SAGA OF THE POLO

It has been a long time since I posted anything here, so here is an update on our car problems. The first problem raised it's head on Feb. 17, when the car would not start one afternoon and I needed to go pick up 2 older sister missionaries who were coming in from Germany to do some training with us. The tow truck driver got it started and when I asked what he did, he laughed and said, "I have no idea". Anyway it worked until the next morning when I was to pick up the same 2 sisters at their hotel. We ended up walking the 4 blocks from the hotel to the church. Since I was just going to be out of the car long enought to walk into their hotel, I had not bothered to wear an outer coat even though it was -10C. It was a cold walk!!

The car was towed to the dealership (VW) and later in the afternoon they called to say it was ready. I asked what the problem was and was told they replaced an engine coolant sensor and updated the computer. What that had to do with the problem I was seeing was beyond me, but the car worked. We gave the sisters a tour of Trondheim and got them to the airport on Friday morning. On Saturday we were at the church for seveal hours and when we came out at about 2:30 in the afternoon, the car would not start--same symptoms as the last 2 times. Since the dealership was closed on Sat. afternoon, we got in touch with an emergency number in Oslo and they authorized the towing, cab fare to the airport to pick up a rental car and use of a rental car. We picked up the rental car at about 5 on Saturday afternoon.

About Wednesday of the next week, we stopped by the dealership because I had not been able to reach the service technician by phone. He told me the car had a bad head gasket. One of the 3 cylinders had very low compression. It would cost about 25,000 norsk kroner (about $4,000) to do the repairs. I called the mission office and was told that we might as well get it done, even though I am getting a new car in April, as we would pay the price to repair it or have the cost of repairs taken from the tradein value. So they began to work on it, saying it should be back the next week.

We picked up the car on March 9 (Nancy's birthday present), drove about 4 km and visited with some members. I left the car running while I visited with the husband outside where he was working on his daughter's car. When I walked back to the car, it sounded like it had an exhaust leak and the engine temperature light was on--so we went back to the dealer, left the car and took the rental car again. It only took until Monday March 15 for this repair to be completed. I picked up the car at noon on the 15th, drove home (about 15 km) parked for about an hour, then we headed to the city. On the way, the engine temp light came on again and the temp gauge was rising, so I pulled inton a parking lot near a gas station, checked the coolant and found it was empty. I got some water from the station, filled the overflow container, then started the car so the coolant could begin to circulate to the engine. When it did, water was flowing out as fast as I was putting it in. So I called the dealership and the tow company and we waited--and waited. It was about -5 and snowing while we sat in the car and waited for about an hour. I called the tow company and they said it would be at least another hour, as they were very busy (lots of people stuck in the snow and accidents). I called a cab and went to the dealership, picked up the rental car again, came back and took Nancy to the church where she could wait in a warm room and went back to wait for the tow truck. He finally came at about 4:30 and took the car off to the dealer. It is now Wednesday and I have not yet heard what this problem is, but I am not taking the car until they have driven it for at least 20 km so I know it will get me home. The bill was at 35,800 kroner (divide by 6 to get a good approximation of $) when I last picked up the car.

The new car cannot come too soon. Here are pictures of the car being loaded on the truck on Feb. 20 and the rental car we have been driving for the past few weeks.