Serenities swansong.

Now it's been a fair old time since I wrote anything and in reality I think todays post is made out of  guilt.

It does not help though that suitable events to record have been in short supply. Serenity, my step daughter, usually a reliable source of mayhem has become seriously infected with sense and is living a normal and fairly sane life. She does however have children who seem to have picked up the torch and accepted the challenge.....

A quiet weekend afternoon, in so far as it's possible for any afternoon in a household of 2 infants to be quiet, and the phone rang:

Grampy

Yes

My car won't start.

OK

Can you come and help

What about the AA?

I'm not a member (some while back, after a previous event it had been suggested that 7.50 a month might be a wise investment but hey ho)

OK, where are you?

Carmarthen (Oh joy, 35 miles to drive)

Where in Carmarthen?

The garage (sort of narrows it down, there can't be more than 12 garages in Carmarthen, thinks I)

Anyway a little more discourse, the van packed with tools, a solo tow, trailer board and gear away I went. Away I went into the weather biblical,  wind howled, rain hammered into the windscreen, exactly not the day to be trying to start cars.  Less than an hours driving and I rolled up at the offending vehicle. Where to  start?

As the rain hammered down I got out of the cab and approached the stricken voiture. What appeared to be the problem, asked I, Serenity junior,  a master of the motor car was able to offer a comprehensive answer - it would not start. Had she misfueled the vehicle? No, she had, simply loaded the car with unleaded and then it would not start.  What had she spotted when she checked under the bonnet? I was greeted with a look of bewilderment that she might step out of the car into the howling rainstorm to do any investigating, it was wet out there. This was something I was becoming more and more aware of and needed no help from Serenity Jnr to tell.

Through the little gap of window which was open, I suggested she try and start the car now. The starter stirred sluggishly but there were no brum brum type noises.

Hmmm, sluggish stirring might indicate a battery gone a bit flat. Try the simple things first, drive Newton the Transporter into position, bonnets open connect booster leads. I noted, as I finally connected the batteries there was some healthy sparking from the leads, indicating there was a significant potential difference between the VW which would have been taking 14V with the engine running and the little Fiesta which should have been at around 12 V, but clearly wasn't. Sure enough, on being powered by the VW the little car burst into life, simple fix, or was it?

Disconnecting the jump leads, there was still a level of sparky sparky, sooooo the little Fester was getting a bit of charge, but the alternator was obviously not delivering the full 14v. What could this mean? A little noise gave a hint at an answer, a sort of a slipping squeaking suggesting the alternator drive belt might be slack. This would fit in, Serenity Jnr leaves home, it's a tempest, so lights wipers heaters and everything are on, taking a fraction more than the altenator is delivering, gets to Carmarthen 35 miles away and there's not enough to restart the engine.

A relatively simple fix too, all Serenity Jnr would need to do would be slacken the tensioner, adjust the belt, tighten the tensioner, might even be possible without getting under the car. I could foresee an issue already, Serenity Jnr had made not the slightest move out of the cab so far, so she would probably suggest I stand there in the biblical storm and do the job instead. This had limited appeal so I diplomatically suggested  that, since the car was now running, she should make for home forthwith.

I did follow her at a discreet distance, in case the thing expired again, eventually our ways parted and I headed the trusty Newton up the last ten miles through biblical deluge to Penole, with the heater running full blast to dry me out while keeping the windscreen free of the ensuing condensation.

It was now time to involve the real deal, Serenity herself. Turns out the potential for problem was well known, indeed Serenity had been urging Jr to involve the garage for some weeks, the car is up and down the M4 regularly and Serenity had urged Jr to get it serviced some time ago. She had also forcefully suggested Jr take out AA membership some considerable time since in anticipation of this sort of an event. Subsequent enquiry revealed that  this very same problem had been dealt with on two previous occasions by a phone call to Tally (my son) sadly, on this occasion his car was off the road, so of course she had  grandpa on speed dial instead. 

I think I might be busy next time...