My story is already convoluted enough that I'm losing track of the pieces and sequence of events, but what I can't remember I'll make up. Here's a quick summary:

Sunday: I left Belgrade and drove an hour, when my fuel pump started leaking diesel profusely. Two saints or kidnappers, who knows, offered to take me to a nearby mechanic. The fuel pump was kaput and would be rebuilt the next day. I spent the night in a nearby hotel.

Monday: Spent the next day with the mechanic, the translator, and various other members of the extended friends and family. The fuel pump was refurbished and replaced, I said bye in the late afternoon and drove an hour away to wild camp. Discovered that the coolant was leaking - need to go back.

Alrighty then! That brings us to Tuesday, when I drove back in the morning to the mechanic, my new second home (before I knew how true that was) and got the leaking coolant line repaired. Seemed pretty simple. We said our heartfelt goodbyes once again, and agreed that I'd come back on my return from Turkey, with or without repairs. I decided to head to some impressive ruins of a former Roman city - I love those places! After climbing a long and steady hill I saw the van's temperature climbing, as I looked for a place to pull over. I turned on the heater to help cool the engine, and nothing but cold air came out! Oh, no, that is NOT good. When I pulled off, almost all of the coolant had leaked out. Guess how far away from the mechanic I was - oh, about an hour! That's the magic driving time these days before it gets "interesting." Now I really thought I needed him to come get me with his flatbed tow truck, but he said I could fill it with regular water and add it as needed, or he'd get me if I didn't want to try that. I filled the cooling system, started the van - and saw water gushing out of the split hose. Good - at least we know where the leak is. I patched it with the metal clamp over some duct tape and it hardly leaked driving back.

Back to the garage, second time today, my Serbian family!! The mechanic is getting fed up, and who knows, maybe a little embarrassed. The translator spent the whole night helping a friend with a relative who had just passed away, and was grumpy as hell. I was the only one who wasn't grumpy, and started feeling like now I have to take care of my van PLUS these guys! I had declared myself Grandpa 2, and as member of the family, you guys have to deal with this! The hose that leaked was shit-quality, somehow, and he could split it lengthwise with his finger. No wonder it split open and leaked coolant. He replaced the hose. We had long debates about why the hoses were leaking, and the mechanic really thought something was wrong with the engine. (I later learned that a problem with the head of the engine can lead to too much pressure in the cooling system and cause leaks in the hose.) I thought we can't rule out that the hoses could just be old.

It was getting late, everyone was tired, and they invited me to come to their friend's little hut on the nearby mountain and have BBQ and adult beverages, real men, plus me. Good! Pictures are below. I spent the night in the van next to the hut.

On Wednesday, back at the mechanic, we checked the fluids again and saw (and remembered) that the oil had dropped too much. Really too much. YURR KIDDING ME, Part 3, the Sequel! We had talked about the oil dropping before, but we'd been so concentrated on the fuel pump and coolant leaks that we'd kind of forgotten. If it was dropping as fast as it seemed, it wouldn't make sense or be possible to drive the van to Turkey. I would need to either get it repaired in Serbia, or possibly drive to Slovenia where I had the engine rebuilt, as it was still under warranty. Could I even drive it to Slovenia? How could I know THAT?! Yeah, I couldn't. The only way my Serbian mechanic could assess the problem is to open the engine, a big project, and if it's open you may as well fix it! Oh, crikey. Our first plan of attack: top the fluids up precisely to the top, and drive 150 km (100 miles) to see if the levels drop. So I spent a few hours doing that in the local area, to find that 1) the oil DIDN'T drop (what changed? ) and 2) the coolant dropped more than it should.

The tension rose in the little mechanic's shop, especially after he said he wanted to open the engine, which would take two days and cost 1,200 Euros. I didn't react much at all, and through the translator said, I don't want to upset him, but I only paid 1,300 Euros to have the engine completely rebuilt. BOOM. "Where are the parts, what did he do, how do you know, where are the receipts?!" I said, look my friends, I trusted him just like I trusted you. I didn't ask you about money, at all, and paid the bill you gave me. I did the same in Slovenia. If I didn't trust them, I wouldn't have them do the work. The translator said thoughtfully, "Wow. I think you were brought up in a very nice family." (He said that twice.) The mechanic said he didn't need to look for leaks, they were all fixed. I said, I'll pay you today for your time and materials, or I'll leave and pay someone else to do it. Because the van isn't working properly the way it is, and needs to be repaired. More frustration, because he really wants to do a thorough job and solve the problem, and he really wants to be done. We looked together for leaks, and I found one they hadn't seen, which is a terrible state. I don't know what I'm doing and shouldn't be finding anything. Between the suggested 1,200 Euro repair and me finding the leak, I was losing confidence.

I messaged my Slovenian mechanic, a lovely guy, and he called my Serbian mechanic, where in a relatively short call they seemed to agree that the engine was okay. The Slovenian mechanic had translated the results of the call, and I said, oh I think he's just fed up and wants to get rid of me! He laughed and said, yeah, could be! But I was really left wondering, what happened to the 1,200 Euro project?!

By this point, I was physically tired, and even though I hadn't exhausted my financial budget for the van, I was coming to the edge of my emotional budget for van repairs, one after the other! Yet another heartfelt goodbye, and I was surprised that I meant it every time, even though I no longer believed it. I decided to check into the hotel where I'd spent my first night. I was shocked that it was full, it hadn't even occurred to me, so I drove off in the dark looking for a wild camp, not really an ideal choice. I eventually went to another small hotel and collapsed for the night. I tried to write this but was too tired.

Today, Thursday, I acted on our group decision to start driving some distance in the south of Serbia but not cross borders in case things go south. (Which is kind of funny because I'm literally going south.) The engine oil looks to be okay, and the coolant is slowly going down. That's still a problem, since it shouldn't be going down at all, but it seems to me unlikely to indicate a serious problem - just a slow leak that we have yet to find. As if I would be qualified to make that statement! That's pretty funny.

Now what's going to happen?! Yeah, you tell me. I ended up coming to the Roman ruins today, and I'm wild camping on a hill in this beautiful verdant green area just near the ruins. It's beautiful!

Enjoy a few photos!

Love, and don't you worry,

Davemo

My lovely wild camp where I discovered that I was losing coolant.

After my second attempt to escape, an hour away the coolant was GONE from my van. I refilled it with regular water from my drinking water tank, started the van, and saw this. No wonder it was empty. I patched it with duct tape and the clamp and drove back to the garage.

A bigger view of the house/garage property. My second home.

There's a nice small town 5 km down the road, but it's definitely in the country.

Adult beverages with the boys.

Meat!

This is the view I woke up to. That's a working well, and the only source of water.

The owner of the property got it from his father, who got it from HIS father. It's a beautiful area, only 10 minutes from the shop.

From November 2020, this crack team of Slovenian automotive inspectors are checking out their dad's work on the van.

Saying the big goodbye. For the 4th time, I think? The last time, maybe??

Tonight's wild camping spot. I approve!

(The End)