problem with car service, loss of power and bad brakes

[LongLensPhotography]

Well the fixed price annual service and a few intercooler pipe seals replaced at the dealer made my car horrible . There is a loss of power, I need to rev harder, first gear is almost dead. And the brakes feel soft and almost fall to the floor when pushed.
I've been on the phone to the customer careline and will take the car back
but what shall I point those geniuses :razz: to (doubt they will willingly find anything, as they were already quick to tell me car is not new :nono: and brakes can pass MOT)? What could they break while doing the maintenance? Something to do with vacuum?

you just can't trust almost anyone in car trade and servicing in this country BRISTOL these days, I will have to learn it myself one day
I feel absolutely sick £417 later and with a wrecked car (well a bit like a 13 year old renault scenic)

 

[JayD]

If EVERYTHING is spongy, and a lack of power, it sounds like they've replaced hoses and clips with inferior stuff. What car is it? Petrol or diesel?

 

[LongLensPhotography]

it's a VAG TDI 1.9PD and yeah, feels nothing like the day before. I had to floor it to get to 70 on Mway for the first time in its life

I thought the dealer would use genuine parts, not some cheap awful rubber

 

[JayD]

Hate to say but "genuine" parts are nowhere near as good as they should be.
I can't really speak for VAG but I know Ford connect the diagnostics machine before they do anything else, and b****r about with all the settings.
I made the mistake of taking my Mondy to Ford last year, they screwed up my remap setting it back to standard, and replaced my perfectly good silicone hoses with crappy Ford ones, I went ape****** at them.
I know its a pain but you'll have to keep going back and complaining until they get it right.
For the car to be altered that quickly, overnight, it sounds like they set something completely wrong on the diagnostics machine.
I know it doesn't help much at this moment, but find yourself a good independant mechanic, by recommendation, and stick to him. A service is only a series of checks and filter and oil changing. An independant mechanic will be half the price and a lot more thorough, he needs to be good to get work by recommendation.

 

[Yves Geza]

Well the fixed price annual service and a few intercooler pipe seals replaced at the dealer made my car horrible . There is a loss of power, I need to rev harder, first gear is almost dead. And the brakes feel soft and almost fall to the floor when pushed.
I've been on the phone to the customer careline and will take the car back
but what shall I point those geniuses :razz: to (doubt they will willingly find anything, as they were already quick to tell me car is not new :nono: and brakes can pass MOT)? What could they break while doing the maintenance? Something to do with vacuum?

you just can't trust anyone in car trade and servicing in this country these days, I will have to learn it myself one day
I feel absolutely sick £417 later and with a wrecked car

As one of many members of this forum who's employed in the motor trade, I rather dislike your slurs.

I'll merely remind you and others reading this, that you were dissatisfied with your last car, with your last service and, if I recall aright, with every garage you've ever dealt with in Bristol.

I recall that Flash in the Pan and I, with decades of motor industry experience between us, expressed pity for any motor dealer who took your shilling! That nothing ever made you happy.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

As one of many members of this forum who's employed in the motor trade, I rather dislike your slurs.

I'll merely remind you and others reading this, that you were dissatisfied with your last car, with your last service and, if I recall aright, with every garage you've ever dealt with in Bristol.

I recall that Flash in the Pan and I, with decades of motor industry experience between us, expressed pity for any motor dealer who took your shilling! That nothing ever made you happy.

that attitude pretty well summarises why is the case... so it's ok to pay through the nose and get bad service? Somebody has to pay all salaries over and over again I suppose. Happy? Care to recommend responsible and capable garage?

shilling? best part of my salary for 15min bad job

 

[Yves Geza]

The country is full of responsible and capable garages. Whenever I have dealt retail and anonymously with garages of other franchises I have been pleased with how they have met my expectations and solved my problems. In fact I have been surprised how well I seem to be treated when I read other peoples' keyboard rants.

So let me make a worthwhile suggestion from my experiences. Instead of :razz: and sneering, go back to the garage, explain the problem and seek their help as the professionals they are. If they have made an error, they'll undoubtedly correct it.

 

[cosmicma]

i would be making sure the intercooler and pipes was properly in place if something was amiss there it would explain the lack of power
considering this is the part that was worked on it would be the first place to look

as for the brakes i have heard of brakes going soft/spongy after a brake pad change and it's been down to the ABS pump a heavy foot on the brake pedal in a safe area to get the ABS to kick in usually cures it
not sure if this works on VAGs but might be worth a try

 

[Adam_M]

As one of many members of this forum who's employed in the motor trade, I rather dislike your slurs.

