Ellie

Took car to garage on friday to have altenator replaced.
Checked past receipts and discovered it had a new one fitted in march (i bought car in april) which was only 6k miles ago. Phoned garage that had fitted it, still under warrenty, so they said they would fax the invoice for their purchase of the altenator to my garage for them to claim back the costs.

Anyway, it wasnt ready on friday so i called today. Theyd had to take the new alt. off and order another one because that one didnt work.
Then he says that actually they wont be claiming for the alt because my car has "multiple oil leaks" that have been leaking on the alt and therefore the warrenty will probably be voided and theyll have to chase me then for payment.
He said i might have a better chance if I send the alt back and reclaim costs that way.
Then, the last little bit of good news is that if i take the altenator back, ill have to pay their £30 carriage cost on the new alt.



Taking the piss? being awkward? perfectly reasonable??

maybe they just cant be bothered doing anything else for me because its took them so long to try figure out how to fit an altenator to an mr2.

(I tried this place because 2other places couldnt/wouldnt help and the other 'reccommended' garage cant manage to fit the correct petrol tank to a 1.6zetec escort)


thanks

mechanic28

iTrader: (5)

possiable that if it has been covered in oil etc!so you have got to pay then?

blueskies85

you aint into mechanics yourself i take it or is the car under warranty? I got fed up with garage prices and so do all my own work now... there is loads of help on here and people are interested in how you get on.. it takes longer to start with but you soon get the hang of it.
As far as oil is concerned, id imagine it would damage an alternator so they are on the right track saying it aint covered by warranty.

SteveH

You know my view on this Ellie.
I would at least make them explain why they had to fit two new ones, and withhold payment till they at least try to get the alt replaced under warranty, then they can reimburse you should they get it replaced.

Ellie

Yeah, gonna have to pay them about £300/£350.

bluskies-yeh id love to do all me own work but have nowhere to do it/no tools/ no time and no idea!! Alt. on an mr2= pain in the arse for even someone qualified.

pa_sjo

I can tell you from experience that changing an alternator on an MR2 (SW20) is a royal pain in the arse!!!

Ellie

Steve- ill ask them to explain why its taken 2 attempts to fix it and ill just ask if they cant be bothered waiting for warrenty to cover costs.


oh-and no, my car isnt under warrenty blueskies-its 16yrs old

mechanic28

iTrader: (5)

well if you have to end up paying i would deffo want the old alternator back give her a clean up with brake cleaner etc and send the unit back

blueskies85

fair enough mate, nice to hear some genuine honesty I didnt mean to sound rude above mate, i just re read and I sounded like a pompous twat!

Ellie

haha no worries.

mechanic-yeah, worth a try i guess.

thanks guys

SteveH

Own up, you'd spray it silver and claim it was new wouldnt you?

blueskies85

i would!

westus1

iTrader: (6)

i work in a specialist place that recon starters and alt's
if thers oil in the slip rings then you will defo not get a warranty claim as its not the alt thats at fault
the 1st 1 they fitted may have been faulty etc so only the garage can realy answer that question but you should defo only be charged 1 lot of labour as its not your fault if it was faulty,
mr2 alt's are a bit fiddly but not to bad compared to some
you prob dont want to know that we charge 120 for a recon supplied and fitted

RichardPON

I've changed my alternator on my old 2 Turbo, and it is a pain! Especially if the car has air-con.....

SteveH

No aircon Richard

Westus, shame your in scottyland mate

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

dunno what garage you use but i can reccomend loads of people in chester as i'm well conected, i know all the scrap yards and even where the alty and starter specialist is in pennyford, he recons altys from a tenner, a used alty to me from a scrappie is a tenner if i ask nicely

SteveH

Up for ellie.
Spoke to her this afternoon and the garage are currently fitting the 4th alternator.....

I dont know the details but what are the chances of ordering 4 new alts that are all crap?

Psycho Warren

iTrader: (5)

something dodgy going on with that garage!!!

BM08

Thats expensive too, a work colleague had one fitted to a 2000 plate polo gti, cost her £200 all in, but i guess were talking about a jap car here!

fuzzy

my cossie alternator only cost about £100 to buy new.
depends if shes supplying the alternators or the garage are getting them themselves. if shes supplying the parts the labour charges to change 4 are her responsability.

SteveH

Nah they're supplying the parts, so she isnt paying for all of them

I just dont get how its so hard to fit one.

