An orange light came on on the dashboard. Our Citroen is a beautiful and nice car but is in poor health.
Burning lights on your dashboard are never a good sign
Now I know from my incomparable brother-in-law that orange is never a reason to stop immediately. If it’s red, then yes. Then it has to do with oil, or with water, or with both – and that’s the worst. So I drove on happily, well, a little less happily than before, because it does mean that you have to do something about it.
Our Citroen also has a teasing side; on the following trips nothing happened. We are already used to the AIRBAG light that is always on, and below it the light that I believe indicates that there is an ejection seat for a baby in the car, but that is a problem with a fuse, I was assured, and it is unimportant and harmless.
Even the inspection paid no attention to this.
Then a light went on in me: when was the timing belt actually replaced? We had it once where the timing belt gave up, and that means that nothing works anymore in your car, because all instructions are – as the name suggests – no longer distributed.
And it is a very expensive repair. Now we keep a record of everything that happens in car repair, and when I consulted it, I couldn’t find anything about a timing belt. Pay attention now, dear readers, especially if you drive an older car!
If you do that every 90.000 kilometer, nothing happens. If you forget, or you don’t know, you’re on the side of the road.
The aforementioned brother-in-law inquired about this with the Roady
The only mechanic in the area has gone a bit crazy, namely. With the extenders of the back door he showed himself to be a bit of a rip-off. For the aforementioned Roady, it took 2 minutes and cost half of what he charged, and they’re still there after a year. His were of Chinese quality, because they were worn out after only six months.
Roady is a chain that can be found throughout Portugal. Well, there we went with that timing belt. Drop off in the morning, pick up in the afternoon, and the total amount was less than agreed! You can put an exclamation mark behind that, yes!
It seemed like a five-star story but then the orange light went on again. And again. And again. I called my brother-in-law. He explained that that light could have anything to do with everything, and if you have an older car, everything is worn out. No big deal, nothing to get worked up about., but it could have something to do with the recent repair.
Now I wasn’t so worked up as I was worn down by this event, so I called the Roady to check whether a screw might be loose. They have to remove a few parts to get to the timing belt, and yes, it can happen, right? The mechanic is distracted for a moment and doesn’t tighten the last bolt hard enough, which causes my light to come on and I no longer feel comfortable behind the wheel.
Small effort, you’d say. Good service, you’d think. Unfortunately, the senhor behind the counter initially thought differently. I had persisted, he had kind of grumblingly agreed to it; I was already ready with my bonnet open when he came to explain that there was no time for it at that moment. Lot to do, many appointments, so sorry, so please go. I could also come back if the headlight stopped working and say that it could have something to do with the repair.
I could do the test for 40 euros., and later this afternoon.
Backtracked. Alright then. I closed the hood in a measured manner. “I will go to a mechanic closer to us then,” I said curtly, “I understand your so-called service now.” And went shopping at the supermarket that is always close to the Roady. I didn’t feel so good that I had to behave like a Karen, and even to no avail.
I got a call in the supermarket. It was possible after all, as a special service, and right away
I was received very kindly, the Citroen went straight into the garage, and I was asked to wait for half an hour. Well, there we are! There I stood with a portuguese man, also waiting, in the just enough shade of the open garage. The man joked with the mechanic who treated his car, and did what I had already thought a waiting portuguese man would do: he went to have a chat with me.
First about all his cars, and what was wrong with this one, then about how he had been everywhere in Portugal, and I hummed and nodded politely every now and then, comfortably hidden behind my sunglasses, all the while glancing secretly at “my” mechanic, who was fiddling around with a computer around my car.
I’m not much of a chatter box myself, but chatting with some people can be ok.
This was one of them. A nice man with kind eyes, who started saying more and more interesting things. About how he liked to read, for example about the development of the human race, and that we consist of light and dark cells… and if we pay attention to the dark ones, it results in materialistic behavior, and being stuck in habits, and not paying attention for the important things in life…
It had on me what I call the “Portuguese effect”.
Don’t take it all so seriously, keep on breathing, stay calm and friendly, and look beyond the end of your nose to see what it’s all really about. He was still arguing when I was called: the Citroen was ready. I apologized, shook his hand, thanked him very much, and walked to the car to receive the report.
When I drove away, he had disappeared without a trace, and I strongly suspect that it was an angel in disguise…
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We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, Holland to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal.
A big step, especially with two small children.
We are busy to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa which has been turned into several holiday houses, rooms and a campsite.
You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.
Since 2018 we call ourselves the first B&B&B in the world – Bed & Breakfast & Bathrobes. You can buy a home-made unique bathrobe/housecoat with us.
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