I'll merely remind you and others reading this, that you were dissatisfied with your last car, with your last service and, if I recall aright, with every garage you've ever dealt with in Bristol.

I recall that Flash in the Pan and I, with decades of motor industry experience between us, expressed pity for any motor dealer who took your shilling! That nothing ever made you happy.

Care to use that experience in the trade to help the OP?

 

[LongLensPhotography]

i would be making sure the intercooler and pipes was properly in place if something was amiss there it would explain the lack of power
considering this is the part that was worked on it would be the first place to look

as for the brakes i have heard of brakes going soft/spongy after a brake pad change and it's been down to the ABS pump a heavy foot on the brake pedal in a safe area to get the ABS to kick in usually cures it
not sure if this works on VAGs but might be worth a try

They "haven't touched the brakes at all" yet, so this would have to be related to the 'other' things. It stops, but needs a fairly hard push and pedal goes almost all the way down, and doesn't harden when pumped a few times. That's why I'm asking if some vacuum pipe out of place or something else very simple could have caused both.
I'll ask them to look at that pipe and make sure it is the right one and well sealed. There must be a simple leakdown test they can do.

 

[JayD]

The country is full of responsible and capable garages. Whenever I have dealt retail and anonymously with garages of other franchises I have been pleased with how they have met my expectations and solved my problems. In fact I have been surprised how well I seem to be treated when I read other peoples' keyboard rants.

So let me make a worthwhile suggestion from my experiences. Instead of :razz: and sneering, go back to the garage, explain the problem and seek their help as the professionals they are. If they have made an error, they'll undoubtedly correct it.

Unfortunately its also full of garages that will happily rip you off. Main dealers are, in my experience, the worst. They just want to take your money and get rid of you. They service vehicles with no thought, simply following a set of parrot like guidelines, giving no thought to a personal approach to each individual vehicle.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Unfortunately its also full of garages that will happily rip you off. Main dealers are, in my experience, the worst. They just want to take your money and get rid of you. They service vehicles with no thought, simply following a set of parrot like guidelines, giving no thought to a personal approach to each individual vehicle.

very true. At first I could only speak to the secretary and hope she gets it right. They wouldn't even show me the faulty parts to make sure the replacement was needed. If there was more personal approach this could have been better, but at some smaller garages I tried the lack of experience (oil and brake change experience mainly) and cheap parts did enough to damage confidence

 

[nilagin]

Unfortunately its also full of garages that will happily rip you off. Main dealers are, in my experience, the worst. They just want to take your money and get rid of you. They service vehicles with no thought, simply following a set of parrot like guidelines, giving no thought to a personal approach to each individual vehicle.

That's not the experience I've had from 4 different dealers in my area. All have been very good for customer service, even carried out some work for free.

As far as the Op's problem. Not sure what you mean by intercooler seals, all my hoses are secured by jubilee clips. But it does sound like one of your hoses between the turbo and intercooler has come adrift and you are losing the boost pressure. If so, it's just a matter of pushing back on and refit jubilee clip.

Not sure why you have lost braking performance though.

 

[srichards]

They're probably sick of you and have knackered the brakes... check the fluid level.

Garage services are the most complained about. Check out the motorcodes site and choose one listed on there. They have codes of customer care and such like.

Just take it back and be polite but firm. You seem to have annoyed a few which makes me think it's partly the way you behave that brings out the worst in them.

Seeing as the brakes aren't good it is probably best that it doesn't accelerate well...

 

[digitalfailure]

I'm afraid i'm with Yves Geza on this, after 2.5 decades in the trade I find the generalised blanket slur of the motor trade tiresome. For every one customer thats not happy there are many many more that are happy with their service.

Manufacturer backed customer satisfaction programs prove this to be true.

A loss of Vacuum due to a disconnected pipe or a failed pump will give you an extremely hard pedal as you won't have any assistance from the servo, which sounds like the exact opposite of your concern. For the pedal to have a long travel you'd need a fault within the fluid circuit (air ingress) or a failed master cylinder or for the pads/shoes to be an excessive distance from the rotor / drum causing the first applications to merely take up the clearance.....but you also say that pumping the pedal doesn't firm it up so that's unlikely.

Onto another point

JayD
When you took your car into a ford dealer, can I ask you to explain further.

What did you take the car in for ? service or repair and was it paid or warranty?

