Go into Halfords to change a bulb... end up with a broken car!

kormak

Popped into Halfords the other day to buy a dim light for a Renault Scenic. Seen as they're REALLY annoying to put in, I also paid for one their staff to put it in for me. Some girl (who looked like she started the day previous) was given the task by the manager. No probs, left the keys with her and picked them up 20 mins later.
Hopped in the car and it won't start!! Now bear in mind this car was running absolutely perfect before this. 100% driving perfect.
So I cannot get it started and tell her. She says "oh it started fine for me, I just tested the bulbs" got the senior guy out and eventually he managed to start it. The service light immediately comes on and says WARNING:CHECK INJECTORS.
The guy was very defensive and says she just changed the bulb... that's all, this is totally unrelated.
More than likely it is, but it's VERY coincidental that it happens when a Halfords engineer is working on it.
I didn't really argue it but thought it was amazing how quick he was to distance himself from it.
The car is not driving properly at all now and needs to go to the mechanic.
Should Halfords have done much more here?
Perhaps whatever she did, DID have a knock-on effect on a sensor, etc... where does the consumer stand here?

whippet

before making an accusation about a company or person here, I would suggest that you bring the car to your mechanic to find out exactly what the problem is and how it was caused.

If as you suspect it was caused by a halfords employee go back to them with the mechanic's report and see what their resolution to the problem might be.

kormak

whippet wrote: »

before making an accusation about a company or person here, I would suggest that you bring the car to your mechanic to find out exactly what the problem is and how it was caused.

If as you suspect it was caused by a halfords employee go back to them with the mechanic's report and see what their resolution to the problem might be.

No accusation was made in this thread. Just describing exactly what happened and looking for advice on what Halfords manager should have done or handled such a situation?

Alanstrainor

whippet wrote: »

before making an accusation about a company or person here, I would suggest that you bring the car to your mechanic to find out exactly what the problem is and how it was caused.

If as you suspect it was caused by a halfords employee go back to them with the mechanic's report and see what their resolution to the problem might be.

Sounds like the only logical way about this.

However I would be so wary about letting anyone in Halfords touch my car, they are not mechanics, and although it's only a bulb, there are a lot of tricky and finicky to fit headlights out there these days that could be easily broken by anyone. I had a friend come to me with a damaged headlight after a botched halfords job. I was able to fix it, but it took a good hour of troubleshooting to resolve.

kormak

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Sounds like the only logical way about this.

However I would be so wary about letting anyone in Halfords touch my car, they are not mechanics, and although it's only a bulb, there are a lot of tricky and finicky to fit headlights out there these days that could be easily broken by anyone. I had a friend come to me with a damaged headlight after a botched halfords job. I was able to fix it, but it took a good hour of troubleshooting to resolve.

Thanks! I am off course bringing it to the mechanic to have him run diagnostics on it and I suppose take it from there. Probably unrelated but just terribly coincidental.

Alanstrainor

kormak wrote: »

Thanks! I am off course bringing it to the mechanic to have him run diagnostics on it and I suppose take it from there. Probably unrelated but just terribly coincidental.

Yeah, hard to prove I would guess...but there was work being done on the electrical side of things, so perhaps it's a possibility? Proving that however might not be possible.

punisher5112

That heading really should be changed.

How in gods name could changing a bulb cause your car not to start unless they blew the electrics on it.

Cars that you have to take the light fitting off are so much easier to work on these days compared to the new tech 10 and so years ago.

Renault in general wouldn't have the best name out there for reliability

Had plenty and driven a sh1t load to know both new and old.

I would suggest as said above go get the car diagnosed and go from there.

I guess its a dci just wondering op what sort of journeys do you do mileage and year.

Injectors can go from dodgy fuel to not getting proper runs.

The car ecu checks car over when just turned off and also at start up so these faults can pop up then.

bucketybuck

kormak wrote: »

No accusation was made in this thread. Just describing exactly what happened and looking for advice on what Halfords manager should have done or handled such a situation?

Its pretty disingenuous to title the thread as you did and then try to claim you aren't blaming Halfords.

Maybe the girl did break something, but I'm really racking my brain to figure out how messing up a bulb change will result in injector failure. Perhaps she disconnected a sensor or something, or perhaps a wire was already badly corroded, and her removing the headlamp jostled the wiring loom resulting in a break in the wire.

One thing is her fault, the other isn't, you really need to establish what the fault is before casting aspersions.

ohnonotgmail

bucketybuck wrote: »

Its pretty disingenuous to title the thread as you did and then try to claim you aren't blaming Halfords.

Maybe the girl did break something, but I'm really racking my brain to figure out how messing up a bulb change will result in injector failure. Perhaps she disconnected a sensor or something, or perhaps a wire was already badly corroded, and her removing the headlamp jostled the wiring loom resulting in a break in the wire.

