Mate of mine said his brakes were grinding on his S plate Passat TDi and he'd been quoted £200 to replace them.

I offered to do them at cost seeing as he was going to come and cut my kitchen worktop in and sort the plumbing for my sink and washing machine. Anyhow, he dropped the car off and the pad was so worn the pad back was actually wearing as well. I sorted some new discs and pads, cleaned up the carriers and sliders and put it all together again. Whilst under the car I found the bolts that hold the rear of the front arm only in by a couple of threads, no water in the header tank and the brake light bulbs dead.

How can people let their cars get into this much of a state without realising?

 

cos they're dumbasses.

1 tail light out on my truck is an instant GV9 and means i'm off the road as of then until the whole truck is inspected. same as a wheel nut, i've got 80 on mine, if one is loose its a GV9 aswell.

 

Sounds like most mechanics own cars.

 

you see some funny things on cars mate

 

people just don't realize that cars need checking over quite regularly,not just once a year when its getting mot'd.

 

Mates first car was mk1 fiesta.
One night was a bit of a rattle, then it went.
Then when changing pads one had fallen out at the front, and caliper had been wearing a groove in the disc when braking.
How you don't notice any of that on pedal I don't know.

 

rebuilt a mates head on a rover 200 i said the rings were worn so will burn a bit of oil in time so make sure you check the oil regurly
droped the car off to me as i had to take it into work for an mot i thought better check the levels ( i do these on all my cars i have to take into work ) bloody things on min
just thought paid a far bit for the head to be rebuilt ( cambelt snapped on the motorway) and you cant even check the oil level

 

Not below minimum, maybe he was drawing every last ounce of performance out of it?

 

All the peps working as mechanic will tell you that they are not surprised by what you might say or what you say. Basically we have seen nearly everything some users can do to their cars. The first story that comes up to my head is this one :

We got a VW Polo back on our garage on a truck because the car was "not working" anymore. I opened the engine bay, and saw dry water liquid everywhere, the engine water bottle MELTED, yes you red right, it had MELTED. Then I looked at the engine, and the inlet manifold (which was made from plastic) had melted too on the head due to heat. In fact the water warning light was working inside the car, but the woman thought it was just a "service light" telling her it was time to service the car.

She drove 50km like that (can't believe the engine survived that) before it died. Can't remember what was exactly the cause why the engine overheated but lot of damages just because some people should just not be able to drive cars. And it wasn't a new car, she had it for few years.

 

most people i know dont bother with routine checking or preventative maintainance but seem to believe in not bothering with anything and waiting until problems arise before looking at it and still not before continuing to drive around for a week or 2 with the odd noises getting worse before giving in to the enevitable.

 

Yep can agree there guy at work says to me come listen to my car its making a funny noise, so i go over lift the bonnet no water in the header tank but its got a good amount of oil on the dipstick so i start it and turn it off after a few seconds only to be asked why? Oil light didnt go out, he says dont worry it works ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He started the car reved the nuts off it and all the tappets were screaming told him to get it recovered home and the plank drove it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say he just kept driving it till it died! Some people just wont listen or learn

 

Are you not supposed to know how to check things like water level and oil on a driving test now??????????