And, did you bother to tell the dealership that the car had had it's engine control software altered from standard? Remapping is nearly always done now without external sign as it's just a case of altering the calibration file, in most cases the diagnostic platforms are not even aware of the change. They look at the installed calibration level tag and suggest the next highest level in the table.

On Mondeo, there have been a few PCM calibrations that have been flagged as mandatory updates to address specific drivability or emission control concerns which means that a tech has no way to progress further down a diagnostic path until the update has been done. All other cal updates would be a yes or no choice after the tech has looked for available updates. In NO case does a tech get forced by the IDS platform to reprogram a pcm as soon as the car is connected. Without prior knowledge of a "remap" the tech or dealer would have no knowledge :shrug:

A similar stance on the "silicone" hoses too, were the original hoses reported as leaking making them a justified replacement?
Is your car a 1.8tdci by any chance......that engine in mondeo / smax/galaxy and connect has had several revisions and supplier changes on the intercooler connecting pipes due to leaking. the old level parts are visually different from the new but the ability to withstand boost pressure is still substantially higher than the turbo is capable of creating.


If the car was still under warranty when remapped we have a whole other issue to discuss

 

[Davec223]

very true. At first I could only speak to the secretary and hope she gets it right. They wouldn't even show me the faulty parts to make sure the replacement was needed. If there was more personal approach this could have been better, but at some smaller garages I tried the lack of experience (oil and brake change experience mainly) and cheap parts did enough to damage confidence

Several things spring to mind, I have been guilty of this first one, are you sure the brakes aren't as good as they were? or could it be a case of you think they are and have become fixated on it, same with the acceleration?
What difference would showing you the faulty part make, you have already admitted you don't know about servicing cars, this isn't having a dig, it is a genuine question.
Again what do you mean by garages lack of experience in smaller garages? Again I go back to your own lack of knowledge on servicing.
I have never had issues with non genuine parts, and I have been shown that some cone off the same production line and just put in different boxes, again maybe persuading you self they are inferior products and not being happy till you have oem parts, I will be blunt and use your constant slating of sigma lenses as an example here, I know they can have issues and like all manufactures can and do have duff models.

How many miles does your car have on it? As this can have a baring on lots of things on a car.

 

[AJQS]

I'm afraid i'm with Yves Geza on this, after 2.5 decades in the trade I find the generalised blanket slur of the motor trade tiresome. For every one customer thats not happy there are many many more that are happy with their service.

Manufacturer backed customer satisfaction programs prove this to be true.

A loss of Vacuum due to a disconnected pipe or a failed pump will give you an extremely hard pedal as you won't have any assistance from the servo, which sounds like the exact opposite of your concern. For the pedal to have a long travel you'd need a fault within the fluid circuit (air ingress) or a failed master cylinder or for the pads/shoes to be an excessive distance from the rotor / drum causing the first applications to merely take up the clearance.....but you also say that pumping the pedal doesn't firm it up so that's unlikely.

Could well be that it is the vacuum pump/hose/servo at fault - And what he's describing as soft pedal will just be free play in the pedal and the floor will be the point at which the MC piston is actually in contact with the pedal. Worth doing the usual servo check - start engine, pump pedal a few times, turn it off, pump pedal - it should go hard. Hold pressure as hard as you can, start engine, pedal should drop.

It's also possible you've sprung a small hole in a brake line and it was just coincidence that it's happened now.

Whatever it is you should not be driving a car in such a state on the road.

 

[neil_g]

maybe a boost leak if its underpowered, could possibly effect the vaccum for the servo?

 

[digitalfailure]

Could well be that it is the vacuum pump/hose/servo at fault - And what he's describing as soft pedal will just be free play in the pedal and the floor will be the point at which the MC piston is actually in contact with the pedal. Worth doing the usual servo check - start engine, pump pedal a few times, turn it off, pump pedal - it should go hard. Hold pressure as hard as you can, start engine, pedal should drop.

Unlikely imo, there's a couple of MM's of combined movement between the master cylinder piston and the servo actuating rod and the pedal pivot. A drop of about an inch and a half when the pedal is depressed with no vacuum would be expected as the master cylinder moves and the pistons in the caliper / wheel cylinders expand. Once the vacuum is applied to the servo the drop would be increased as the effort is amplified and the drop increased as you described above. Travel to the floor would be in excess of 5 inches.

On most cars I'd expect the brake pedal to be pretty solid when it becomes roughly the same height as the (un pressed) throttle pedal.

