the wife has been wanting to get some skiing done over the winter but as we live in the flattest part of Poland the "Masovian Plain" or Warsaw as you chaps will know it, we have to stick some miles down before we see anything even resembling a hill.
So after a search about on the net and some phone calls to like minded souls we heard about a place only 165km away that is an old open cast coal mine's spoil heap that has been graded and sculpted into a couple or three decent slopes in varying grades and abilities.
At the crack of dawn, well 7.30am on a Sunday is as good as the crack! we set off, clear roads very little if any traffic and a glorious sunny day and only -6 all in all a lovely morning, then...................
about 65km out i heard a small screech start in the engine bay somewhere, pulled over at the next garage had a look and a listen, it was either on the Aux belt or the cam belt a definite dry bearing sound, so i took to it with vigour and a good dose of WD40 on the shafts of all things visible and belt dressing on the Aux belt itself, I had no tools with me so couldnt get into the cam belt housing.
another 100km passed in ease but with the constant screech/squeal of whatever it was, until we pulled up outside the place and it suddenly went with a bang then silence, but the engine was still running fine and the charge light hadn't even come on?? puzzled i popped the bonnet to be greeted with the remnants of the Aux belt (thank feck
) it was the idler pulley, it had seized solid and the belt had simply burnt away.So there we were 165km away from home on a Sunday without even the simplest form of breakdown cover, and sadly here you have to run with DRL at all times so basically lights on day or night, and the bloody thing is petrol so needs a spark to run, hmm interesting situation, sod it, we went skiing as we were there already.
after a few hours on the slopes we headed back to the car and i rigged up a simple belt route avoiding the idler pulley with what was left of the original belt, it was slack but was still spinning the alternator,just.
Set off and managed a full 8km before that went with a similar bang to the previous one, pulled over into the worlds dodgiest petrol station, asked inside about local recovery firms and was given the number of a local mechanic who will come out on a Sunday, spent 40 mins waiting for him whilst watching people turn up with full 25 litre containers of diesel and pour them back into the main storage tanks, and receive cash in return
he showed up took a look and said we needed to follow him back to his garage about 10km away, we did this sans lights and fan, got there and he managed to fettle up an idler from some large truck parts and a new belt from somewhere and less than an hour later and 200 zloty lighter we were on our way again in the new Opel/Scania Hybrid Arsetray, all fine and dandy, so what could have been a terrible day out turned out to be quite amusing/informative and insightful into the Polish way of doing things.
Just had to tell somebody
Carry on.....
Or there's out of one garage's heating oil pump and in another's diesel tank...
it was a fun day out with entertainment all the way, i even think the wife understands why i carry my small tool box in the car now and will stop removing it every time she cleans the bloody thing!
