In France with nothing holding bonnet down. (2 Viewers)

[Spriddler]

Deleted. Wrong end of stick.

 

[Bessy765]

Get over to the Canterbury aire and you can sort it out from there. A bus to town if you need any bits and pieces. Hopefully there is another van on there you can look at.

If the worst comes use duck tape as it wont be on for long you should be able to remove it when you get home. Just run several strip down over the bonnet. When you get home pour some warm water over the tape. That way you don’t risk scratching the bonnet.

 

[mitzimad]

i doubt its a cathargo part it will be off something else possibly merc do you not have gaffer tape to seal the bonnet down?

 

[Googlebot]

Hope you get it sorted, some people are bloody miserable. I would bend over backwards to help with something like that.

Grab a torch and have a good look underneath, it’s probably there somewhere. I lost a bonnet locating cup and got some new ones, then found the old one just sitting below.

When we had the caravan, a poor guy arrived in the dark and rain. I heard a massive crunch and he hadn’t seen a low tree. Massive crack and damage to the back panel. Poor bloke was trying to put plasters over the crack to stop the rain. I gave him my roll of emergency duct tape. :-(

Whatever you do, make sure you can open it again. The last thing you need is to be unable to get it open, that might get really tricky.

 

[L' Hobo]

As has been mentioned, long cable ties and gaffer tape the joint so air cannot force it open while travelling. Any good motor or hardware store should stock both!

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[Lenny HB]

Looks like a Mercedes part fitted by Carthago.
There is a Carthago dealer near Canterbury, I'm fairly certain the Carthago warranty is pan European so you can go to any dealer for warranty work.

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Email: frontdesk@chooseleisure.co.uk

 

[Bobbejaan]

We are not having a good day. We are on the Tunnel in the morning. Just lifted the bonnet to find that there is nothing holding it down. The 'pin' in the bonnet itself isn't there. It looks like it should be a threaded bolt, probably with a spring on it.
There is another Brit on the site, we asked if we could look at his Merc to check what it looks like. His wife wouldn't let him help us. We have tied the bonnet down with an elastic strap. We have to catch The Shuttle as Jacques only has until tomorrow afternoon time wise for his worming. We have never left it this tight before. We thought that we could pull in at the petrol station as you exit the tunnel in UK and get Mercedes breakdown out.. I'm not sure if it's a Mercedes part or not. If not I'm not sure what happens.if it's a Carthago bit.
Himself says that with some rope he could probably rope it down, not sure what damage he will do.
It's not really broken down, but it's not safe on a motorway.
I dare not drive 250 miles with a bit of elastic holding the bonnet down.

IF you can't find and/or easily re-fit the missing retainer pin .....

The safest & tidiest way would probably be to buy a cheap (sub £5ish) "Ratchet Tie Down Strap" from almost any Car Spares Shop

... Then wrap the Tie-Down or lay an old T-shirt/whatever over the bonnet/any-paintwork to protect it and hook the Plain-Hook End on the top-lip of the bonnet

... Then hook the ratchet-end over the front and to something (bracket-ish) underneath the vehicle-front, and then take up the slack ribbon through the ratchet, and then gently tighten up the ratchet until you are happy with the tension.

... Lastly, tie up (or cut off) any excess loose ribbon.

It sounds complicated in words, but is a pee-easy 2-minute job in reality ... and you will safely be able to drive hundreds of miles home where you can sort it at your leisure. .... I've done this MANY times over the years in my manky-car years, and I still always carry a Ratchet Strap in all my vehicles for any such similar emergency repairs.

 

[RedFrame]

Casper46

This is a photo of our Sprinter PVC bonnet catch, the bit you have lost looks the same as that posted by G7UXG to me? So I would say repurposed Merc part.

Hope you get home safely.

Cheers
Red.

 

[dunnah01]

Cathargo must have saved a fortune skimping on the secondary catch safety device

 

[chaser]

As has been mentioned, long cable ties and gaffer tape the joint so air cannot force it open while travelling. Any good motor or hardware store should stock both!

Just a mention of the bleeding obvious, but some might not know, if you haven't got a cable tie long enough, you can join as many as you like together to get the length you need.

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[yodeli]

We are not having a good day. We are on the Tunnel in the morning. Just lifted the bonnet to find that there is nothing holding it down. The 'pin' in the bonnet itself isn't there. It looks like it should be a threaded bolt, probably with a spring on it.
There is another Brit on the site, we asked if we could look at his Merc to check what it looks like. His wife wouldn't let him help us. We have tied the bonnet down with an elastic strap. We have to catch The Shuttle as Jacques only has until tomorrow afternoon time wise for his worming. We have never left it this tight before. We thought that we could pull in at the petrol station as you exit the tunnel in UK and get Mercedes breakdown out.. I'm not sure if it's a Mercedes part or not. If not I'm not sure what happens.if it's a Carthago bit.
Himself says that with some rope he could probably rope it down, not sure what damage he will do.
It's not really broken down, but it's not safe on a motorway.
I dare not drive 250 miles with a bit of elastic holding the bonnet down.