Neil, no. The diesel variants have a vacuum pump that's not connected to the inlet system in the same way as a petrol engine. and on a turbo equipped vehicle the boost pipes are under positive pressure, so no vacuum

A boost leak could very well be the cause of power loss though.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

They're probably sick of you and have knackered the brakes...

Highly unlikely but if they were this is a criminal case

Several things spring to mind, I have been guilty of this first one, are you sure the brakes aren't as good as they were? or could it be a case of you think they are and have become fixated on it, same with the acceleration?

The difference happened overnight and is fairly obvious. They feel like new pads that had no time to bed in, not 6mnth old well worn in kit I had

What difference would showing you the faulty part make, you have already admitted you don't know about servicing cars, this isn't having a dig, it is a genuine question.

Time saving, making sure it is done, avoiding another unnecessary bill. And I do need to learn more about it

Again what do you mean by garages lack of experience in smaller garages? Again I go back to your own lack of knowledge on servicing.

I never claimed having good knowledge, but when a mechanic tells me that he doesn't understand is another thing. Watching one failing to change a door handle and swearing a lot was also quite an entertainment

I have never had issues with non genuine parts, and I have been shown that some cone off the same production line and just put in different boxes, again maybe persuading you self they are inferior products and not being happy till you have oem parts, I will be blunt and use your constant slating of sigma lenses as an example here, I know they can have issues and like all manufactures can and do have duff models.

non genuine brakes have already cost me £400 and in the end had to get OEM. There are probably good ones as well, but typically these are not installed by default - how would I know which pad is good or not if I am not an expert? I don't accept cars that can't be driven faster than 50 on mways like you normally see in wales

How many miles does your car have on it? As this can have a baring on lots of things on a car.
100k, and was driving almost perfectly 3d ago

 

[JayD]

I'm afraid i'm with Yves Geza on this, after 2.5 decades in the trade I find the generalised blanket slur of the motor trade tiresome. For every one customer thats not happy there are many many more that are happy with their service.

Manufacturer backed customer satisfaction programs prove this to be true.

A loss of Vacuum due to a disconnected pipe or a failed pump will give you an extremely hard pedal as you won't have any assistance from the servo, which sounds like the exact opposite of your concern. For the pedal to have a long travel you'd need a fault within the fluid circuit (air ingress) or a failed master cylinder or for the pads/shoes to be an excessive distance from the rotor / drum causing the first applications to merely take up the clearance.....but you also say that pumping the pedal doesn't firm it up so that's unlikely.

Onto another point

JayD
When you took your car into a ford dealer, can I ask you to explain further.

What did you take the car in for ? service or repair and was it paid or warranty?

And, did you bother to tell the dealership that the car had had it's engine control software altered from standard? Remapping is nearly always done now without external sign as it's just a case of altering the calibration file, in most cases the diagnostic platforms are not even aware of the change. They look at the installed calibration level tag and suggest the next highest level in the table.

On Mondeo, there have been a few PCM calibrations that have been flagged as mandatory updates to address specific drivability or emission control concerns which means that a tech has no way to progress further down a diagnostic path until the update has been done. All other cal updates would be a yes or no choice after the tech has looked for available updates. In NO case does a tech get forced by the IDS platform to reprogram a pcm as soon as the car is connected. Without prior knowledge of a "remap" the tech or dealer would have no knowledge :shrug:

A similar stance on the "silicone" hoses too, were the original hoses reported as leaking making them a justified replacement?
Is your car a 1.8tdci by any chance......that engine in mondeo / smax/galaxy and connect has had several revisions and supplier changes on the intercooler connecting pipes due to leaking. the old level parts are visually different from the new but the ability to withstand boost pressure is still substantially higher than the turbo is capable of creating.

If the car was still under warranty when remapped we have a whole other issue to discuss

Yes I can explain further.
It's a 55 reg 2.0tdci 130 6.
Yes I told them that it had been remapped. Didn't feel the need to explain about the silicon hoses as they were only weeks old.
It was a paid service.
When I picked the car up I noticed a totally different engine note and a distinct lack of oomph. Went straight back to the dealer and mentioned this, and during the course of the conversation I transpired that although it had been remapped they felt it neccasary to return everything to factory standard. This included new Ford hoses, because mine weren't standard. They seemed to have one stance on this, everything must be standard! I had to fish my brand new hoses out of a bin and pay to have it remapped again, so excuse me if I have no faith in Bristol Street Ford.
Also for the record, my wife took her Astra into a Vauxhall dealers, simple oil service. Now bear in mind this is Greenhouse Vauxhall in Stoke, something of a main dealer. They couldn't get the oil filter off and sucked the oil out of the engine with some sort of vacuum pump.
Do you think I should really give them another chance to mess my car up?

