Today we learnt that colour matters. Specifically, the colours black and green. Green is good. Green makes Brian happy. Black is bad. Black is good for the passat, our daily driver, but not for the Brian. Black makes Brian sad and poorly.
For those who think I have lost my mind, I am talking about fuel. Today a basic error was made. One that I saw J make, and it didn't click with me that it was a mistake. One that the children saw J make and again, didn't say anything.
Yes, dear reader, today Brian had his first taste of diesel. His first, and his last. Most definitely his last.
For the record, I don't blame J, and wasn't cross with him at all! We later found out that 3000 people a day do the same thing.
He knew as soon as he'd done it. We gambled that sticking petrol on top would mitigate the issue. Everyone knows petrol into diesel is a new engine (more or less!) but the other way around is survivable. Sometime, you can just dilute the diesel enough that the engine pulls enough petrol to run, albeit like a bag of spanners. Unfortunately, whilst this might work for less than a tenners worth, it didn't for £30.
We found this out about half a mile later, as Brian's engine note changed from his usual deep rumble to a high pitched scream of pain, and smoke began to appear. We pulled over, engine off, hazards on, the children shot up into the undergrowth like baby deer and we grabbed phones and a blanket and got the heck out.
(ALWAYS GET AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE WHEN YOU STOP ON THE HARD SHOULDER!)
It became clear that Brian was not on fire and that we were phoning RAC not 999.
Regular readers will remember the AA debacle, and this is why Brian now has specific RAC coverage, through the Caravan and Camping Club. Except when I phoned up, I was told it had been cancelled. I was incandescent. I informed the (very lovely) lady that the membership hadn't been cancelled, that I had two children on the side of the M1, not to mention my beautiful camper, and a partner who was kicking himself harder than a camel with Doc Martins on. She checked the postcode and found the membership.
Hurrah!
Understandably, this was not covered because it was driver error, and they arranged local people to come and drain Brian's tank and flush it, and put petrol in him. My heart sank. Local chaps? After last time?
I went with it. Local chaps phoned, (Richford Motor Services) established exactly where we were, and said the wouldn't send the fuel van out because we had children on a motorway, and they would flatbed us in. How very considerate!
The chap who turned up was cheerful, efficient, and teased us enough to be friendly. He knew what he was doing, checked the best place to put the hawser to winch him up with, and off we went!
The boys were not traumatised by this at all!
Now, so many people do this wrong fuel thing, that some firms, such as the lovely Richford Motor Services, have specialised vans to deal with it!
This van is awesome. It is tricked out with a pumping machine, a storage tank thing, tools and kit and various amazing stuff.
This is the machine working. Alright, I'm being slightly nerdy and easily impressed, but hey.
I'm like that.
After removing all the fuel, the engine bay was de-fueled with a special stuff.
It was even jet washed out to ensure there was no fuel left that could cause a problem.
Of course, starting Brian was a little tricky. He was quite sulky.
However, he did start, he did burn the remaining molecules of diesel out, we paid the £210, and we did make it up to All Things Timber so that we could talk about Brian's interior. I'll blog that properly later.
Richford Motor Services were lovely, laid-back, made an excellent brew, extremely careful, teased us nicely, (we deserved it!) and reassured us that Brian would be fine. Thanks chaps!
So. Lesson learned? We hope so! Spraying the filler cap green tomorrow......
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone so don't mock the spelling and I'll be back later to sort the layout!
