Please Help! (photos included!)

cormie

Ok, just off the phone to the original mechanic and he said there's no way he's going to come out to Dun Loaghaire to have a look at it but if I can get it out to him he'll fix it up for me.

So my options are to either do that 2nd gear start thing, drive it out to him, get it fixed up properly or to call out a local mechanic to do the job.

The road it's on is not the best for doing the 2nd gear thing and it's parked pointing uphill at the mo and I'm not sure how many people I'd need to get a van pushed at 15/20 mph:o

peasant

Even if you can get it started, if I was you, I wouldn't drive that thing very far ...what with the fire risk and the possibility of the starter falling off alltogether and doing lots more damage.

I wouldn't drive it at all, if its avoidable.

patrickc

thats a pity he wont come out, I presume you explained your difficulty with getting the van to him , and the cost of renting a van for the day.

Henry Ford III

Do not drive it Cormie. It's a fire waiting to happen.

It should be a very simple fix. When it's done call into your original mechanic and ask him for 2 free services or something to compensate you?

cormie

Ok, I'll just try a few local mechanics so and ask for a free service or two from the original, seems fair enough, whether he'll do it or not is another thing! Now I wonder, do I still need the bolts from a Ford Dealer or should any mechanic have ones that should fit? Are they special Bolts for a ford transit or something as Darragh was suggesting to get them from a Ford Dealer

Darragh29

patrickc2006 wrote:

thats a pity he wont come out, I presume you explained your difficulty with getting the van to him , and the cost of renting a van for the day.

I suppose we saw this coming. I'd be telling him that there is no problem in getting the van up to him but it would be on the back of a recovery truck that he will be paying for. This is a common problem with the trade, a mechanic will accept responsibility for a problem at one level and refuse to take responsibility for it on another level.

It pisses me off when a mechanic will say "yeah, I'll have a look at it straight away if you can get it down to me", but then says, "its up to you go get it here", even though its completely down to him that the vehicle is undrivable. I hope this is taken in the manner in which it is meant, but I think the OP needs to give this mechanic fewer options. From my point of view there are two options that this mechanic needs to have put to him:

(A) He comes to the vehicle to sort out the mess,

(B) He arranges for and pays for the recovery of the vehicle and sorts out the mess.

There should not be another option available to him.

On the matter of buyig the required bolts from the main dealer, you wouldn't be able to get these items in a motor factor, in a situation such as this, I'd get two new bolts from a main dealer so you can be 100% sure that before you go looking at electrical connections, that the starter motor is back securly where it should be. You could start rummaging for bolts and arsing around with bolts that are either too short, too long or the wrong diameter and you'd be going backwards in getting this sorted out. Did you order the bolts so at least you have the parts to hand???

Darragh29

cormie wrote:

Ok, I'll just try a few local mechanics so and ask for a free service or two from the original, seems fair enough, whether he'll do it or not is another thing! Now I wonder, do I still need the bolts from a Ford Dealer or should any mechanic have ones that should fit? Are they special Bolts for a ford transit or something as Darragh was suggesting to get them from a Ford Dealer

They aren't special bolts so to speak cormie, but they are specific to the vehicle make and model and as these bolts are very rarely replaced, (because they never come loose if they are refitted properly!), a motor factor wouldn't stock them as they wouldn't sell one set of these bolts in 5 years for any make and model and the bolts are different sizes depending on the application so it would make no sense for a motor factor to carry these items, your only options here are scrap yard or main dealer, the main dealer beng the easiest of the two for you at the moment... You shouldn't pay more than a tenner for these parts...

overdriver

Cormie, the points raised in the battery thread you started a while back are still valid, in that you were offered adivce there which you haven't yet followed. Why do we have to go over all that again? Your battery will need replacing now anyway.

If it were me, I'd order the bolts, fit them myself, sort the connector and drive the thing back to him, but then, I'm not afraid to give things a go and get my hands dirty - not saying you are, of course.

Also if it were me, that van would be in the Buy & Sell, as you seem to have nothing but trouble with it in one way or another since you got it. If your business is depending on soemthing like this, it can't be so unreliable. You may find yoruself in serious ca-ca with a client before long.

cormie

:mad:

Just had a mechanic from Mountown Motors call out and he's just towed it away, he did the 2nd gear start thing.

He said the starter motor is wrecked and it needs a new one, so he rang up the scrap yard when I was there and it'll be €150 from them, the mechanic is charging €50 for the call out charge/tow and €60 to fir the new starter. So €260 in total:(

By the way, just on the battery thing, my friend said instead of a new battery, you can buy packs of battery acid, take the top off the battery and fill put some water in too. He said that'll cost €8, is this a good option as opposed to €90 on a new battery?

overdriver

cormie wrote:

:mad:

Just had a mechanic from Mountown Motors call out and he's just towed it away, he did the 2nd gear start thing.