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Quite... when I managed to get a screw in a very strange part of the tyre on their forecourt just before MOT I didn't even say anything.

That is clearly a lot of slur, and customers like that need brake fluid drained off. You just fill me full of confidence in the motor trade now.

Anynone from Bristol and NOT motor trade had very good experience?

 

[fracster]

you just can't trust anyone in car trade and servicing in this country these days,

What a ludicrous generalisation.The guy who does mine is superb and I recommend him to anybody with a 4x4 or a diesel, he is reasonable, fair, helpful and damned good at what he does. So your sweeping claim is false.

How you can condemn a whole section of business is quite frankly inane, but quite common on here alas.

I will have to learn it myself one day

Do the motor trade a favour and please do learn.

 

[digitalfailure]

Yes I can explain further.
It's a 55 reg 2.0tdci 130 6.
Yes I told them that it had been remapped. Didn't feel the need to explain about the silicon hoses as they were only weeks old.
It was a paid service.
When I picked the car up I noticed a totally different engine note and a distinct lack of oomph. Went straight back to the dealer and mentioned this, and during the course of the conversation I transpired that although it had been remapped they felt it neccasary to return everything to factory standard. This included new Ford hoses, because mine weren't standard. They seemed to have one stance on this, everything must be standard! I had to fish my brand new hoses out of a bin and pay to have it remapped again, so excuse me if I have no faith in Bristol Street Ford.

I'm even more confused now then, you went for a customer paid routine service and they connected the IDS diagnostic laptop and performed a PCM reprogramming operation which can take upto an hour on the old delphi system free of charge and without a running concern being reported by the customer....and yet you did manage to tell them that the PCM has been remapped when going in for a service?

There is NO service on the 2001-> Mondeo that requires IDS to be connected.

Did they give you a reason for them wanting to replace what were probably obviously visibly new hoses? The intercooler on the 2.0 duratorq is mounted beneath the main radiator package behind the front bumper and the hoses aren't that easy to get at, again this strikes me as slightly strange to do without prior authority to proceed. Especially if the car in for a routine service.

 

[tezmed]

depending on the age of the vehicle and the service requirements, it could have had the brake fluid replaced- and loss of braking satisfaction could be down to something simple like bleeding the brakes not done well- the brake hoses need to be completely free of air (hence a vacuum zone) in order for your brakes to be effective...

when i purchased a brand new suzuki swift back in 05, the vehicle was apparently checked before i collected it.... on driving to the exit i freaked out as i had no brakes what so ever and couldnt stop at the give way.... instead rolling out helpless into a busy road- thankfully not being hit by anyone- that was down to a master cyclinder issue, and subsequently also found out there was a slave cylinder issue aswell.... the mechanics (you would like to think would be competent in finding this out by some very simple checks without any problems)

as to the intercooler pipe seals.... i'd simply request them to pressure check the system... there may be a reason/fault which caused to original seals to default and the new ones could end up going the same way.... purely replacing the seals is like a sticking plaster for a wound, there may be something occuring which is still at fault, and if your still experiencing probs after the seal fitting then this would sound as if its the case

as to issues with garages per say...... i've personally had very bad issues with garages in my local area- one of which left my vehicle unlocked at the roadside for a weekend and allowed some toerag to thieve a £6500 soundsystem/xbox/tvs throughout the car etc, to which i had no comeback despite going through courts etc and the like....

but on the flipside with my latest car i was advised that a particular garage i use is not be trusted and somewhat suspect, and i've personally only ever had great service from them.... in fact i'd recommend them

theres good and bad everywhere- i've worked in lovely places and ive worked in some hellholes.... sadly its life- the good garages will thrive and the bad ones- well they'l disappear one by one eventually when no one uses them for fear etc....


just reading about the car being remapped etc as wasnt aware of this previously- that instantly voids any comeback from any dealership- all the dealerships i've worked in (about 6) have all had policies in place to protect them, and servicing is at owners risk.... this is standard across the board at dealerships across the company.... quite simple the vehicle has been altered from manufacturer standard....

remapping the vehicle is changing air/fuel ratios etc which will be of detriment to the engine in the long run.... as a previous keen drag runner, my 1.5 swift was remapped to outrun a skyline gtr, which it did on many occassions... but running methanol through my engine meant on average i could only do about 400 miles between full engine rebuilds- as the engines wasnt capable of coping with the abuse it got.... after any mod always take it back to the tweaker as they know your vehicle inside and out and they know the history- a guy at a dealership hasnt a clue what mods have been done and cant/wont/will never be responsible for just doing his job- which effectively is all he has done- hes not guilty of anything....

