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[realboss7669]

In shock still from yesterday. JamesV6CDX turned up and I gladly fed him full English, coffee, and Newcastle Brown as he expertly worked on my MV6 estate ex-police car.

In summary he did the cambelt, cam cover gaskets, auxiliary belt, water pump, oil filter, oil change, and spark plugs and checked a whole host of other things.

Basically the car was bought cheap but I think the last owner just blasted her round without servicing her for a year or two judging by the old oil. Consequently she was leaking like mad from the cam cover gaskets and the cambelt was due; which was where I stepped in and handed over £175. It was only afterwards that i discovered this forum and I tell you I never trusted garages anyway but after watching James I am distinctly suspicious of them given some bad prior experiences.

Anyway back to my "Rozzermeega". After working hard on the cam belt, water pump and auxiliary belt he tackled the cam cover gaskets (in helping him get the dregs from a tube of cam cover gasket sealant I think I plastered a bit too much onto his hands!). He removed the old spark plugs which were stiff as hell getting them out. We were worried one of them might break off they were so hard to unscrew. James was very patient and managed to get them all out with no hiccups. However from the oil leaking they were drenched in thick black gunge.

He then changed the oil filter and drained the old oil. I'd never seen oil like it. Its consistency and colour was as perfect a match as you can get to marmite. The engine had previously run with a ticking sound. James put in the new oil and fired her up. Would you believe she is as smooth as silk now!

He gave me tons of advice and I simply cannot speak highly enough of the guy. Genuine, friendly, skilled, patient. Met his other half and little girl, plus dog. Needless to say it was great having them over too!

To conclude then, I HUGE thank you to JamesV6CDX. You are a diamond geezer and bloody brilliant. Thanks mate, and thanks to all you other forum members who have helped so much with advice and helpfulness. Shame values like this seem to have been vanishing from these shores, but you all have restored my faith in them still being out there!!!  

[realboss7669]

p.s. I wont be able to reply to any postings until Tuesday as I got to rush off to Leeds in a mo for work!!

[Admin]

Much more of this praise for James and we will have to start editing it to keep his ego in check!  

He is, exactly as Realboss says though. A totally genuine guy and knows a bit about cars too!  

I suspect James has also advised you to do a few very short oil and filter changes to help get all the crud out of the engine.

Well done James.  

[TheBoy]

Oh dear, all this praise. We shall have to bring him down a peg or 2....

Met his other half

Tunnie was there?  

[tunnie]

Oh dear, all this praise. We shall have to bring him down a peg or 2....

Met his other half

Tunnie was there?  

FFs!  

There I was about to post how he did the same on my car, how genuine he is. Now you make it sound all wrong!  

And No i was not there, cause yesterday I was meeting x25xe to borrow an inverter and gas stove    

[Markie]

...Omega paramedic.travelling the country fixing Omegs....i think we must call James by the title...

Dr James from now on  

[Paul M]

 

Awesome job, I'd have to spread that amount of work over a few days, and even then I'd probably screw something up along the way

Planning a trip to Scotland any time soon?

[JamesV6CDX]

Awesome job, I'd have to spread that amount of work over a few days, and even then I'd probably screw something up along the way

Planning a trip to Scotland any time soon?

Funny you should say that. I have some time off and Quite likely going to take the crew camping, want to visit Skye and Iona etc. And being paraniod (and miles from nowhere), I will have all tools and lifting kit in the car, so a cheeky job or two MAY be possible

Then before returning to work, I think I'm off to do some cambelts in Kent

[JamesV6CDX]

I suspect James has also advised you to do a few very short oil and filter changes to help get all the crud out of the engine.

Correct.

I have neeeever seen oil in such a state as this before, not even on diesels. It was like treacle, really nasty stuff.

When first starting the car, there was an awful tap, and I was convinced it was a follower. When we got around to the oil change, it shut up, instantly!

As discussed, before the MOT, I would also recommend replacing the exhaust from the cats backwards. You already have a backbox, so need 2 mid sections. The backbox was totally gummed up with wadding, and there was a clang from the passenger side mid section, the car could hardly breathe. Put a rubber glove over the tailpipe and it wouldn't even inflate it!!!!!


That oil and filter will want changing a few times over, either every 250 miles or when it turns brown - whatever comes first.

The car was a very good price - and hopefully now will remain a bargain (if it passes MOT!!)

Manual 3.0 estate too... rare, I'll have to have a blast in it when it's done

[JamesV6CDX]

£175 .. that's the same as I paid for the Elite... and you haven't had to change the gearbox

[Auto Addict]

Oh dear, all this praise. We shall have to bring him down a peg or 2....

Met his other half

Tunnie was there?  

 

[realboss7669]

I suspect James has also advised you to do a few very short oil and filter changes to help get all the crud out of the engine.

Correct.

I have neeeever seen oil in such a state as this before, not even on diesels. It was like treacle, really nasty stuff.

When first starting the car, there was an awful tap, and I was convinced it was a follower. When we got around to the oil change, it shut up, instantly!

As discussed, before the MOT, I would also recommend replacing the exhaust from the cats backwards. You already have a backbox, so need 2 mid sections. The backbox was totally gummed up with wadding, and there was a clang from the passenger side mid section, the car could hardly breathe. Put a rubber glove over the tailpipe and it wouldn't even inflate it!!!!!

Yep, all advice taken on board. Mid sections of exhaust are en route to me as we speak. I will definitely carry out the oil changes regularly every couple of hundred miles or so when the oil changes colour. Thanks very much Dr James! Thanks to all the rest of you who advised too.

Here's something weird; I could swear blind my engine was the older version (shorter plenums), but was taken aback when James opened the engine bay as it is the newer one. Now I can guarantee that I have just been a dimwit and not checked it properly in the first place, but a very small corner of my brain is trying to convince me that during the night father Christmas transplanted the older engine with a newer one. Well, you never know do you....

[Paul M]

Awesome job, I'd have to spread that amount of work over a few days, and even then I'd probably screw something up along the way

Planning a trip to Scotland any time soon?

Funny you should say that. I have some time off and Quite likely going to take the crew camping, want to visit Skye and Iona etc. And being paraniod (and miles from nowhere), I will have all tools and lifting kit in the car, so a cheeky job or two MAY be possible

Then before returning to work, I think I'm off to do some cambelts in Kent

Cool give me a should when you're heading up, it'll be good to meet you even if I don't get any work done on the car. Tempted to get the cam belt changed while the expertise is there, even though it'll be about 18,000 miles too early.

I was thinking on taking a trip up to Skye this weekend on the bike, I know a bunch of bikers who are going up and camping over sat night. The weather's looking a bit iffy though (I'm a strict fair-weather biker!) and besides I've kinda got an agenda cos there's a girl I wanna go see in the pub on saturday night lol can't believe I'm prioritising a girl over biking, although I'm definitely blaming it on the weather not being promising enough

BTW I'll be in the US from the 2nd to the 16th June so hopefully it's not during those weeks you're coming up.

[royston1945]

How about a new avatar for James ?