Starter problems - and welding

For a while now, at least since the beginning of 2022, the starter did have some problems: it cranked fine, but often only made a loud cranking noise, without the teeth of the cog wheels engaging. This happened a lot when the van would stand on a slight uphill slope. For some reason, standing at a downhill slope seemed to be better - the problem almost never occurred then.

This problem was especially annoying when being in the mountains, far away from a repair station, and the van cannot be started. So in October 2022 I got a new starter. This did fix it for a while. But after a few months the same problem occurred again.

After the shop examined the problem deeper, it turns out that the flywheel is completely worn. So it needed replacement, together with replacement of clutch etc. Quite an expensive repair - cost me GBP 1600. But now the van has a new clutch and starts every time like new. So it was probably worth fixing it. I had to fix the problem if I wanted to continue driving and using the van. This problem seems to be a recurring problem, just wear and tear, after the 80,000 miles that the van now has.

There was another problem that occurred one year ago: at the driver's entrance, the metal under the step was corroded away. The metal bar under the plastic step cover just broke off, all metal completely rusty. So since then I only entered the van through the passenger side. But now as the van was in the shop anyway, I did let it get fixed too: welding at the driver side entrance step. Another GBP 400.

So after spending GBP 2000, the camper is now again in good shape. Ready for some action during summer.