Sorry I have no time to read the whole thread but if you tell me where you are or if next to an aire or already parked up let me know , so I can see if I can find some help around you. Give me all the deteils of your vehicle . Sorry again no time to look up if you 've already post them
here is my phone number
0033682050584

 

[RedFrame]

Sorry I have no time to read the whole thread but if you tell me where you are or if next to an aire or already parked up let me know , so I can see if I can find some help around you. Give me all the deteils of your vehicle . Sorry again no time to look up if you 've already post them
here is my phone number
0033682050584

Another very kind offer Frankie, but I think they are on a tunnel crossing home this morning.

Cheers
Red.

 

[yodeli]

RedFrame Thanks for telling me as I was thinking of this thread for anyone in trouble

Breakdown : good addresses to remember when in France

Following russ the rambler 's thread about his damaged awning, I wanted to let know about these 2 adresses you should bookmark in case of a breakdown when in France. August in France is a bit of a nightmare when it comes to breakdown with the motorhomes/cars. Lots of places are closed to start...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Lenny HB]

Cathargo must have saved a fortune skimping on the secondary catch safety device

Hymer's don't have them either, with the bonnet near vertical the bonnent is very unlikely to fly up if the catch fails.

 

[L' Hobo]

Hymer's don't have them either, with the bonnet near vertical the bonnent is very unlikely to fly up if the catch fails.

I, for one, would not like to trust that in a crosswind doing 70mph!

I must admit, I thought a second safety catch was a legal safety requirement in this country?

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[Pausim]

Our Carthago has a second safety catch but it still relies on the same bonnet fixing.

 

[DerryW]

Have you got cable ties, or string with you.
If so can’t you feed this through the bonnet, and through the grill, then pull it tight.

You can tell this response came from a Land Rover owner. An issue such as this is a minor almost daily inconvenience for LR owners, cable ties and baler twin are essential components of the toolbox, but I’ll tell you what a good strong cable tie will see you safely over the 250miles.

 

[Casper46]

Sorry I have no time to read the whole thread but if you tell me where you are or if next to an aire or already parked up let me know , so I can see if I can find some help around you. Give me all the deteils of your vehicle . Sorry again no time to look up if you 've already post them
here is my phone number
0033682050584

Thank you very much. We left very early with a slow drive to the Tunnel. Our idea was to find a B&Q and a bit more DiY. Then we got a smell of burning. We are in Tescos car park off the A20 at Folkestone. 4 different phone numbers to Mercedes Breakdown with no joy. Each one gave me a different number to ring. We are now testing Nationwide. I don't want something burning doing damage, our insurance would love the fact that we have done a self repair. At least if it's done after breakdown have seen it then they are to blame.
Again thanks for the offer.

 

[Casper46]

You can tell this response came from a Land Rover owner. An issue such as this is a minor almost daily inconvenience for LR owners, cable ties and baler twin are essential components of the toolbox, but I’ll tell you what a good strong cable tie will see you safely over the 250miles.

We have binder twine at home. The cable ties were in the last motorhome. That was going to be the B&Q shop. The grille won't take any tugging and there are quite a few sensors to negotiate. It's the burning smell that bothers me. We hope it's was the alarm that we couldn't stop, it was telling us that the bonnet was open.

 

[DerryW]

Sorry, but I would still feel it was a scam. I watch too many don't get scammed shows

Thank you very much. We left very early with a slow drive to the Tunnel. Our idea was to find a B&Q and a bit more DiY. Then we got a smell of burning. We are in Tescos car park off the A20 at Folkestone. 4 different phone numbers to Mercedes Breakdown with no joy. Each one gave me a different number to ring. We are now testing Nationwide. I don't want something burning doing damage, our insurance would love the fact that we have done a self repair. At least if it's done after breakdown have seen it then they are to blame.
Again thanks for the offer.

Very sensible decision. Like you say, the last thing you’d want is to give an insurance company the whiff (no pun intended) of a get out of honouring a claim. You could be stuck on a lot worse places than a Tesco car park. I assume you have already done so, but just in case you haven’t, might be a good idea just to nip inside and tell their security/manager your predicament, just to avoid a potential parking ticket. Hope you soon get sorted and on your way home.

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[RedFrame]

Thank you very much. We left very early with a slow drive to the Tunnel. Our idea was to find a B&Q and a bit more DIY. Then we got a smell of burning. We are in Tescos car park off the A20 at Folkestone. 4 different phone numbers to Mercedes Breakdown with no joy. Each one gave me a different number to ring. We are now testing Nationwide. I don't want something burning doing damage, our insurance would love the fact that we have done a self repair. At least if it's done after breakdown have seen it then they are to blame.
Again thanks for the offer.

Just check the signs in that carpark, I'm sure it's anpr with set limits.

Maybe have a word with the Duty Manager in store, if you'll be overstaying.

Hope you get sorted!

Cheers
Red.

