Fingers crossed its nothing major Bob.

A further update on the failure...........
 

.............................. of the recovery company. After me making a second phone call to find out where the truck was they said it would be here by 10.30, 30 minutes later than I was told.

What turns up? A small van. Having now explained the mechanic he then precedes to report in that the car will not start and needs recovering by flat bed to MJS. He apologised for the mix up. And then having the office contacting him he tells me the low loader will not be here till 12.30.

I’m currently on the phone to the office to find out why no low loader. Why send a small van? Nice lady on the other end of the phone has gone to speak to her supervisor.

Right that nice lady has now phoned me back to tell me that the recovery company had to send a small van as that is their company policy to confirm the car will not start. She asked the recovery company then why they did say that they was sending a flat bed when it was obviously a lie. They came back with load of tosh.

So now the update is that there should be flat bed here by Noon. I’ve kept MJS informed of the outcome.
Michael has kept me topped up with tea.

Have broken down again.......................
 

............................ Waiting on recovery which will not be with till almost 10pm.

After this mornings problems I was finally collected and taken to MJS. Martin could find nothing wrong, he checked everything but she started OK and ran sweetly. He waited till she got up to temperature and the fan kicked in, then turned itself off as it normally would. He plugged in the magic box but no fault codes were evident. Martin then took her for a road test and she behaved.

It was then up to me whether I took a chance at getting home or finding a hotel and staying overnight but I decided to take a chance. Everything was fine till I got 33 miles up the road, then without warning everything went dead. My managed to get the hazards on a coasted to a stop. No hard shoulder just some zig zags. I was almost on the M27. But now in a dangerous position. I have never been so scared in my life. Had to phone the police to come to my rescue. They got me out of the car and safely over the barrier.

To cut long story short I was collected by one recovery company and taken to there yard in Havant. Banana was then transferred to another flat bed. They were taking part of the way then a second flat bed would collect me and take me all the way home.

And that is where I'm now, waiting the second flatbed that is coming from Weymouth to collect me. No other trucks available. Not expected to get to me till about 10pm. So I'm sat in a Tesco's car park in Hamble waiting to be collected. Luckily my small ipad has picked up a signal so that I can get the good news to you all.

Will report with further news when I can.

Crikey Bob, banana is not playing ball at all!!

I'd recommend T4 to check all live data, something must show up somewhere to cause a stop like that.

That car is so ungrateful after all you have done for her, :eek: cant be anything serious other wise she wouldn't have got you 33 miles up the road, hope you get it sorted pretty soon.

Rev

Bob if you don't feel you can tackle the whole trip tonight get the driver to drop you off close to Weymouth and I'll pop out and pick you up and you can overnight with us and then I'll run you home in the morning.

Very kind of you Ian but I’m home now, at 2am Tuesday morning. Totally exhausted by the whole affair. Will no doubt sleep for a week.

Will give you all an update at some point.

I know how you feel Bob, I had trouble all night with my sheet tangling round my feet in bed - Seriously, you must be absolutely bushed, I hope the new day brings better news for you.
Fred (planenut)

A nice man in a YELLOW Van...................
 

................................................ came to Banana’s rescue.

Allen came round this morning and between us we checked all the earth points, everything seemed to be ok. Banana started perfectly ok and ticked over sweetly. No mis fire, no irregularities in the tick over. We let her sit there till she was up to temperature and the fan kicked in, ran for a minute then it shut down as per norm.

Allen suggested that we took it to the garage he uses out near Truelfoot, but I was dubious about driving her. Last place I wanted to breakdown was on the A38 had one scare yesterday, and didn’t want another one. Doubt if my heart could take it.
So Allen took me out to the garage in Ratty. We explained to the guv’nor the faults. He thought it was the crankshaft sensor. If I could get the car out there then they would have a look. I asked if the 19 plate Aston Martin Vantage was the courtesy car. That was a NO then. Belonged to one of the bosses.

Then Allen hit upon an idea, he was able to call out the AA, as he is covered by the policy in relation to whatever car he is in. So back home we went and phoned the AA at 11.30, and by 11.45 the YELLOW van was here.
He plugged the large box of tricks in and the fault was...........
........................................ fuel pump relay.

Possibly the crankshaft sensor could also be at fault but the code pointed at the fuel pump relay. He swapped a couple of relays around and the fault code went out. So that look st to be the fault.
So with the towing eye back in place, as a precaution, I led the AA van with Ratty following we drove up to Allen’s garage and Banana never missed a beat. Pulled up the steep hills like the proverbial train.

Parked outside the garage. The AA man told the guv’nor that he had left the fault codes on the system, pointed out the swapped relays and suggested that the crankshaft sensor be changed just in case. And with that he was gone. So Banana is now in yet another garage. As soon as she is ready, I’m in no rush, Allen will run me back out there to collect her.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THEIR OFFERS OF HELP, ADVICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN ME GETTING THIS SORTED.

Means a lot to be a member of a great club.

I’ll continue the story re meeting my long lost friend tomorrow.

Photo of our 3rd ride on a flatbed.

Wow, and hopefully that's it.

What a rapid turn out from the AA, and it appears, complete with someone who knew their business.