picked my S1 up this morning from the garage, it had :

1. steering rack changed
2. track rod ends changed
3. alternator belt changed
4. car tracking done.


picked her up and started it, thought it sounded odd, was putting and blowing. thought it was probally cold, drove off down the road and its struggling to gain any power, its driving and all i can hear is the exhuast blowing and putting like cars do when they are cold and need warming up.

got it home, popped the engine but can see anything they may have left off by mistake, the car was ok before going in.

any ideas???? what does the alternator belt change consist off?? somethings amiss bu t i cant find what it is.

 

Alternator belt wouldnt cause any of these problems, basically you slacken the tensioner off, take the old belt off, new belt on, tension the err tensioner and re-tighten.

I hate Garages, I wouldnt trust leaving my car with them


I cant think of anything they would of touched doing that lot that could cuse your car to run funny? Check all plugs are on/properly, all hoses are tight, even the breather-metering unit. .all I can think of really

 

ive just checked everything through, let the car run for 10 minutes but its still the same.

almost sounds as if the timing is out. it was running fine thursday when i dropped it off.

cost me £142 overall so im skint till end of nov.

cant understand what they have done?? they would nt have took the dizzy off to get to bolts on the steering rack would they?

 

nope, i'd immagine the would of had it up on a ramp to do the rack so would of done it from below. . . they didnt do the timing belt did they?

 

No just the alternator belt, would that cause a loss of power?

 

Tensioner?? On the alternator belt?? Get with it Davvy

Have you checked simple things like the HT leads havent worked loose and things like that?

Also.....check for missed off wires on the battery. Theres some thin brown wires which are very easy to miss off and are for the ecu's, if not connected they run like poo (im talking from experience and learning the hard and expensive way )

 

checked the ht leads, let me just go and check the batery...hold on!

 

battery leads are on.

 

Even the 2 little brown ones on the negative side?

 

all there buddy.

cant understand it

 

ah ok then

So.......does it start from cold aswell as it did before?

Does it idle ok, like before?

Is it noticably misfiring/pinking or anything like that?

 

still starts the same, idles the same.

but defo sounds like its misfiring. if you rev it a touch it still sounds like its blowing and poping.

i reversed it and went forwards but it still struggles.

 

not the fuel pump on its way out ???

 

Dunno what cars you've been working on, but err . . . yea they do have a tensioner arm. . how else do you tension the belt

 

I've got this same problem, but mine sounds like a scooby.
Sounds fine on tick over, but give it some revs and it wants to cut out or just splutters, I've had to remove the sensor in the back of my metering head to stop over fueling, and the cutting out. Nothings loose either
Just been set up by Engine advantages too.

 

Check spark plugs, dizzy cap and rotar arm. If it has been moved about alot in the garage and only running for short periods of time, which they do its very possible a plug has fouled up due to being on coldstart. Worth a look anyway.

 

I'll let you know about the bodywork next week mate, Dad has had an operation and recently and don't want to chuck too much work at him.

Which garage did you take it too, one in Dorchester?

 

Ahhhh i dont personally call it a tensioner.

You Scottish eh

Any luck with this car yet?

 

nope no joy, but found i had no oil strange that, had some when i checked a few weeks back and had no leaks or nowt.

car enginge is quiet, head gasket hasnt gone, everything is where it should be.

so garaged for 48hrs was ok came out shite

might aswell flog it!!

 

I would check none of the breathers have been disturbed, also check for vacuum leaks. Other than that, check all electrical connections, take out plugs clean em, check distributor is all set correct, check dissy cap for cracks etc, make sure contacts are clean, check rotar arm is ok. Sounds like something silly to me.

 

Then phone the garage and ask them if they've disturbed anything and explain why.

Where was your steering rack from ?? Ford ? Price ?

 

FORD £88 POUNDS!!! BARGIN!!!

TRACK ROD ENDS X2 EBAY £14!!!!!

WRECKED CAR....PRICELESS!!!!

 

So you've got the car back from the garage and its running crap, has no oil and wont boost sounds like its possible someones been a bit over enthusiastic on the test drive

 

thats my thoughts exactally.

they fitted the alternator belt, steering rack and track rod ends.

then it was stored overnight.

The day i picked it up theyhad taken it to be laser tracked and aligned.

as soon as i got there and started it the car sounded off, like when cars are cold and they stutter and blow abit.
Engine was quiet so thought yeah she's cold lets get it home.
the 1 mile journey was like having a ht lead tha fallen off, stuttering all the time.
could hear the turbo boosting, car idled but sounded naff. Still does.

will be rolled straight back to thier doors tommorow.....i want it running as it was!

 

Their exscuse will be "you took it and never complained till a few days after, for all we know it could of been you who broke it"

I guess your only proof is this thread with the dates on it


You should of turned right bk round and told them you werent happy, heindsight tho

Garages are cunts, one recently scratched my dads brand new 17" alloy for his BMW, not cheep and their denying it

 

Cheers for the price.

I had that when I had to leave it at an unknown garage one day after my clutch cable broke on my S2. Picked it up & they'd been ragging fook out of it. I knew because the turbo timer recorded the peak boost after I'd reset it to 0. They denied it but I knew as peak boost only came on if you booted it properly & not pootled around driving normally

 

just rung them, i said "picked the car up sat and its running like spanners, just managed to get it home".

they said
"when it was started sat morning it was blowing, sounds damp or throwing a misfire".

"check your distributer, then drop it down for a quick look".

checked the distributer and leads everything is dry.

just having a cuppa then i'll pop down, see what happens!!!

 

Get it down there and see what they say

 

At least they're willing to look over it and not fob you off (yet). That's encouraging if it did it with them: they know you haven't messed about with it afterwards...

 

spoke with the mechanic, he's a sound bloke never done me wrong before. He said when i left the car he put his hand in the window and turned it over and it sounded rough.

said he thought it was misfiring or the timing was out.

Ive left the car with him to look over, drove it to the top of the hill then neutral all the way down the hight street to the garage, struggled to get any power at all, shudering all the way.

no smoke though. Jacked her up this morning and had a look about, nothing out of place, drained the oil and renewed it with mobile 1 15/50.
cleaned the dizzy cap...no difference though.

just have to wait on the verdict!!

 

Hopefully its not what we think it is and its something easily sorted, let us know

 

£232 pounds later...the car returns.

the car was misfiring, they changed the leads, spark plugs, dizzy, rotor arm and a compression test.

so picked her up....totally skint now but glad its nothing major!!!

cheers for the help peeps!!

 

So they charged you £232 to change the leads, spark plug dizzy cap and rotor arm

 

About £70 worth of bits there tops....

 

all of which you could of changed yourself, with a spark plug socket


just glad its sorted and nothing majour

 

thats £232 including the steering rack, track arms and alternator belt, dizzy, leads ect.

she's quiet and drives stright for once. Chuffed, but defo wary about garaging her again.

time to study the Haynes manual!!!

 

Thats not bad I suppose mate if it was for the lot

 

Give us half the info then...



Glad she's sorted mate.

 

ht leads,
spark plugs,
dizzy,
rotor arm
compression test.
steering rack changed
track rod ends changed
alternator belt changed
car laser tracking done

labour and vat £232.


there you go rs shawn!! not bad i suppose.

 

ht leads, £40
spark plugs, £30
dizzy, £5
rotor arm £3
compression test.
steering rack changed £88
track rod ends changed £14
alternator belt changed £3
car laser tracking done £40

labour and vat £232.

That's very good as I roughly worked it out to be £223 before compression test & labour & VAT !