Tuesday 19th March 2024

Today is a very special day. We finally brought our van home from Denbury Diesels where it had been since we took it in for an MOT on 5th September 2023! That's 6 months and 18 days in the garage! The main item that was needed was a new Engine Control Unit - that's the computer which controls the engine. The garage only charged us half of what they had spent on the repairs presumably because they were embarrassed about taking so long to get the vehicle working. We're going out to the pub for a meal later to celebrate the van's homecoming.

 

Monday 5th February 2024

 On 5th September 2023 I brought our van to Denbury Diesels, just outside of Newton Abbot, for its MOT test. On the way from home I turned on the windscreen wipers and they stopped working pointing up vertically in the middle of the windscreen. I also noticed that the heater fan would only work at its fastest setting. I realised why Vospers, the Fiat Main Agents had told me that there was nothing wrong with the wipers when I had taken it there in Summer 2023! On that occasion I had asked them to repair the wipers and also the heater fan motor which would only work at its fastest setting. They must have repaired the heater fan motor before checking the wipers and somehow repairing this motor enabled the wipers to work again! I explained this to the staff at Denbury Diesels and left the van with them.

Today, exactly 5 months to the day later I am back at Denbury Diesels where the van has been all this time! The wipers still don't work but also the garage can't manage to get the van's engine started!

I had a long meeting with Tracy and Julian of Denbury Diesels. They are determined to get the van repaired and through its MOT! They were extremely apologetic for all the time it has taken getting nowhere. They still have no idea as to why the windscreen wipers won't work or why they can't start the van's engine. Apparently an "expert" is coming to look at it tomorrow.