A Funny thing happened the other day

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Chico

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Jun 15, 2015
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So I awoke Thursday morning walked out to the bus as usual to go to work and It had moved !!

My initial reaction ( still only half awake) was that someone had tried to have it away .

The doors were all locked the steering hadn't moved

still in 2nd gear ( as I leave it) handbrake on , nothing stolen from inside








but it had moved from beside the Citroen uphill and straight into a neighbours fence ! approx 15 meters

After looking around scratching my head wondering if I was still asleep , I got in and tried to start , lights on but starter wouldn't turn , so let handbrake off and roll back to where it should be .

On further investigation starter solenoid was red hot , had burnt itself out , battery was at 11.3 volts .

replaced battery still nowt from starter , replaced starter , as soon as I reattached battery starter was turning over , key in my pocket not in ignition .



Relay !!!!
I Had bus rewired couple of years ago , starter relay was located under van close to starter but not covered wrapped protected in anyway , water/spray has obviously got to it and shorted it out , so at some stage in the night it had clicked over and been trying to start the van, starter cranking over ,as I leave it in gear it "walked" itself up to the fence, luckily the fence was strong enough to hold it and no damage was caused .

so a £2 relay has cost me a battery, a starter, and a small heart attack when I first seen the van stuck to the fence .

Not sure it should have been placed their unprotected by the auto electrician ?, I've wrapped and bagged the replacement until I get round to re-locating it somewhere dry .

If you have a starter relay and its under the van and not it the dry , you might want to think about moving it !!

Its funny now , but literally heart in mouth when I first seen it stuck to the fence
Chico :0
 
Jeez, your story made me smile anyway! Thank god our vans have bumpers that can stand up to some substantial hits.

Interesting that your relay was mounted under your van - was it actually a waterproof one, or just a ‘standard’ relay? Mine is in the engine bay - I made a short bracket off the earthing point for the rear lights as I wanted to keep it tucked out of sight, but similarly, away from anything that’d get it wet!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Another that had a smile at a ‘’’ near miss’’’. My pal made mine up and the first version was a little all over the place but the second version fits so nice, it could’ve been a factory extra or conversion / mod. It sits on the webbed piece on the rear of the arch near the battery.

Ozziedog,,,, Looks like it grew there :mrgreen:
 
Shame you haven't got cctv covering it. It'd be pretty cool to watch it mysteriously lurching itself into a fence.
 
I have a cheap battery cut off switch at the terminal and always disconnect it when parked for security and draining reasons - but this would have prevented this as well. Worth a couple of quid.
 

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