Road Trip Breakdown Nightmare

After leaving Regina, Saskatchewan, we were on our way to Brandon, Manitoba when our van broke down again - for the THIRD time. Once again we were stranded on the side of the road with the summer heat seeping in through the windows and walls of our Wander Wagon. It was the same issue we had been dealing with this entire trip. We would be driving down the road when suddenly it would feel like we had just run out of gas when our tanks were obviously still full. We knew it had something to do with the fuel pumps and the electrical system someone had installed on their own. But, we had been to a mechanic more than once already and these breakdowns were getting a little old.

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I guess things could have been worse. This breakdown had occurred during a long stretch of road construction creating a single lane road without any shoulder to pull off on. Luckily, the van lost power just as we were passing a small exit to a country road, probably the only one for a mile. It would have been chaos if we had broken down in the middle of the construction blocking all traffic.

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Corbin got to work trying to figure out if we had any electrical connections that had come loose again and what the problem might be this time. He had been out there for awhile looking under the hood and crawling under the van when a car pulled up in front of us. A local had noticed we were broken down and he had come to help out. He and Corbin brainstormed and searched for the problem after Corbin filled him in about the fuel pump issues we had been having. Corbin and him had been out there for a while with no luck when the guy suggested they just install an additional in-line fuel pump, and he even had one at his house nearby.

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He left to go grab the pump at his house, and Corbin and I were still in shock by just how helpful and kind this stranger had been. The guys ended up working on the van for over an hour and sure enough with the in-line fuel pump installed our Wander Wagon started right up! It was a temporary fix because the fuel pump was taped into the line under the hood and was pulling rather than pushing the fuel up which is hard on the pump and can lead to it burning out faster. As soon as we were in a place where we could really work on the van, the in-line pump needed to be permanently installed underneath the van near the actual fuel tanks where it could push the fuel up towards the engine.

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We thanked the guy for coming to our rescue and taking significant time out of his day to help us out. We organized a way to reimburse him for the in-line fuel pump since we didn’t have any cash on us. (He responded to our email later saying to just pass it on- what a great guy!)

With our temporary fix, we were back on the road. Though, it was still stressful driving the rest of the way, as with every breakdown we tend to become increasingly more paranoid the van will keel over at any minute and we will be stranded for good. But, all went well for the rest of the trip and we made it to Brandon in one piece. Exhausted from the eventful day we pulled into the local Walmart and made ourselves at home for the night.