cowboy mechanics

dasilverfox

I recently bought a bmw 2004 320d e46 model. Brought it to a mechanic in gorey to service it. he changed a steering arm on the passengers side, then supposedly done oil change, air filter,turbo breather valve i think it was called etc. I thought there was a fair bit of turbo lag so i went back to him after reading about cleaning dirty egr valves and maf sensor. I also asked him to have a look to see if he'd remove swirl valves. he told me not to believe what's on the internet and just buy some of that injector cleaner stuff which i know is a waste of money. So i decided to get a guy who specialises in bmw cars to have a look at it.

Left it overnight and got a phone call the next day from the bmw guy telling me the egr valve was absolutely filthy and the inlet manifold is full of crap too. He told me the previous mechanic didn't put the right oil into the car and didn't change the air filter either.

I went down to see him and he informed me i would need a new inlet manifold too as two of the chambers are melted. He showed me the egr valve which was really filthy and the inlet manifold too(swirls flaps had been replaced before apparently). The air filter looks as though it was never changed, that was black too. Turns out the mileage is a lot higher than it says on the clock too.

Now i was hoping to get the full service, filters, egr valve cleaning, water pump and a few other bits done for around 300 euro. Now i've to pay another 420 for the manifold plus labour. that's a grand total of 850 euro. On top of that i need a dual mass flywheel which i knew anyway, and that's another 1200 euro including new clutch kit. I hear people going on about unreliable cars all the time, but i think it's all down to bad so called mechanics who are too lazy to get their hands dirty.

I used to have an audi a4 a few years ago and got a mechanic to change ball joint arms, he told me 3 needed changing, took it for the day dropped it to my house later with the old arms in the boot. I got sick of returning to him cos he was always too busy and told to call back next week. went to another mechanic who seemed to know what he was doing and he said to me "i see you got a steering arm fitted". hold on you mean 3? gf had a focus we would get serviced in a ford garage, timing belt 3 weeks later car p*****g coolant, they didn't change the water pump. I had other bad experiences over the last 20 years but i'll be here all day.

Any one here reckon eugene walsh in belfast is worth going to for the flywheel problem? he quoted me 600 sterling. Will it be a botched job? Sorry about the rant but i have to get it off my chest as i feel sick. Getting car back tomorrow was told i'll notice a massive improvement in the power. We shall see. Thanks ppl. The end....hopefully

Alanstrainor

Thread moved to motors.

I have to say, that's near to impossible to read. Some paragraphs would help a lot!

dasilverfox

sorry i tried editing but failed. how about glasses? lol

TestTransmission

dasilverfox wrote: »

sorry i tried editing but failed. how about glasses? lol

It's next to impossible,but yeah,there are some cowboys out there.

garhjw

unfortunately its the same in many trades. Some people just don't give a s*it about their work and are only concerned with making money with as little hassle as possible. if they see an opportunity to take a short cut they will. i hope all the issues aere sortedwith your car and you can enjoy it..

gofaster_s13

How could mechanic no.2 tell that the wrong oil was used ??

Wolverine_1999

dasilverfox wrote: »

Turns out the mileage is a lot higher than it says on the clock too.

Where did you buy from? Do you have proof of the higher mileage?

Be worth warning people who might purchase from him/her in the future.

Alanstrainor

dasilverfox wrote: »

I recently bought a bmw 2004 320d e46 model. Brought it to a mechanic in gorey to service it. he changed a steering arm on the passengers side, then supposedly done oil change, air filter,turbo breather valve i think it was called etc. I thought there was a fair bit of turbo lag so i went back to him after reading about cleaning dirty egr valves and maf sensor. I also asked him to have a look to see if he'd remove swirl valves. he told me not to believe what's on the internet and just buy some of that injector cleaner stuff which i know is a waste of money. So i decided to get a guy who specialises in bmw cars to have a look at it.

Left it overnight and got a phone call the next day from the bmw guy telling me the egr valve was absolutely filthy and the inlet manifold is full of crap too. He told me the previous mechanic didn't put the right oil into the car and didn't change the air filter either.

I went down to see him and he informed me i would need a new inlet manifold too as two of the chambers are melted. He showed me the egr valve which was really filthy and the inlet manifold too(swirls flaps had been replaced before apparently). The air filter looks as though it was never changed, that was black too. Turns out the mileage is a lot higher than it says on the clock too.

Now i was hoping to get the full service, filters, egr valve cleaning, water pump and a few other bits done for around 300 euro. Now i've to pay another 420 for the manifold plus labour. that's a grand total of 850 euro. On top of that i need a dual mass flywheel which i knew anyway, and that's another 1200 euro including new clutch kit. I hear people going on about unreliable cars all the time, but i think it's all down to bad so called mechanics who are too lazy to get their hands dirty.

