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[Taxi_Driver]

Not my 2.2........but neighbours veccyC 2.0 diesel on a 53 plate.

First thing in the mornings it had started to take upto 15secs of cranking before starting when its quite cold....then would pop on EML for about 10secs then go off.

As i carnt read a veccyC ecu.......he took it to vx dealer for diagnosis.......they read the codes......and told him there all 'not present' codes (tho didnt tell which ones they were) and then told him.....they were 99% certain its the glow plugs.

So yesterday vx dealer changed em all.......at a cost of about £150  

This morning it did start on the button   (but maybe it did coz it was warmer this morning).......but when driving around EML kept coming on and going off.......something its not done before.......so he took it back.......vx dealer found a connecter they hadnt reconnected 'so they say' and all will be fine now......well it wasnt and EML kept coming on.....so he took it back again......

This time diagnosis was.....its the MAF sensor.......and they wanted £140 plus labour to change it.......he argued with them.....that there wasnt anything wrong with it before they changed the glow plugs.......in the end vx dealer did him a 'deal'.......£106 including fitting.......so he let vx dealer change it.......

Just phoned him now.......and guess........yep.....EML is back on permanently now......vectra isnt running right.....  

He isnt a happy bunny........ive told him to go back to vx dealer in the morning and ask them to refit the old MAF sensor as obviously theres nothing wrong with it.....and get a refund.

Case of vx dealer randomly changing parts to try to fix the fault??  :-/

You decide!!

[Revokev]

Well that's a first
Are they sure it's not the head gasket

[The Elite]

Happens all the time, we changed a 3 grand diff on an A8 an it was exactly the same afterwards...

[Kevin Wood]

What muppets! Give them all the diagnostic capability you can and they stick their heads up their @rses and take a wild stab in the dark guess.

You can imagine their training course:

Diesel engine: It's the glow plugs
Petrol engine: It's the head gasket.
Customer is always wrong.

Right, off you go...

 

Kevin

[smoothomega]

How do they still keep getting away with this?  

[Kevin Wood]

Most customers don't know any better and just pay up. Seriously, I've got mates who just chuck their car at a main dealer and when they phone up with a tale of woe they don't question it. This is not people who are desperately flush, they just don't understand cars and want them back on the road asap. May as well leave a blank cheque in the glove box for them.

Kevin

[smoothomega]

I do seriously wonder how some people keep up with some of the main dealer prices, it could and i'm sure it has broke some people  :-/

[TheBoy]

One of my brothers bought a £70 BMW X5 (yes, he's a idiot in some respects!), first service, they threw it through a carwash.  If that wasn't bad enough, they left the sunroof open at the time. They wouldn't even reduce the service charge!

North Oxford BMW know they can get away with it, as many BMW owners are gay enough to only use dealers, and this is the only BMW dealer around

[Elite Pete]

One of my brothers bought a £70 BMW X5 (yes, he's a idiot in some respects!), first service, they threw it through a carwash.  If that wasn't bad enough, they left the sunroof open at the time. They wouldn't even reduce the service charge!

North Oxford BMW know they can get away with it, as many BMW owners are gay enough to only use dealers, and this is the only BMW dealer around

Id have one for that price

[The Elite]

In fairness though diagnostics are far from the magic machines people make them out to be. Also faults can have a number of causes, you always start by replacing the cheapest part. After all the techs are only human and don't go out of their way to rip you off. Dealerships soon fall out of favour with head office if your first time fix rate drops below the national average, and doing work for a second time at a cut price does nothing for productivity ratings. All main dealers have guidelines from head office as to what you just throw out and what you can repair. I think our throw away society is just as much to blame as anything else...

[TheBoy]

In fairness though diagnostics are far from the magic machines people make them out to be. Also faults can have a number of causes, you always start by replacing the cheapest part. After all the techs are only human and don't go out of their way to rip you off. Dealerships soon fall out of favour with head office if your first time fix rate drops below the national average, and doing work for a second time at a cut price does nothing for productivity ratings. All main dealers have guidelines from head office as to what you just throw out and what you can repair. I think our throw away society is just as much to blame as anything else...

The diag kit is just an aid, but most dealers think it is gospel.

[smoothomega]

One of my brothers bought a £70 BMW X5 (yes, he's a idiot in some respects!), first service, they threw it through a carwash.  If that wasn't bad enough, they left the sunroof open at the time. They wouldn't even reduce the service charge!

North Oxford BMW know they can get away with it, as many BMW owners are gay enough to only use dealers, and this is the only BMW dealer around

Id have one for that price

He would be a bit of a idiot to pass an X5 up for £70  

[The Elite]

Don't know about Vx dealers but at Audi it is! There are very strick rules on how to fix a problem and what parts get changed. We don't even heat bolts any more, if its seized then the part the bolt is seized in has to be changed. We all know thats BS but Audi say this is how it has to be done, as a franchise we have no input in it.

[brett1408]

he he! i did my apprenticeship at a rover main dealer, you can imagine the horror stories i can tell can't you

[cem_devecioglu]

One of my brothers bought a £70 BMW X5 (yes, he's a idiot in some respects!), first service, they threw it through a carwash.  If that wasn't bad enough, they left the sunroof open at the time. They wouldn't even reduce the service charge!

North Oxford BMW know they can get away with it, as many BMW owners are gay enough to only use dealers, and this is the only BMW dealer around

Here the picture is radically worse..

If you use a BMW , Mercedes or VW even the the cheapest repair

shops quote 2,3 times the normal..And needless to say, the parts

changed unnecessary takes a huge portion in total..

Most of the shops dont have Tech 2 similiar devices and if have one

dont know how to use or dont understand the language of it..

Opel is little better..But not in every dealer..