That France in an SLK

[Barry Cade]

Been planning this trip for some time as I've missed driving on the wrong side. The SLK was prepped as if it was going to the moon.. full service for both engine and transmission,  all fluids done including weird SLK fluids, 4 new tyres, brakes and suspension all settled and everything tip top and Bristol fashion. .

Set off and headed towards that England. About an hour in I  needed a pee... annoyed me this as I usually have at least a 300 mile bladder.. stopped at the side of the road, walked behind some bushes and simultaneously fell in a river,through barbed wire in some nettles...

Wet foot, ripped jeans and nipping arms we continued happily South to overnight in Towcester in a Travelodge.  Up next morning and kept south towards Newhaven.  Got into the Brighton and decided to put the roof down. 

Nowt.  Window.. nope. Stopped at Sainsbury's for some stuff and no central locking either.

FFS.

Off the ferry after having to hand documents through the door, down to Rouen in the dark and into an F1 for the night. They're great if you breathe in and walk sideways..

Up today and nipped into a Carrefour and bought a torx driver, opened the roof control module and found this...

FFS..

Onward and into Paris. A mile away from the Eiffel Tower as I stopped at a crossing, there was a thud. In my mirror was a chap on the ground beside a hired electric scooter.. he got up, gave the thumbs up and disappeared into the crowd. I now have a helmet sized and shaped dent on the boot lid.. 

FFS..

Onward to Ligny en Barrrios, to a cracking AirBnB, we stopped at the services for some coffee. I opened the door and the alarm went off... the central locking and remote have packed in so it wont switch off.. I found and pulled the fuse to shut it up, but now I have to wait 5 mins every time I open the door for the hazards to go off.

FFS.

2 black boxes in both my cars to go down in the space of 2 weeks. Is it the Chinese? Solar flares. The law of sod?

FFS...

Anyone overnight courier a 1708200926 to Alsace in the next 5 days?

P.s.. the Eiffel Tower needs agood prodding with the Corrosion Assessment Tool...

[High Jetter]

I think you need to start a casebook. You stopping en Paris then?

[hairnet]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175365904420

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373993234901

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Good luck for the rest of your trip! Things can surely only get better after a start like that?

In a few days I'll be following in your wheel tracks as far as Rouen at least, also having used the Newhaven-Dieppe crossing, but then continuing to head south.

[paulplom]

7 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Set off and headed towards that England. About an hour in I  needed a pee... annoyed me this as I usually have at least a 300 mile bladder.. stopped at the side of the road, walked behind some bushes and simultaneously fell in a river,through barbed wire in some nettles...

🤣😂

Sorry.

[Rustybullethole]

Excellent write up. Shall be a trip to remember for sure.  Got back from France Sunday night. Left my bike south of Paris after ftp here.

7 bikes, one big crash, 3 punctures and a burnt out clutch ( all fixed) broken gearbox on bm, not so much. Turns out I don’t have euro cover so back with the van a week Sunday to pick it up. Must check the cover situation on the van…

Do love France.

[Saabnut]

Anyone in 72 (Sarthe) who needs assistance I have tools and a workshop available half way between Lemans and Tours. For those that don't need assistance, I also have cold beers and tea! Here for a couple of weeks.

[Jim Bell]

He he he. Epic thread so far. Hope there's more positives to come after the somewhat troublesome start. 

[Rust Collector]

11 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Up next morning and kept south towards Newhaven.

You probably drove right past my office window if you drove into town through the A259! Shame we didn't cross paths as I have an SLK here that could have lent you a roof module.

Trip looks like good fun, hopefully you've got all the bad luck out of the way early and should be smooth sailing from hereon!

[camryv6]

1 hour ago, Saabnut said:

Anyone in 72 (Sarthe) who needs assistance I have tools and a workshop available half way between Lemans and Tours. For those that don't need assistance, I also have cold beers and tea! Here for a couple of weeks.

Cold tea ? 🤢

[3VOM]

1 hour ago, Saabnut said:

Anyone in 72 (Sarthe) who needs assistance I have tools and a workshop available half way between Lemans and Tours. For those that don't need assistance, I also have cold beers and tea! Here for a couple of weeks.