He said the starter motor is wrecked and it needs a new one, so he rang up the scrap yard when I was there and it'll be €150 from them, the mechanic is charging €50 for the call out charge/tow and €60 to fir the new starter. So €260 in total:(

By the way, just on the battery thing, my friend said instead of a new battery, you can buy packs of battery acid, take the top off the battery and fill put some water in too. He said that'll cost €8, is this a good option as opposed to €90 on a new battery?

have you ever heard of false economy? Buy a new battery, mate.

cormie

Jaysus.

So The mechanic took the car, quoted 260 for the job with a scrap yard starter motor.

Rang him twice to see if he had any idea if it'd be ready for 3, when I had to go into town, the 2nd time he said no chance. So I rang up a few places to rent a van and decided on County Cars on Rochestown avenue, so I walked up there and went to pay the €95 for the van for 24 hours but was told I needed a Credit Card for the deposit, I said I could get my dads CC number they said he'd need to be there. This was at 2:45. So the supervisor said I could pay 500 deposit by cash plus the 95. I only had 500 on me so I had to ask could I pay the 95 when I drop it back tomorrow, they agreed that was ok, so I handed over the 500 and my license etc and just check my phone..

A missed call from the mechanic so I ring him back and he says he'll have it by 3.20, I rush back in and say my van is ready so get the money back and walk down to Mountown. He says that they were able to fix my own starter and it's working fine. He said that the battery was low but that it could just be the fact the bolt was loose so he was charging it and said that if it dies again, just jump it and get a new one immediately, which will be 95 fitted from him. He went on to say that the cog that the starter motor cog connects to, isn't in the best shape and there is a chance that it could stop working, he said there's no way to tell if it will or wont, but it might, and to fix that he'd have to get at the gear box and everything so it'd be more money.

So I'm going to test the battery out, if it dies, I'll get it replaced immediately, if not, all the better!

So the guy in Kilcoole came out the best of this. I'm E200 down and driving a van that could give way again with what might be a battery that wont hold a charge.

I was talking to the guy in Kilcoole about some new tyres. He said it'd be about 400, so maybe I'll get them, pay him 200 in cents and leg it before he counts it all:D Or just demand a few free services.

colm_mcm

patrickc

I hope you got all the receipts for this and if you did you should drive down to Kilcoole and show the original mechanic the receipts and demand the money as it was his botch job in the first place caused you all the trouble

cormie

colm_mcm wrote:

lol, Well I was prepared to rent a van for €95 for a 4/5 hour job I was getting paid €100 for so I think that backs me up a bit;) Still would have got a Euro per hour:D

cormie

patrickc2006 wrote:

I hope you got all the receipts for this and if you did you should drive down to Kilcoole and show the original mechanic the receipts and demand the money as it was his botch job in the first place caused you all the trouble

Don't know how successful I'd be with that:(

overdriver

Cormie, I have to give it to you - you're a trier!

Best of luck with it mate.

patrickc

cormie wrote:

Don't know how successful I'd be with that:(

it's worth a try anyhow, you say he's decent does work for the family etc, so if he values all the custom he just might

Darragh29

patrickc2006 wrote:

it's worth a try anyhow, you say he's decent does work for the family etc, so if he values all the custom he just might

This is bull****. This guy isn't decent. He utterly fu*ked up a job to start with, this is bad enough. Failing to take responsibility for it is just unacceptable. It's cowboys like this who give the rest of the trade a bad name. To a certain extent, its ultimately up to the customer to force the garage/mechanic to face up to their responsibilities.

patrickc

Darragh29 wrote:

This is bull****. This guy isn't decent. He utterly fu*ked up a job to start with, this is bad enough. Failing to take responsibility for it is just unacceptable. It's cowboys like this who give the rest of the trade a bad name. To a certain extent, its ultimately up to the customer to force the garage/mechanic to face up to their responsibilities.

I agree he hasn't a shred of decency about him, but maybe Cormie can use the regular trade thing to play the gangster with

rebel.ranter

Hey Cormie,
just a suggestion. Seeing as you are now making a living from a life on the road you should consider doing a motor maintenance course in one of the IT colleges DIT? or other? They do night time courses to teach you how to do routine maintenance & servicing etc.
With you now being on he road than you have ever been before the chances of things going wrong a much greater. It would be good to at least know what was wrong if you never do the job yourself.
Just a suggestion, I think everyone should do it. I would hazard a guess that most breakdowns are caused by poor maintenance.

cormie

Thanks again everyone. I suppose I can always try my luck with the guy in Kilcoole anyway.

Will look into getting more knowledgeable with the workings of an engine too as it will surely save me a packet in the long run and we all know how I love to spend as little as possible:D

Seems to be starting better than ever before now anyway so hopefully the battery wont let me down again!

patrickc

hope so u deserve good luck with it now..:D

Savman

So is it fixed now or wha?
I had similar trouble with my mk1 Mondeo Diesel, glow plugs were knackered and all my cold start attempts took its toll on the starter motor. Had to get it towed and eventually fixed for €200 which I thought was a fair price.

I also had battery trouble once too and had to call the AA out, they tried everything then just said "it's fooked" - last time I'll ever use a phone charger in the car (left it plugged in). I went straight to Halfords the next day and bought a new battery.

