When vans are boosted and cables are tightened

Last you heard about our van, I was sitting waiting for the van-mechanic-electrician guy.  He was going to look over our van and find out why it wasn’t starting.  Well, it’s time for a bit of an update.

He didn’t ever show up that day (when I was there, anyway).  So, I went again the next day.  I left the van there all day, and went to see how it was going in the evening (I think it’s about a 20-25 minute walk from our house).  "The battery acid is a little low", he said.  "Just buy this kind of acid and add some".

Well, excuse my scepticism, but . . . well, let’s just say I had reason to be unsure about his diagnosis.

Meanwhile, the Fry family was having trouble with their almost-identical van.  It wasn’t charging properly.  So, I was off the next day to boost their van with our van which, for the moment, was working.  We got their van home with only 3 boosts (here’s a picture of one of the boosts right at the entrance of their neighbourhood, with Rod chatting with the security guard).

His problem, I believe, was an alternator.  It’s fixed now.

After visiting 3 mechanic shops and feeling no closer to an answer, I was losing my faith in the specialists of the world.  Watching how it was acting, I continued to revise my opinion of what the problem was.

To bring you up to date, on Friday I decided to take a look in the engine myself.  I cleaned and reconnected everything I could lay my hands on.  And so far… so far it’s working like nothing was ever wrong.

So who knows?  I may be out looking for a mechanic later today.  Or, maybe by some miracle I fixed the problem.  Time will tell.