One thing is her fault, the other isn't, you really need to establish what the fault is before casting aspersions.

disconnecting a sensor might result in a warning light appearing on the dash but it wont cause the car to not run properly. It is highly unlikely that the girl did anything to break the car. How old is the car btw OP?

kormak

Change the title if you want mods, I can't. It was only worded like that in jest!
Once again, no acquisitions were made in thread, just "consumer advice" sought.
Christ! some people must spend their whole day on boards.ie arguing with everyone and anyone.

dudara

Posters - let's stay civil and on topic. Off-topic posts have been deleted.

dudara

rrpc

A lot of headlight bulbs need something else removed for access. My car needs the air cleaner moved/removed to get at the driver's side bulb. It's possible that the air flow meter may have become dislodged/disconnected whilst struggling to get the whole air cleaner assembly out of the way. This would certainly give you a check engine light and a car not running very well.

seamus

Certainly some of the contortions I had to do to replace bulbs in my Scenic could well have disconnected stuff. Once the tube to fill the windscreen washer reservoir came detached, but that's not the same thing

Considering that you wouldn't go near the engine area to replace the bulbs, I very much doubt that she did anything, and it's probably just coincidence. Even if she started the engine and did something silly like rev it from cold, it's unlikely it could do any damage from a once-off.

slimjimmc

kormak wrote: »

Should Halfords have done much more here?

I don't think so and I'm not sure what one could reasonably expect them to do. It's up to you to demonstrate that the problem is a direct consequence of some negligence on their part, which brings us on to the next bit of your post...

kormak wrote: »

Perhaps whatever she did, DID have a knock-on effect on a sensor, etc... where does the consumer stand here?

If the problem was caused by them then you can seek redress under consumer law. If both parties can't agree a settlement then you could go to the Small Claims Court. However bear in mind that there may have been a pre-existing defect (bucketybuck's example of a corroded wire breaking is a good example) which could have manifested no matter who changed the bulb. Such defects would be your own cost.

ohnonotgmail

seamus wrote: »

Certainly some of the contortions I had to do to replace bulbs in my Scenic could well have disconnected stuff. Once the tube to fill the windscreen washer reservoir came detached, but that's not the same thing

Considering that you wouldn't go near the engine area to replace the bulbs, I very much doubt that she did anything, and it's probably just coincidence. Even if she started the engine and did something silly like rev it from cold, it's unlikely it could do any damage from a once-off.

jsut had a quick read of the instructions for replacing bulbs in a scenic. You're supposed to remove the tube from the windscreen washer reservoir to change the right hand bulb. Changing the left hand bulb requires removing the battery for access. I would be interested to know which bulb they changed.

kormak

It's safe to say that it could have been something the engineer directly did (i.e. disconnected something as rrpc suggested)
or indirectly did something (i.e. replaced the bulb, butt Renault with its dodgy electrics reacted to this and caused something else to short, etc...)
or the whole thing is just a complete coincidence and the girl was not at fault.

My only question to the board <SNIP> was how should the Senior Manager approached this? should he have recorded it formally or was he right to say "No, nothing to do with us".

The mechanic should find the source of the problem anyway and Halfords will be proven innocent irrespective of this.

Mod: The previous mod warning applies to all poster including you too kormak.

kormak

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

jsut had a quick read of the instructions for replacing bulbs in a scenic. You're supposed to remove the tube from the windscreen washer reservoir to change the right hand bulb. Changing the left hand bulb requires removing the battery for access. I would be interested to know which bulb they changed.

Left hand Dim.

seamus

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

jsut had a quick read of the instructions for replacing bulbs in a scenic. You're supposed to remove the tube from the windscreen washer reservoir to change the right hand bulb. Changing the left hand bulb requires removing the battery for access. I would be interested to know which bulb they changed.

Depends on the year I suppose. Never had to remove the battery on my one, though it might have helped a little.

ohnonotgmail

seamus wrote: »

Depends on the year I suppose. Never had to remove the battery on my one, though it might have helped a little.

you must have very dainty hands

kormak

seamus wrote: »

Depends on the year I suppose. Never had to remove the battery on my one, though it might have helped a little.