 

[Yv]

Daugirdas - I am going to ignore your sweeping generalisations about the motor trade, your assumption about a screw in a tyre, your lack of any sense of humour about a previous post and indeed, your OP edit to add the exact type of car you feel yours now resembles, as there is little point debating it with such an entrenched view.

So, you are asking, if I understand your orginal post, what might be causing the issues that you can then take to the garage [with whom you have already organised to return the car and allow them another look and a chance to recitify anything, but are still moaning about anyway] and say you think that might be the problem? You are asking on a photography forum? Asking people where if you are really lucky, there might be someone that is intimate enough with the exact workings and design of your car that they may be abe to point you at something? Now lets assume this one magical person [who will not actually have been able to drive your car or carry out any kind of inspection themselves] can suggest something. Are you seriously going to walk into that garage, with your self confessed very limited knowledge and tell them what someone on the internet says it might be?

Or perhaps, you can concede that everyone is human, mistakes can happen, ditto lousy bad luck coinicidences, and explain to them calmly and politely exactly what your problems are and ask them to help get this sorted out sensibly [perhaps using the same professional manner you would use with your own clients and hope and expect in return from them]

 

[JayD]

I'm even more confused now then, you went for a customer paid routine service and they connected the IDS diagnostic laptop and performed a PCM reprogramming operation which can take upto an hour on the old delphi system free of charge and without a running concern being reported by the customer....and yet you did manage to tell them that the PCM has been remapped when going in for a service?

There is NO service on the 2001-> Mondeo that requires IDS to be connected.

Did they give you a reason for them wanting to replace what were probably obviously visibly new hoses? The intercooler on the 2.0 duratorq is mounted beneath the main radiator package behind the front bumper and the hoses aren't that easy to get at, again this strikes me as slightly strange to do without prior authority to proceed. Especially if the car in for a routine service.

You're asking me what I can't answer. I haven't a clue whether its meant to be connected to the diagnostics machine. If that is the case that it shouldnt have been, then I can't explain their thinking.
It was a major service, at least that's what I asked for because I was away into Europe the following week. I explained to them about the remap. More than that I can't tell you.
All I can state are the facts, that they put the tuning back to standard and replaced silicone hoses. As far as I was concerned the only useful things they did was oil and filter, air filter, fuel filter. Which I could have happily done myself.
It's not the first poor service from ford. Starting with umpteen steering racks on a Capri in the late 80's, which, for some reason they couldn't get right, to a complete failure of all the brakes on an Escort due to someone not tightening up a clip, to them actually scraping my Sierra on a post service test drive and claiming it was already there, to the advice given on a 2.5 Mondeo that the head gasket had gone when all it was was the crappy plastic impeller on the water pump. I lost a lot of money, needlessly on that car.
The only reason I went back to them last year with my remapped Mondy was I thought they must have got better.
It's a shame for the good mechanics that a few bad experiences can tar all of you with the same brush. I know the majority of you are good and knowledgable, but the very few that aren't screw it up for the rest of you.

 

[gramps]

Anynone from Bristol and NOT motor trade had very good experience?

Yep, my mechanic comes out and picks up each of my three, takes them back to his garage for service/repair and brings them back home to me ... never had a problem with him and his charges are very reasonable.
Had an electrical problem a few months ago so dropped it into him and he put his 'gizmo' on it, identified the fault and fixed it f.o.c. there and then.

 

[Byker28i]

Generally I get a very good service from the mechanics I choose to use. One is a local garage which I've used for over 25 years (Lydiard Millicent Garage), the other is a specialist for my TVR (Neil Garner at Kemble), both are beyond reproach and often go the extra mile, so to speak.

The Nissan main dealer however was a different story, when at the first service they forgot to replace the oil before taking it for a test drive, then tried to hide the fact, stating it was faulty when we bought it in and they hadn't touched it (despite signing off the full service and wanting paying for it).

