Picture the scene a quiet aire, people enjoying a late stroll on the beach, some their evening meal and others just drinking and chatting. Then in true Hollywood style the sky darkens, the wind speed increases and it begins to rain. The noise of thunder gradually gets louder as the lightening intensifies. Parked a metre behind my van a new Chausson is struck. The vehicle's four indicators stay on with the wipers dancing back and forth. Others who witnessed the van being struck, saw the lightening disappear under my van and then under another two. When the storm subsided we all tried to extinguish our wayward indicators, but to no avail. They were on and they were staying on. The cab battery was disconnected to avoid a flat one in the morning. Unfortunately, the following morning, none of the affected vehicles would start. The engines turned over but wouldn't fire. Possible immobiliser problem was the consensus. The breakdown/recovery hotlines were called. My Peugeot was adamant it wasn't leaving Le Crotoy until it wanted to. The depannage man had other ideas. He called the Peugeot garage for assistance. Bring it in for diagnosis, but as it's Saturday better make that before 12:30 ;-)
Computer says:
ECU fried, Airbag controller fried, every controller under the sun fried plus a few other bits for good measure.
Timescale and price please Monsieur Peugeot. One week to obtain parts, 5 days to install and test, plus 2 days contingency. Price €2300.00 inc vat.
So here I am parked up on a Peugeot dealership yard until Monday. I'm not letting on who the breakdown/assistance contacts were as I'll give a detailed run down of the whole episode and how it was handled when the van is back in the UK and fixed to my satisfaction.
This is an expensive end to my holiday but I'm happy that with all that nature threw at us last night, no one was hurt.
ps - My solar charger is fried too!
Computer says:
ECU fried, Airbag controller fried, every controller under the sun fried plus a few other bits for good measure.
Timescale and price please Monsieur Peugeot. One week to obtain parts, 5 days to install and test, plus 2 days contingency. Price €2300.00 inc vat.
So here I am parked up on a Peugeot dealership yard until Monday. I'm not letting on who the breakdown/assistance contacts were as I'll give a detailed run down of the whole episode and how it was handled when the van is back in the UK and fixed to my satisfaction.
This is an expensive end to my holiday but I'm happy that with all that nature threw at us last night, no one was hurt.
ps - My solar charger is fried too!