4-6th July 2016
Held up by Troopie problems !
Well, Wednesday morning sees Troopie in a garage for the second day, and me sitting in
yet another coffee bar, and they are playing ABBA’s Super Trooper on the radio
– I hope they are right !!
I left Calgary on Monday morning and planned
on just passing through Banff (as I have been here a couple of times before),
and Troopie was runnung fine, but just short of Banff, in Canmore, the engine warning light came on so I turned
off into the town to investigate. The
light has come on previously due to a dirty fuel filter, but that was easily
fixed, but seeing that I had only changed the filter recently, I was a little
perplexed. Time to dig deeper.
First thing was to check the error code on
my ScanGaugeII . This is a brilliant
tool that was recommended to me before I left Aus - $120 on the internet, it
just plugs into the vehicles OBD port and not only gives you lots of engine
readings while driving, but also, when any dashboard warning light comes on it
lets you find out the error code, whether it is serious or not, and then cancel
the code and turn the dashboard light off.
P0400 – Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve. Just to make sure I checked the fuel filter
but that was fine, and tried to turn the warning light off, eventually
succeeding – So I headed down the road towards Banff, relieved. If it was serious the engine light would have
stayed on.
But I had scarcely got back on the highway
when it did come on again !
Bugger. I also noticed that
Troopie seemed a little sluggish, and was blowing a LOT more black smoke out
the back under acceleration. About
another 20 kms into Banff which gave me a little while to think about it. Not a lot of options – No Toyota dealer in
Banff, and anyway, Toyota don’t sell diesels in the US and Canada, so they
wouldn’t be much help. Banff isn’t big,
but I needed help as I had already tried all my tricks – So I just went into a
small Shell Station that had a mechanics shop, and they were very nice and said
they would have a look at it – Tomorrow (ie Tuesday). It was now 4 pm, so I went up to one of the
Provincial Camp grounds just 2 minutes out of town, hoping I could get in. The Canada Day / US Independence Day long
weekend was over, so I was hopeful. But
when I got to the campsite, there was a long and slow moving queue – Uh oh. Not looking good.
Whiel in the line, a ranger was coming down
asking questions, and when he got to me asked “Do you have a reservation ?”.
When I answered No, he said “Well keep your fingers crossed, they may have a
place or 2 left.” Eventually it was my
turn and I pulled up to the window, stretched to wind down my passenger window
(which always gets a laugh), and the lady said “Reservation ?”. No.
“Oh – OK, I think we have a couple of spaces. (Giles smiles with relief at the end of a
difficult day) Name ?” “Cooper”.
The lady looks at me in a funny way – I thought maybe she was a Cooper
too, or something. “Not Giles ?” she
says. WHAT !!! How does she know my name ??????? She sees the look of astonishment on my face
and says “You don’t remember me, do you ?
I met you climbing up Mt Fitz Roy in Patagonia, and read your blog about
the S America trip. “ WOW – Small
world. I actually do remember meeting
someone who said they worked in the Banff Campgrounds, but I had forgotten her
name (Joyce) – I have met a lot of people since Mt Fitz Roy, and my brain is no
longer as sharp as it used to be !!
Anyway, we had a bit of a chat, she allocated me a spot, and off I went
with a grin on my face.
Very pleasant night in the camp ground –
They really do them well round here – Excellent sites, incredible facilities
(and hot showers) for a Park campground, and all sorts of animals running
around (thankfully small, although there was a black bear warning out). I went to bed early as I had to be back down
at the garage at 8 am and I wanted to be there early so they dealt with me
first.
Which I was – and having left the car with
them, I walked the couple of kms into town.
I had not slept well because I had been thinking about the problems, so
having given Tim (the manager in the garage) my thoughts about the issues, I
left Troopie in his excellent hands. In
the centre, I spent most of the morning in Starbucks – One coffee lasts about 3 hours while I can get good wifi
and power to keep my battery charged ! I
went back to the garage at lunch time and they told me that they had found a
couple of other issues when they scanned it on their machine, and had ordered
parts from Calgary which should be in at about 3 pm. I just made sure they knew I needed to have
the car running so I could get back to the camp site !
Back into town again and by this time I was
hungry – And as I was unable to make a sandwich in the car I splashed out and
went to a bar and had an elk burger and a couple of beers, which went down
really well ! No supper needed tonight
then !! I then went into the Visitors Centre where they were able to renew my 1 day Park Pass which
was now expiring, and also able to call up to the campgrounds for me and
reserve a site for tonight. I told the
girls about Joyce and Patagonia, and they all knew her and quickly made a
booking for me tonight ! I then spent a
couple of hours dozing in a comfortable chair in the visitors centre – As I
say, I hadn’t slept too well last night !
4 pm saw me back at the garage and the good
news was that the 2 sensors they had got from Calgary had been fitted and
corrected those issues, but the P0400 EGR issue they couldn’t fix. Sorry.
Ah well – at least I was making progress ! While on the internet this morning I had
been looking up everything I could about the issues, as well as diesel
mechanics in Banff. I found one that was
just own the road (Banff is not a big place !) and set off down there for a
chat. Once again, they were most
helpful, looked over Troopie and discussed the issue, and said they could have
a look in the morning, but no promises.
So back to the campsite for the night –
Joyce had left for the day by this time – So it was set up, noodles for supper,
and to bed exhausted – Mostly nervous exhaustion I think, worrying about
options should the problem not be fixable.
This morning I was up early again, and down
at the diesel mechanics shop before 8 am.
The weather had been quite cold and drizzly for the last two days, 5 deg
C this morning, so after a quick chat with the diesel guys I unhooked my trusty
bike (that doesn’t get used enough !) and headed into town in the rain. This garage is further out of town, so couldn’t
easily walk in to town. I find I have
real difficulty staying on the right hand side of the road on a bike ! No problem in the car, but really difficult
on the bike, and I am a bit more vulnerable on the bike.. Fortunately there are cycles only paths in a
lot of places around here, so I have survived so far.
Anyway, going to go and check out a couple
of walking trails today – Got to do something !! There are virtually no photos to go with
today – I am in Banff. Hopefully by
tonight I will have good news about Super Trooper !! Finger’s crossed.
No comments:
Post a Comment