Took car to a mechanic, problem solved 4 months after
Discussion
Hi guys,
So back in August 2022 I got a remap on my Mazda 6 2.2 MZR-CD when I got the car back the battery light was on but I ignored it since in the past it has come on when the battery is plugged and unplugged a few times (tampering prevention). A few days after, I was driving down some backroads to my girlfriend's house and all the typical suspects for a faulty alternator started to show, my power steering went and the dash lit up like a christmas tree and finally the engine stopped about 3 miles down the road. It was a Sunday about 20 miles from home so I had to find a mobile mechanic and luckily there was one 10 minutes from my location. This is where the problems started.
He ended up taking my car in for an alternator replacement and said all was fine. 5 minutes down the road after picking it up (having paid £280) the same thing happened again and I was stranded. I gave him a ring and he came to pick the car up and said I should leave it at his shop. Its at his shop for 2 months. 2 MONTHS!!! And when the day finally came for me to pick the car up. He told me he'd been left scratching his head and he didn't know where to go next. I was left with a £600 bill and a battery light that was still showing.
At this point I took it back to the remapping company who assured there was nothing wrong with the map they flashed on to it and offered to put the car back to the factory map for peace of mind, which they did, and the problem remained. It was Christmas time at this point and money was tight and so I pushed the problem to the side for a while. I then got told by another mechanic that there were some Russian Auto electricians 5 minutes from my house who could maybe sort out the problem. Within 40 minutes of them having looked at the car... they found a broken wire going from the alternator to the battery. The mobile mechanic said he'd checked that and a ton of other things, hence the £600 bill.
I'm now left scratching my head as to what to do. Do I ask for my money back from him? Do I take him to court?
This is my first post here, sorry for the life story, but I felt this needed context.
So back in August 2022 I got a remap on my Mazda 6 2.2 MZR-CD when I got the car back the battery light was on but I ignored it since in the past it has come on when the battery is plugged and unplugged a few times (tampering prevention). A few days after, I was driving down some backroads to my girlfriend's house and all the typical suspects for a faulty alternator started to show, my power steering went and the dash lit up like a christmas tree and finally the engine stopped about 3 miles down the road. It was a Sunday about 20 miles from home so I had to find a mobile mechanic and luckily there was one 10 minutes from my location. This is where the problems started.
He ended up taking my car in for an alternator replacement and said all was fine. 5 minutes down the road after picking it up (having paid £280) the same thing happened again and I was stranded. I gave him a ring and he came to pick the car up and said I should leave it at his shop. Its at his shop for 2 months. 2 MONTHS!!! And when the day finally came for me to pick the car up. He told me he'd been left scratching his head and he didn't know where to go next. I was left with a £600 bill and a battery light that was still showing.
At this point I took it back to the remapping company who assured there was nothing wrong with the map they flashed on to it and offered to put the car back to the factory map for peace of mind, which they did, and the problem remained. It was Christmas time at this point and money was tight and so I pushed the problem to the side for a while. I then got told by another mechanic that there were some Russian Auto electricians 5 minutes from my house who could maybe sort out the problem. Within 40 minutes of them having looked at the car... they found a broken wire going from the alternator to the battery. The mobile mechanic said he'd checked that and a ton of other things, hence the £600 bill.
I'm now left scratching my head as to what to do. Do I ask for my money back from him? Do I take him to court?
This is my first post here, sorry for the life story, but I felt this needed context.
IMHO you don't have much of a case to claim back against the prior mechanic. You had a broken car, you paid him for his time & efforts to investigate it, unfortunately he didn't find the issue. He still spent time and money checking things which might have been the cause.
If you want to try, if you have an invoice from the Russian guys who did actually fix it, you could try calling the mobile mechanic, explain it was a broken wire and ask him to refund you the cost of the subsequent fix which actually worked. You never know, he might agree, no harm asking.
From the timing it seems likely that the mapping company dislodged the wire without realising, albeit it might have been fragile already. So you could certainly ask them nicely to reinstate their map now the problem's solved.
The strange thing is, he told me he'd used a meter to check the continuity of the cable. Now I don't understand why he'd lie about something so small and the fact he told me he checked led me to look past it completely and I didn't check it myself.
It's a very strange situation to be in if I'm honest, regardless, it's sorted now but I'm still about £1000 poorer and for a 19 year old, that's roughly 3 weeks pay
It's a very strange situation to be in if I'm honest, regardless, it's sorted now but I'm still about £1000 poorer and for a 19 year old, that's roughly 3 weeks pay
Gianmarco18 said:
The strange thing is, he told me he'd used a meter to check the continuity of the cable. Now I don't understand why he'd lie about something so small and the fact he told me he checked led me to look past it completely and I didn't check it myself.
