Italian tune-up: Mechanics caught on tape thrashing car
Discussion
I am all in favour of the Classic "Italian tune-up", in which your mechanic gets into the car and rags the bum off it, for the greater good of the engine, but there are limits ....
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/camaro-owne...
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/camaro-owne...
I dont mind a mechanic having a go, if he is insured, competent and it is part of the test drive but burnouts are probably the single most destructive thing you can do to a car, I took my Manta into a delaers in Manchester for some warranty work back in about 1990 and waited for my lift, two mechaincs got in that and treated it like s
t, didnt think the weedy 2.0 engine was upto it, but they managed it, I stomped back in and went mental and demanded (and got) two new tyres, they made a nice job of the warranty work as well.
t, didnt think the weedy 2.0 engine was upto it, but they managed it, I stomped back in and went mental and demanded (and got) two new tyres, they made a nice job of the warranty work as well.There was the story a few years ago when Autocar ran an EVO on their press fleet. Took it in for a routine service to see it ragging it down the high street of the town where the dealer was. Handbrake turns, wheelspins and the whole lot.
As you might expect, Autocar went mad and reported them to Mitsubishi who took action. Car came back with apologies and oddly the same dealer lost its RallyArt options and cant service, look after or do anything on EVO's again.
Glad to see that a manufacturer took action and something happened.
On a reverse, I had a Golf company car once, had TERRIBLE wheel wobble at 75MPH. Countless times it went to a dealer who pronounced it as "fine". It was really bad and would shake your arms at 75, so its there and I got somewhat frustrated. Anyway, after much to-ing and fro-ing, I figured out that the dealers mechanics were not allowed to break the speed limit at all, under threat of losing their jobs! Seems they had a few problems in the past and as a result passed a rule preventing it from happening again.
Car was eventually fixed, but it does happen and they do get caught out.
As you might expect, Autocar went mad and reported them to Mitsubishi who took action. Car came back with apologies and oddly the same dealer lost its RallyArt options and cant service, look after or do anything on EVO's again.
Glad to see that a manufacturer took action and something happened.
On a reverse, I had a Golf company car once, had TERRIBLE wheel wobble at 75MPH. Countless times it went to a dealer who pronounced it as "fine". It was really bad and would shake your arms at 75, so its there and I got somewhat frustrated. Anyway, after much to-ing and fro-ing, I figured out that the dealers mechanics were not allowed to break the speed limit at all, under threat of losing their jobs! Seems they had a few problems in the past and as a result passed a rule preventing it from happening again.
Car was eventually fixed, but it does happen and they do get caught out.
Lagerlout said:
A main dealer I used took one of my cars out and I got it back with an average 4.3 mpg and 40 extra miles on the clock.. I'm not sure what you have to do to get those numbers. Complained to customer services at head office and got completely ignored.
Can't explain the miles but having it on tickover at the garage for a while will drag the MPG down.Lagerlout said:
A main dealer I used took one of my cars out and I got it back with an average 4.3 mpg and 40 extra miles on the clock.. I'm not sure what you have to do to get those numbers. Complained to customer services at head office and got completely ignored.
That's where the immortal words "can I speak to the person in charge" comes in.I didn't see the point pursuing it, what are they going to do for me anyway the damage (if there was any in a literal sense) has already been done. What are they going to do give me a box of chocolates? I vote with my feet and I will never use their services again and I told the dealer principal so.
I remember a thread from a PHer who had a WRX hatch with the flakey 2.5L engine, and he was getting smoke when he was on boost on a nearly new car. He took it to the dealers to get it looked at and left it in their care.
A little while later, he got a text from his tracker provider saying the car had been recorded by GPS doing 115mph on a b road. Well, that's one way to find out if your pistonrings are borked I suppose.
I can't remember which member it was, the name Ali_T springs to mind, but it might not have been him.
A little while later, he got a text from his tracker provider saying the car had been recorded by GPS doing 115mph on a b road. Well, that's one way to find out if your pistonrings are borked I suppose.
I can't remember which member it was, the name Ali_T springs to mind, but it might not have been him.
G600 said:
Lagerlout said:
A main dealer I used took one of my cars out and I got it back with an average 4.3 mpg and 40 extra miles on the clock.. I'm not sure what you have to do to get those numbers. Complained to customer services at head office and got completely ignored.
Can't explain the miles but having it on tickover at the garage for a while will drag the MPG down.How much fuel does a car use on tickover for an hour? 40miles@4mpg is 10gallons of fuel gone.
On a powerful car IIRC it will use about half a gallon an hour. Is it commonplace to leave cars on overnight?
off_again said:
I had a Golf company car once, had TERRIBLE wheel wobble at 75MPH. Countless times it went to a dealer who pronounced it as "fine". It was really bad and would shake your arms at 75, so its there and I got somewhat frustrated. Anyway, after much to-ing and fro-ing, I figured out that the dealers mechanics were not allowed to break the speed limit at all, under threat of losing their jobs! Seems they had a few problems in the past and as a result passed a rule preventing it from happening again.
This is absolutely standard, you cant expect a garage to break the law in attempting to find and fix a fault with your car. You would need a private test area to legally achieve that speed in the UK.I would expect them to refuse to get in a car if you told them you would be exceeding the speed limit as well!!
Typically wheel balancing etc shows itself well before 70 as there are harmonics involved anyway.
BorkFactor said:
There is a PHer who put his Monaro in to a garage for radiator work (IIRC) and it had a roadhawk camera behind the rear view mirror that the mechanic didn't spot.
Pretty sure it showed them hitting 120 odd
Here you go...Pretty sure it showed them hitting 120 odd
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