Main Dealer Service Spark plugs leads off !!
Discussion
Large rant warning ! About 5/6 weeks ago picked up Chim from a Main Dealer in the N.West after major 36k service. Driving home it promptly died completely blocking Runcorn bridge, after an hour recovery truck tows me off. (What an advert for TVR).Car left in a nearby industrial estate. Phone dealer, rant and rage how could car could break down so quickly. Told nothing they could do, could I get car to them - episode of nearly fatal hypertension at this point, so phoned the AA. AA man finds lead to coil was not in properly and had fell off !! Cue more ranting and raging at dealer next day and given £100 compensation - rage having subsided,accepted apology and thought nothing more of this sorry tale. Last couple of weeks noticed car seemed noisy and down on power, looked at leads on distributor cap and all seemed o.k. Checked plug leads and would you believe it, spark plugs lead nearest to the windscreen on both sides of engine completely off and dangling down the side, so for the last 5/6 weeks have been running on 6 cylinders. Sorry if this is a bit long but I need to get this off my chest; So to the point, could pistonheaders give me their tuppence worth on this -
What could this have done to the car, is there anything I should check ? any lasting damage ?things to look out for? Could cats be damaged ? Car appears to be running o.k. now leads are back on.letter of complaint to dealer and TVR to follow me thinks.
What could this have done to the car, is there anything I should check ? any lasting damage ?things to look out for? Could cats be damaged ? Car appears to be running o.k. now leads are back on.letter of complaint to dealer and TVR to follow me thinks.
(don't mean to wind you up!)6 cylinders - interesting way to try and get more economy I guess (I know, fuel will still be going in the combustion chamber and out the 'zorst).
I had a lead pop off once at the plug end - I now regularly check they're all on tight. Changing to Magnecors solved the problem all together, but just giving them all a push while checking the oil/water solved the problem for me with std leads.
No really excusable for them to not be tightly seated post service though - just because you pay £xx more per hour doesn't mean you get a better mechanic. (No disrespect to mechanics!)
I had a lead pop off once at the plug end - I now regularly check they're all on tight. Changing to Magnecors solved the problem all together, but just giving them all a push while checking the oil/water solved the problem for me with std leads.
No really excusable for them to not be tightly seated post service though - just because you pay £xx more per hour doesn't mean you get a better mechanic. (No disrespect to mechanics!)
poorpeet said:
Un burnt fuel from the two sparkless cylinders will have done the cats no good at all. I'd take it to the dealer concerned & insist they check the emmisions to be sure they are ok. If you're an AA member have a word with their tech dept for their opinion before you go to the dealer.
Agreed
The HT cable can be ejected from the coil because it's air tight and the cover on the lead needs to be lifted away from the coil with a screwdriver when inserting it. Also, if the coil breaks down, it can produce an oily substance which aids the lead falling off. If you can see oil in/around the coil, the coil may be on it's way out. Replace with a Bosch one.
It's sometimes difficult to establish if a lead is firmly attached to the suppressors. Maybe you had a new suppressor fitted at some stage and the servicing engineer didn't notice that it was harder to engage than the other ones.
It is unfortunate that it broke down on the way home from a service but these things do occassionaly happen. I'm surprised the dealer couldn't have suggested checking the HT leads when you explained the symptoms. Maybe it would have been more productive to discuss it with an engineer instead of ranting at a manager *dons flameproof suit*.
Ian A.
PS. I would expect that the two spark leads fell off instead of never having been connected as running on 6 should have been VERY noticable.
>> Edited by IPAddis on Wednesday 26th November 13:26
It's sometimes difficult to establish if a lead is firmly attached to the suppressors. Maybe you had a new suppressor fitted at some stage and the servicing engineer didn't notice that it was harder to engage than the other ones.
It is unfortunate that it broke down on the way home from a service but these things do occassionaly happen. I'm surprised the dealer couldn't have suggested checking the HT leads when you explained the symptoms. Maybe it would have been more productive to discuss it with an engineer instead of ranting at a manager *dons flameproof suit*.
Ian A.
PS. I would expect that the two spark leads fell off instead of never having been connected as running on 6 should have been VERY noticable.
>> Edited by IPAddis on Wednesday 26th November 13:26
PeterC said:The car was working when they returned it, if this had happenned on the test drive we wouldn't be having this conversation
The last act of any dealer is to conduct a short road test to confirm that everything is OK. Surely therefore all the problems described should have been found before you had the car returned to you?
The last time I used a main dealer, after collecting my car following the 'test drive' after service it ran like cr*p as the vac pipe was left off, to add insult one of my 3 week old Estorils had a big ding in the spokes where it had been chucked down on the floor.To be fair they replaced the wheel with a new one, but I now use a good indie, these guys seem to spend more time on detail.
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