Thought we’d better come onboard!

[Robali]

Hello to all you good people on the California club forum. We are Rob and Alison who have just recently got ourselves a Cali SE 140 about two weeks ago from the Leicester VW van centre . We have been viewing this brilliant forum for months and finally decided to take the plunge and buy our own . As you probably all know the forums are a fantastic resource of information and I don’t know how we would have finally decided to go ahead without spending many hours getting all sorts of info about the Cali. So we would just like to thank all the others who have posted over the years that have given so much info for newcomers like us to the California camper . We are currently half way through a 4 week tour of France so talk about in at the deep end . Hopefully i’ll try and keep you unpdated on our “adventure” it’s been pretty eventful already ! All the best to you all .

 

[WelshGas]

You must know then that we need pictures, please.

 

[Sad]

 

[Robali]

Thank you for your kind welcome - here are a couple of shots we took picking her up and arriving home .

 

[Hotel California]

Welcome allong !
We love to read about adventures and look at pictures

 

[calikev]

great colour

 

[sapto]

Welcome Robali
Cali looks great! Like new!
Enjoy your holidays in France and look forward to see more pictures of your adventures!

 

[Robali]

We picked up our Cali at the end of May and spent a week deciding what to take with us or rather what would fit. We have camped and tourer caravaned for years, before before kids , with kids and after kids so so now is our time ! Both took early retirement but didn’t fancy a caravan again or a big motor home. We’ve looked at camper conversions off and on for a couple of years but decided that really they are lots of bits cobbled together. Then the penny dropped and it had to be a California! Everything looked so well put together - Anyway here we were the night before our first trip, booked a ferry for Dover - Calais that night at 11.00pm, drove down next day from Yorkshire with the biggest grins on our faces that we’ve had in years! Hopped on the ferry after first being stopped and inspected by the border police who i’m sure thought we were in a standard van ! Made our mind up where to stop on our first night in France while we crossed the channel, we just perused the newly acquired ACSI hand book and said that’s the site , an hour from Calais at Le crotoy (ACSI 1286) which turned into 2 hours because of a signed “Deviation” - anyway - got there and booked two nights just to familiarise ourselves with the Cali and voila! it’s brilliant !

 

[motacyclist]

Enjoy your California!

(You already are! )

 

[RetroRed5]

Great looking Cali in a great colour

"A 4 week tour of France" - awesome!! And wow, you certainly did jump in at the deep end!!

Happy CaliSE Adventuring to you both

 

[Gary&Heather]

Aboard looks like you're enjoying it already good colour as well.

 

[Robali]

Thank you one and all for the compliments about our Cali, really appreciated , We loved the colour when we first saw it but didn’t know if it was a good choice.
At the moment we are just on route to St Gervais Les Bains which is near Mont Blanc. We have just spent 4 nights at a campsite at the side of Lake Annecy, to say the veiw was stunning would be a massive understatement. I’ll post some pics to give an idea.
Had a problem on the way to Annecy though - the engine management light was flashing ( diesel glow plug light) cruise control won’t work and the traffic stop start doesn’t either, but it drives fine otherwise , no sign of any limp mode either. Phoned the. breakdown for the Das Weld Auto warranty which is the AA , they said ok to drive it but to get it checked out ASAP . So we found a VW dealer in Annecy and parked in front of the service dept. young man we dealt with spoke odd word of English and Alison knows a bit of French . He said at first it was four days before they could look at it ! Stood our ground smiling and being polite as we could and eventually he caved in and said they could do it there and then. 2 hours later it was given back to us . No light on (big relief) but he couldn’t explain what the fault was. No paperwork , said everything recorded on the computer. So big thanks and shaking of hands and we on our way no charge but non the wiser about what caused it.

 

[Robali]

View from the pot washing sinks , impossible to concentrate on washing the pots !

 

[motacyclist]

Had a problem on the way to Annecy though - the engine management light was flashing ( diesel glow plug light) cruise control won’t work and the traffic stop start doesn’t either, but it drives fine otherwise , no sign of any limp mode either. .

We had this a while back, turned out something had been nibbling at the wiring under the van; guy from RAC soldered it back together for us. Worth checking to make sure. It's fairly easy to slide underneath, if you have ramps that would make it even easier.

 

[Robali]

H

We had this a while back, turned out something had been nibbling at the wiring under the van; guy from RAC soldered it back together for us. Worth checking to make sure. It's fairly easy to slide underneath, if you have ramps that would make it even easier.

Hi Colin , Cheers for the information, would you have any idea where the nibbling had been ? Was it around the engine bay area, we are away in France at the moment so a scrim underneath without ramps is all I can manage at the minute . I do know that mice are fond of wiring so it is a possibility. We came over from Annecy to the Mont Blanc area this afternoon and the flashing warning light has reapeared again so whatever the VW garage in Annecy did’nt fix the fault , i’ve A feeling all they did was reset or cleared the fault code. Same fault again with no cruise control and stop start not working, exclamation mark on dash against the cruise icon. - Rob

 

[Stoneybroke]

We were near Annecy last summer. Beautiful.
Try the paragliding for a bird's eye view!

 

[motacyclist]

H


Hi Colin , Cheers for the information, would you have any idea where the nibbling had been ? Was it around the engine bay area, we are away in France at the moment so a scrim underneath without ramps is all I can manage at the minute . I do know that mice are fond of wiring so it is a possibility. We came over from Annecy to the Mont Blanc area this afternoon and the flashing warning light has reapeared again so whatever the VW garage in Annecy did’nt fix the fault , i’ve A feeling all they did was reset or cleared the fault code. Same fault again with no cruise control and stop start not working, exclamation mark on dash against the cruise icon. - Rob

Hi Rob, I’ve just managed to find the thread i did some time ago on this subject, click here to read it and you should be able to locate the vulnerable area.

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[rpevans99]

I've just learned about critters eating cables underneath. I'm staying with a friend in Switzerland and he has had this problem with an animal called a mertens(sp?). He bought some cheap and mobile led lights with infrared detectors and puts one under the front of each vehicle at night. The light coming on frightens them away.