It's a very strange situation to be in if I'm honest, regardless, it's sorted now but I'm still about £1000 poorer and for a 19 year old, that's roughly 3 weeks pay
Now you have parted with the money, you stand very little chance of getting it back.It's a very strange situation to be in if I'm honest, regardless, it's sorted now but I'm still about £1000 poorer and for a 19 year old, that's roughly 3 weeks pay
It might have been the guys doing the remap that started the whole issue, it might have been the first mechanic damaging the contact/wire when he changed the alternator.
You'll likely have to chalk this up to experience, but if you ever have any work going on, be it on a car, a bathroom, a kitchen, a new build, anything... periodically ask the people doing the work how they are getting on... Have they hit any issues, found anything unexpected, are the costs on track, where are costs as of now... that kind of thing. Then you won't have any surprises.
Wire completely severed or still with a few strands intact?
Reason I ask is that a digital multimeter may well show battery voltage & continuity even though the wire is damaged/partially severed BUT there is insufficient wire remaining to carry load.
Had that myself.
Fuel pump would run fine connected to another battery but not when connected to the car loom. MM showed battery voltage at the connector & the earth was good.
After much head scratching dug out a test bulb.
Test bulb connected to the connector live & a good earth didn't light - at all, not even a glimmer.
Turned out to be corrosion in the live wire just up the loom from the connector.
Reason I ask is that a digital multimeter may well show battery voltage & continuity even though the wire is damaged/partially severed BUT there is insufficient wire remaining to carry load.
Had that myself.
Fuel pump would run fine connected to another battery but not when connected to the car loom. MM showed battery voltage at the connector & the earth was good.
After much head scratching dug out a test bulb.
Test bulb connected to the connector live & a good earth didn't light - at all, not even a glimmer.
Turned out to be corrosion in the live wire just up the loom from the connector.
Gianmarco18 said:
I believe it wasn't fully severed but there were a few strands still intact. Caused a massive headache, just glad its over now 
Ah, that does make it a bit easier to understand how the first guy didn't find the problem.I sympathise with the problem, cars are tricky like this sometimes. V annoying and frustrating but just one of those things I think.. (I've been there, similar issue with an undersized cable to the starter).
Gianmarco18 said:
Hi guys,
So back in August 2022 I got a remap on my Mazda 6 2.2 MZR-CD when I got the car back the battery light was on but I ignored it since in the past it has come on when the battery is plugged and unplugged a few times (tampering prevention).
Are you sure about that? It may have been the intermittent wire issue all along?So back in August 2022 I got a remap on my Mazda 6 2.2 MZR-CD when I got the car back the battery light was on but I ignored it since in the past it has come on when the battery is plugged and unplugged a few times (tampering prevention).
Gianmarco18 said:
A few days after, I was driving down some backroads to my girlfriend's house and all the typical suspects for a faulty alternator started to show, my power steering went and the dash lit up like a christmas tree and finally the engine stopped about 3 miles down the road. It was a Sunday about 20 miles from home so I had to find a mobile mechanic and luckily there was one 10 minutes from my location. This is where the problems started.
Consider joining a recovery service (sometimes cheap via your insurance company) then you can research a local to home place, you've more control of the repair.Gianmarco18 said:
He ended up taking my car in for an alternator replacement and said all was fine. 5 minutes down the road after picking it up (having paid £280) the same thing happened again and I was stranded. I gave him a ring and he came to pick the car up and said I should leave it at his shop. Its at his shop for 2 months. 2 MONTHS!!! And when the day finally came for me to pick the car up. He told me he'd been left scratching his head and he didn't know where to go next. I was left with a £600 bill and a battery light that was still showing.
This is rough, in hindsight it appears he wasn't the man for the job, but see above point about recovery, like builders etc not all mechanics are the same.If you had a new alternator for the £280 then again in hindsight keep it and let someone else look, but I see why you didn't, when do you keep the faith and when do you give up?
Gianmarco18 said:
I then got told by another mechanic that there were some Russian Auto electricians 5 minutes from my house who could maybe sort out the problem. Within 40 minutes of them having looked at the car... they found a broken wire going from the alternator to the battery. The mobile mechanic said he'd checked that and a ton of other things, hence the £600 bill.
