shudagottaford
New Member
Here is a few recent encounters (recent as in the last two weeks) with "professional" mechanics I just had to share with everyone:
1 - My own spare car (17 yr old GSi Carlton)
Breaks down on a mate in Bradford when he borrowed it. He took it to a garage (because I was working in London and didn't have time to fix it.
Garage said - Faulty alternator, faulty ECU, faulty air sensor, faulty dissy
Real cause - Knackered 7 year old battery (after they tried to charge £200 to not fix the fault, including replacement alternator)
2 - A friends new (92,000) 9 yr old Audi A3 (fash)
Random misfiring, stalling, spluttering usually at the most inconvenent and embarrasing moments.
Garage said - All manner of electrical faults, the usual air sensor, injectors, filter, fuel pump, wrong kind of weather etc...
Real cause - Some complete moron had forgotten to actually tighten any of the spark plugs during the last change, full Audi service history remember. Oh and this was the 3rd garage that found this little issue.
3 - Seat Alambra TD (and yes, its one of those cr*ppy PD engines)
This one is a classic! Belongs to my business partner, has not had any turbo boost for the last year. I researched this on a few websites and found that its a common problem with a valve (N73 or N79) which is somewhere under the dashboard, so I said I ain't touching it!
Was apparently "serviced" twice by some cowboy who didn't reset the counter and insisted that the fault had been cured, twice! I looked at it just after the second and major service and found that nothing had actually been touched on the engine. The main oil was on minimum, the sump plug didn't have a mark on it, the coolant/brake/power steering fluid was well past it, and the bottom engine cover bolts were seized.
Next, he takes it to a Seat main dealer who charge him £82 for a diagnostic which stops halfway through because apparently the MAF sensor is faulty. So, they fit a new one at £230 which allows the diagnostic to complete and then shows no faults or makes any difference to the car. Then they won't give him an actual print out from their computer, just a smudged photocopy that is mostly unreadable.
Anyhoo, after some arguing and a refund, the car is coming over to my workshop next week, booooo!
My advice: learn as much as you have time for, and don't be afraid to break out the tools to attempt a repair. As long as nothing goes crunch, you can't make it any worse! Oh, and if you have a certain fault with a car, google it before you take it to a garage. You will probably be more clued up than they are!
1 - My own spare car (17 yr old GSi Carlton)
Breaks down on a mate in Bradford when he borrowed it. He took it to a garage (because I was working in London and didn't have time to fix it.
Garage said - Faulty alternator, faulty ECU, faulty air sensor, faulty dissy
Real cause - Knackered 7 year old battery (after they tried to charge £200 to not fix the fault, including replacement alternator)
2 - A friends new (92,000) 9 yr old Audi A3 (fash)
Random misfiring, stalling, spluttering usually at the most inconvenent and embarrasing moments.
Garage said - All manner of electrical faults, the usual air sensor, injectors, filter, fuel pump, wrong kind of weather etc...
Real cause - Some complete moron had forgotten to actually tighten any of the spark plugs during the last change, full Audi service history remember. Oh and this was the 3rd garage that found this little issue.
3 - Seat Alambra TD (and yes, its one of those cr*ppy PD engines)
This one is a classic! Belongs to my business partner, has not had any turbo boost for the last year. I researched this on a few websites and found that its a common problem with a valve (N73 or N79) which is somewhere under the dashboard, so I said I ain't touching it!
Was apparently "serviced" twice by some cowboy who didn't reset the counter and insisted that the fault had been cured, twice! I looked at it just after the second and major service and found that nothing had actually been touched on the engine. The main oil was on minimum, the sump plug didn't have a mark on it, the coolant/brake/power steering fluid was well past it, and the bottom engine cover bolts were seized.
Next, he takes it to a Seat main dealer who charge him £82 for a diagnostic which stops halfway through because apparently the MAF sensor is faulty. So, they fit a new one at £230 which allows the diagnostic to complete and then shows no faults or makes any difference to the car. Then they won't give him an actual print out from their computer, just a smudged photocopy that is mostly unreadable.
Anyhoo, after some arguing and a refund, the car is coming over to my workshop next week, booooo!
My advice: learn as much as you have time for, and don't be afraid to break out the tools to attempt a repair. As long as nothing goes crunch, you can't make it any worse! Oh, and if you have a certain fault with a car, google it before you take it to a garage. You will probably be more clued up than they are!
