Came back from holiday in Newquay, Cornwall on Sunday.
While on holiday I noticed one time that when I started the Elgrand up there was a whine from the engine bay that could have been the PAS pump, alternator or water pump. I ordered a new water pump to be delivered to me in Cornwall in case I needed to fit it, no coolant leaks etc. Next day started the engine and the whine was there again, this time I checked the voltage using the voltmeter a previous owner had fitted next to the lighter socket in the rear luggage area, 12.5v so the alternator wasn't charging, I ordered an alternator to be delivered to me in Newquay.
The noise went away, I drove it around on increasingly long trips and still no problem. There had been a previous PAS fluid leak from the PAS pump but I'd changed the PAS pump. Thought/hoped the alternator problem might just be some pas fluid that'd got onto the alternator's commutator and since it seemed to be working as normal again that fluid might have come off and the alternator might be OK, at least last me until we got home.
Used the Elgrand for other trips, some a fair distance, no whining noises, no problems, alternator charging OK.
Then on Friday we went for a drive to Lizard Point, got back to the car, started the engine and the whine was back. Checked the voltage using just the voltmeter in the rear panel the previous owner had fitted, 12.5V so the alternator wasn't charging again :-( Quick everyone back in the car, we need to get back to Newquay before the battery dies!
Made it back to Newquay but not all the way to the campsite, battery died near the town centre. At 6PM I contacted the RAC. Prompted me to download the app. Anything we should know? Yes there are 6 of us in the car including 4 adults, a 6 month old baby (stepdaughter's) and 10 year old. The app said to expect someone to be out between 10pm and 1am. Then the app changed to say expect someone between midnight and 3am. I phoned the RAC again, on hold 20 minutes, "Oh you have a baby in the car, we will raise your priority then". Checked the app again, now it said expect someone at 6am. Everyone else got out of the car and walked the 1 mile to the campsite. I phoned RAC again, another 20+minutes on hold... "We will send a taxi to take everyone except you back to your caravan". When the taxi arrived at around 1am I used it to get me back to the campsite, I removed the battery from the caravan and used the taxi to get me back to the car with the caravan battery. I put the caravan battery on the Elgrand and got back to the campsite no problem, then cancelled the RAC booking / driver who was supposed to be getting to me at 6am. Then had a pot noodle for supper, which left me a lot hungrier than the BBQ I was expecting to be eating lol. Went to bed very tired.
Saturday morning got up and made beans on toast for breakfast. I thought, well I'm tired but can enjoy some breakfast and take my time changing the alternator while everyone else enjoys a walk around Newquay etc, unfortunate I have to change the alternator but at least we have everything we need. Swap the alternator, relax the rest of the day, have a decent tee a bit later on, have a good night's sleep, get up tommorow, pack up and have a steady drive home. We had started the holiday 2 days late because I went to my dad's mate's funeral, when I phoned the site to tell them we'd be late and the reason why the reception told me we could add extra time onto the end of the holiday if we liked to make up for the lost time at the start... So I was thinking we didn't have to be off the pitch until the Sunday morning. I was wrong. They added extra time to the end of our time on the pitch but we still had to be off the pitch by 10am on the Saturday, which was today. So I had a slice and a half of beans on toast (leaving the rest of it because we were short on time for packing up) before helping everyone else pack up (loads of stuff in the awning etc), take the awning down, use the now fully charged Elgrand battery (because I had the foresight to connect it to the caravan charger when I got back back at 1am last night) to start the Elgrand and tow the caravan into the carpark outside the gates. Already knacked from having had little sleep and packing up, I then had to change the alternator, then had to drive 350 miles home, and was still very hungry. But still doable, we'd stop at services on the way home and eat something there, I've always been pretty good at still being able to do the necessary regardless of tiredness / hunger etc, though I am getting a bit older now.
Everyone else went into Newquay. I asked one of the security blokes if they had any axle stands I could borrow. Yes but I'd need to sign a disclaimer in the office in case I hurt myself using them. Then he came back and said the manager had decided I couldn't borrow the axle stands because of elf and safety.. So I had to rely on just my trolley jack while I was under the car changing the alternator with no axle stands. Elf and safety my a*** eh!
It was difficult to disconnect the alternator plug and I partially broke the retaining clip on it but I managed to change the alternator and used a tie wrap to secure the plug in the alternator, which seemed to hold it OK. Fired the engine up at around 830pm... Still not charging, now we're screwed!
