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Car 'developed' problem whilst at garage


The Woolster
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What the flying fuck are you talking about?

 

That generally speaking, the greasey hand brigade of mechanics generally find and fix the problem as opposed to the gloved hand brigade who just plug a computer into the car's ODBC port, read a few codes and tell you its fucked. Then proceed to tell you the replacement part is usually over a grand. Plus labour. And dont forget the VAT.

 

Not too hard to figure that out from my post. Are you thick?

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That generally speaking, the greasey hand brigade of mechanics generally find and fix the problem as opposed to the gloved hand brigade who just plug a computer into the car's ODBC port, read a few codes and tell you its fucked. Then proceed to tell you the replacement part is usually over a grand. Plus labour. And dont forget the VAT.

 

Not too hard to figure that out from my post. Are you thick?

I have found this to be the case too.

 

Apart from calling people thick that is as that will involve paying 10x the cost of the parts needed.

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I asked mr melons about this as he's car mad and farts around with bangers before he'd ever buy a new car (he's also so tight he squeeks).  

 

Is it a rear wheel drive or a front? To ask to look at the part, even if it means getting under the car yourself then ask to look at any jacks they use to see if any paint has worn off. Ask who changed the breaks, see if it was one of the trainee kids ect. As Tomarse said, it's difficult to break them, you should hear a noise as you've been turning it when on full lock ect, also for it to be that broken that you can't move the car you need to check the gear linkage, you should have had some kind of motion even with it fully broken. All in all, it sounds really dodgy. 

 

Scout around, the parts do cost what you said, but companies have massive offers, we've just got the new timing belt for my bus for half of what we were quoted by a garage.  

 

 

Thanks for asking. I think its a front wheel drive.

 

I did go yesterday wanting to have a look at it, but I couldn't get underneath it at that time, and unfortunately I work in London but don't live in London so couldn't really habg around for it as it was alreay getting close to 9 and it takes me an hour and a half to get in.

 

Anyways, went to pick up the car this morning, and he showed and has given me the 'part' that was broken. I can see that it had rusted and corroded through and had just been connected by what was left in the middle that finally went. Of course there is the doubt whether the part was actually form my car. Also not sure why there had been no symptoms like noises or vibrations. I did find them on the Good Garage Scheme, and they've got feedback of about 97% from over 200 feedbacks, and they don't feel like a dodgy garage.

 

He was 'kind' enough to give me £20 off the labour... I'm not really the confrontational type, and tbh I'd had enough of it by then, so couldn't be bothered to kick up a fuss to get another £50-60 off.

 

The Woolstess ain't happy though, and I told them she'll more than likely be putting up some bad reviews so take that fuckface!

*the last bit may well have been just in my mind*

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Thanks for asking. I think its a front wheel drive.

 

I did go yesterday wanting to have a look at it, but I couldn't get underneath it at that time, and unfortunately I work in London but don't live in London so couldn't really habg around for it as it was alreay getting close to 9 and it takes me an hour and a half to get in.

 

Anyways, went to pick up the car this morning, and he showed and has given me the 'part' that was broken. I can see that it had rusted and corroded through and had just been connected by what was left in the middle that finally went. Of course there is the doubt whether the part was actually form my car. Also not sure why there had been no symptoms like noises or vibrations. I did find them on the Good Garage Scheme, and they've got feedback of about 97% from over 200 feedbacks, and they don't feel like a dodgy garage.

 

He was 'kind' enough to give me £20 off the labour... I'm not really the confrontational type, and tbh I'd had enough of it by then, so couldn't be bothered to kick up a fuss to get another £50-60 off.

 

The Woolstess ain't happy though, and I told them she'll more than likely be putting up some bad reviews so take that fuckface!

*the last bit may well have been just in my mind*

 

That is really unusual apparently, especially given you'd never noticed anything whenever you'd have been turning. I relayed this to Mr melons who gave me the confused look. 

