b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Very interesting question this one, as a service manager at a main dealer we come across this situation from time to time, and more often than not everyone ends up a loser! IMO if it was cheaper to replace the sensor than the labour to test the rest of the vehicle thoroughly enough to rule it out, then you'd replace the sensor, especially if it is most likely to be the sensor. You'd be more curse word if you paid for hours of diagnostic labour to arrive at the sensor you suspected in the first place. Equally if it's an ECU fault, you may need to rule out the sensor first as the vast majority of ECU faults are only diagnosable by ruling out everything else first. I'd say it's best handled with a thorough discussion of options first and then agreement with the customer on how to proceed and why that is the best option. Unfortunately you can never rule out any hidden faults, so you need to resolve the obvious ones first.
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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k1664
Part of things
Posts: 37
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What would your position be if the sensor was the fix ( which your and their diagnostics suggested ), but the garage had charged you an extra hours labour checking resistances and inspecting looms before changing it?
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emuosf
Part of things
Posts: 22
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Now if someone could solve the BMW M3 issue I'd be grateful! Basically, the light does not always turn on the driver's side. Once it comes on however it will stay on as intended. It's either the ignitor or ballast. My gut is saying the ignitor but I really don't want to remove the headlight and tear it down just to find out it was the ballast after all... I had the same problem on my 330. Easiest/ cheapest solution I found was to use a ebay universal HID ballast pack and an adaptor lead to suit the factory D2S bulb. The wiring plug to the factory ballast plugged straight in to the ebay one. You should be able to find a ballast and adaptor for 10 - 15 quid.
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Last Edit: Jan 9, 2017 0:17:59 GMT by emuosf
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Now if someone could solve the BMW M3 issue I'd be grateful! Basically, the light does not always turn on the driver's side. Once it comes on however it will stay on as intended. It's either the ignitor or ballast. My gut is saying the ignitor but I really don't want to remove the headlight and tear it down just to find out it was the ballast after all... I had the same problem on my 330. Easiest/ cheapest solution I found was to use a ebay universal HID ballast pack and an adaptor lead to suit the factory D2S bulb. The wiring plug to the factory ballast plugged straight in to the ebay one. You should be able to find a ballast and adaptor for 10 - 15 quid. I would have done this TBH but I ended up buying the ignitor a while back. With the eBay method I guess it takes the OE ignitor out of the equation? Did you get any errors or was all OK? I know a taxi driver who had working lights had his indicator bulb illuminating with this sidelights on (I understand it's a failsafe built into the cars but that could have been down to his angel eyes as well... However (and try not to laugh here). This is what I did: Swapped out my Ballast for a spare I got = Didn't fix it. The light eventually worked after many goes but it turned on slower than the other side as before. I then decided to change the ignitor. Which went like this: The ignitor is the black box with the red connector. Looking at my old one it looks like the insulation has failed at the connector But I did buy some new AL lenses at quite a discount a while ago: They're a bit of an improvement: But I then had one lens that looked lovely, and the other well, didn't. They're not in bad condition but while you are there... The other side came out. This was trickier since the indicator retainer screw had the head rounded off and had seized in. After some hacksaw and mole grip action it was freed off. This also got a new lens: In short, I guess what I am saying is I should have gone with my gut. I figured that if the light was not "starting" logic would say that the ignitor was at fault. Anyway, that's enough topic gatecrashing, I hope the Arosa owner finds the issue out .
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dubwarrior2
Part of things
"Open up, its the filth"
Posts: 576
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Jan 10, 2017 17:04:48 GMT
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I had a VW t4 2.5tdi that was massively down on power ( i even had to check under the bonnet that I hadnt bought a 1.9 by mistake) Anyway I took it to my local VW dealers who charged me £95 for a hrs diagnostic and "visual" inspection. They told me it was showing a fault code for N75 valve. So I changed the N75 valve and ....still curse word. I had a local mobile mechanic come out and take a look. Interestingly, he used to work for the VW dealers. Within ten minutes hed found that all of the vaccuum lines were incorrectly routed!!! Sorted. Rang VW the next day to complain and there response was " well what do you expect us to do in an hr?" For £95 I expect you to do your bloody job!!!
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I once had a problem with a red light coming on when I was driving, (looked a bit like a little watering can).
I took it to my local garage who told me that all four gangle pins had failed and I would need to have them all replaced at a cost of over £1,200.00. Luckily my Brother-in-law runs a garage so I took it to him for a second opinion, he told me the other garage had been trying to rip me off. Apparently it only needed 2 new gangle pins and he did me a family discount of £500.00. It just goes to show - you have to be so careful these days.
I don't remember which type of car it was but I think it might have been a blue type.
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Given the exact circumstance that you describe, I would definitely pay in full. You asked them to change the sensor and they did so. This! 1000X this!
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Nissan Laurel SOLD BMW E34 Diesel SOLD Toyota Soarer 4.0 V8 SOLD Audi A4 1995 TDI SOLD Peugeot 205 1.9 TD SOLD Lexus IS300 SC
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froggy
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,099
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Jan 11, 2017 20:25:40 GMT
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I've had a good one this week , 2001 Merc e320 estate for mot , replaced the whole front to rear brake lines the year before and this year the hydraulic lines to the rear suspension were leaking . Customer insists we disturbed them last year doing the brake lines as they were fine for the previous 15 yrs until we messed with them
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Jan 12, 2017 21:09:31 GMT
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We've had a bit of this with our Polo recently, symptoms were as follows, starts and drives completely normally from cold until warm. Once warm it will begin to idle ever so slightly lumpy and would hesitate to accelerate (missfire) around 1500rpm. Above that completely fine. I told the missus it was a coil pack that needed doing, she knows what this is and has a good understanding of parts to a certain extent but because I work nights and her days with the car being needed pretty much all the time I wouldn't have time to go to the store and grab what was needed, with no car at the house in the day because she has it. She took it upon herself to take it to a garage one morning before she got to work, she explained to them "it makes a rumbly noise and doesn't drive right" or something along those lines, would you believe they changed the down pipe on the exhaust (£300!!) and the problem persisted. I changed the coilpacks (all of them because 50% off with GSF) myself a week later and boom... sorted. Lesson here... don't let the missus take the car to the garage on her own, or write it down and let her take the note.
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Jan 14, 2017 11:07:26 GMT
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All this sort of thing has to be agreed before work is undertaken.
If your told xxx will fix it and it doesn't you're well within your rights to refuse payment or expect them to find them to find the real fault but in reality no one will ever say that if they are not sure.
If somone says 90% chances it's xxx then you need to agree what happens if it's not xxx
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Jan 14, 2017 23:16:47 GMT
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Seems it's not jut you Had a lady call yesterday telling me she went to a garage with engine light on They told her it was coil pack and drive shaft £450 later she left and the light came back in on the way home
Me . Sorry stacked out
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