Mechanic in Westport?

lankz92

Hey all, just landed to westport for a few days away.
Temp light came on on the way into town, pulled up at the hotel and a pool of coolant under the car, what a way to start the holiday eh?

Its a 01 seat leon 1.6 petrol
The TB and pump is due in a few thousand miles so im guessing the water pump has give up.
I tried filling some water in and went to tesco, light was on before i was back.

Can anyone reccomend somewhere to take it? Im leaving friday and have a 4 hour trip home

biko

Sounds like a big leak, perhaps a split hose.
If it's sunny tomorrow, fill it up with water and look underneath. You should see the leak immediately.

There is a bunch of mechs mentioned here, start with ringing them
https://www.yelp.ie/search?find_desc=Mechanic&find_loc=Westport%2C+Co.+Mayo

CiniO

biko wrote: »

Sounds like a big leak, perhaps a split hose.
If it's sunny tomorrow, fill it up with water and look underneath. You should see the leak immediately.

There is a bunch of mechs mentioned here, start with ringing them
https://www.yelp.ie/search?find_desc=Mechanic&find_loc=Westport%2C+Co.+Mayo

To be honest, after looking at that list, and knowing most local garages, I say it's either way out of date or just wrong. Map location of some of them also completely don't match.

CiniO

lankz92 wrote: »

Hey all, just landed to westport for a few days away.
Temp light came on on the way into town, pulled up at the hotel and a pool of coolant under the car, what a way to start the holiday eh?

Its a 01 seat leon 1.6 petrol
The TB and pump is due in a few thousand miles so im guessing the water pump has give up.
I tried filling some water in and went to tesco, light was on before i was back.

Can anyone reccomend somewhere to take it? Im leaving friday and have a 4 hour trip home

There isn't really anything inside a town.

There's very good garage in Carrowkennedy - O'Malley motors.
Unfortunately it's about 13km drive outside Westport towards Leenane.

Also I'd recommend Gannons Garage half way between Westport and Murrisk (about 4km outside Westport).

Walshes Garage (also knows as C&T auto services) in Killawalla (Killavally) half way between Westport and Partry on Ballinrobe road is good (12km).

Probably Advanced Pitstop would be a help as well on Castlebar road (3.5km outside town).

Those garages above are ones I can recommend.

I would advise against going to Autocare in Knappagh (on Leenane road).
Also I'd be against going to Morans garage on Ballinrobe road.

Noccy_Mondy

Try Tommie Joyce in Islandeady (5 miles or so out of Westport on the Castlebar road, on the right coming from Westport). Know of a few who dealt with him and found him good.

E O'Malley as above is decent too. Enquired to them about a car not long back and they were very obliging. Too far out though.

lankz92

Cheers for all the suggestions, ill get under tomorrow and have a good look then start the phone calls.
Hopefully its just a hose and not the pump itself.
I put in about a litre tonight and let it idle and after 15/20 mins the light will come on.
Maybe i can limp to one of the above mentioned places, advanced pitstop is the closest i think so ill give them a buzz and see what they say.

It would be a bit of a risk to try get it home the way it is, i do have breakdown so if im completely stuck theres that at least.

Cheers for the help

YbFocus

Eamonn O'Malley is very good, called into him one day when i was stuck, massively obliging!

Just be wary of advanced pitstop, they can be fine but some are disasters!

Stoolbend

I'd stay away from advance and motorzone.

biko

Stoolbend, feel free to add your own local recommendations. If you think a garage is not worth visiting then add your reasons.

lankz92

Cheers guys.
Had a look this morning, its dripping down from behind timing belt cover. Rang pitstop since there the closest and really dont want to be driving far the way it is.
Said they will have a look tomorrow evening, make sure its the pump then do it thursday.
Have read mixed reviews about other pitstops but the westport one seems to get good reviews from locals so im happy enough.

Thanks for the reccomendations

lankz92

Cheers for the help

Long story short there was issues and the pump couldnt be changed, got about halfway home and the timeing belt sliped.

My breakdown took me the rest of the way.
Engines shot, so im moving on.

Can get a 1.6 02 passat from local garage for a few hundred so will be buying that to use for a couple of months until i can sort out some cash for a decent car

CiniO

lankz92 wrote: »

Cheers for the help

Long story short there was issues and the pump couldnt be changed, got about halfway home and the timeing belt sliped.

My breakdown took me the rest of the way.
Engines shot, so im moving on.

Can get a 1.6 02 passat from local garage for a few hundred so will be buying that to use for a couple of months until i can sort out some cash for a decent car

Did garage refuse to change, or what was the story?
Did you go to advance pitstop?

The Sidewards Man

biko wrote: »

Stoolbend, feel free to add your own local recommendations. If you think a garage is not worth visiting then add your reasons.

Is one opening themselves to defamation?

lankz92

CiniO wrote: »

Did garage refuse to change, or what was the story?
Did you go to advance pitstop?

Im not too mechanically minded but something was either on too tight or stuck. They did say they could try harder but there was a risk of wrecking the engine. Guess it wouldnt have mattered now haha

Oh well, car has served me well for 2 years it doesnt owe me anything at this point

Stoolbend

To be fair advance in westport should stick to tyres.

I was asked to give reasons for saying what I said while cinio advised against going to 2 garages without reason no questions asked.

CiniO

Stoolbend wrote: »

To be fair advance in westport should stick to tyres.

I was asked to give reasons for saying what I said while cinio advised against going to 2 garages without reason no questions asked.

I recommended 4 garages.
I've been doing some bigger jobs in first 3, and small job in 4th (advance pitstop). That's why I used word probably with that one. However I know people who used them regularrly and were happy enough.


Garages I advised against - I used them in the past and I wasn't happy so I advised against.

Stoolbend

I dont understand why anyone would use 6 different local garages. It just doesn't make sense to me.

If you're happy with someplace keep going there.

biko

The Sidewards Man wrote: »

Is one opening themselves to defamation?

Yes, and general courtesy because no-one will know your reasons to put a place down.
Perhaps you're a competing garage, or perhaps someone in the garage spilled beer on you down the pub. We don't know..

kupus

Stoolbend wrote: »

I dont understand why anyone would use 6 different local garages. It just doesn't make sense to me.

If you're happy with someplace keep going there.

And on the flip side I can't understand why people always stick with one when time, choice and money matters.

Stoolbend

kupus wrote: »

And on the flip side I can't understand why people always stick with one when time, choice and money matters.

With the varying quality of work from garages that's not really a valid point.

Why take a risk if you're happy with someplace.

For the most part cost will be very similar in independent garages.

CiniO

Stoolbend wrote: »

I dont understand why anyone would use 6 different local garages. It just doesn't make sense to me.

If you're happy with someplace keep going there.

There are various reasons.

First you have to try few, to know which one is the best.

Second is the location - some garages I use are only 1km away from where I live, but some are 50km or more from where I live.
I woulnd't be going with small job to garage which is better but far away, but I might be going there with big job.
Also some garages might be better suited for specific kind of jobs that other ones.
Same as some garages might be better for specific kind of vehicles than other ones...

It's definitely not as simple as you try to paint it.