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General Car Chat / What would you do?
« on: 18 September 2015, 02:14:03 »
I apologise if this is a little vague, but forums can be a little close-knit and I don't want to say too much until I am certain of which way to go.
A friend brings me a car which has just had various bushes/brakes done by AN Other. The reason it came to me was vague handling and a knocking noise. I said, it'll be something stupid, leave it with me. To cut a long story short, I've spent a few hours on said car. Why? Well it appears nothing has been done right. Most of the bolts are not tightened or torqued correctly, I can live with the odd mishap, but it became easier to list the bolts that were correct. The biggest and most dangerous fault was the ball joint on the wishbone. This is an after market part fitted to a standard wishbone. The problem I noticed was there was an epic amount of slop, to the point I would consider beyond dangerous. (Please note the full fault list was massive, but I'm only concentrating on the most dangerous). It appears that the standard ball joint (with press studs) had been chopped out and a new part fitted. Fine, that normally would be good. However, the 3 bolts/nuts fitted had been fitted upside down, so the excess thread was dangerously close to the hub where the other side of the ball joint mounts. When I got to this part, I could move the entire ball joint by hand
In my mind this has either hit the bottom section of the hub and worked loose or never been tightened enough. I removed the nuts/bolts, they were very loose, to find only 5 washers, I expected 6. The biggest concern was the thread on the bolts was flat due to the slop. It was PURELY the nylock nuts that stopped this being a potentially major accident. (The fault list I found covered a full A5 side, I'm just picking the one fault at the moment). I replaced the part completely and used thread lock, (the replacement nuts were slightly oval to enable a lock, but I still used thread locked as a second measure).
I ring the 'mechanic' that did the work, no answer. I leave a message saying 'Hi this is Dave, Deviator from forum [retracted] , I'm not sure if your remember me? I was wondering if you could do me favour? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stop repairing cars. I'm working on [retracted]'s car and it's outright dangerous. My family and friends have to share the road with the cars you fix.' I have never felt strongly enough to do this sort of thing before. I later discover from the cars' owner that not only has he paid good money for this job, but this guy works as mechanic for a company local to me.
I carry on working on the car, spanner checking anything this guy has been near. I then send a text message to both of them outlining the problems discovered. The reply my friend got was laughable, 'I don't own a torque wrench', 'the bolts on the ball joint were that way around when I got it.', 'I had a family emergency' etc, etc.
Now I've been fixing cars for over 15 years as a hobby. I still consider myself an amateur mechanic. However, if I didn't own the right tools (or couldn't buy/borrow them) or wasn't sure - I wouldn't take on the work. I've been taught by a lifelong mechanic and I still need help from time to time, even though I've done engine swaps, engine conversions, clutches, gearbox swaps etc. Even then I know I can pick up the phone and get help/support from many people in the trade, the problem I have is this guys attitude, he didn't own the problem, he blamed tools/time/it was like that way before rather than saying sorry,
I'd never wish to take away a persons livelihood/job but this person is obviously not capable of doing the simplest tasks to a safe standard. I feel strong enough to drive to the company he works for and talk to the manager - the level of danger was that high in my opinion.
He hasn't/won't talk to me, as such the last message I sent him read, 'By you own admissions to [retracted], you don't have the tools or knowledge to repair cars. Please stop before you kill someone.'
Sorry for the long description, but am I being a overdramatic? Or do I need to speak this guys boss and take his job away?
A friend brings me a car which has just had various bushes/brakes done by AN Other. The reason it came to me was vague handling and a knocking noise. I said, it'll be something stupid, leave it with me. To cut a long story short, I've spent a few hours on said car. Why? Well it appears nothing has been done right. Most of the bolts are not tightened or torqued correctly, I can live with the odd mishap, but it became easier to list the bolts that were correct. The biggest and most dangerous fault was the ball joint on the wishbone. This is an after market part fitted to a standard wishbone. The problem I noticed was there was an epic amount of slop, to the point I would consider beyond dangerous. (Please note the full fault list was massive, but I'm only concentrating on the most dangerous). It appears that the standard ball joint (with press studs) had been chopped out and a new part fitted. Fine, that normally would be good. However, the 3 bolts/nuts fitted had been fitted upside down, so the excess thread was dangerously close to the hub where the other side of the ball joint mounts. When I got to this part, I could move the entire ball joint by hand
In my mind this has either hit the bottom section of the hub and worked loose or never been tightened enough. I removed the nuts/bolts, they were very loose, to find only 5 washers, I expected 6. The biggest concern was the thread on the bolts was flat due to the slop. It was PURELY the nylock nuts that stopped this being a potentially major accident. (The fault list I found covered a full A5 side, I'm just picking the one fault at the moment). I replaced the part completely and used thread lock, (the replacement nuts were slightly oval to enable a lock, but I still used thread locked as a second measure).I ring the 'mechanic' that did the work, no answer. I leave a message saying 'Hi this is Dave, Deviator from forum [retracted] , I'm not sure if your remember me? I was wondering if you could do me favour? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stop repairing cars. I'm working on [retracted]'s car and it's outright dangerous. My family and friends have to share the road with the cars you fix.' I have never felt strongly enough to do this sort of thing before. I later discover from the cars' owner that not only has he paid good money for this job, but this guy works as mechanic for a company local to me.
I carry on working on the car, spanner checking anything this guy has been near. I then send a text message to both of them outlining the problems discovered. The reply my friend got was laughable, 'I don't own a torque wrench', 'the bolts on the ball joint were that way around when I got it.', 'I had a family emergency' etc, etc.
Now I've been fixing cars for over 15 years as a hobby. I still consider myself an amateur mechanic. However, if I didn't own the right tools (or couldn't buy/borrow them) or wasn't sure - I wouldn't take on the work. I've been taught by a lifelong mechanic and I still need help from time to time, even though I've done engine swaps, engine conversions, clutches, gearbox swaps etc. Even then I know I can pick up the phone and get help/support from many people in the trade, the problem I have is this guys attitude, he didn't own the problem, he blamed tools/time/it was like that way before rather than saying sorry,
I'd never wish to take away a persons livelihood/job but this person is obviously not capable of doing the simplest tasks to a safe standard. I feel strong enough to drive to the company he works for and talk to the manager - the level of danger was that high in my opinion.
He hasn't/won't talk to me, as such the last message I sent him read, 'By you own admissions to [retracted], you don't have the tools or knowledge to repair cars. Please stop before you kill someone.'
Sorry for the long description, but am I being a overdramatic? Or do I need to speak this guys boss and take his job away?
(Keeps the wife happy)
the bulb holder and bulbs are present at this amazing price. Granted the indicator bulb is losing it's colour.