04 Scenic 1.4 Petrol

ohnonotgmail

kormak wrote: »

04 Scenic 1.4 Petrol

these are the instructions for the left hand dim. It is the battery cover that needs to be removed not the battery itself like said earlier. I still cant see how anything could affect the engine. especially the injectors.

https://greghunter1968.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/renault-scenic-headlight-bulb-change/

ssmith6287

I left my car in for diagnostics to a well known chain of garages. Their diagnostics told me it was a seatbelt sensor, it turned out to be a Steering rack. Their diagnostics also completely drained my battery. Coincendentally also a renault, but I know especially with my meagane, a lightbulb is an ordeal to change. Theres every possibility she didnt fit it correct at first and its draining power from the battery and then not starting. Not necessarily her fault, poor design i suppose. My glovebox light continues to drain my battery, well until I took it out altogether

slimjimmc

ssmith6287 wrote: »

I left my car in for diagnostics to a well known chain of garages. Their diagnostics told me it was a seatbelt sensor, it turned out to be a Steering rack. Their diagnostics also completely drained my battery. Coincendentally also a renault, but I know especially with my meagane, a lightbulb is an ordeal to change. Theres every possibility she didnt fit it correct at first and its draining power from the battery and then not starting. Not necessarily her fault, poor design i suppose. My glovebox light continues to drain my battery, well until I took it out altogether

There's no possibility fitting a headlamp bulb incorrectly could drain the battery unless the lights are switched on, there's no power going to the lights otherwise. And that wasn't the issue described by the OP.

OP, I don't know what Halford's procedures are where a customer's car shows a fault after working on it but I presume he will make his own notes in case you come back with a complaint. However from what you've described of the error and the engine it sounds like the crank sensor or ignition coils, both of which can fail suddenly and are unrelated to the work done on the car.

kormak

Here's a previous post that very much describes my problem
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055501849
caused by a faulty TDC sensor, which of course could have been triggered by an electrical fault.
Funny, I drove the car into the mechanics this evening and although it took several gos to start, it eventually started with no service or injectors warning light and drove completely normal!!
maybe the Halfords Gods were looking down... :rolleyes:

ohnonotgmail

kormak wrote: »

Here's a previous post that very much describes my problem
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055501849
caused by a faulty TDC sensor, which of course could have been triggered by an electrical fault.
Funny, I drove the car into the mechanics this evening and although it took several gos to start, it eventually started with no service or injectors warning light and drove completely normal!!
maybe the Halfords Gods were looking down... :rolleyes:

Nothing in that thread to indicate that changing a bulb could cause it.

kormak

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Nothing in that thread to indicate that changing a bulb could cause it.

No! of course it doesn't but it describes exactly what my car is experiencing and links it to a TDC sensor, which in turn are linked to faulty electrical faults in Renault. Perhaps as an earlier poster suggested, the bulb was installed incorrectly and thus indirectly caused the TDC to go.

punisher5112

kormak wrote: »

No! of course it doesn't but it describes exactly what my car is experiencing and links it to a TDC sensor, which in turn are linked to faulty electrical faults in Renault. Perhaps as an earlier poster suggested, the bulb was installed incorrectly and thus indirectly caused the TDC to go.

The only thing that a bulb will show on ceratain models is that it is blown.

If its not in the holde correctly the beam will be out of allignment not cause injector faults etc..

slimjimmc

kormak wrote: »

No! of course it doesn't but it describes exactly what my car is experiencing and links it to a TDC sensor, which in turn are linked to faulty electrical faults in Renault. Perhaps as an earlier poster suggested, the bulb was installed incorrectly and thus indirectly caused the TDC to go.

No, you're grasping at straws. An incorrectly installed bulb cannot affect the ignition coils or TDC sensor, they're independent systems. It's just coincidence it happened soon after the bulb was changed. I've had this happen 2-3 times over the past 5 years totally out of the blue after parking up. Might not happen again for years.

LollipopJimmy

kormak wrote: »

No! of course it doesn't but it describes exactly what my car is experiencing and links it to a TDC sensor, which in turn are linked to faulty electrical faults in Renault. Perhaps as an earlier poster suggested, the bulb was installed incorrectly and thus indirectly caused the TDC to go.

Suggest that to your mechanic, it should brighten his day up

Joking aside there's no way in hell an incorrectly fitted bulk would trigger a problem with a tdc sensor. Coincidence I would say or if she banged off something or hit something in the bay that caused this then it was on its last legs anyway

Guy:Incognito

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

these are the instructions for the left hand dim. It is the battery cover that needs to be removed not the battery itself like said earlier. I still cant see how anything could affect the engine. especially the injectors.

https://greghunter1968.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/renault-scenic-headlight-bulb-change/

The fault that the op's car is showing is not a fault with the injectors as such. That warning covers lots of things. While it could be an injector, it could also be lots of other things like a sensor, a coil , voltage issue etc.

ohnonotgmail

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

The fault that the op's car is showing is not a fault with the injectors as such. That warning covers lots of things. While it could be an injector, it could also be lots of other things like a sensor, a coil , voltage issue etc.

I still cant see how changing a bulb could affect any of that