570s - "transmission fault - call mclaren"

[vantager]

Day 2 at the dealer (due long weekend) and they said the car has no relevant codes stored and they have not seen the fault.
They have removed & cleaned the gearbox earth straps (I suspect thanks to the advice I passed on from justin220).
My comment was "Sounds like an untraceable and intermittent fault" - the worst kind!
A bit torn over what to do with this as I really dont want a car in and out of the garage looking for an unfixable problem (like getting a gear!)

[SL550M]

vantager said:

To an earlier question - 'what hire car did you get' - it was a very well smoked in Mercedes A class from Enterprise.
So bad I couldnt sit in it without feeling a little sick - called them today and said 'take it back'.
I will give this feedback to Mclaren Assist - to be fair I knew I wouldnt get a Mclaren, but expected a bit better than a Mercedes A.

That's extremely poor! Mind you, I did get a Ford Fiesta courtesy car from a Ferrari main dealer when my 550 was in for its annual service. Can't say I was thrilled with that at the time.

[davek_964]

When I searched, I did see a post somewhere suggesting clutch fluid level should be checked.
Have they done that?

[sparta6]

vantager said:

Day 2 at the dealer (due long weekend) and they said the car has no relevant codes stored and they have not seen the fault.
They have removed & cleaned the gearbox earth straps (I suspect thanks to the advice I passed on from justin220).
My comment was "Sounds like an untraceable and intermittent fault" - the worst kind!
A bit torn over what to do with this as I really dont want a car in and out of the garage looking for an unfixable problem (like getting a gear!)

Fingers crossed the earth straps resolve this issue.

In these kind of situations we need to be mindful of our own hourly rates increasing due to dealing with their issue.

Need to draw a line somewhere.

[mat205125]

What do McLaren charge for them to come out and find nothing and clear faults for an out of warranty car?

[davek_964]

mat205125 said:

What do McLaren charge for them to come out and find nothing and clear faults for an out of warranty car?

McLaren Assist is part of the extended warranty cover. If you were out of warranty, they wouldn't be coming in the first place.

[mat205125]

davek_964 said:

mat205125 said:

What do McLaren charge for them to come out and find nothing and clear faults for an out of warranty car?

McLaren Assist is part of the extended warranty cover. If you were out of warranty, they wouldn't be coming in the first place.

Then where would an owner be??

[davek_964]

mat205125 said:

davek_964 said:

mat205125 said:

What do McLaren charge for them to come out and find nothing and clear faults for an out of warranty car?

McLaren Assist is part of the extended warranty cover. If you were out of warranty, they wouldn't be coming in the first place.

Then where would an owner be??

Er, the same as they'd be with any other make of car. They'd be using normal breakdown cover if they have home start and paying for it to be taken to a garage if not.

[mat205125]

davek_964 said:

mat205125 said:

davek_964 said:

mat205125 said:

What do McLaren charge for them to come out and find nothing and clear faults for an out of warranty car?

McLaren Assist is part of the extended warranty cover. If you were out of warranty, they wouldn't be coming in the first place.

Then where would an owner be??

Er, the same as they'd be with any other make of car. They'd be using normal breakdown cover if they have home start and paying for it to be taken to a garage if not.

So back to the original question then.

What would McLaren charge for that, either on the driveway or in their workshop

[davek_964]

mat205125 said:

davek_964 said:

mat205125 said:

davek_964 said:

mat205125 said:

What do McLaren charge for them to come out and find nothing and clear faults for an out of warranty car?

McLaren Assist is part of the extended warranty cover. If you were out of warranty, they wouldn't be coming in the first place.

Then where would an owner be??

Er, the same as they'd be with any other make of car. They'd be using normal breakdown cover if they have home start and paying for it to be taken to a garage if not.

So back to the original question then.

What would McLaren charge for that, either on the driveway or in their workshop

How long is a piece of string?

McLaren dealers are essentially franchises. They have different labour rates, different relationships with their customers and charge different amounts for work on the car.
When I wanted soft close fitted, Ascot quoted me literally double what Guildford and New Forest did.

I am 100% confident that if I took my car to Guildford and simply asked them to clear fault codes (although any old OBD reader will clear many anyway, as will disconnecting / reconnecting the battery) - that they'd do it for nothing. Other dealers? Maybe not.

If they had to investigate an issue before clearing the codes - then it will depend entirely on how long they took, what their hourly rate is and maybe whether they have a good relationship with the customer. But I'd expect it to be broadly similar to the same kind of charge that Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ford, Audi, VW etc. would charge with variation in hourly rates.

Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 5th May 15:07

[vantager]

Got my car back Friday and have driven it every day since (3 now) and not seen the fault - hopefully its gone.
Asked them what was done (as they never saw the fault) and it was:

1. Connect MDS & check for DTC’s – no relevant codes stored, carry out road test – no fault found.
2. Carry out volt drop test to rear subframe – within spec.
3. Check gearbox earth strap – remove, clean & refit – all ok << suspect this was because I suggested it as a result of justin_220 post
4. Check software is up to date with latest versions, carried out updates on DMC, EHPS, ECM, DMR, FWM.
5. Carry out all post software resets including un-pair immobilizer – all ok.
6. A further 4 road tests were carried out including a cold test – all ok.

I did ask (as someone who has been in software development for 40 years) why they didnt call Mclaren and ask WHY the code might raise this fault - surely there are N reasons and N isnt too large a number - but they didnt.

It should also be easy to log the line number in the code where faults are raised too, which would make diagnosis a lot easier. Anyone out there a software developer in the car industry who can tell me why you dont do this?

Cant help but be impressed by the care taken by Mclaren Assist in transporting the car there and back too.

[R8Reece]

vantager said:

I did ask (as someone who has been in software development for 40 years) why they didnt call Mclaren and ask WHY the code might raise this fault - surely there are N reasons and N isnt too large a number - but they didnt.

It should also be easy to log the line number in the code where faults are raised too, which would make diagnosis a lot easier. Anyone out there a software developer in the car industry who can tell me why you dont do this?

Cant help but be impressed by the care taken by Mclaren Assist in transporting the car there and back too.

I suspect because the issue is well/already known and maybe there are other ways of managing/reporting software issues. I suspect McLaren will receive every diagnostic result performed at dealers anyway via an online diagnostics system and then Mac HQ will decide what issues will be resolved in future software updates.

Be interesting to know if Mac are still developing new software versions for their older cars. I wonder how long after a car is released Mac will produce updates for each model?

[vantager]

So had my car back 12 days now and its been faultless. Getting used to weirdness - like to lower the vehicle lift once up, you raise the lever first, and the problem holding radio stations - but the car is lovely to drive and quite a change after several Porsche's. Gets loads of attention. Done 450 miles in it now. It had previously done 3000 in 27 months, so its probably feeling shell shocked.

[davek_964]

vantager said:

So had my car back 12 days now and its been faultless. Getting used to weirdness - like to lower the vehicle lift once up, you raise the lever first, and the problem holding radio stations - but the car is lovely to drive and quite a change after several Porsche's. Gets loads of attention. Done 450 miles in it now. It had previously done 3000 in 27 months, so its probably feeling shell shocked.

I gave up on the radio over a year ago........ it's actually not too bad if you avoid DAB. But Amazon Music streaming through bluetooth is a lot better, especially since I can get to radio stations like that anyway!

[stormblack]

vantager said:

So had my car back 12 days now and its been faultless. Getting used to weirdness - like to lower the vehicle lift once up, you raise the lever first, and the problem holding radio stations - but the car is lovely to drive and quite a change after several Porsche's. Gets loads of attention. Done 450 miles in it now. It had previously done 3000 in 27 months, so its probably feeling shell shocked.

Glad its going well for you now! Please put up some pics otherwise it never happened!

Edited by stormblack on Tuesday 18th May 15:01

[Blackpuddin]

SL550M said:

vantager said:

To an earlier question - 'what hire car did you get' - it was a very well smoked in Mercedes A class from Enterprise.
So bad I couldnt sit in it without feeling a little sick - called them today and said 'take it back'.
I will give this feedback to Mclaren Assist - to be fair I knew I wouldnt get a Mclaren, but expected a bit better than a Mercedes A.

That's extremely poor! Mind you, I did get a Ford Fiesta courtesy car from a Ferrari main dealer when my 550 was in for its annual service. Can't say I was thrilled with that at the time.

I'm not in this bracket, so my opinion doesn't count, but I'll chuck it in anyway. If I was in this bracket I think I would be quite happy with a Fiesta courtesy as long as it was clean as anything 'posher' than that would only make me think I was paying extra for it in the through my warranty payments. Plus a bit of 'rough' every now and then is good for the soul, and Fiestas are a nice drive.

[davek_964]

Blackpuddin said:

...anything 'posher' than that would only make me think I was paying extra for it in the through my warranty payments...

Given the cost of the warranty, I think we do feel like we're paying for something posher

[vantager]

Just seen someone asked for a photo - so here it is.