Mervin has a little Hiccup.

Firstly a Happy New Year to both my readers.

And now a progress report on Mervin the Happy Little Courier Van. Mervin has been running happily on Veg Oil mixed with just a little diesel since I bought him back in October. I have noticed he has been getting a little bit thirstier, but put that down to him needing a good service.

New Years Eve however saw Mervins first ever "failure to commence." If you've not heard this expression before it is one coined by Rolls Royce technicians in their early history. Rolls Rpyce motor cars did not refuse to start, they failed to commence. Likewise they did not ever break down, merely failed to proceed. Regardless, when Mervins key was turned there was that dull click from the solenoid and nothing else. This was odd, becasue so far as I could tell the battery was fully charged and he had shown no prior signs of his intention to go on strike. Attaching jump leads and a Proton failed to remedy the problem, and I concluded a starter failure as the probably cause. A call to my good friend Graeme and he was soon on his way with a length of tow rope. Normally I would have push started a car with these symptoms, but due to the veg oil conversion Mervin needs a lot of battery power to supply the heater, and a good urn over before he fires up, by which time the pusher has run out of puff. Nether the less, within about 5 yards he started on a tow, and ran perfectly all the way home, until he failed to start again when tested on the driveway.

Enquiries witht the local boneyard showed that there were three possible starters that the van could have been fitted with, so it was a case of removing the dead one and taking it in to match up with a replacement - or having it rewound and refurbished if a replacement wasn't an option.

And so complete with New Years Day hangover I prepared to strip the starter off only to find the electrical connections were suspiciously loose. A good clean up, some vaseline and reconnection saw Mervin starting once more. Hurrah, a cost free repair! Well not quite, as whilst i had the bonnet up I noticed lots of fuel swiling about the top of the engine block. Closer examination revealed that the fuel return hoses that run between the injectors had perished, allowing fuel to squirt out at running pressure - no wonder he had become thirsty over the last few tankfuls - he was drinking 3/4 and showering in the rest.

A new hose kit was fitted at the princely sum of £5 (Thanks James at Roads Ahead) and the fuel supply is now restrained where it should be.

With Mervin now apparently running okay I decided it was time to get my trailer tyre replaced, so I set off witht he shredded tyre to get a new one.

One of the many benefits of living in rural East Yorkshire is that the roads are congestion free, which means I had travelled almost 13 miles into the city before I first had to apply brakes or signals. When I did i noticed the green arrow tell tale on the dash looked noticeably dim - something as running down my battery. As I cleared the roundabout and ground to a halt I realised (as I turned the stereo off) that the starter motor had been turning for the last 25 minutes or so. Somehow, in cleanng up the cotacts I had manage to bridge across the two terminals leaving the motor permenantly live. A single wire strand from my wire brush seemed to be the problem, and once removed this cleared the short but left me high and dry, having run out of electricity in the battery.

A phone call to my good friend Graeme secured hsi attendance, and this time 15 secinds with jump leads was enough to get me moving again. Forget the RAC, AA and Green Flag, everyone should have a Graeme. Well, everyone with a banger shoudl have a Graeme. mind you they would need a Martin as well.

The upshot of this is that I have had two breakdowns in two outings, but Mervin is now running much more efficiently, using less fuel and starting better as well. I may get roudn to painting a bit more of his bodywork soon, or maybe give him a proper service. In the meantime he continues to provide cheap daily transport to and from work, and is doing stirling work going to and from the tip, moving various items around and generally being a very useful engine!