 

Get the woolstress to have a look on the crank emails thread on here for some tips, if she's going to leave a decently shit review, she needs as much material as possible to get it noticed. http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/index.php?/topic/49465-crank-email/ 

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This one's sort of relevant - I wrote to Citroen after some travails...

 

The Customer Relations Department

Citroen UK

Sirs

I am compelled to write to you in complaint of your blatant misleading of the public through your recent television advertising campaign. I had recently purchased a Citroen C4 1.6HDi 16V 110hp EGS SX Hatchback, Glacier White, with 16 inch alloy wheels. Imagine my, and my sons, delight when the same car was used in your latest so-called CGI advertisement. Kevin, who is 8 years old and a fan of anything robotic, marvelled at the way the car transformed into a robotic fighting beast similar to those celebrated in the hit children’s TV series, Transformers. 

My son is a particularly persistent child, and after repeated pestering over the course of 3 weeks, I relented and agreed to transform our car into the robot shown in the advert. 

This was, frankly, no easy task. I had particular difficulty releasing the driving gear mechanism from the front subframe, and the hydro-pneumatic suspension sprung a leak which quickly relieved the car of all suspension fluid. The release catch on the seat runner could be freed only after almost 9 hours lying on the workshop floor with blood streaming from a deep gouge in my spanner hand. Eventually, after a tortuous 17 days, we had reassembled the car in the style of the robot beast as depicted in your advertisement. 17 days, whereas your advertisement clearly suggests that not only can this operation be carried out in a number of seconds, but no manual intervention is required.

Further disappointment lay ahead. The construction would could not be made to move in any way; even after a complete oil change and a full tank of diesel – nothing apart from the windscreen wiper. We were left with a 12 foot inactive robot with a wagging tail, and derision from the neighbours, who were still threatening to sue over the damage to their lawn caused by the hydro-pneumatic fluid leak. My son by this time had given up on the idea and returned to riding his BMX bike with his chums. 

Worse was to follow. After a week’s fruitless effort in trying to coax the robot into life, I decided to return the car to its original condition. An easy task, one might assume after viewing the advertisement. Unfortunately not. After 31 days of thankless graft, my wife announced that she was leaving me for someone she had met on the internet the previous week. The man apparently not only had a GSOH, but he had a fully functioning car and would be able to take her away on weekends, shopping trips, and drop her off at the bingo. The following day, a further setback when the tank of fuel caught fire, laying waste my lean-to garage and the neighbour’s Norfolk Blue Terrier.  

After no little struggle, I do appear to have reassembled the car to something approaching its original state. However, there are numerous pieces left over, including a limited slip differential, several pieces of tubing and a gasket cover. The car is driveable, though the ride is most uncomfortable and there is a grinding noise underneath the car which seems to increase when going over speed humps or turning left. In addition, the steering wheel has no influence over the direction the car travels – the car is now operated by a joystick-type interface which supersedes the gearbox, which has been rendered redundant after my son and his friends rolled the gear wheels into the canal. 

My local garage has informed me that there is more chance of Ashley Cole being heterosexual than my car passing an MOT anytime in the future, and my insurance company is ‘reviewing my policy’ with a view to ‘remodelling the risk profile’ whatever that means. 

Any chance of a trade in for one of those German C5s? I love the advert. 

Yours, in expectation,

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That is really unusual apparently, especially given you'd never noticed anything whenever you'd have been turning. I relayed this to Mr melons who gave me the confused look. 

 

Get the woolstress to have a look on the crank emails thread on here for some tips, if she's going to leave a decently shit review, she needs as much material as possible to get it noticed. http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/index.php?/topic/49465-crank-email/

 

It cracked inside the CV joint boot, don't know if that would have muffled any sounds. I have a deja vu type feeling that it squeeked a little when steering wheel was fully locked, but I don't actually remember it doing it, so it might be me now 2nd guessing myself, but it couldn't have been too bad if it did. No sounds when normally turning though unless we just ignored them!

