Tales from the workshop

Author
Discussion

JBT

118 posts

147 months

Wednesday 14th June 2023
quotequote all
Some great stories here.

In my second year of high school we all did work experience for a week. The choice was from local businesses and mine was my best mates dad's and uncles garage. My mechanical experience up to to that point was keeping my Raleigh Burner running, so they fed me in gently but got me stuck in and getting my hands dirty. I enjoyed it and picked up a taste for tea as they drank it almost cup to cup from 8 till 6. On the last day but one the receptionist had to leave early, so the job of teamaker fell to me. I had never made tea in my life up to that point and never really watched my parents making a cup so took a guess and the end result looked roughly how a cuppa should.

Two thumbs up and onto the next job, helping service brakes on a mini. Closing time came and they asked me to get the wheels back on just in case the car had to come off the ramp early doors the next day. I did all four wheels then rode home. Next morning my mates uncle said he needed a quick word when I came in.

Firstly it was lucky they did a final check on the mini before a road test as I had put all 16 wheel nuts on the wrong way round - the flat side against the wheels and the bullnose side (that should match the depression around each wheel nut hole) facing outwards, leaving only point contact from each nut with the wheel.

Secondly you don't normally make tea by boiling the teabags directly in the kettle...

Despite that I must have done OK as I got invited back to work there as a summer job for a couple of years!

hidetheelephants

24,443 posts

194 months

Wednesday 14th June 2023
quotequote all
eccles said:
grumpy52 said:
One of our apprentices was caught using an air ratchet to install spark plugs on a Hillman Imp , he wondered why they weren't getting tight . He had stripped all the threads . He was banned from using air tools .
I can remember back in the late 80's popping into my local town to get a couple of tyres fitted (at ATS Euromaster) to my Mini. I saw the mechanic starting to refit my wheels and hub caps, so went to pay.
As I got back I noticed the first wheel on the floor with all the wheel studs sheared off, and the mechanic halfway through shearing off the remaining studs of the second wheel with his big impact gun!
Me shouting at him brought the manager out, all indignant, until he saw what was going on!
Fitters should receive 5 of the best over the knuckles with a torque wrench every time they use a rattle gun to fit wheels.

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Wednesday 14th June 2023
quotequote all
I did slip up occasionally,I did an engine swap on an early mini that had the rubber type driveshaft couplings . Finished off buy popping the front wheels back on , lowered the car to ground and went for a road test . A bit of vibration and noise that I put down to bulging driveshaft couplings clipping the bulkhead .
Back to my garage and slid a trolley jack under to raise the front and the wheels just flapped about . I had only put them on finger tight !!
The only other episode was road testing an XJ6 when all of a sudden the NSF wheel started clattering, I pulled over to the kerb with a final clatter . I was greeted with the sight of the hub cap and an impact socket laying on the ground. The mechanic had left the socket on a wheel nut ten banged the hubcap on .

tapkaJohnD

1,943 posts

205 months

Wednesday 14th June 2023
quotequote all
Being car mad, I got a summer job at the local MG dealer. One morning all the apprentices and I were rounded up into a minibus and shipped off to
Abingdon, where we were given plug sockets and told to take out all the plugs on the dozens of MGBs parked in the pound.

Or POND. There had been a flood, up to their windows and they were full of water, the entire new stock of the dealer who employed me. Another team stripped out all the interiors, while our foreman, armed with a large battery, turned over all the engines as we removed the plugs. A field of MGs, spouting like whales!

What was going to happen to them? They went back into the factory, were retrimmed and sold, full price, to unsuspecting punters. Thing was, the flood was sewage!
John

105.4

4,097 posts

72 months

Sunday 18th June 2023
quotequote all
JUST ROLLED IN

and the customer, (my Uncle), states…….

“105.4, I’ve got a rattle under my engine. I think that something’s got caught in the undertray. Can you take a look please?”

The vehicle in question is a Peugeot 3008. It’s just been into the Peugeot main dealers for a service. He’s gone back to Peugeot who’ve told him that “the suspension is worn out, and as it’s all linked in to the chassis of the car, all of the suspension components will need replacing”.

My spidey senses are tingling. This car is just on regular springs and shocks, none of which are any sort of electronic dampers, or PSA’s Hydroactive suspension.

First of all, the car is a right faff to get jacked-up on the driveway. It sits quite high, but there is bugger all room to get a jack under the car with enough room to get axle stands under the small reenforced section of the sill.

Eventually, I got it up high on axle stands, which meant removing the front wheels.

There’s no way on Gods Green Earth that those wheel studs were torqued up. Someone’s been at them with the biggest, most powerful air gun in the world. Even with my longest, 24” breaker bar I was struggling, until each wheel stud broke free with a ‘snap’.