Saabnut heads to local marie to collect wad of attestation d’accueil

[sutty2006]

It’s 109% Paris’ fault. Our Volvo t5 blew a hole in its radiator on the ring road into the centre of Paris and we had to be towed out to a garage. 
 

keep chugging along, so long as it starts, stops, steers you’ll be fine! 

[Barry Cade]

All the way to Paris and all I got was this lousy dent 😆

 

[Barry Cade]

Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaa🙃😋

Normal service is resumed. Found a module on German Ebay, in Freiburg, haggled a bit and nipped over the border to pick it up 

Everything back to normal 😀😀

 

Thing is, now it's too hot to go roofless!

 

Now in our wee hut, beers in the fridge and I can relax.. 1300 miles in so far..

 

[Barry Cade]

Ps.. SLK owners.. unplug the little fan in the module box.. it shorts out and that's what causes this issue.. 

I do this so you don't have to.  

[hairnet]

shocker as man with german car goes to germany to fix german car

id have left it broken and spent the money on pastis and gauloises

 

[sutty2006]

Did you get a weird fuzzy feeling fixing your German car with parts from Germany in France? 
 

I went to a Dutch car show in my Opel manta, it rained hard on the Saturday night into Sunday morning that my tailgate leaked water in due to rust around the glass seal. My Dutch friend at the show said “hey, I have a mint tail gate you can have for a schmoke and a pancake” (€15) 

so I followed him 50km back to his apartment and changed it in the communal car park and left my red tailgate in Holland. Still have the Dutch licence plate number etched in the glass to this day! Felt proud as punch swapping that bad boy out in the car park lol. 

[chaseracer]

7 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

It’s 109% Paris’ fault.

THIS MUST* BE TRUE.  The Dyane's indicator flasher unit was fine when I left Soissons but dead on its arse by Evreux.  And what's in between...?

QUITE.

🧐

[Barry Cade]

49 minutes ago, SH1TE said:

Love the hut, interior pictures please 

Scuse the mess, we're unpacking.. forgot about unisex facilities in France, my heart is just about back to racing...

[bigstraight6]

3 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Ps.. SLK owners.. unplug the little fan in the module box.. it shorts out and that's what causes this issue.. 

I do this so you don't have to.  

Would that issue also need addressing on the later R171 model?

[Barry Cade]

3 minutes ago, bigstraight6 said:

Would that issue also need addressing on the later R171 model?

Not sure, I hadn't heard about it on the R170 until it was too late!

[Rocket88]

14 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Scuse the mess, we're unpacking.. forgot about unisex facilities in France, my heart is just about back to racing...

We demand photographic evidence!

[Barry Cade]

Pic for you Panda people! Including a rare convertible..  😆

I love em too, had  quite a few..

[camryv6]

You bastard i was zooming in looking for the convertible, i didn't know they made a convertible 🤦‍♂️

[jonathan_dyane]

Looks like lots of fun, enjoy.

Last time I went up the Eiffel Tower I noted large holes rusted through rather critical looking metalwork. I won't be going up again, knowing the French they will repair it by pop riveting alloy plate over the holes...

[Barry Cade]

Had a day in Triberg and Freiburg in D. I'm far more at home in Deutschland! Saw my first R170 SLK of the whole trip, Autoshiters seem to have  them all. .. surprisingly thin pickings for decent shite tho. All modern blobs.. here are the few I've seen.

 

[Barry Cade]

Got an EML on noo. P0131 lambda low voltage.

FFS.. 😆

F*** The Bosch..

[Barry Cade]

Heavy night with loads of glasses on the table..

I is getting auld. 😆

 

[Barry Cade]

[B4lljoints]

16 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Got an EML on noo. P0131 lambda low voltage.

FFS.. 😆

F*** The Bosch..

My old slk popped that one up once or twice. I just reset it with a cheapo code reader and chucked a bottle of cataclean in over two fuel fillups and all was good again.