 

I'll be getting my Brother in Law to take a look, he builds/restores cars as hobby.

 

I'll try to remember to take a photo and load it up here too.

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Well the ones who don't give a shit do. 

 

 

I'm with Trumo here, if you are getting your car back from them and it's dirty and has muck on the handles and steering wheel they probably aren't taking much care with your car in general. 

 

We always used seat covers, wrapped the steering wheel and gearknob and put paper floor mats in to keep the car clean. Even then everything was wiped down after removal too. My dads trick was to also leave a paper napkin (not really a napkin but we used to get them for free from Shell) over the steering wheel, punter goes outside and then wipes the wheel themselves, looks at it and sees it's got no muck on it and knows the car is clean.

 

Your username has always made me think of these.  Given that you're apparently a mechanic, it now occurs to me that might be intentional.

 

Vauxhall_Chevette_4_d_first_registered_3

 

(The picture of one in invalid car blue is intentional, the bloke over the road from me used to have one identical to this when I was a kid.)

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It cracked inside the CV joint boot, don't know if that would have muffled any sounds. I have a deja vu type feeling that it squeeked a little when steering wheel was fully locked, but I don't actually remember it doing it, so it might be me now 2nd guessing myself, but it couldn't have been too bad if it did. No sounds when normally turning though unless we just ignored them!

 

I'll be getting my Brother in Law to take a look, he builds/restores cars as hobby.

 

I'll try to remember to take a photo and load it up here too.

 

The big question I have in my mind is, how did they move the car out of the MOT bay \ off the rolling road if, when your wife came to drive it, it wouldnt move?

 

The fact she got in it and it wouldnt move suggests the damage was already done before she got in it.

 

I suspect the clowns have just driven the car on or more likely off the rolling road too quickly as most of the grease monkeys do. I still think you need to work on these guys and the duty of care they have to apply to your vehicle when they are charging you for their services.

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The big question I have in my mind is, how did they move the car out of the MOT bay \ off the rolling road if, when your wife came to drive it, it wouldnt move?

 

The fact she got in it and it wouldnt move suggests the damage was already done before she got in it.

 

I suspect the clowns have just driven the car on or more likely off the rolling road too quickly as most of the grease monkeys do. I still think you need to work on these guys and the duty of care they have to apply to your vehicle when they are charging you for their services.

 

It was parked outside, they said they parked it without any problem. They said they would have expected there to be a sound of it breaking when my wife tried to move off, but she didn't hear one. However she did have 2 toddlers with her who were undoubtedly causing trouble.

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As the problem happened while in their care I would fully expect them to rectify it.

I had a clutch replaced early this year and the day after it went again. They came out,picked it up and replaced it again for no extra cost.

I wouldnt pay a penny extra for it.

 

If what had broken was what they were fixing, or even right next to what they were fixing, I would have more of a case for doing that, but what they fixed was at the back, what broke was at the front, and in theory, they wouldn't have touched it

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that's no droop snoot

 

EDIT - Actually I'm getting mixed up with a Firenza.  But the HS had a 2.3 engine, which made it fucking fast for a rear wheel drive hatchback with no weight.

 

Only ever saw one HS in the flesh, I lived in such a shithole we thought a Capri Laser was exotic.

 

Tell you what, looking at a few pics online today I realised the hatch really was a nicely designed car, the proportions are spot on.

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£20 for an oil change? Decent oil costs more

✓ Tyres: Condition, pressures and tread depth

✓ Air Conditioning performance

✓ Brakes: Front and rear (visual inspection only)

✓ Lights (excludes headlight aim)

✓ Horn

✓ Dashboard warning lights

✓ Radiator and fan for leaks or cutting out

✓ Battery

✓ Oil level

✓ Other Fluid levels: Clutch, power steering, brakes and washer bottles – and top-up, if required.

✓ Drive belts

✓ Wipers

✓ Plus 1 litre of Shell oil

 

I always get a health check around this time of year. My full service is not due until March.

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