It was then that I noticed that the undertray had been broken in several places, had been incorrectly refitted, and was barely hanging on with just two cable ties, one at the front and one at the back.

Upon removing the undertray, I found the cause of the rattle….



You might be wondering what that is circled in red? And where did it come from?

Well, here’s your answer…..




It’s the oil filler cap. The mechanic who serviced the car forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. When I checked the dipstick, it was dry, and I had to top it up with 4.5 litres.

This is why “Full Main Dealer Service History” means bugger all to me when I’m buying a car.

I after topping up the oil, repairing the undertray and correctly torquing up the wheel studs, I took the 3008 out for a rip. The suspension and all bushes were absolutely fine. Not a single clunk, squeak or shimmy, and it steers and stops straight.

So, if you’re planning on using a Peugeot Main Dealer in a city that is famous for its steel, my advice would be take your car elsewhere.

Heaveho

5,306 posts

175 months

Sunday 18th June 2023
quotequote all
grumpy52 said:
Very much hoping the owner is a woman!

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Sunday 18th June 2023
quotequote all
Heaveho said:
grumpy52 said:
Very much hoping the owner is a woman!
But what if it isn't !!!

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Sunday 18th June 2023
quotequote all
We were asked by a customer to look at a car that had just been to a local garage for rear suspension work .
On inspection the rear anti roll bars had large brass toilet fixing screws holding it on .
We had several occasions when customers tried to p/ex cars previously purchased from local garages that had been truly bodged by bodyshops in the past .
Including one job from an insurance company that was a classic cut and shut of two halves of different cars . We refused to touch it and when the insurance company got awkward about it we passed it to trading standards to deal with . Trading standards managed eventually to get the customers money back from the large dealership they had purchased the car from .The insurance company had to answer some very awkward questions about their attitude.

Yertis

18,059 posts

267 months

Monday 19th June 2023
quotequote all
grumpy52 said:
The Service Manager:


nismo48

3,709 posts

208 months

Friday 23rd June 2023
quotequote all
105.4 said:
JUST ROLLED IN

and the customer, (my Uncle), states…….

“105.4, I’ve got a rattle under my engine. I think that something’s got caught in the undertray. Can you take a look please?”

The vehicle in question is a Peugeot 3008. It’s just been into the Peugeot main dealers for a service. He’s gone back to Peugeot who’ve told him that “the suspension is worn out, and as it’s all linked in to the chassis of the car, all of the suspension components will need replacing”.

My spidey senses are tingling. This car is just on regular springs and shocks, none of which are any sort of electronic dampers, or PSA’s Hydroactive suspension.

First of all, the car is a right faff to get jacked-up on the driveway. It sits quite high, but there is bugger all room to get a jack under the car with enough room to get axle stands under the small reenforced section of the sill.

Eventually, I got it up high on axle stands, which meant removing the front wheels.

There’s no way on Gods Green Earth that those wheel studs were torqued up. Someone’s been at them with the biggest, most powerful air gun in the world. Even with my longest, 24” breaker bar I was struggling, until each wheel stud broke free with a ‘snap’.

It was then that I noticed that the undertray had been broken in several places, had been incorrectly refitted, and was barely hanging on with just two cable ties, one at the front and one at the back.

Upon removing the undertray, I found the cause of the rattle….



You might be wondering what that is circled in red? And where did it come from?

Well, here’s your answer…..




It’s the oil filler cap. The mechanic who serviced the car forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. When I checked the dipstick, it was dry, and I had to top it up with 4.5 litres.

This is why “Full Main Dealer Service History” means bugger all to me when I’m buying a car.

I after topping up the oil, repairing the undertray and correctly torquing up the wheel studs, I took the 3008 out for a rip. The suspension and all bushes were absolutely fine. Not a single clunk, squeak or shimmy, and it steers and stops straight.

So, if you’re planning on using a Peugeot Main Dealer in a city that is famous for its steel, my advice would be take your car elsewhere.
Thanks for that..my sister in law lives in said city..I will afor warn her smile

Bobupndown

1,813 posts

44 months

Friday 28th July 2023
quotequote all
105.4 said:
JUST ROLLED IN

and the customer, (my Uncle), states…….

“105.4, I’ve got a rattle under my engine. I think that something’s got caught in the undertray. Can you take a look please?”

The vehicle in question is a Peugeot 3008. It’s just been into the Peugeot main dealers for a service. He’s gone back to Peugeot who’ve told him that “the suspension is worn out, and as it’s all linked in to the chassis of the car, all of the suspension components will need replacing”.

