Welcome to the pre-Christmas catch up! Unfortunately, not much work has been able to be done on the van over the past few months with everything going on. We do hope to get back out there soon and perhaps do a ‘lock in’ and work on the electrics inside. For now though, we do still have some updates!

MOT Time…

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This month was rather tense with the build up to Gandalf’s MOT, he’s a 2009 van and with his noble age carries more of a risk of problems. Last December we were unfortunately hit with a bill of £637 for the brakes, right before Christmas. This time around we planned to get the van serviced prior to the test, particularly as we have one unresolved issue from last time and had also noticed a new issue.

Last Year…

Last year despite the brake pads, sensors and a calliper being replaced the garage failed to diagnose and fix a warning light that we’d had on the dash. The ESP and tire symbol were sometimes lighting up, this could happen as soon as the van was started, but at other times it didn’t come on until 20 minutes or so into the drive and sometimes not at all. Despite Ben repeatedly asking them to look into it they did not, citing that the light did not come on during the overnight stay with them.

We wanted this experience to be different, particularly as last year turned out to be a massive scramble. We’d booked the van in ages in advance, the day came and we arrived early to a local garage only to be told they cannot MOT vehicles that size! Why they even booked the van in was a mystery, it was especially frustrating as our test was due on that day. I hastily googled every local garage in the area hoping to find somewhere suitable for dear old Gandalf, somewhere that could take him in that day. I eventually found a garage, though it happened to be a little out of town. It ended up being an absolute pain to get there and back but we felt we had little choice.

This Year…

This time around with the ESP light still coming on intermittently and after discovering a problem around the passenger sides rear brake area, it was imperative to find somewhere good. We also planned on getting the van serviced alongside the test in order to fix the aforementioned issues, plus some new oil never hurt!

There may be trouble ahead…

Both Ben’s parents and ourselves spent time looking for somewhere suitable near by. We had hoped to get Gandalf booked in with a Mercedes specialist but in the end we went with local commercial garage that came highly recommended. All booked in the day came and we headed over confident that there would not be a repeat of the previous year’s scramble. Upon arrival we were very pleased to see lots of other vans in the yard, especially the magnificent and well looked after Commer truck that had been branded with garages name. We left the van in good hands taking the bus home and waited anxiously for news.

The Verdict…

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The news came in towards the end of the day, Kevin had discovered an issue with our exhaust pipe, it was flapping around. Oh no we thought! What nightmare are we in for now, but he chirpily explained that we didn’t need a new one and that he’d just welded it back in place. It was all fixed, this came as our first relief of the day! Next he went on to say that he’d managed to fix that pesky ESP light! We were both overjoyed at this point, as it had felt rather uncomfortable having the light come on whilst driving. He told us that it was an issue with the sensor, funnily enough on the passengers rear brake. He mentioned that the sensor was rusted in the he had to drill it out! After replacing it with a new one and with the service itself going well, Gandalf was ready to be collected, having passed with flying colours!

We hastily headed over and paid the bill, which was less than the previous years but still a chunk to have to cover right before Christmas. The majority of the bill was due to the full service we’d had done and not the fixing of the other issues. Having finished his workday Kevin chatted to us expressing interest in the conversion, with he himself also converting a sprinter van. We traded ideas and he was particularly impressed with the Truma.

All in all a good day, and many thanks to John and Linda for graciously covering the costs of the patch ups of Gandalf. He is now ready to get back on the road and cannot wait for his next day out and next van session with you!