Where to go to get my electrics looked at?

[ahoythere]

Hi - I'm new to this forum and would welcome some advice...

I have bought a second-hand 98/S E Series 300 TD Estate. I have an intermittent problem with the electrics which is only rectified if I disconnect and reconnect the battery leads. Everything works fine for a while but then after a few days (couple of weeks max) the front passenger window decides not to work and then the electronic key fails to open the door.

I took my car along to my local garage who sprayed my fusebox with WD40 and 'cleared down' the errors in my ECU. (I have a printout of these if it helps). However, this has failed to cure the problem.

Does anyone know what the problem might be or where I could go to get my car fixed at a reasonable price? I live in north Lancs.

Thanks.

 

[television]

Welcome to the forum, are you anywhere near Preston or Warrington

 

[ahoythere]

Hello Television. Preston is within fairly easy reach and even getting down to Warrington is no problem - provided the garage knows what it's doing.

 

[television]

Hello Television. Preston is within fairly easy reach and even getting down to Warrington is no problem - provided the garage knows what it's doing.

In Preston you have Frank Massey The UK's leading dianostic expert, he teaches all of the others Email enquires@automotivediagnostics.co.uk

01772 201597

Ask him if he wants to do it

 

[ahoythere]

Malcolm - many thanks for the suggestion. I'll contact Frank.

Chris

 

[ahoythere]

Hi again Malcolm - I took my car to Frank Massey in Preston and touch wood he appears to have fixed the problem. He's not cheap mind - the bill came to£300 and that's just the labour (no new parts were required) - but if the problem is fixed permanently, then I shall consider it money well spent.

 

[jibcl500]

SO what did he do? we need answers to problems to help others.

jib

 

[AAPete]

I would be willing to drive to Preston! If he can fix my roof without charging me 2.5k!

 

[ahoythere]

In answer to Jib's question: What did he do?

He accessed the CAN wiring by removing the vehicle trim in four places (forgive me if I use improper terminology):

- Driver's side: bottom of centre pillar between front and rear doors
- Passenger's side: ditto
- Driver's side: below dash to right of footwell
- Passenger side: below glove compartment to left of footwell

He inspected the sockets and wiring, lubricated the connectors and carried out a 'wiggle test' to check integrity of connections. Doing this he was able to clear down all errors. (Previously, the diagnostic report had produced a number of errors which could not be cleared).

Frank said that a dodgy connection can sometimes corrupt the digital signal that travels along the wiring and this was probably the cause of the intermittent problems I'd been experiencing.

I hope this explanation is helpful. If any of you do decide to use Frank, please could you help me out by posting a service request on my new website: www.ahoythere.com. Service cat = car repairs & servicing; location = Preston or Lancs. Frank has registered as a service provider and will be able to respond to your service request. At the end of the job, you will be able to post feedback which is helpful to other users and to Frank if he does a good job. Thanks.