The engine was taken out for inspection but was disposed of immediately before the AA Authorised engineer could attend later that day to inspect the parts.
It ended up having to get Nissan UK customer service involved and a brand new engine crated down from the factory, whole new exhaust and cats (as the blamed the cats saying one had disintegrated, sucked parts back into the engine and scored all the bores).

Needless to say after the work was completed under warranty we've never returned to that dealer.

The only Bristol car dealer we've experienced was one we took to court over a second hand car with a fake MOT certificate and faulty parts they wouldn't repair/refund

 

[Davec223]

Thanks for replying, as I said I wasn't having a dig. As for the small garage experience, would you rather have them say I don't understand or carry on charging you at an hourly rate and still not understand the problem.
As for the door handle one, you can do the same job loads of times and you can get one time where it is an absolute pig, so Gain I think it is unfair to judge a garage on this unless again you have experience of the job they are doing.

I will give you an example of what you are complaining of, wife had her car serviced and mot done last year, service completed mot passed, car fails to start, I hasten to add this a main dealer, mot is done at another location, so the mechanic that has taken the car for the mot spends 4 hours that afternoon trying to sort it out including sending a second mechanic for part of the afternoon with no luck, the following morning they relaid the car back to their workshop, and spent the whole next day trying to diagnose the issue, first thing on the third morning they find a short on the fuel sender unit which had knackered the unit and melted a pin on the fuel gauge on the dashboard. The outcome was the main dealer charged me cost. For the part and didn't charge me any labour. I will also point out that this was Renault dealer, who normally are hated.

I am also editing due to edited op I will also add it is a scenic, which we have had 2 of and have been really reliable and as above I have always had excellent service from the garage.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

depending on the age of the vehicle and the service requirements, it could have had the brake fluid replaced- and loss of braking satisfaction could be down to something simple like bleeding the brakes not done well- the brake hoses need to be completely free of air (hence a vacuum zone) in order for your brakes to be effective....

This makes sense and I did ask them explicitly if they did anything with the brakes... the answer was 'no'. They did however tell me fluid change was due (not that it was low or anything), which is rather surprisingly quick, since it was done only in April

now I just checked my engine oil level, and it is overfilled by about 1cm over the dotted mark. And it is deep black, not amber like the last time it got changed elsewhere. This is really worrying now if it wrecks the cat and turbo in no time

 

[Defiance]

Well the fixed price annual service and a few intercooler pipe seals replaced at the dealer made my car horrible . There is a loss of power, I need to rev harder, first gear is almost dead. And the brakes feel soft and almost fall to the floor when pushed.
I've been on the phone to the customer careline and will take the car back
but what shall I point those geniuses :razz: to (doubt they will willingly find anything, as they were already quick to tell me car is not new :nono: and brakes can pass MOT)? What could they break while doing the maintenance? Something to do with vacuum?

you just can't trust anyone in car trade and servicing in this country these days, I will have to learn it myself one day
I feel absolutely sick £417 later and with a wrecked car (well a bit like a 13 year old renault scenic)

To me, this looks like a lot of complaint and very little fact.

At £417 this is a lot more than a fixed price annual service (and quite a bit more than the 2 year service interval service). So which is it ?

Which annual service was done i.e. what mileage ? Were extended service interval service items replaced such as brake fluid ?

Why were the intercooler pipe seals replaced ? Was it a concern with the car which you raised with them or something they found in the course of the service. Either was would be very helpful to know exactly why they were replaced. It is also sometimes possible that a concern can be partially fixed or that in fixing it a separate concern can become noticeable.

How old is the car and what mileage has it done ?

Have any other repairs been done recently ?

You say that this is a VAG 1.9tdi but in what car..a VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda and in which model.

More fact and less rant will help you a great deal...

 

[odd jim]

it's a VAG TDI 1.9PD and yeah, feels nothing like the day before. I had to floor it to get to 70 on Mway for the first time in its life

I thought the dealer would use genuine parts, not some cheap awful rubber

Where did the Renault Scenic feature in this then?

 

[onomatopoeia]

They did however tell me fluid change was due (not that it was low or anything), which is rather surprisingly quick, since it was done only in April

Does the service book show the change done in April? Brake fluid changes are usually shown separately from services in the book.

