So I turned into a bit of a slug this winter. Between wedding planning and marathon training, Lily took a backseat. The dreaded Winterreifenpflicht (winter tire requirements) in Germany kept Lily in the Garage from October until mid-April so progress was minimal. I knew that there were brake issues somewhere along the way, so when spring thaw came to Bavaria (early March), it was time to get back to work.
Actually, it was my neighbor's enthusiasm for bleeding the brakes that got me going. Unfortunately we didn't get very far on our first attempt. The brake pedal was on the floor in no time. I immediately thought that it was the master cylinder because my dad had warned me that it would probably go out sooner rather than later in a car that had been sitting for so long. I was right, so our plans were put on hold once more while I ordered the required parts.
The parts arrived just before I left to go to Bonaire with Jon for his mid-tour leave, so they sat in their box in the garage for another few weeks. Finally, we got around to installing the new cylinder. We took it to a self-help garage here because the thought of changing a brake cylinder without lifting the car seemed too awkward to contemplate. It took us a few hours because Horst didn't want to take the gas tank out, but eventually we exchanged the faulty part for a shiny new one and my car was able to stop again.
Since the weather has been really great these last few days, I decided to take Lily to work last Friday. She decided otherwise. Halfway to the town where I work, she stopped moving forward. The gas pedal was useless and even the farmers in their tractors were passing me. I pulled over, looked at the engine (more of a pleading stare than an actual attempt to find a problem...), cranked it again and went on my way...for about 100 yards. The car did the same thing again, so I pulled over and looked for a tow truck.
The problem with having an old, not-so-reliable car in a rural area is that it can be hard to get help when you need it. I used the first towing company that I could find. Since they happened to be attached to a garage, I asked if they could look the car over and give me an estimate for repair costs. The response: new spark plugs, new condensor, new fuel pump, new...well, pretty much everything but a new kitchen sink! Good thing it wasn't my old van that they towed in because I'm sure they would have tried to charge me for a new sink too. The estimate: 300 Euros.
Since I put new spark plugs in when I got the car and the list they provided me was pretty extensive, I checked with the guys at the self-help garage. They agreed: these guys were full of shit. (Local readers: KfZ Krause was the name of the shop. Avoid these slimeballs at all cost, especially if you're American and female.) So I called to see how much they would charge to just bring the car to my house. Also 300 Euros.
I went to get the car the next day. My insurance covered the initial towing and I'd found someone to bring Lily home for the much more reasonable cost of 50 Euros. When I got there, not only did this joker not have the paperwork filled out for my car, but he told me that there was no need for towing anyways. The inspection had cleared the fuel pathway enough so that I could drive the car home. With my co-pilot, the lovely Madison, I drove back to Illesheim. Lily seemed to have developed the same feature that newer VWs have, where they turn the engine off at traffic lights to save gas. It isn't easy being green. Or old and blue, like Lily. We had to pull off and wait for the engine to work again a few times, but we made it home in good time. Faster, actually, than Madison's husband who was supposed to be following us in their new car. (Sorry Andrew, had to say it!)
Today I brought Lily back to the self-help garage to see what I could do. The guys there are super helpful. They showed me how to set the points and helped me check out the fuel system to see what the problem is. We took apart the fuel pump and found out that that was the problem (or one of the problems.)
It's getting late now, and there's so much more to tell, but that'll have to wait for another day!
