Been away to France - again - but this time Turby Diesel decided to pack it in for a short while.
Just one hour into our sunny return journey to Ireland.
Cruising the max.speed on the Autoroute with sunroof open, we surprisingly both heard the warning beep of the computer. Again...
It had beeped before stating that all of a sudden the rear door was open...apparently the force of the wind combined with high speed can cause the door to open but not this time - one glance was enough to see the temp. gauge was in the red and the red warning lights on so I stopped as soon as possible.
A lot of coolant under the car and some bad words later cause we had a ferry to catch, I decided to quickly check the hoses and radiator. Got the front wheel off and checked the hose behind the plastic cover but couldn't find the leak even though it was all very very wet there. Water put back in the header tank, didn't drop out.... and here I should have known it wasn't the water pump but still I thought it was....stupid me. Time was limited because the Gendarmerie arrived and the road maintenance crowd so I had no option but to call for help.
Without the help of AA or any other, we still managed to get a tow truck and were lifted off in about 15 minutes and literally dumped at the drivers garage.
Only what we didnt' know that it wasn't a working garage which I had specifically asked for. Worse, the driver went away for lunch, leaving us in the hot sun without anything. When he returned, he got another call and away he was again. This, is where I should have started looking seriously for this leak because I would have found it there and then. But I was thrown off by the remark of the road maintenance worker who 'expertly' stated it was the water pump....he'd seen it so many times, had had Xm's etc.etc.
The wife of the driver had arrived and took all those hours making bills so enormous, normal people work a full week or more for that kind of money....I asked her and her man 3 times to ring the citroen garage to see if they had time and means to look at the car, but no that wasn't necessary....At least I was driven in an old 205 to the nearest ATM because I could only pay cash...
When we were finally put back on the truck we were literally dropped off at a citroen garage at about 5 minutes distance and left there.
From here on the nightmare ended almost because the mechanic on duty was ill.....
however there was a small rescue van just about leaving without any cars to the main citroen garage so we left our trailer, got the XM on and here we went a long way to the garage of La Blanche.
To be honest, my experience with citroen garages over the years have been so bad, I would never normally not go to one but this case, proved more positive.
The XM got unloaded straight away and the boss immediately started looking for the problem and soon found out there was a leaking water hose somewhere behind the fuel pump. Mechanics started working straight away and we got coffee and a lot attention. Also because of captain Haddock using his usual dog charms on each and everybody.
Turby must have liked all that professional the attention in between other XM's, C6's, 2cv's and even yellow cactusses and after trying various hoses they actually found an original one which wasn't in their stock list so we hardly payed anything for it. I overheard that conversation and they knew our predicaments with the first tow truck so all in all they charged us only 75 euro's for all.
OK, we weren't that happy as it was our wedding anniversary, we had missed the ferry, somebody ruined the hinges of the arm rest and Liz's white shoes but hey, we were all driving again. Oh yeah, at undoing the plugs of the thermostat the professionals didn't think it necessary to put the metal clips back but all in all we were on the road again and made it home safe and trouble free.
It has always been a calculated risk to drive abroad in old cars but it has been the first time I got stranded. Road assistance abroad for Irish drivers with cars older than 10 years, I have yet to find, in case one wonders. I do have road assistence in Ireland and the UK but of course it didn't decide to split there
I am going to try and replace all hoses for newly made ones in the coming months and have a think about the radiator...and some other parts maybe:) for I won't hesitate to drive abroad again. Also I will inform all the road assitance companies that I can think of like the AA, ADAC, ANWB etc.etc. about the day light robbery we have had the pleasure to endure.
And having the use of a lift too. You're living the dream!!!