My spidey senses are tingling. This car is just on regular springs and shocks, none of which are any sort of electronic dampers, or PSA’s Hydroactive suspension.

First of all, the car is a right faff to get jacked-up on the driveway. It sits quite high, but there is bugger all room to get a jack under the car with enough room to get axle stands under the small reenforced section of the sill.

Eventually, I got it up high on axle stands, which meant removing the front wheels.

There’s no way on Gods Green Earth that those wheel studs were torqued up. Someone’s been at them with the biggest, most powerful air gun in the world. Even with my longest, 24” breaker bar I was struggling, until each wheel stud broke free with a ‘snap’.

It was then that I noticed that the undertray had been broken in several places, had been incorrectly refitted, and was barely hanging on with just two cable ties, one at the front and one at the back.

Upon removing the undertray, I found the cause of the rattle….



You might be wondering what that is circled in red? And where did it come from?

Well, here’s your answer…..




It’s the oil filler cap. The mechanic who serviced the car forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. When I checked the dipstick, it was dry, and I had to top it up with 4.5 litres.

This is why “Full Main Dealer Service History” means bugger all to me when I’m buying a car.

I after topping up the oil, repairing the undertray and correctly torquing up the wheel studs, I took the 3008 out for a rip. The suspension and all bushes were absolutely fine. Not a single clunk, squeak or shimmy, and it steers and stops straight.

So, if you’re planning on using a Peugeot Main Dealer in a city that is famous for its steel, my advice would be take your car elsewhere.
How much oil is this 3008 meant to hold and how long had it been driven minus 4.5 litres? Engine could be scrap already. I'd be having some stern words with dealers service manager.

Maxdecel

1,225 posts

34 months

Friday 28th July 2023
quotequote all
Bobupndown said:
How much oil is this 3008 meant to hold and how long had it been driven minus 4.5 litres? Engine could be scrap already. I'd be having some stern words with dealers service manager.
yikes
There's little evidence of 4+litres of oil being ejected around the filler too ! That would make quite a mess, tech drops oil etc. gets distracted and on return drops the bonnet thinking he's completed the job !

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Friday 28th July 2023
quotequote all
One personal experience from when I wasn't working in the motor industry.
I had a company car only a few months old and due to go to Germany for a family holiday.
It goes into the dealers for a service, arrived home that evening and dropped my keys which bounced off my foot and under the car , on the floor looking for them and noticed oil dripping from the sump plug , I reached out to touch it and the sump plug is so loose it rattles .
I'm straight onto the dealers and exploded on the service manager. I could easily have tightened the plug but then the dealers would have just fobbed it off as one of those things . The company spent lots of money with this place as all the company vehicles were purchased from them and all the services and MOT work.
They turned up and fixed it ,no apologies or follow up calls .
Chats with my works manager revealed concerns about the standard of work from the dealer and if they actually replaced service parts.
The next service we marked all the components that were due for replacement.
The only thing that they changed was the oil . Plugs ,filters,belts etc were all just given a wipe over .
On collection we went straight to the dealer principal and confronted him with our evidence.
It all escalated into a police investigation and prosecution of several members of staff as they were scamming customers on a grand scale . Service manager,parts manager and a couple of technicians all lost jobs and one served some time .
Not only were they making ££s on the parts it also had an effect on performance bonuses so was classed as fraud.

Maxdecel

1,225 posts

34 months

Friday 28th July 2023
quotequote all
grumpy52 said:
One personal experience from when I wasn't working in the motor industry.
I had a company car only a few months old and due to go to Germany for a family holiday.
It goes into the dealers for a service, arrived home that evening and dropped my keys which bounced off my foot and under the car , on the floor looking for them and noticed oil dripping from the sump plug , I reached out to touch it and the sump plug is so loose it rattles .
I'm straight onto the dealers and exploded on the service manager. I could easily have tightened the plug but then the dealers would have just fobbed it off as one of those things . The company spent lots of money with this place as all the company vehicles were purchased from them and all the services and MOT work.
They turned up and fixed it ,no apologies or follow up calls .
Chats with my works manager revealed concerns about the standard of work from the dealer and if they actually replaced service parts.
The next service we marked all the components that were due for replacement.
The only thing that they changed was the oil . Plugs ,filters,belts etc were all just given a wipe over .
On collection we went straight to the dealer principal and confronted him with our evidence.
It all escalated into a police investigation and prosecution of several members of staff as they were scamming customers on a grand scale . Service manager, parts manager and a couple of technicians all lost jobs and one served some time .
Not only were they making ££s on the parts it also had an effect on performance bonuses so was classed as fraud.
Wow ! That developed, aren't "incentive bonus schemes" a wonderful idea to enhance wages and workshop capacity.banghead
Worked at a MD where one tech. always earned bonus, they continued to think highly of him despite a gearbox falling off post his clutch replacement.