 

[Defiance]

Hate to say but "genuine" parts are nowhere near as good as they should be.
I can't really speak for VAG but I know Ford connect the diagnostics machine before they do anything else, and b****r about with all the settings.
I made the mistake of taking my Mondy to Ford last year, they screwed up my remap setting it back to standard, and replaced my perfectly good silicone hoses with crappy Ford ones, I went ape****** at them.
I know its a pain but you'll have to keep going back and complaining until they get it right.
For the car to be altered that quickly, overnight, it sounds like they set something completely wrong on the diagnostics machine.
I know it doesn't help much at this moment, but find yourself a good independant mechanic, by recommendation, and stick to him. A service is only a series of checks and filter and oil changing. An independant mechanic will be half the price and a lot more thorough, he needs to be good to get work by recommendation.

Not an entirely unbiased view me thinks...

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=5240455&postcount=15

Are you still a mobile mechanic by any chance ?

Any why are genuine parts no good ? Would be very interested to know exactly why ?

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Where did the Renault Scenic feature in this then?

no offense to scenic, but they are a little slower cars than most hence a fair visual example I think

To me, this looks like a lot of complaint and very little fact.

At £417 this is a lot more than a fixed price annual service (and quite a bit more than the 2 year service interval service). So which is it ?

Which annual service was done i.e. what mileage ? Were extended service interval service items replaced such as brake fluid ?

Why were the intercooler pipe seals replaced ? Was it a concern with the car which you raised with them or something they found in the course of the service. Either was would be very helpful to know exactly why they were replaced. It is also sometimes possible that a concern can be partially fixed or that in fixing it a separate concern can become noticeable.

How old is the car and what mileage has it done ?

Have any other repairs been done recently ?

You say that this is a VAG 1.9tdi but in what car..a VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda and in which model.

More fact and less rant will help you a great deal...

10k minor service, they also did the pipe and changed wish bone as they found "some issues" with them. Sadly I didn't get to see the parts in question. I am not sure I can specify the garage in question at this time so intentionally left it quite generic, but it's based on GOLF and quite big and 100k...

Does the service book show the change done in April? Brake fluid changes are usually shown separately from services in the book.

done at another garage with the non-OEM set of pads (that went out soon after), and a service history was given to a dealer. I said 'no' to that for this reason.

 

[cosmicma]

They "haven't touched the brakes at all" yet, so this would have to be related to the 'other' things. It stops, but needs a fairly hard push and pedal goes almost all the way down, and doesn't harden when pumped a few times. That's why I'm asking if some vacuum pipe out of place or something else very simple could have caused both.
I'll ask them to look at that pipe and make sure it is the right one and well sealed. There must be a simple leakdown test they can do.

if thats the case i'm out of ideas :shrug:

if the brakes havn't been touched the it can only be put down to coincidental failure or very low brake fluid level low enough to let air into the system through the well
either way it's not a car i would be driving until it was sorted

 

[Davec223]

no offense to scenic, but they are a little slower cars than most hence a fair visual example I think

10k minor service, they also did the pipe and changed wish bone as they found "some issues" with them. Sadly I didn't get to see the parts in question. I am not sure I can specify the garage in question at this time so intentionally left it quite generic, but it's based on GOLF and quite big and 100k...

done at another garage with the non-OEM set of pads (that went out soon after), and a service history was given to a dealer. I said 'no' to that for this reason.

You could soon see if a wishbone had been changed just by looking under the car.

As for scenics being slow, while they are not a ferrari they are just fine, trust me my first one was a 1.9 130 bhp and I did in excess of 140 000 miles in 3.5 years.

 

[digitalfailure]

now I just checked my engine oil level, and it is overfilled by about 1cm over the dotted mark. And it is deep black, not amber like the last time it got changed elsewhere. This is really worrying now if it wrecks the cat and turbo in no time

While I would agree that an overfull oil level is poor workmanship, I'd also ask how you checked it. Was the vehicle on level ground and had the engine run and been allowed to settle for a few minutes after shut down when you checked.....or was it a case of being parked on a sloping drive and a stone cold engine when all the residual oil from the top of the engine having time to run back to the sump.

ANY person who's serviced or repaired a diesel engined vehicle will tell you that the new oil WILL turn BLACK after a few miles.....sometimes after minutes! as the new oil washes the by products of combustion from the walls of the engine. It's entirely normal and harmless as the oil is blended and to do this and then hold it in suspension.

 

[nilagin]

You could soon see if a wishbone had been changed just by looking under the car.

As for scenics being slow, while they are not a ferrari they are just fine, trust me my first one was a 1.9 130 bhp and I did in excess of 140 000 miles in 3.5 years.

That's only about 4.6mph, that's slow