There was a loud bang and the car shot to the middle of the road, just, where it stopped with no drive, the gearbox had failed in a big way. So there we were in the middle of a very busy dual carrigeway with no drive, forward or back in a huge Bentley. This caused all kinds of problems for people wanting to cross over the other way.

We rang around a few friends who had 4x4s to see if they could pull us back. Someone came with a rangerover and a extremely short rope. So we coupled them up and set off back accross the main road. Luckily it had got quieter by then. Towing a Bentley with a 1metre rope tight country lanes was a bit of a bit iffy mind.

Another breakdown ive been in was a Rolls Royce Phantom, a 1960s model, built like a truck. It broken down due to an electrical problem one evening. We rang the RAC to come and collect us, who arrived about 4 hours later at 2am in a very tiny truck. The Rolls was loaded on with its rear wheels only just fitting onto the trucks body. On another occasion this car cought fire due to an electrial problem. Luckily it was put out before a lot of damage had been caused. Not very interesting but i dont really care to go in a Rolls or a Bentley again, ill stick with Citroens, they are far more reliable!

[addo]

One time after complete failure of a car, I ended up in a small coastal town with almost no money and nowhere to stay. Looking for a place to sleep rough before hitching in daylight, I broke into an almost completed office building - and promptly had to escape the guard Rottweilers!

Broke down on the side of a major highway once in the 405 (alternator brushes wore to nowt). An acquaintance later said he thought it looked like me there, but he was too busy to stop and pick me up.

Nearly ran out of fuel on a back road, Sunday night. Bear in mind that in Australia, this can easily put you a twenty or more mile walk from anyone else...

[jgra1]

most of my recent calls for help have been a bit nasty..
the first was taking the girlfriend on our first outing in the commer camper van.. We had spent ages painting it and welding floors in and so on.. finally we were off, packed on a winter Friday night full of food she had brought that day.. everything was going fine, even though it was dark cold wet and miserable on the roads.. a few hours later, got within 10 miles of our first overnight stop near stonehenge, and just where the A303 intersects with the A34, the oil pressue light came on
I called for help and the patrol came after about 20 mins.. we diagnosed low oil pressure and then he called for a flat bed.. we were in middle of nowhere, and freezing.. I thought of putting the heater on in the van, not realising that calor gas becomes useless under a certain temp.. it had been sitting in an underbelly locker and had gone below 5C or so..

a vicous circle, had I have left it somewhere warmer, it would have worked, we would have been comfortable, and the gas pressure would have continued to get stronger..

many many hours later, by this time destitute, along comes the flat bed, all the way home got to the house, put key in and she ran and no oil light

final dianosis was that the oil relief valve was sometimes sticking when engine was hot .. grrrrr... tried the trip again the next day, and then continued all around devon / somerset coasts etc with not too many other problems.. final call to patrol man was because a peice of debris was getting caught in the points gap.. a distributor build on side of road and all was ok