Good Ford dealers in Limerick?

zilog_jones

Any recommendations? There seems to be Shiels down the Ennis Road and Lyons on the other side of town. I hear Lyons are "cowboys", but people say a lot of things and I don't know any other actual Ford owners.

I really need to get the heating sorted out before I freeze - hopefully it's the heater control valve (which seems to be a common problem in Fiestas), and the temperature gauge is gone too. I'm hoping to just buy the parts as I assume they'll charge sh1tloads to fit them themselves. Would they be willing to confirm the cause of these problems even though I'll be getting it fixed elsewhere? I'm hoping to change the valve myself (if it is that).

Also, I saw in some other forum (can't remember where) that there's apparently several different heater control valves of varying quality (95-02 Fiesta) available. Anyone have experience with these?

BnA

I used Lyons once for a small job. I have heard a lot of stories about them being cowboys but I got on fine with them at the time. The diagnosed a sensor problem and changed a sensor for me and only charged a few quid.

However, last year when I was looking for a Transit Connect Van to lease I priced around and Lyons were by far the dearest. I went with Cavanaghs in Charleville (only 30 mins from Limerick) who I found were excellent to deal with.

I bought a few bits and pieces from Cavanaghs over the years and have always found them very good. They do service the van but that's part of the lease agreement so I don't know how much it really costs. I did buy a few bits for my old Mondeo off them and I think I even got them to fit a bit once and they were always very good.

The other thing about Cavanaghs is that they are main dealers for the parts so there is a much better chance that they will have exactly what you want in stock.

want2play

About 2 months ago my girlfriends '99 Fiesta went into Sheils, Limerick.

Full service for around €90 which seemed ok until we got it home, realised a large pool of oil was forming under the car the next morning and on a closer look realised there was no sump plug put in, could have lead to permanent engine damage.
The service manager is a complete idiot, he said he checked it himself.....before giving us a full refund.

bazz26

Those Ford Fiestas are pretty basic machinery and easy to work. Any half decent independant mechanic should have no problem working on it. Main dealers mostly make their money from the labour rather than the parts themselves.

Did you get a quote from either main dealer for the work?

Henry Ford III

Unless the car is newish go independent. Fiestas are simple enough cars really.

Lyon's I've always found to be perfectly ok. Mind you any cars I have are new.

zilog_jones

BnA wrote:

The other thing about Cavanaghs is that they are main dealers for the parts so there is a much better chance that they will have exactly what you want in stock.

My car is originally from Cavanaghs. Not sure if it'll be worth the drive though...

Did you get a quote from either main dealer for the work?

No not yet, but I was hoping to just get the parts from them unless they would do it quite cheap. The heater control valve sounds like an easy enough thing to replace - never really done anything like that myself before but I have the Haynes manual.

I already went to a mechanic (a friend of my uncle's) to get a new thermostat put in - he couldn't figure out why the heating wasn't working and suggested I go to a main dealer about the temperature sensor - however I don't know how much experience he'd had with Fords.