Well heres the latest update, bare with me this could turn out to be an essay!
Went to pick up car on Thursday as they'd said that it was ready to pick up
Turned up to see gashes out of the bottom of the front bumper and paint flaked off on the front splitter part before id even got out of the car.
It was obvious that they'd dragged it up a trailor without battering an eyelid at the scraping- the car is low so needs arches lifting whilst on initial ascent onto a trailor
The bloke came out and said that it was ready,to which i asked, is the oil leak all fixed ok then? His reply: we've changed the head gasket and skimmed the head so it should be ok, but we've not had it running...
(The head gasket that said was faulty before and theyd wanted £185 to change it and supply new gasket as they said as the part was supplied by me they werent liable for it)
Me: why havn't you got it running as it was in perfect running order when i bought it here?
Him: well the bloke that changed the parts couldnt get the alternator on as he said the bracket is bent and the wiring and ECU isnt right.
Me: There is supposed to be a bend in that bracket and i know that the alternator fits absolutely fine, there is nothing wrong with the ecu and the wiring is spot on. Im not happy taking this car away until the alternator is back on and ive had it running to check for the leak
got tools and alternator was on within about 10 minutes.
When putting the alternator back on i then noticed a bend in the back of the crossmember where the radiator sits in- this was obviously where theyd tried tying a rope to and dragging the car onto the trailer, i questioned him on this (tow rope had then been left tied to the bottom strut brace on the opposite side)
Me: this bend was not here when we bought it to you and its clearly where you've dragged my car up the trailer, which then explains why you've tried to cover yourselves and leave the rope tied to the lower brace making it look like you've used that.
Him: i thought thats where you towed it from
Me: No, it was towed here around the wishbone section which is a solid point, that bar is not and as ive just taken the whole front end of the car apart id have noticed a dent like that, i have pictures on my phone as progress which clearly show this crossmember as being in perfect condition.
Him: speachless
Battery was still flat so id asked him for a battery booster pack, although they are ok for topping up a partially flat battery they do sod all for a fully flat one.
He started to go on about probably electric faults etc and alarm perhaps stopping it from starting (turning over bit not firing up)
I stated that if it was the alarm then it wouldnt even let the engine turn over and that jump leads would be needed for such a flat battery.
As my girlfriends dad had took me there in his car we connected up the jump leads and immediately the turnover was quicker but needed a few more minutes to give enough power for startup.
The excuses still came out and he insisted that it was probably an electric fault, to which i guaranteed that it would start on the next turn of the key- WHICH IT DID
With the engine then running we waited a minute or so (similar time before leak appeared before) and then it returned again!! FFS!
So i said clearly the gasket which you'd blamed for being dodgy to get yourselves out of it, is not the cause of the problem.
It looks like its appearing right in the corner of the head possibly coming from behind the plastic cambelt covers and working its way to the front of the head.
The bloke then said that he'd spent the day on it friday and get it running with the cambelt covers off to see where the leak was coming from, then go from there.
Friday afternoon i hadnt heard anything, was going to call and see how they'd got on, but decided that incase they were going to fob me off and possibly said "yeah we've done this and this etc etc and it should be done soon" that id rather drive there to see how they were doing
Got there to find that the car hadnt been touched all day.
Him: we're going to have a look at it on monday, we think its coming from behind the cambelt covers..
Me: but i told you yesterday that thats where its coming from! Ill be here Monday lunchtime to see how its going./
So im off there in an hour or so to pay them a visit. Update later tonight
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