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Friday 28th July 2023
quotequote all
Maxdecel said:
grumpy52 said:
One personal experience from when I wasn't working in the motor industry.
I had a company car only a few months old and due to go to Germany for a family holiday.
It goes into the dealers for a service, arrived home that evening and dropped my keys which bounced off my foot and under the car , on the floor looking for them and noticed oil dripping from the sump plug , I reached out to touch it and the sump plug is so loose it rattles .
I'm straight onto the dealers and exploded on the service manager. I could easily have tightened the plug but then the dealers would have just fobbed it off as one of those things . The company spent lots of money with this place as all the company vehicles were purchased from them and all the services and MOT work.
They turned up and fixed it ,no apologies or follow up calls .
Chats with my works manager revealed concerns about the standard of work from the dealer and if they actually replaced service parts.
The next service we marked all the components that were due for replacement.
The only thing that they changed was the oil . Plugs ,filters,belts etc were all just given a wipe over .
On collection we went straight to the dealer principal and confronted him with our evidence.
It all escalated into a police investigation and prosecution of several members of staff as they were scamming customers on a grand scale . Service manager, parts manager and a couple of technicians all lost jobs and one served some time .
Not only were they making ££s on the parts it also had an effect on performance bonuses so was classed as fraud.
Wow ! That developed, aren't "incentive bonus schemes" a wonderful idea to enhance wages and workshop capacity.banghead
Worked at a MD where one tech. always earned bonus, they continued to think highly of him despite a gearbox falling off post his clutch replacement.
I remember shortly after there were several cases in the papers and investigation by a TV consumer programme.
About the same time a large northern group that did tyres and exhausts started to do MOTs , most of their failures were for the product that they sold . Lo and behold they were just generating work and sales .
This also dragged the national known company into the spotlight.
The suspicion on MOT testing has rumbled on for decades .
I'm lucky that my usual testing station has a relative as one of the owners and is used by many of the local one man garages.


Yertis

18,059 posts

267 months

Sunday 30th July 2023
quotequote all
I’ve spent the entire afternoon trying different ways of releasing the top nut from a damper, where some idiot in the car’s distant past has rounded out then split the collar into which a 7mm Allen key would normally fit. bd. I’ve tried everything in my armoury but now I’m just going to cut the nut, the damper is scrap anyway. By contrast the near side damper was unmolested and took about two minutes. Not much of a story but is why apparently simple jobs can take ages on old cars.

finlo

3,763 posts

204 months

Sunday 30th July 2023
quotequote all
Yertis said:
I’ve spent the entire afternoon trying different ways of releasing the top nut from a damper, where some idiot in the car’s distant past has rounded out then split the collar into which a 7mm Allen key would normally fit. bd. I’ve tried everything in my armoury but now I’m just going to cut the nut, the damper is scrap anyway. By contrast the near side damper was unmolested and took about two minutes. Not much of a story but is why apparently simple jobs can take ages on old cars.
Can you not grip the damper shaft with a pair of pipe grips?

illmonkey

18,209 posts

199 months

Sunday 30th July 2023
quotequote all
Yertis said:
I’ve spent the entire afternoon trying different ways of releasing the top nut from a damper, where some idiot in the car’s distant past has rounded out then split the collar into which a 7mm Allen key would normally fit. bd. I’ve tried everything in my armoury but now I’m just going to cut the nut, the damper is scrap anyway. By contrast the near side damper was unmolested and took about two minutes. Not much of a story but is why apparently simple jobs can take ages on old cars.
Can’t ugga dugga it off?

Yertis

18,059 posts

267 months

Sunday 30th July 2023
quotequote all
Too badly graunched for any amount of ugga dugga frown

grumpy52

Original Poster:

5,595 posts

167 months

Sunday 30th July 2023
quotequote all
Yertis said:
I’ve spent the entire afternoon trying different ways of releasing the top nut from a damper, where some idiot in the car’s distant past has rounded out then split the collar into which a 7mm Allen key would normally fit. bd. I’ve tried everything in my armoury but now I’m just going to cut the nut, the damper is scrap anyway. By contrast the near side damper was unmolested and took about two minutes. Not much of a story but is why apparently simple jobs can take ages on old cars.
Reminds me of an Audi 80 GT that I was asked to look at ,the complaint was knocking from the rear drivers corner and soggy handling.
The shock absorber had been replaced at some point but not tightened up . It had rattled around enough to enlarge the mounting hole in the turret in the boot so that the rubber mounting bushes were about to punch through the hole .
New shocks ,bushes and welding in reinforcing plate to the turret .