I used to have an audi a4 a few years ago and got a mechanic to change ball joint arms, he told me 3 needed changing, took it for the day dropped it to my house later with the old arms in the boot. I got sick of returning to him cos he was always too busy and told to call back next week. went to another mechanic who seemed to know what he was doing and he said to me "i see you got a steering arm fitted". hold on you mean 3? gf had a focus we would get serviced in a ford garage, timing belt 3 weeks later car p*****g coolant, they didn't change the water pump. I had other bad experiences over the last 20 years but i'll be here all day.

Any one here reckon eugene walsh in belfast is worth going to for the flywheel problem? he quoted me 600 sterling. Will it be a botched job? Sorry about the rant but i have to get it off my chest as i feel sick. Getting car back tomorrow was told i'll notice a massive improvement in the power. We shall see. Thanks ppl. The end....hopefully

EDITED FOR PARAGRAPHS!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOO

OldmanMondeo

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

How could mechanic no.2 tell that the wrong oil was used ??

A good mechanic can tell the difference between semi, fully and mineral oil.

OldmanMondeo

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

A good mechanic can tell the difference between semi, fully and mineral oil.

After it doing a few miles in a diesel engine? I doubt that to be honest.

gofaster_s13

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

A good mechanic can tell the difference between semi, fully and mineral oil.

I'm working as a mechanic for 15 years and I know a lot of other mechanics and I don't know how anyone could tell the difference between oils(with the exception of steering oil, gear oil hydraulic oil etc) anyone who says they can tell the difference by feel, smell, taste:D etc. is either guessing or lieing.

MikeJfitz

" he told me not to believe what's on the internet"

I agree with dasilverfox. I got a re-conditioned engine in the UK and used it without trouble for 2 years. The first time a local mechanic got his hands on the car - to replace the clutch - he gave it back missing ~€100 of parts and with an oil leak. Claiming that with a car of that age it wasn't his fault...

I don't think everyone should get bogged down in a discussion about the possibilities of being able to identify one oil over the other. The main point is the 1st mechanic claimed to have replace parts and clearly didn't and expect the OP to drive away and never notice.

I hoped 'Boards.ie' would be a place where the public could be warned of cowboys like this. It's only through name and shame that these people might start being honest.

Did he give you a itemised bill including filters that weren't replaced?

bucketybuck

dasilverfox wrote: »

Gf had a focus we would get serviced in a ford garage, timing belt 3 weeks later car p*****g coolant, they didn't change the water pump. I had other bad experiences over the last 20 years but i'll be here all day.

What?

Why on earth would you change the water pump just because doing a timing belt? Do you mean they removed the pump and didnt refit the gaskets properly when rebuilding?

Harrocks

Is number 1 mechanic based on the Arklow rd?

keithclancy

bucketybuck wrote: »

What?

Why on earth would you change the water pump just because doing a timing belt? Do you mean they removed the pump and didnt refit the gaskets properly when rebuilding?

You may as well, belts out, easy access and the pump is relatively cheap, you've paid for most of the labour anyway.

bucketybuck

bucketybuck wrote: »

What?

Why on earth would you change the water pump just because doing a timing belt? Do you mean they removed the pump and didnt refit the gaskets properly when rebuilding?

If the water pump is belt driven it's standard procedure to replace the belt when doing the pump.

EPM

MikeJfitz wrote: »

I hoped 'Boards.ie' would be a place where the public could be warned of cowboys like this. It's only through name and shame that these people might start being honest.

And then boards.ie get sued.

There is a strict no naming policy.

-Chris-

In your OP you say the car has higher mileage than you first thought.

Can you prove that in any way? Work out a way of proving it and hand the car back to him. Don't spend any more money.

mondeo

I was done by a garage out in the Lucan direction. Changed my oil and left my old oil filter on. Didn't do the plugs either. Charged me €200 for it. That was a few years back and always done my own servicing since.

dasilverfox

my god, wasn't expecting so many replies while i was away. first thanks for the paragraphs alan. got the car back and it's driving much better now. he said he knew by looking at the oil it was wrong. he told me that the car has 230,000miles and not 155,000 as on the clock(came up on his computer apparently). told me it was a hertz rent a car in england. is he talking bull? i don't know. i'm happy with the work he done, the power is much better. he even valeted the car. bought the car private from a guy in wexford, and no mechanic no.1 is not on the arklow road.

dasilverfox

MikeJfitz wrote: »

" he told me not to believe what's on the internet"

I agree with dasilverfox. I got a re-conditioned engine in the UK and used it without trouble for 2 years. The first time a local mechanic got his hands on the car - to replace the clutch - he gave it back missing ~€100 of parts and with an oil leak. Claiming that with a car of that age it wasn't his fault...

