Van troubles...
 

So I take the van to head out to my sisters Wedding on Saturday. I drop Grumpy off at an AK sponsored event and head out. I happened to stop to get the kids a drink and then head toward the expressway. It must have been fate, cause I got into the wrong ramp to get onto the e-way, and of course no one would let me in. So I figure I will have to turn around. I look down to check my gauges, as I do all the time, and I see that the battery light is on. The amps are sitting at about 11, so off goes everything and the windows are opened.

It is about 90+ degrees and the humidity is extrememly high. I watch to make sure that I am not overheating and proceed to head home. I was about 8 miles from home, and I swear that my only way home was either thru construction, or following someone who wanted to go extremely slow. I was so happy when I pulled up into the drive.

I am pretty sure that it is the alternator, but the problem is, that we usually park the van in front of the garage door. I haven't gone out to see if it will start, at least to move it. I have to play docie do with my car and the van. I couldn't do it on Saturday when this all happened, cause I was 30 miles from the wedding and I had 40 minutes to get there.

Today has to be the most perfect day to get the Chevelle out, hopefully the van will start.

Sounds like an alt to me, glad you made it home safely. At least an alt is an easy fix, not necessarily cheap but easy.

I changed a few in parking lots. My daughter worked at a golf course while in college, she was the beer cart girl. Doesn't sound like a great job but she sure made a lot in tips. Anyway she borrowed my wife's Blazer and coasted into the lot of the gold course. Called me and told me what happened. I bought an alt, drove down and changed it. The battery had recovered enough and it started on it's own.

Another time we were 25 miles from Key West. We had borrowed my mom's car, she lives with sister in Miami area. The AC cut out, the speedo went back forth between 0 and 100. I coasted into a repair shop, talk about luck. The guy had parts coming up from Key West and he ordered an alt for us. Of course we paid his top dollar for it but he did lend us the tools. Wasn't that bad, there was a lounge next door right on the water. So we had a few drinks and enjoyed the AC inside while we waited for the alt to arrive.

Called my brother this morning, we had made arrangements for his shop to do some other preventative maintenence and we asked him about adding this onto it. Lucky for us, he came to my house changed the alternator and then drove it away to his shop to finish everything else we asked him to.

Bonus on this whole story....

He drove my Chevelle to my house to work on the van.

You got a good thing going there with your brother, a mechanic that makes house calls.

You must be a good sister, not a lot of brothers would go that far.

I would rather pay him, than someone who I don't trust. I guess he figures since we own 4 vehicles, he might as well keep us happy, cause we will always need his help, in one way or another. Besides when he makes house calls, we feed him well. At least it is usually something other than pizza, which is the single mans diet.

He knows that I would do anything for him if he asks. We have a long history of helping each other. I am lucky to have a brother like him.

Hmm,no mention of Mr. Grumpy in this thread.....

who ???????

I wish I had a brother like yours to work on my Chevelles. Would you like to trade ?I will trade 2 brothers and boot for yours .Hell ,you can just have mine for all they are worth.

Sorry Nancy, I wouldnt dump them brothers of mine off on you but anyone else who wants them let me know .I will send them with a 1 way ticket .

Today I had my younger daughter take me out to pick up my van. She knew that I had recently had my Chevelle returned to me, and she told me that she couldn't understand how people could sit in their folding chairs on the side of the road and watch cars drive by all day. (Guess I'm not leaving my car to Jennifer in my will) She complained about how it took her 50 minutes to go into downtown Birmingham at 7pm last night, normally it would take 15 minutes from her apt. She said that when she arrived at her destination there was no place to park. This coming from a child who practically grew up at Detroit Dragway. I just couldn't understand. Where did I go wrong?????

Anyway, I am just happy my van is home, actually all 4 of my vehicles are home. I know some people don't understand why we have 4 vehicles and only 2 drivers. But to me, these are members of my family and if anything ever happened to them, they would be sorely missed, by me.