 

[Lenny HB]

Thank you very much. We left very early with a slow drive to the Tunnel. Our idea was to find a B&Q and a bit more DiY. Then we got a smell of burning. We are in Tescos car park off the A20 at Folkestone. 4 different phone numbers to Mercedes Breakdown with no joy. Each one gave me a different number to ring. We are now testing Nationwide. I don't want something burning doing damage, our insurance would love the fact that we have done a self repair. At least if it's done after breakdown have seen it then they are to blame.
Again thanks for the offer.

Did you see my post #36 there is a Carthago dealer not far from the tunnel.

Wouldn't expect the burning smell to be related to the bonnet catch problem is it could be a Merc or Carthago problem won't know until you can trace it.

 

[camoyboy]

Our catch pin fell out just after we got our van, and we did several hundred miles without it fitted. There is enough tension in the hinges to hold it down. You may find there is not enough thread in the rivnut in the plate to hold the pin in. It is the standard Merc pin. In the end I took the plate off and cut off the rivnut, and bolted the pin on with two nuts and some thread lock. No further problems. I have contacted Carthago technical about this, as several have fallen out due to insufficient thread engagement, but no response.

 

[Casper46]

Very sensible decision. Like you say, the last thing you’d want is to give an insurance company the whiff (no pun intended) of a get out of honouring a claim. You could be stuck on a lot worse places than a Tesco car park. I assume you have already done so, but just in case you haven’t, might be a good idea just to nip inside and tell their security/manager your predicament, just to avoid a potential parking ticket. Hope you soon get sorted and on your way home.

Thank you. I did as you said and she took my reg. number, got me to check it and told me we would be ok parked until midnight.

 

[Barryh]

Hymer's don't have them either, with the bonnet near vertical the bonnent is very unlikely to fly up if the catch fails.

We recently had some work done on our Hymer. The dealer didn’t close the bonnet, although it looked closed. We drove over a hundred miles before we discovered it was loose.

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[DavidG58]

Thank you. I did as you said and she took my reg. number, got me to check it and told me we would be ok parked until midnight.

Are you still there or did you get sorted / recovered

Hoping you are at least back home

 

[Casper46]

Are you still there or did you get sorted / recovered

Hoping you are at least back home

We are back home thank you. Had a lovely nights sleep and I have just penned an email to the dealers. We had arranged to take the duff tv back on our way home, but events overtook us and we were still South of Newark at the time they closed.The tv is yet another failure.

We resorted to Nationwide Breakdown as Mercedes denied all knowledge of our reg. number and kept passing me on to other numbers.
Nationwide refused at first as they told me we were too heavy . I was polite but quite insistent that Nationwide had a special arrangement with AA. He left me on hold and came back and apologised and said that he had not been made aware re. Nationwide customers.

The AA man that came out was brilliant. I kept getting updates on when he should arrive. It was a couple of hours and he rang me 5 mins before he appeared. He took the underneath pan off, hoping to find the missing parts to no avail.
We then found a new Mercedes Sprinter in the car park and the driver let us have a look at his, I had already shown him the picture that I was sent on the forum, check it by sight he could tell the length. He made up a nut and bolt head that fitted and I had a drive around the car park but the bonnet open alarm kept beeping. I managed to get my little finger behind the alarm button whilst he secured it. We then had a steady drive home.

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed to this post.
As I am getting older I find myself over concerned about things that 10 years ago wouldn’t have bothered me. Lack of how to use the internet to anywhere near its full potential and a husband who can’t turn a mobile phone on doesn’t help. He’s great at practical things.

 

[RustyRuss]

Someone suggested a ratchet strap above. Attach one hook end to the top edge of the bonnet, loop the remainder around something solid under the front bumper (or perhaps put your tow hook in?) and put the other hook end on to the same top edge of the bonnet, tighten and knot the remaining strap to prevent it flapping. Takes longer to write than to do. Ratchet straps can be bought at garages, DIY stores, hardware shops and larger supermarkets, and don’t forget Screwfix and Toolstation and Machine Mart.
Hope you get home safely!

Cheers!

Russ

 

[Casper46]

I have just contacted Mercedes. They told me that our vehicle has never been registered with them!!
They have done a temporary registration until the dealer does something about it. Himself did have words with the dealer about the fact that there are no PDI notes in our service book, that was not long after we bought it. He was told that it had definitely been checked and PDI done.
I am waiting for a call back from Lincoln. I assume that they are trying to find wriggle room before they speak to me. I’m not a happy bunny. It’s a good job that nothing serious happened whilst we were in France.

 

[Casper46]

Someone suggested a ratchet strap above. Attach one hook end to the top edge of the bonnet, loop the remainder around something solid under the front bumper (or perhaps put your tow hook in?) and put the other hook end on to the same top edge of the bonnet, tighten and knot the remaining strap to prevent it flapping. Takes longer to write than to do. Ratchet straps can be bought at garages, DIY stores, hardware shops and larger supermarkets, and don’t forget Screwfix and Toolstation and Machine Mart.
Hope you get home safely!

Cheers!

Russ

Thanks Russ. Once the AA man had done his stuff we came home still with our temporary elastic cargo mesh over the bonnet. Not pretty but piece of mind.

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