Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Marks DTM Calib]

I had to look at a fellow members car, a 2.6 V6 CDx, last night.

It had an oil leak issue.

Anyway, car arrives and start to strip it down only to notice no bolts holding the coil packs in, thats strange I thought but no worry as I have some spares.

The brake servo pipe had been positioned to rub against the aircon pipe (signs of wear already evident) and the fuel pressure regulator feed was disconnected.

Its clear on inspection that one of the bolts securing the cam covers is weeping oil, no surprise as the thread had been stripped in the cam cap.

So, pop the cover off.....and, hang on a minute, this is not a 2.6 head, its a pre mid 97 2.5 head....and hence why there are no bolts holding the coil packs in because these early heads did not have the larger web with the drilled and tapped hole to secure them!

So, pop the cam cap off, drill the buggered hole out slightly deeper and tap the hole, find a longer bolt and cut it so that on re-fit it can be torqued up again.

Right, passenger side done.

Onto the drivers side, pull (the again un-secured) coil pack out and find oil in the plug holes.

So, remove the cover bolts and go to lift the cover....and it wont come off.....because the engine lifting bracket which is held in place by the B-Bolt is bent over the cover!

So, then its a case of spending time straightening the lifting eye so the cover can be removed.....

Re-assemble with new gaskets and get her all back together.

Now this car has clearly had the engine changed for what appears to be an early 2.5 V6.....and despite the owner having paid to change the cam cover gaskets fairly recently, they cant have been done on the passenger side as the cover could not be removed.

Clearly a torque wrench was not used on the job as many of the bolts on the inlet setup were over tightened and one thread stripped.

VERY poor workmanship.

Beware, they walk amongst us

[ScottieMV6]

I don't understand why anyone would pay a local garage when there is so much information on here to do it yourself or you could pay one of the many guys on here who will come to you and do a proper job for half the price

[Dishevelled Den]

It's astonishing to have yet another example showing the low standards presently inhabiting the ranks of so many of those purporting to mechanics, builders, and landscapers and so on.

At best it's mindless incompetence, at worst it's worthy of the attention of the Fraud Act 2006 where the following may be applicable;


Fraud by false representation


(1) A person is in breach of this section if he—

(a) dishonestly makes a false representation, and
(b) intends, by making the representation—
(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or
(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.


(2) A representation is false if—

(a) it is untrue or misleading, and
(b) the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading



(4) A representation may be express or implied.

[Chris_H]

It's a test of channelled thinking when you come across one of those.  How long before reality overrules expectation?

Come to think of it I stuck an MG 1100 engine in a Riley Elf once and although it had the correct head it had been shaved to go on a 950 mini so without the two head gaskets it had a cr of over 13:1.  I did tell the next owner it was a bigger engine but there was a lot to guess and I don't recall informing Swansea or whoever.  IIRC it said Alexander across the rocker-box but apart from twin 1 1/4 SU's it wasn't by the time I'd finished with it.

Well done for rectifying what you had rather than what you thought you had! 

[Debs.]

Don`t be surprised Mark, cretinous dishonesty is evidently, still the garage trade norm:

I remember taking my previous Miggy for an oil change, just after purchasing it: the 'mechanic' (only in title) managed to loosen the entire aluminium filter housing on the block whilst trying to remove the recalcitrant cover.....upon discovering this fact, he decided to skip that "filter change nonsense" entirely and just change the oil....whilst still charging me the full service cost.
I might never have discovered this; it it weren`t for the never-ending trail of leaking oil that followed the car for the first journey thereafter.
Complaints to the garage were met with feigned apologies (but no refund on lost oil or service charges)

I do all my own servicing now!

[Dishevelled Den]

Don`t be surprised Mark, cretinous dishonesty is evidently, still the garage trade norm:

I remember taking my previous Miggy for an oil change, just after purchasing it: the 'mechanic' (only in title) managed to loosen the entire aluminium filter housing on the block whilst trying to remove the recalcitrant cover.....upon discovering this fact, he decided to skip that "filter change nonsense" entirely and just change the oil....whilst still charging me the full service cost.
I might never have discovered this; it it weren`t for the never-ending trail of leaking oil that followed the car for the first journey thereafter.
Complaints to the garage were met with feigned apologies (but no refund on lost oil or service charges)

I do all my own servicing now!

That is the term - even in its most innocuous form - I find so distressing in, yet so applicable to, many who provide such services.

Have the tenets of truth, honesty, having due regard for others and having pride in one's professionalism really been cast aside in favour of the easy option, and the maximisation of profit?

[Marks DTM Calib]

Who said it was a garage.....

[Kevin Wood]

Who said it was a garage.....

Wasn't a dancing chicken, was it? 

[Dishevelled Den]

Who said it was a garage.....

'Beware, they walk amongst us'


In this quotation from your original post the 'us' did suggest something distressing to me

[Mr Skrunts]

Nice job there Mark, well done, and I bet one relieved and very happy Miggy owber after you sorted his car.

Debs, I think we have all suffered by the hards of these garage morons.  I read an article years ago where they marked plugs, filters, points etc with a dab of light coloured nail varnish to prove if parts had been changed and some of the results that came back were astonising.

Some garages just wiped the dirt off the plugs to make them look new, a lot of them just changed the oil and wiped over the filter.  one garage changed the plugs but put 2 leads on the wrong way round and blamed the customer.  Annother one used a nail file between the points rather than replace them.

A tip I was given was to check the work before paying and write the date for the oil change and miles on it  with a felt pen ready to catch them out next time.

[Kevin Wood]

A tip I was given was to check the work before paying and write the date for the oil chage and miles on it  with a felt pen ready to catch them out next time.

If you're going to those lengths you might as well do the job yourself and save paying someone else to do it.

Kevin

[Marks DTM Calib]

Who said it was a garage.....

Wasn't a dancing chicken, was it? 

Nope....

[Welung666]

Who said it was a garage.....

Wasn't a dancing chicken, was it? 

Nope....

I do hope you're not saying it was a forum member that did the work originally?

[Debs.]

Who said it was a garage.....

  Oh dear!....that kind of 'amongst'!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Who said it was a garage.....

Wasn't a dancing chicken, was it? 

Nope....

I do hope you're not saying it was a forum member that did the work originally?

Might be....