Car at home and research might have seen you find them earlier/first? (also in fairness to the first mechanic, the wire may have finally given up enough for them to test it in exactly the same way but get a negative and not positive test result)Gianmarco18 said:
I'm now left scratching my head as to what to do. Do I ask for my money back from him? Do I take him to court?
This is my first post here, sorry for the life story, but I felt this needed context.
£600 is a lot, I don't doubt he spent quite some time looking, but it's galling to pay that for effectively nothing!This is my first post here, sorry for the life story, but I felt this needed context.
Your story is not uncommon, we've all been there before to some extent.
Definite Pro's are you've got a new alternator, a fixed car and now know a decent auto electricians nearby!
Potential pro's are you'll consider joining a recovery service, then you can research local mechanics (get it to your local one) and at least be involved in the process rather than forced into one that's local and available (not always the best if they are available!). You might even research your specific problem? Then you might consider investigating yourself and getting more hands on, it's not for every one but a multimeter is cheap and useful for many things.
Researching car issues can be worth it even if you are going to get a mechanic to look at it.
https://www.wheelsjoint.com/mazda-mazda6-battery-l...
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-causes-of-an-i...
Next time you could also post up here about the dash light for advice, it's likely you'd have been advised nearly all the things to check or would have found the Russian guys earlier perhaps before ever breaking down? Cars can giving you warnings of impending doom, noises or intermittent lights etc, and being proactive can pay dividends.
Feel for you as it's never nice to feel stiffed, but it could have been worse.
Beetnik said:
austinsmirk said:
Kwik fit would have told you the battery/ alternator knackered for free.
..and that you need new shockers, discs and pads 
I’d put it down to experience I’m afraid.
Once anything starts to drag on, you really need to start asking questions about what it’s all costing. Anything open ended is risky.
In this case I’d have been getting twitchy after a few days, not a couple of months.
That’s because I’ve made similar mistakes myself.
Once anything starts to drag on, you really need to start asking questions about what it’s all costing. Anything open ended is risky.
In this case I’d have been getting twitchy after a few days, not a couple of months.
That’s because I’ve made similar mistakes myself.
[quote=Scootersp]
£600 is a lot, I don't doubt he spent quite some time looking, but it's galling to pay that for effectively nothing!
Your story is not uncommon, we've all been there before to some extent.
Definite Pro's are you've got a new alternator, a fixed car and now know a decent auto electricians nearby!
Potential pro's are you'll consider joining a recovery service, then you can research local mechanics (get it to your local one) and at least be involved in the process rather than forced into one that's local and available (not always the best if they are available!). You might even research your specific problem? Then you might consider investigating yourself and getting more hands on, it's not for every one but a multimeter is cheap and useful for many things.
Researching car issues can be worth it even if you are going to get a mechanic to look at it.
https://www.wheelsjoint.com/mazda-mazda6-battery-l...
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-causes-of-an-i...
Next time you could also post up here about the dash light for advice, it's likely you'd have been advised nearly all the things to check or would have found the Russian guys earlier perhaps before ever breaking down? Cars can giving you warnings of impending doom, noises or intermittent lights etc, and being proactive can pay dividends.
Feel for you as it's never nice to feel stiffed, but it could have been worse.
I guess there is a lot to take from this all, every day is a learning day I guess
Thanks everyone for your input, didn't think I'd get many responses if I'm honest (I'll definitely look in to joining a recovery service!)
£600 is a lot, I don't doubt he spent quite some time looking, but it's galling to pay that for effectively nothing!
Your story is not uncommon, we've all been there before to some extent.
Definite Pro's are you've got a new alternator, a fixed car and now know a decent auto electricians nearby!
Potential pro's are you'll consider joining a recovery service, then you can research local mechanics (get it to your local one) and at least be involved in the process rather than forced into one that's local and available (not always the best if they are available!). You might even research your specific problem? Then you might consider investigating yourself and getting more hands on, it's not for every one but a multimeter is cheap and useful for many things.
Researching car issues can be worth it even if you are going to get a mechanic to look at it.
https://www.wheelsjoint.com/mazda-mazda6-battery-l...
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-causes-of-an-i...
Next time you could also post up here about the dash light for advice, it's likely you'd have been advised nearly all the things to check or would have found the Russian guys earlier perhaps before ever breaking down? Cars can giving you warnings of impending doom, noises or intermittent lights etc, and being proactive can pay dividends.
Feel for you as it's never nice to feel stiffed, but it could have been worse.
I guess there is a lot to take from this all, every day is a learning day I guess
Thanks everyone for your input, didn't think I'd get many responses if I'm honest (I'll definitely look in to joining a recovery service!)
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