Called the AA. "OK sir we'll have a driver with you in 1 hour". I said "Your driver won't be able to fix it, I'm a mechanic and have just fitted a new alternator but it's still not charging". "Yes sir but we still need to send someone to do diagnostics before we arrange a tow truck etc". The AA turned up and time and the driver was great, used to own an Elgrand himself. Did his tests and reckoned the new alternator was duff. I said maybe not, maybe it's a wiring fault etc (I still don't know yet but will be finding out soon when I get it on the ramp and do my own tests, I might even change the alternator and starter loom while I'm at it because I have spares here). Driver said expect a tow truck by 11pm that will take the car, caravan and all 6 of us half the way home then in 'AA Relay' fashion another AA tow truck would take us the rest of the way home. That didn't happen. At 11PM an outside tow truck company (not AA) boss phoned me to say they had a truck on the way. I asked "Did the AA people tell you there are 6 of us including a baby and we are towing a caravan". "No and the towtruck that's on it's way cannot tow a caravan, we'd better cancel that tow truck then". So I called the AA, on hold for 20 minutes, I told them "The towtruck the outside firm was sending couldn't tow a caravan so it has been cancelled". "Er OK sir". Then a towtruck from the outside firm did arrive, pulled into the carpark, I had a chat with the driver "Can this tow truck shift all 6 of us, the car and the caravan?". "Yes we have been told to take you all to Cornwall Services where the AA will pick you up... Oh but hang on, the job has just been cancelled so I can't take you now!". I said "There must be some confusion, your boss was sending another truck that couldn't tow the caravan, you've said this truck can tow the caravan, I expect if you hang on a minute the job will be back on, I will try to contact the AA to see what's going on". I phoned the AA, they said "There's had to be a change of plan, we will send another truck to take your car and caravan to Cornwall services and we will pay for you all to stop in a hotel in Newquay tonight". I said "We will stop in the hotel in Newquay tonight but the car and caravan can stay in this campsite car park tonight so we can still get to them in the morning".
It worked out OK in the end, AA booked 2 rooms for us at Premier Inn in Newquay, car and caravan stayed in the carpark, next morning they sent a tow truck to pick the Elgrand and caravan up from the carpark and the driver picked me up from the hotel. They sent an Enterprise Car Hire 7 seater Ford Tourneo to the hotel. After the Elgrand and caravan had been picked up I walked it back to the hotel, we all got in the hirecar and drove home, the AA dropped the Elrgrand and caravan off at home the next day and Enterprise came to collect their hire car. For breakfast I had 4 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 eggs, hash browns, toast. Then the same again because I was still hungry lol
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Summing up...
Dealings with the RAC on the phone left a lot to be desired. I could/would have been waiting 12 hours in the car for them to arrive just to do a diagnostic then had a further wait for them to send a recovery truck. Shortly after the call handler said she'd be upping our priority the eta went from 12midnight>3am to 6am lol.
Dealings with the AA on the phone were OKish except for a couple of points of confusion that ultimately caused extra delays, seemingly mostly due to it taking too long to correspond between the different AA departments and external recovery firms they use and too long to correspond with their customer (me) during which time circumstances changed and some 'departments' were left behind the times still reacting to info that had become out of date. The outside firm boss reckoned the job had been on then cancelled 3 times due to such confusion and lack of comms.
Had no dealings with RAC drivers but all 3 AA drivers (the initial diagnostics guy, the recovery guy and the delivery guy) were all fantastic and their external guy (who was supposed to be taking us to Cornwall Services) was fantastic too.
Overall despite the confusion and some daft suggestions from the AA call handler guy the service from AA Relay is still fantastic. Diagnostic guy with us within 1 hour (even though a bit futile to send a diagnostics guy when I'd already diagnosed it, but I understand why from their point of view). Would have been great if the AA call handler / internal system had arranged an outside truck that could tow the caravan, the AA blamed the outside firm saying 'it was clearly on the job sheet they sent the outside firm', the outside firm said they were not made aware by the AA that we had a caravan... But if that truck could have moved our setup we could have been in bed at a hotel in Cornwall services by midnight. Still, the outside firm driver stayed with us 'in case the job was put back on again' and although he didn't move the car or caravan he did give us all a lift to the hotel in Newquay. Otherwise the AA would have sent us a taxi to take us to the hotel. The AA booked 2 rooms at the hotel but only paid for one of them, an oversight that I have put a claim in for (with the AA) and they have agreed to reimburse me for (another bit of a cock up by AA phone staff but not a biggie). The AA recovery driver picking me up from the hotel in his big truck before going to the site to pick the Elgrand and caravan up. The AA sending us the Enterprise rental car directly to the hotel. The rental company picking the car up from us after we'd got home. The AA dropping the Elgrand and caravan off earlyish the next day. Difficult not to give them full marks. Considering they'd arranged and paid for everything I almost felt guilty putting a claim in for the £227 hotel room fee but then I remembered I'd been paying subs for 10 years and only ever used their services once before 10 years ago.
This is the 2nd time I've been in a position to almost directly compare the RAC and AA's services and on both occassions the AA has been better than the RAC by a wide margin.
Back home now and been using my silver Elgrand while I've been too busy working on customer Elgrands to look at my own black Elgrand. E.g. Today changed fanbelts, LPG service and AC regas on a customer's Elgrand.
Hope to soon be testing the black one to see if the new replacement alternator is duff or if there's a wiring fault but it may need to wait around a week as I have customer LPG conversion and other customer Elgrand work to do.
- can’t wait, how many sleeps is it ?
