A stunned silence..................

Image via Wikipedia

When I found out what the problem with the gearbox is. It's the gearbox!

The garage have inspected and detected and concluded that the main shaft in the auto gearbox has sheared. This means a new or new to me gearbox. "OK", I said, "How Much?" He was very kind, he warned me in advance so I could take a deep breath. "Two and a half thousand quid!!!!!!!!!!!!" After I had vaguely recovered, he suggested a rebuild might be more appropriate, cost wise. I agreed and went in search of my options.

I found a local transmission engineering company and they will do the whole job for seventeen hundred quid. A much better price but still leaves me resembling a stunned haddock. The major up side is that I get a twelve month guarantee and it should only take about four days to effect.

Rollin', rollin', rollin................

Well, Ian and I managed to move janis by ourselves on Wednesday. Four feet at least. This means we have her in neutral at long last. I have booked her into the garage again for next week and we hope to get her shifted over the weekend.
I am missing that vehicle so much.

An ill wind...........

.............can clear a room.

Well, the mobile mechanic came and had an in depth look. His conclusion is that the problem is most probably the inhibitor switch on the gearbox that stops the vehicle from starting in gear. This is all very well and it makes a lot of sense. the problem is still, "What to do about it". I have had an offer of help from a neighbour, I will ask his advice.

My comiserations to Damo, he has worked even harder than I have only to have his dream taken away from him. I will try to keep the flag flying and my own project moving forward, if slowly, in order to keep faith with his project.

And another boiled egg!

Now running in reverse at a serious rate of knots.
The van is stuck in gear now and can't be easily moved at all. the recovery people are keen to do the job, the garage are equally keen but neither are able to move the beast. I have called a mobile mechanic to see if he is prepared to tackle the job.

Two steps forward..........

.....one back.

The problem with the fuel was solved very quickly, as Paul had been correct in his assessment and we only needed to bleed the system for full driving again. Nonetheless, we also changed the filter and I bought some spares as well just in case.

Then, yesterday, we were due to drive to Ferndown in  janis and I warmed her up and packed her and we tried to start off only to find that the gears wouldn't work. It came out of Park all right but won't drop into any gear at all, simply sits in neutral.