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[Viral_Jim]

Much pressure in the top hose?

If it's rock hard I'm betting on the head gasket, if it's still squidgy I reckon pump. Or maybe a blockage of some kind.

[tunnie]

Rock hard. But temp was well over 100.

[78bex]

After boiling her guts up she`s still trying to get you back home 

[Andy B]

....

Ducking AA. Won't tow me.  ....

May Day woudln't tow my Smart due to it being an auto ...... me saying it was an automated manual made no difference. I broke down about 1900hrs & got home around midnight  IIRC, a journey of less than 25 miles. 

[Broomies Mate]

It's annoying - I've broken down several times in Migs.  I'm with the AA and I just sign a form to say I'm happy for the car to be towed, and they plod along at 30mph or so and home I go.

I suppose it depends on how far from home you are.  Fortunately, I've never been more than 10 miles or so. 

[tunnie]

After boiling her guts up she`s still trying to get you back home 

Trusty steed still doing its best. It's not strickly let me down, it's just in a very severe limp mode 

It was 23 mile tow, I would not mind the speed. But I was not waiting another 3 hours. I'm almost home. At Bagshot BP now letting it cool for hopefully final bit home

....

Ducking AA. Won't tow me.  ....

May Day woudln't tow my Smart due to it being an auto ...... me saying it was an automated manual made no difference. I broke down about 1900hrs & got home around midnight  IIRC, a journey of less than 25 miles. 

You got a better experience than i did!!

[05omegav6]

Had similar when I snapped a wishbone... Told the call handler that I needed flatbed recovery and still insisted on sending a van out... His first words? 'Fack all I can do with that, gonna need a flatbed...' Apparently they assume the customer is wrong and are prepared to chance it being fixed at the roadside regardless of the actual issue...

[tunnie]

Exactly same experience here. 

[tunnie]

Well limped my trusty old steed home, no thanks to the AA.

Still be waiting for the recovery truck if I'd gone with them 

[Broomies Mate]

Had similar when I snapped a wishbone... Told the call handler that I needed flatbed recovery and still insisted on sending a van out... His first words? 'Fack all I can do with that, gonna need a flatbed...' Apparently they assume the customer is wrong and are prepared to chance it being fixed at the roadside regardless of the actual issue...

Same thing happened to me when a NEW Bilstein strut failed at a weld point and put the NSF wheel into the arch.  I explain on the phone it will require a flatbed. "Yes, no problem" and a van turns up to tell me he can't tow it.  Erm, yeah, I'm aware of that.

Well limped my trusty old steed home, no thanks to the AA.

Still be waiting for the recovery truck if I'd gone with them 

Good work my friend!  Glad you are home in the warm.  It's not a nice night out there.

[tunnie]

Thanks   

Now will need to diagnose it all soon, starting with a compression test before looking at the water pump.

[Kevin Wood]

A mate of mine had a similar argument with the AA over a kit car breakdown once.

"Hello! I'm half way down Henley high street and need a recovery truck."
AA:"OK. I'll send a van"
"No. Trust me, I need a recovery truck. The car's going nowhere"
AA:"Did you know, we can fix 99.975757% of breakdowns at the roadside..."
"Not this one, love. Can you call that recovery truck, please?"
AA:"Did you know, we can fix 99.975757% of breakdowns at the roadside..."
"I can see 5 litres of oil on the road under my car. I can see bits of sump, bits of bearing, bits of connecting rod, bits of piston. There's lots of smoke."
AA:"Don't worry, Sir. we can fix 99.975757% of breakdowns at the roadside..."
"Do you know much about cars?"
AA:"Not really  "
"Does your manager"
AA:"Oh, yes, he's quite keen"
"Can you just go and tell him what I've told you?"
<short pause>
AA:"Recovery truck will be with you in 45 minutes"

 

I wish I'd known. I was leaving Farnborough about when you broke down and have a rope in the boot.

[aaronjb]

A friend had a similar conversation with the recovery company about his RX8 (dead coil pack, flooded engine) "I'm sure we'll get you going sir".. Not the AA so they're all the same:

Man turns up in van, "I've fixed loads of these.."
Mark says, "Did I mention the back end of the car was basically on fire and it's only running on one rotor?"
Man in van, "Oh. I'll call the flatbed."

(Funny story - he limped from mine to South Mimms before stopping for petrol.. it was at this point that the interior of the car was engulfed in smoke because the backbox of the exhaust was glowing orange and had melted the oil container in the boot  Must have looked like the red arrows were going down the road as the oil was dripping out of the drain bung in the boot floor! )



Anyway - Tunnie, next time if you break down around that kind of area give me a call (unless it's 1am, then you're on your own  ). I doubt the Ranger would have complained much about having an Omega on a rope behind it

[Kevin Wood]

Anyway, it would have been about time a 4 pot got a tow. Old scores to settle.

[Nick W]

The AA and RAC have always preferred to send a patrol first. Patrols are expected to fix stuff because they don't have the 30minute time constraints that contractors operate under. Patrols are paid whether they are working or not, contractors are paid per job. The AA don't actually have that many trucks, and keep those for jobs that can be completed within the tacho rules. Everything else goes to contractors, who are still paid about the same amount as they were 15years ago. This is basic business! Much of this reduction in service is due to the change from an association into a company and the asset stripping that resulted.


And look at the practical side: they don't know how competent you are. Probably half of the jobs I did were badly described, with the fault being something totally different. You would be amazed how many the steering doesn't work turn out to be broken drive belts, or wheel changes are the result of a broken spring. Hell, it made a pleasant change to find that the spare wheel was usable.


If all you want is a tow home each time, use a different service. Green Flag's recent change in the way they do business means you're likely to have a long wait, the AA and RAC are as discussed, Call Assist and First Call are beyond useless. Personally, I would use National Breakdown if I was going to change: their approach has always seemed to me to be the most competent and professional out of all the people we dealt with. I never saw a long recovery refused for instance.