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Topic: garage nightmare rip off (Read 569 times) |
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the_machine
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garage nightmare rip off
« on: Sep 10th, 2006, 8:30pm » |
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You just cant trust soem people:
sent my 24v cosworth to have 2 new radius arms and a battery.
They said theres a battery drain so they will investigate. I was not too bothered as im an electronics technicain, but i let them go ahead anyway.
guess what
they disconnected the relay for the heated front screen, routed 2 cables NEG and POS (using red wires! ) direct from battery to my radio (a DVD radio) !! no fuse !!!!! so if those cables would have touched they would have melted and burned !!!
then they did not put the grommet back into the bulhead, just passed the wires round it so they would have chaffed on the bulkhead.
they nicked my battery tray!!
the radius arms seem ok, but the electrical job was dire.
the radio was then incorrectly wired so it lost its memory !!!
since this, my car now 'thumps' into overdrive. used to be smooth, but the box is thumping.
not sure whats happened here.
the dash resets every time you start up. (apart from the mileage of course)
cost £500
i have been testing the car today, and sometimes it does not thump, sometimes the dash does not do its reset, just every other time.
any ideas.
 ??
theres fluid in the box and maf is clean.
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taliban aka Cheekyboy2
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Re: garage nightmare rip off
« Reply #1 on: Sep 10th, 2006, 8:35pm » |
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firstly dont pay the garage.
if they're electrical work is that bad, check the battery to make sure it is new and of the right capacity, needles sweeping round is sign of broken battery.....normally.
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TiberiuS
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Ex. 1996 2.3 Ultima - RIP P789 KHJ
 
Posts: 2257
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Re: garage nightmare rip off
« Reply #2 on: Sep 10th, 2006, 9:04pm » |
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Current drain normally gets traced to a faulty switch or the like, easy to fix. Check if the batt is a dud/right size and get a clamp meter on to check if there's an excess load flowing with the car switched off, sucking the battery  .
With the 'box, mabye it's something they've done on the wiring messing with the autobox management, mabye it's just age and a coincidence or mabye someone at the garage took your car and caned it to within an inch of it's life (happened to me); my car won't go within a mile of a garage again if I can help it  .
Good luck. Regards, Bruce.
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Bruce - '07 Jaguar XKR coupe, '95 Jaguar XJ Sport 4.0, '82 Ford Capri 2.0 Ghia, '15 Honda Civic (sloooooww..)
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cossie_al
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Ex 24v
Posts: 902
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Re: garage nightmare rip off
« Reply #3 on: Sep 10th, 2006, 9:22pm » |
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Have you checked the plug on the maf forgive me for asking an obvious question but I am also knowledgeable in auto electrics and have missed this on my own 24v
As for the garages shoddy work unfused wires passing through a bulkhead with no grommet is a potential fire hazard as you will be well aware of, and removing parts that do not nead removing and not replacing them is theft.
Go back to the garage and threaten trading standards and also make them aware of your qualifications in electronics and I reckon they will sort it quite quckly.
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Spannerdemon
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Re: garage nightmare rip off
« Reply #4 on: Sep 11th, 2006, 6:57pm » |
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I too am not a lover of garages.
After having been ripped off many times early in my motoring life, I finally lost it with these clowns.
Your best defence is a good toolbox, a pair of overalls and a determination to learn about your car, rather than giving up and handing it over to a load of monkeys, who in most cases, probably know less than YOU do about your own car!!
They get most of their info from Trade books like Autodata. So don't give them work that you can do yourself. You'd be surprised how easy most jobs are .
I accept that some problems are a pain in the **** to diagnose, but with help from forums like these life is a lot easier, because you have an awful lot of knowledge to tap into.
I also DO accept that there must be some good garages out there, but I have to be 100% honest, and say that I've only ever found ONE!
I only wish BBC or ITV would bring out a "Garages from Hell" and expose these cowboy mechanics.
Meanwhile NAME AND SHAME any garage that you use, that other members would be wise to avoid!!. Hitting these people in the pocket is the only way to damage them. 
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the_machine
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Re: garage nightmare rip off
« Reply #5 on: Sep 11th, 2006, 11:18pm » |
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thanks spanner
they are con men
they stole my batteey cover
and the car came back with a gearbox fault
overdrive sometimes clunks in with a thud
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Spannerdemon
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Re: garage nightmare rip off
« Reply #6 on: Sep 12th, 2006, 7:24am » |
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on Sep 10th, 2006, 8:30pm, the_machine wrote:You just cant trust some people
they disconnected the relay for the heated front screen, routed 2 cables NEG and POS (using red wires! ) direct from battery to my radio (a DVD radio) !! no fuse !!!!! so if those cables would have touched they would have melted and burned !!!
then they did not put the grommet back into the bulhead, just passed the wires round it so they would have chaffed on the bulkhead.
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Sums it up doesn't it!! I too work in Electronics.
I SHUDDER  every time I hear about wiring/grommets like this. And these guys are supposed to be professional mechanics! Yeah Right!!
Check the linkage on your gearbox lever for wear or bad adjustment. Also re-check the level of fluid. You must do this whilst it's hot (after a journey).
Your swinging needles indicate a failing or low battery (mine went last week which i how I found out about it from this GREAT site).
You've got to find the drain, but have you had the battery tested. Get a heavy-discharge test done, and also get them to check the cells.
With winter arriving, a duff battery is the last thing you want.
Finally......Tell them you want your battery tray back!! They have lost/stolen it........unbelievable that they won't sort this out.
Hope this helps.
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