Im with overdriver on this one, forget the gimmicks and shortcuts, maintenance costs is part of owning any kind of vehicle. The Ford diesels can run forever with some TLC and as long as you're not afraid to put yer hand in yer pocket once in a while, why anyone would gamble an entire courier business upon one tempermental car battery is mind boggling. I'm no mechanic but I've learned in the past coupla years that ignoring the little problems leads to big problems and its only when the vehicle sits there dead you really take note. Its just a case of bad ownership and so many are guilty of it, I was at one stage but never again...

Happy motoring!

Esel

[HTML][/HTML]

cormie wrote:

Don't know how successful I'd be with that:(

cormie, you have to be assertive on this. if you are not confident going on your own, get your brother-in-law or his dad to go with you.

There seems to be absolutely no doubt that this guy's bad work caused your problem. Not refitting the starter motor properly is unforgivable, and as people have said, could have have very serious consequences - fire etc.

You are now €200 out of pocket (not to mention the time you have lost).

I would recommend that whether or not you get satisfaction from this guy, you do not use him again. Find a good mechanic who is close to your home base, and develop a relationship with him.

And don't be so f*cking tight in future!

Darragh29

esel wrote:

[HTML][/HTML]cormie, you have to be assertive on this. if you are not confident going on your own, get your brother-in-law or his dad to go with you.

You've hit the nail on the head there esel. I suggested that the OP put his problem down on paper and hand it to the mechanic involved, that way it would be a less intimidating approach on his part and the message can be delivered without effectively challenging someone on their own turf where it can be more intimidating.

While I'm obviously not blaming the OP for the problem, to a considerable extent, it falls to him to compel by whatever means, the supplier to put the matter right. He has more than enough cover under the Sale of Goods & Supply of Services Act, 1890 to return the van to the original mechanic for the work to be finished. I have to say that there is another thread on here discussing mechanics and peoples general experience of them, and peoples experiences of mechanics and garages would seem to be pretty negative. This case here is an example of a mechanic being let off the hook by a customer, (sorry OP, I know you don't want to get into a confrontation with this mechanic). If you went into Dixons and paid 800 Euro for a flat screen TV and the screen fell out of it two months later, you'd be down the next day with your receipt and you probably wouldn't leave until you were given a new TV.

I can't understand why when it comes to mechanics and garages, the rules seem to be turned on their head, people are almost too intimidated to even return to the garage and make a complaint, never mind expect the garage to actually rectify the problem. Could someone explain this to me???

BrianD3

Darragh29 wrote:

I can't understand why when it comes to mechanics and garages, the rules seem to be turned on their head, people are almost too intimidated to even return to the garage and make a complaint, never mind expect the garage to actually rectify the problem. Could someone explain this to me???

Maybe from past experience they have found that complaining does no good. Unfortunately, many in the motor trade are more skilled at bullsh1tting to customers, avoiding responsibility and being evasive than they are at actually fixing cars. Complaining can be like banging your head off a brick wall.

It's not just the motor trade though. Look what happens when builders and tradesmen do substandard work and customers complain. Try getting them back to rectify their mistake and you'll often encounter the same bullsh1t that cormie has encountered with his mechanic.

One difference between bringing a broken TV back to Dixons and questioning the work of a mechanic/tradesman is how personal it is. The guy working in Dixons is not going to get insulted and stroppy because a customer comes in with a broken TV made by some faceless corporation. OTOH, bring your TV to a TV repair guy and a week later it's faulty again and there could be a slightly different attitude when you complain.

cormie

Believe me, if I could afford not to be tight, I'd be driving a spotless new model transit with my logo's nicely placed at the side;)

Darragh I think putting it in writing is a good idea.

That's right about any other product, I'd be straight back to the shop indeed. I suppose with a mechanic it's their superior knowledge over the subject and their skill to convince you it's not their problem and "these things just happen, wear and tear" that I don't want to get into due to my obvious lack of mechanical knowledge.

In the same way with the returns though, if it was a tv and I got somebody else to repair it, how likely would powercity be to pay the bill?

Savman

Knowledge is power

overdriver

Thing is Cormie, a couple of posters here advised you against that van at the time, and you could've got something else with your budget. I see no point in seeking advice and then not heeding it. Not a judgement, mate, just a point. Same with the battery. BUY A BATTERY!!!

cormie

lol, yeah I know. It was between the Fiat and the Ford for the size and price I wanted. Even with all the trouble, I've still only spent:
€2,300 - van
€400 - clutch
€200 - starter
€90 - spare tyre
€30? - jack
€95 - battery (when I get it;))

So €3,115 for a 99 ford transit with just over 100K. Cheaper than your average one at that.

And if anyone remembers I was talking about a rattling sounds, I'm pretty sure it was a stone wedged between the lip between the roof and the side. I travelled over 500 miles with a constant banging because a little stone:o

Now next up... the DOE due this month! I'll be starting a thread about that soon enough I'm sure:D