I know its a pain in the arse on a MR2, but once on, should work ok

fuzzy

the odds on 4 fooked alternators must be pretty high id have thought. maybe something else causing the problem?

Ellie

Thanks Steve xxx


So sick of this now. HOW HARD CAN IT BE?
Id rather have a brand new one put on. The invoice for the last one was £189 (fitted in march) so i was expecting around £200 for the alt anyway.

They're reckoning the first 2 alt's were the wrong ones. The 3rd, from a different supplier kinda worked but didnt charge the battery.
On fitting the 4th, they realised a wire had broken, so theyre keeping it another night to sort the wiring properly. But that was deffo not the original problem coz he could hear my alt was on its way out. This is just what they say.
If my alt died after 6k miles and is covered in oil, then from ive read hear, chances are its the oil thats done it and warrenty void.

Cozzfather-I needed to go somewhere near to my work (at the hospital) and also was rather limited as to what to do when car dies and the RAC wanna know where im gonna go with it.
Nationwide Autocentre told me to go find an auto-electrician, somewhere else said they dont do altenators but reccommended Bakers Mot station (behind the new tesco down sealand rd). Been to Crane Bank before because they were a 'reccommended' garage in the newspaper-but it took them 4 attempts to put the correct fuel tank on my escort and broke the sender unit in the process.
What ya meant to do?

ANDYRACER

I may be miles out here, but where is the alt on a mr2 non turbo? Cos on my turbo celica which is basically the same engine but turbo'd the alt is high up on the engine and i dont understand where the so called oil drip would come from.

Ellie

Its at the bottom, in the back drivers side corner. Under the big block bit thingy really. The drive shafts have to come off to get to it n stuff.

here

n13los

surely a quick test with a multimeter would have told them if it was the altenator at fault. after fitting 4 altenators they've now found a wiring fault i would say that there was nowt wrong with your original unit. on a sixteen year old car i would have looked for a dodgy earth or a broken earth/battery cable as they get brittle with age.

i would ask him for your old unit back with a copy of the suppliers invoice, take it somewhere to get tested just for peace of mind. Then you can drop it back to the supplier yourself to get your £30 surcharge back.

hope this helps.

ANDYRACER

Ahh the alts in a different place to mine, where they saying yours is leaking from?
Leaking toyota Mr2 and celica seems a common problem Mines is leaking, and 2 of my mates have mr2 turbos and they both leak.

Ellie

yeah tis common. A lot of people find their alt. belt goes loose but leaking oil keeps it lubed so doesnt squel and they dont realise.
Dont know what the leak is from.

n13los-im getting old unit back anyway as it was under warrently

mechanic28

iTrader: (5)

who me!!!

mechanic28

iTrader: (5)

odds on they buggered the wiring after fitting the first one

craig2351

iTrader: (1)

theres a few good garages in chester and along bumpers lane, gramham walkers springs to mind just thought i mention it if u ever need anything doin in the future

Diamonds.

iTrader: (2)

personally i think there talking bollox. something aint right there

Ellie

cheers, ill remember that

westus1

iTrader: (6)

sound like a bunch of useless cunts to me
no reason for trying to fit the wrong unit 4 times
prob the wiring at fault to start with
but as before if thers oil in it then it would have been on borrowed time anyhow
oil leaks usualy the rocker gasket on these
they are also a right royal pain in the ass off a job to put right

nrg19uk

its quicker to drop the engine out the back, also they get knackered so quick because the vents above drip rain water onto them.

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

cranebank ?????????????????????? you know he lives in a million pound house with a pool on cavendish road and drives anew shape bentley continental don't you ???????. i think you just paid for a pair of front tyres for it

thats the last place i would take a car, my mate anwar does nearly all the asian doctors cars at the hospital,you could ask them to see, his garage is called great sutton garage and if you mention me (karl) he probably would pick it up,fix it and drop it back off. he's a mot station too and knows jap stuff.

i wouldn't go to graham walkers either as he's the second richest bloke in chester and also knows how to charge.
you can tell graham is wedged up when you see him in his aston

scoooby slayer

iTrader: (4)

theres a good chance they fucked the wiring themselves. i done it last week on the cossie. i put a recon alternator on and it was a dud and when i took it off i dropped the alternator with the bat light wire still connected an it ripped it out of the loom