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Pinball roadtrips thread

JT.

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Joined
Jul 24, 2011
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Location
North West UK
Let's start with a bad example, hopefully others have some better ones than this..

So, today I'd planned a mini roadtrip up to @JMP 's to get a Scared Stiff - it was meant to be a nice outing, along with the kids (even hired a 3 seater van so they could both come :))....but it turned into a bit of a nightmare.

This started at around 13:20 today, when I was making my way to the bank to get the cash out for the pin. When I got a call from my mum's care-home, not because there was any problem with my fully-demented mum who they look after, but because my semi-demented dad who was visiting her had scraped his his car along the side of one of their staff's cars on the way out without noticing and driven off...and so started a downwards spiral. Dealing with that meant I was 15 mins late getting the cash out, which meant I was 15 mins picking up the hire van, which meant I was 15 mins late collecting my kids from school. Blood pressure rising.

But anyway, I get to the school and pick up the kids. But as I was reversing out of the car parking space, I hear and feel a bump..wtf? I'd turned on the parking sensors when I picked the van up (obviously no rear view mirror, and you can see ****-all directly behind you through the side mirrors), what was happening? So it seems that the parking sensors switch themselves off automatically for some reason when you turn the engine off. Nice feature. Any how, minor bump, checked it out, no marks, all good with the mum that the other car belonged to, so finally the road trip gets underway

No big deal getting to @JMP's, and collect a really nice SS (the one redeeming feature of this sorry tale), but as we're loading it, @JMP noticed a large puddle of oil under the van, which was getting larger...sigh. But with it only being 1.5 hours back to my place, and the oil light not yet on, I decided to just make a dash for it (not my van after all). As we head home, I'm hoping the van is going to make it, as smoke billows embarrassingly from us whenever we stop at traffic lights, when my phone runs out of charge...so now if it does break down, we're even more ****ed. Which means that I daren't stop to get the kids the Maccy D's they've been promised, so they both start to kickoff, increasing my blood pressure some more :(.

But fortunately, in the end, we get to within 5 miles of home before the oil light starts flickering on, and make it all the way home without the engine seizing up. phew. Time for a beer.

After unloading, then ditching the van in my field so as not to cover my drive in oil, I decided to open the bonnet and have another look to see if I could work out what the problem was - and that's when I noticed....the total twat-bags nobended **** munching **** features of a twat at Enterprise who'd topped the oil up last, had left the oil filler cap resting on the bonnet lip instead of attached the to the hole where the oil goes - the majority of the oil now being laid in a trail between my place and @JMP's, and the remainder in the van's engine bay.:hmm::cuckoo::mad:

Time for a game on my new Scared Stiff now...
 
so why was it leaking at John's place? is the hot oil supposed to be pressurised? is it all fixed just by topping it back up when the engine is cool?

great story, and glad you have a nice SS to play on. got to Scared Stiff yet?
turn on the Stiffometer!
turn out the lights!
he always wanted a little head
etc

looking forward to reading the next sorry tale
 
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The engine mashes and thrashes about, the oil also heats up, thinning as it does, thus practically throwing itself out where it can. And yes, oil pressure does rise as heated as with most liquids but not to the same extent as water.
I hope you charge them for any oil you put it and relaying Jims driveway due to the spillage.
 
so why was it leaking at John's place? is the hot oil supposed to be pressurised? is it all fixed just by topping it back up when the engine is cool?

I guess as it gets hotter it gets less viscous, slops around, and maybe pressurised too..so by time I'd got to John's the engine bay was probably already full of splattered oil, which was dripping on to the floor in puddles. It must have been dripping as we drove too, 'cos the entire back of the van was covered in a film of oil drops, probably the same as any cars that were stuck behind us on the M6 :(

And it will be fixed by phoning Enterprise tomorrow with my most unhappy customer voice and asking them to come take the van away at their leisure, and to give me a full refund ;) And yup, they will just need to top it up with oil and actually replace the cap this time, but then also get the engine bay professionally cleaned 'cos it's an absolute state...
 
Ah Jonathan, just got home to read this.... was wondering how you'd got on. :tut: Enterprise had better make it up to you (and your kids), felt right sorry for your daughter in tears cos. she was tired and hungry and couldn't go to Maccy D's anymore. Glad to hear you got home anyway, let Enterprise clean up the mess under the bonnet.

BTW, there's a nice oily imprint of your tyres along the lane.... and a curved trickle of oil at the traffic lights where they've just re-surfaced the road.....! I can hear the bloody neighbours now, tutting away and wondering who'd left it, heh.

Hope you enjoy SS, Elvira will be waiting for you to get a nice BON-AS. ;)
 
Well after all that, was it worth it? Getting a Scared stiff that is.
 
Well enterprise were pretty good about sorting it out this morning. I decided to drive the van in 'cos my car was at the rental location - the guy who met me mentioned I would probably get a customer satisfaction phone call, and wanted to know what it would take to make me 'Completely Satisfied', so I'm guessing their pay is linked to this customer satisfaction score.

Anyway, rental charges voided, they covered the cost of the fuel I'd used,, £10 for the oil I had replaced in the engine (cough), 75% off my next rental and....."oh, can you get your car cleaning guy to jet wash my car while I go across to McDonalds for breakfast?"..."No problem sir" :rofl:
 
Well enterprise were pretty good about sorting it out this morning. I decided to drive the van in 'cos my car was at the rental location - the guy who met me mentioned I would probably get a customer satisfaction phone call, and wanted to know what it would take to make me 'Completely Satisfied', so I'm guessing their pay is linked to this customer satisfaction score.

Anyway, rental charges voided, they covered the cost of the fuel I'd used,, £10 for the oil I had replaced in the engine (cough), 75% off my next rental and....."oh, can you get your car cleaning guy to jet wash my car while I go across to McDonalds for breakfast?"..."No problem sir" :rofl:
Result.
Not often you hear of service like that from a big company. Well done Enterprise.
 
Funny because my last roadtrip involved collecting a SS last weekend.

Found a mate to help, packed up the car and set off, about a 2 hour drive. After passing three accidents and breakdowns, four hours later we arrive.
All looks OK, the deal is done. Pack the machine up, wheel it out. #*&%! It won't fit in the car! Despite being an estate, it won't go through the boot opening. Drive home with no pin, get back at midnight 3 hours later.

Next weekend, hire small van, drive another 4 hours to do the 2 hour trip. Pack it up, 3 hours home. It's 1am. Total road time 14 hours.

Wheel it in the house ... "it's not staying there!", remove two doors to actually get it to where it's supposed to live. ... still worth it in the end :-D
 
Funny because my last roadtrip involved collecting a SS last weekend.

Found a mate to help, packed up the car and set off, about a 2 hour drive. After passing three accidents and breakdowns, four hours later we arrive.
All looks OK, the deal is done. Pack the machine up, wheel it out. #*&%! It won't fit in the car! Despite being an estate, it won't go through the boot opening. Drive home with no pin, get back at midnight 3 hours later.

Next weekend, hire small van, drive another 4 hours to do the 2 hour trip. Pack it up, 3 hours home. It's 1am. Total road time 14 hours.

Wheel it in the house ... "it's not staying there!", remove two doors to actually get it to where it's supposed to live. ... still worth it in the end :-D
Bummer. Was it the height? You know you can undo the side hinges and slide the head down a bit, loses a couple inches and might make the difference.

Or just bite the bullet and take the backbox off :)
 
Yeah too high, it would have gone in if we'd taken the back box off but I kind of got the impression nobody was going to be impressed by hanging around while I faffed around doing it. :)
 
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