Some Minor Repairs and a Loaner
After about a week of driving around Waterloo, Lasne, up and down freeways and one-lane roads, we discovered a problem with the retractable step that we use to get in and out of the motor home. It’s all covered by a one year guarantee, so no problem. Roger takes the motor home back to Mario’s garage and his staff gets to work on it. When it becomes clear that it will take longer than anticipated he loans Roger one of his cars so he can go about 30 km. further down the freeway to an RV accessories store. On his return he learns they have discovered another thing that needs to be replaced, so Mario suggests he carry on with the car and wait for a phone call.
Roger decides to have lunch so he heads back towards Lasne in this incredibly peppy but very quiet little car with a fantastic 5-speed gear box. It’s a real pleasure to zap around corners, open it up on the freeway and generally enjoy European driving. Roger wonders why they don’t build small diesels that will give this type of exhilarating and quiet acceleration. This is nothing like driving the sluggish, noisy, diesel-powered Smart.
As he gets near Lasne the gas gauge is bumping on the empty mark. Pulling into a gas station he adds $10 Euros of gas (8.09 litres – yes it is expensive here – about $2 Can. per litre) and goes in to pay. As he walks out he looks at the driver’s side door – hmm – what’s little emblem dCi mean? Maybe it’s the abbreviation for the model of the car. He sits down, reflecting for a minute. Nah – it couldn’t possibly mean “diesel”. There is no glow plug light that has to extinguish before you can start the car; it has a really quiet engine – none of that loud clatter of the diesel engine in his boat and motor home and in the Mercedes that just filled up with diesel, and the acceleration is so good. He checks again for a glow plug light – nope there is none. He starts the car, thinks – hey I should really verify this – and 3 seconds later stops the car, opens the hood – oh my god these really do look like diesel fuel lines and injectors. He goes back to the fuel filler, removes the cap and sniffs – yep those really are diesel fuel lines and injectors.
So what should he do now – how much is this going to cost? The tank will have to be drained and if the gas has got as far as the injectors…
Mario has always been incredibly “gentil” which more or less translates as nice; everybody has remarked on this. What’s he going to think when Roger tells him he has put gas in his diesel car? He’s going to have to come with his car transporter/tow truck to pick up the car. But Roger doesn’t even have his phone number. It’s in Marie-Claire’s handbag and she’s in Brussels or in the train on the way back.
A quick call to Marie-Claire from the gas station phone.
“You did what Roger!”
“Yeh, yeh I know, can you call Mario and let him know and ask him to call me at this gas station number or should I say gas and diesel station?” Mario calls back « Pas de problème monsieur. Vous n’avez pas tourné ? » Roger thinks for a minute – no I haven’t moved the car so I haven’t turned the wheels. « Non, je n’ai pas tourné. » So Mario says don’t worry, I’ll come and pick you up. Thirty minutes later, following his GPS, Mario arrives, loads up the car and off they go – Roger feeling like a dense, stupid kid and Mario saying "don’t worry, no problem, I’ve done exactly the same thing". They carry on a broken conversation about Canada and sailing.
Back at the garage, the motor home is ready – no charge. But what about the car? “Pas de problème monsieur…”. “But”, says Roger “I’ve caused you all this time and trouble”. “Pas de problème, monsieur …”.
At supper, Roger learns that another guy has also done the same thing. Is it simply a contagious disease affecting males in Belgium and Roger has succumbed?
Supper’s done, it’s late at night and Roger is relating the event and conversation to Marie-Claire in French. « Et oui, j’ai commencé la voiture pour 2 ou 3 secondes (I started the car for 2 or 3 seconds) » Part of their arrangement is that Marie-Claire corrects Roger’s French. “Tu ne dis pas – j’ai commencé la voiture – tu dis - j’ai tourné (You don’t say - I started the car – you say I turned”.
Oh great, Mario asked if Roger “turned” and Roger replied no. Four AM Roger wakes up – what if they empty the tank, refill it with diesel, but there is gas in the fuel line – they start the car and blow the injectors. No more sleep as Roger composes in his mind an early morning phone call in French to explain the misunderstanding. We finally decide that to avoid confusion Marie-Claire should call and explain.
Eight AM – "no problem, madame, it’s already all done, the car is running fine, thanks for calling, have a good day". No question about it Mario really is a nice guy!!
