So to day 3. Or 4?
So got to work very early today to do some over time
when we are snowed under and a man down I can generally speaking do all the overtime I can cram in.
However today was busy cos as well as the work on the motors we also in a week or two have new owners of the unit next door. Now the unit next door is also a garage. But we've always got on really well and most importantly we've never been in competition with them; their main work is body work. Let's also just say they have a very different client base to ours
The new guys coming in are going to carry on with the body work but I've heard they're also going to be very aggressive with their marketing campaign. This shouldn't be a problem as thee are already lots of garages in our area. And we already have a very happy (hopefully) and loyal customer base. However I've had a word with the owner and we have been reactive in advertising the cheapest AC regas in Northampton (to my knowledge) at £27.50 inc. VAT. The adverts went out yesterday and already got 3 bookings. That'll keep me busy....as I'm the only one with the papers to do it
So the whole point of me telling you this is that I came in early doors to get a service done and dusted before we even opened....while head mech and
monkey nuts the apprentice were hard at work giving our car park and workshop a bit of TLC to be as professional as we can be...
So as said I got the service done on the Peugeot 207 (an interim service which is basically full inspection, air filter and oil/filter change). A couple of bulbs and a tyre. Lovely Jubbly. 1 hours labour before the doors are even open
I was hoping to do the Mazda brakes / sort the binding issue as I mentioned yesterday. But it didn't go to plan. I then full serviced a 12 plate Polo. By far the easiest service you'll ever do.
1.5 hours.
I then booked in a guy for a regas who wanted it doing in half hour. No problem Sir
I didn't take any photos of the AC lines hooked up (I clean forgot
). However her is our AC machine. Pleas don't laugh
Now we got this thing off eBay many moons ago. And when I did my exam the tester told me then it was a museum piece
However it still works so all is good for now.
In the first pic you can see the big blue tank called the machine tank. As I'm sure you can work out this has the refrigerant in it. Just to the back of it is the PAG oil. The little red star thing is the oil drain (to drain any oil captured when you do a recovery). And finally the lines (ref for high pressure line, blue for low pressure line).
In the second pic is where you see the dials (showing the pressures in the system) and the valves to open the LP and HP lines.
I won't bore you with a full instruction manual but a brief procedure is as follows:
Attach lines on the machine to the ports on the car (I'm sure you've all seen them...obviously take caps off first
).
Open the valves and press 'R' to recover what's already in the system in the car. Most of the time there's not much comes out.... the reason they need a regas usually
Once that's done press 'V' to put the system on a vacuum. Takes 15 minutes.
Then add oil using the knob above the PAG oil bottle. Then let it sit for another 10-15 minutes and observe the pressures. The needles on the dials should stay buried down if it's holding a vacuum.
If it does it's ready to charge.
Press 'C' for charge. Enter amount (found on Autodata or in a sticker somewhere under the bonnet). You also have to add an extra 100g as that's what will stay in the lines.
Detach the lines.
Press recover again and this will take out all the refrigerant stuck in the lines.
Turn the AC on and make sure it is freezing
that's 30 minutes labour
So as if my day of servicing seemed to be never ending I did another interim service on a 2001 Golf. Right old shite box! When I drained the oil I reckon a litre came out
another hour gained
Final job of the day on a 2008 Neesarn Micra.....
NSF coil spring
Front pads
Set of wiper blades (standard, non-aero)
So to the spring, a really nice easy one. Two bolts securing strut to the knuckle. Remove brake hose clip and brake hose pops out. Remove ABS wiring from strut. And then the drop link
Classic example of what I mentioned yesterday. Gun it first to see if I get lucky. And then 5mm Allen key to stop it spinning and use an AndyB wrench to remove the nut....
Here's a pic of why we are replacing it.... (MOT failure)
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