I don't think everyone should get bogged down in a discussion about the possibilities of being able to identify one oil over the other. The main point is the 1st mechanic claimed to have replace parts and clearly didn't and expect the OP to drive away and never notice.

I hoped 'Boards.ie' would be a place where the public could be warned of cowboys like this. It's only through name and shame that these people might start being honest.

Did he give you a itemised bill including filters that weren't replaced?

yeah i got a bill from him, but can't find it. i have a picture taken on my phone of the dirty filter.

gofaster_s13

dasilverfox wrote: »

he said he knew by looking at the oil it was wrong. he told me that the car has 230,000miles and not 155,000 as on the clock(came up on his computer apparently).

He was talking Bull about the oil for a start, The milage he could have been correct about as BMW's record the mileage in a number of locations on the vehicle and when theyre clocked it's generally only the dash thats changed.

keithclancy

dasilverfox wrote: »

my god, wasn't expecting so many replies while i was away. first thanks for the paragraphs alan. got the car back and it's driving much better now. he said he knew by looking at the oil it was wrong. he told me that the car has 230,000miles and not 155,000 as on the clock(came up on his computer apparently). told me it was a hertz rent a car in england. is he talking bull? i don't know. i'm happy with the work he done, the power is much better. he even valeted the car. bought the car private from a guy in wexford, and no mechanic no.1 is not on the arklow road.

Hertz service sticker on the door maybe ?

The Oil though ... ehhhh .. I dunno turns into 'black' once you run the engine.. i don't think you could tell the difference if it was Crisp and Dry vs Castrol GTX

Del2005

dasilverfox wrote: »

my god, wasn't expecting so many replies while i was away. first thanks for the paragraphs alan. got the car back and it's driving much better now. he said he knew by looking at the oil it was wrong. he told me that the car has 230,000miles and not 155,000 as on the clock(came up on his computer apparently). told me it was a hertz rent a car in england. is he talking bull? i don't know. i'm happy with the work he done, the power is much better. he even valeted the car. bought the car private from a guy in wexford, and no mechanic no.1 is not on the arklow road.

Is he confusing miles and kilometres, they are fairly close? But if you can prove the car has been clocked, go to a BMW main stealer for a reading, then you can hand the car back for goods not as described.

Fishtits

This is interesting...

It would seem obvious that the first "mechanic" wasn't really up to the standards that you would expect.

Your second mechanic seems to tick all the boxes...

Good for you.

........

Capt'n Midnight

mondeo wrote: »

I was done by a garage out in the Lucan direction. Changed my oil and left my old oil filter on. Didn't do the plugs either. Charged me €200 for it. That was a few years back and always done my own servicing since.

Something similar, needed to get a service.
they just changed the bulbs, and some excuses about not being able to get parts,

Was fairly sure bulbs were OK, in fairness they couldhave gone but the bit that galled me was they did the easy stuff and didnt't do the big stuff,

legend1981

just to jump in on this thread does anyone recommend a good mechanic, having awfull problems with my vw passat air bag light on got it on the Vag-com shows:
01221 crash sensor side airbag, drivers side(G179) 29-00 short to ground. had it in with a mechanic twice now and he stripped it down on the driver side checked all the wiring and couldnt find anything, problem still there and car wont pass nct without it being fixed. really dont want to go to a main dealer as im alredy broke enough..

Nissan doctor

legend1981 wrote: »

just to jump in on this thread does anyone recommend a good mechanic, having awfull problems with my vw passat air bag light on got it on the Vag-com shows:
01221 crash sensor side airbag, drivers side(G179) 29-00 short to ground. had it in with a mechanic twice now and he stripped it down on the driver side checked all the wiring and couldnt find anything, problem still there and car wont pass nct without it being fixed. really dont want to go to a main dealer as im alredy broke enough..

Location needed for any possible recommendations...

legend1981

In gorey Wexford thanks

Nissan doctor wrote: »

legend1981 wrote: »

just to jump in on this thread does anyone recommend a good mechanic, having awfull problems with my vw passat air bag light on got it on the Vag-com shows:
01221 crash sensor side airbag, drivers side(G179) 29-00 short to ground. had it in with a mechanic twice now and he stripped it down on the driver side checked all the wiring and couldnt find anything, problem still there and car wont pass nct without it being fixed. really dont want to go to a main dealer as im alredy broke enough..

Location needed for any possible recommendations...

Alanstrainor

legend1981 wrote: »

just to jump in on this thread does anyone recommend a good mechanic, having awfull problems with my vw passat air bag light on got it on the Vag-com shows:
01221 crash sensor side airbag, drivers side(G179) 29-00 short to ground. had it in with a mechanic twice now and he stripped it down on the driver side checked all the wiring and couldnt find anything, problem still there and car wont pass nct without it being fixed. really dont want to go to a main dealer as im alredy broke enough..

Please start a new thread, this one is completely unrelated.