Lessons learned:
1. 99% of what you worry about will never happen
2. smell the filler cap
3. smell the nozzle before you put it in the filler hole.
So envision Roger not worrying about anything anymore and smelling filler caps and nozzles at gas (we mean diesel) stations all across Europe. Will he get arrested, or simply carted away? Stay tuned.
Roger decides to have lunch so he heads back towards Lasne in this incredibly peppy but very quiet little car with a fantastic 5-speed gear box. It’s a real pleasure to zap around corners, open it up on the freeway and generally enjoy European driving. Roger wonders why they don’t build small diesels that will give this type of exhilarating and quiet acceleration. This is nothing like driving the sluggish, noisy, diesel-powered Smart.
As he gets near Lasne the gas gauge is bumping on the empty mark. Pulling into a gas station he adds $10 Euros of gas (8.09 litres – yes it is expensive here – about $2 Can. per litre) and goes in to pay. As he walks out he looks at the driver’s side door – hmm – what’s little emblem dCi mean? Maybe it’s the abbreviation for the model of the car. He sits down, reflecting for a minute. Nah – it couldn’t possibly mean “diesel”. There is no glow plug light that has to extinguish before you can start the car; it has a really quiet engine – none of that loud clatter of the diesel engine in his boat and motor home and in the Mercedes that just filled up with diesel, and the acceleration is so good. He checks again for a glow plug light – nope there is none. He starts the car, thinks – hey I should really verify this – and 3 seconds later stops the car, opens the hood – oh my god these really do look like diesel fuel lines and injectors. He goes back to the fuel filler, removes the cap and sniffs – yep those really are diesel fuel lines and injectors.
So what should he do now – how much is this going to cost? The tank will have to be drained and if the gas has got as far as the injectors…
Mario has always been incredibly “gentil” which more or less translates as nice; everybody has remarked on this. What’s he going to think when Roger tells him he has put gas in his diesel car? He’s going to have to come with his car transporter/tow truck to pick up the car. But Roger doesn’t even have his phone number. It’s in Marie-Claire’s handbag and she’s in Brussels or in the train on the way back.
A quick call to Marie-Claire from the gas station phone.
“You did what Roger!”
“Yeh, yeh I know, can you call Mario and let him know and ask him to call me at this gas station number or should I say gas and diesel station?” Mario calls back « Pas de problème monsieur. Vous n’avez pas tourné ? » Roger thinks for a minute – no I haven’t moved the car so I haven’t turned the wheels. « Non, je n’ai pas tourné. » So Mario says don’t worry, I’ll come and pick you up. Thirty minutes later, following his GPS, Mario arrives, loads up the car and off they go – Roger feeling like a dense, stupid kid and Mario saying "don’t worry, no problem, I’ve done exactly the same thing". They carry on a broken conversation about Canada and sailing.
Back at the garage, the motor home is ready – no charge. But what about the car? “Pas de problème monsieur…”. “But”, says Roger “I’ve caused you all this time and trouble”. “Pas de problème, monsieur …”.
At supper, Roger learns that another guy has also done the same thing. Is it simply a contagious disease affecting males in Belgium and Roger has succumbed?
Supper’s done, it’s late at night and Roger is relating the event and conversation to Marie-Claire in French. « Et oui, j’ai commencé la voiture pour 2 ou 3 secondes (I started the car for 2 or 3 seconds) » Part of their arrangement is that Marie-Claire corrects Roger’s French. “Tu ne dis pas – j’ai commencé la voiture – tu dis - j’ai tourné (You don’t say - I started the car – you say I turned”.
Oh great, Mario asked if Roger “turned” and Roger replied no. Four AM Roger wakes up – what if they empty the tank, refill it with diesel, but there is gas in the fuel line – they start the car and blow the injectors. No more sleep as Roger composes in his mind an early morning phone call in French to explain the misunderstanding. We finally decide that to avoid confusion Marie-Claire should call and explain.
Eight AM – "no problem, madame, it’s already all done, the car is running fine, thanks for calling, have a good day". No question about it Mario really is a nice guy!!
Lessons learned:
1. 99% of what you worry about will never happen
2. smell the filler cap
3. smell the nozzle before you put it in the filler hole.
So envision Roger not worrying about anything anymore and smelling filler caps and nozzles at gas (we mean diesel) stations all across Europe. Will he get arrested, or simply carted away? Stay tuned.
posted by Retired and on the Move | 3:49 AM
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