What's up with my S-Type?
Discussion
2006 2.7D, 95K miles.
Coming home last week on the dual carriageway I re-engaged cruise control after a roundabout. It accelerated hard as usual for a couple of seconds, then stopped and went into limp home mode. Apart from the turbos being disabled, everything else seemed fine for the remaining 10 miles of the 60 mile journey.
Next morning it was reluctant to start (it normally fires on the second or third turn) and then ran very lumpily, as if a cylinder was out. I immediately rang the local garage and booked it in.
They diagnosed a cracked exhaust, and naturally this was integral with the cat so I needed a new cat as well and because the car has DPFs it needed the expensive cat and the bill to replace was almost £1,000.
I went to collect the car yesterday and immediately noticed it wasn't starting - engine spun merrily but no firing. Garage chap came out and got it going but it still took two goes and a lot of spinning. Drove home; sadly car is no better. After the first mile or so the lumpiness subsides but power is well down - if I try to accelerate with any force, instead of the usual quiet whoosh there's noise like a bus from under the bonnet. And mpg is down from 39 to 27. And before I took it to the garage it started after 2-3 turns; now it needs 15-20. Something is not right.
Obviously it will go back to the garage tomorrow - they found A fault but not THE fault. Any ideas in advance please chaps?
Coming home last week on the dual carriageway I re-engaged cruise control after a roundabout. It accelerated hard as usual for a couple of seconds, then stopped and went into limp home mode. Apart from the turbos being disabled, everything else seemed fine for the remaining 10 miles of the 60 mile journey.
Next morning it was reluctant to start (it normally fires on the second or third turn) and then ran very lumpily, as if a cylinder was out. I immediately rang the local garage and booked it in.
They diagnosed a cracked exhaust, and naturally this was integral with the cat so I needed a new cat as well and because the car has DPFs it needed the expensive cat and the bill to replace was almost £1,000.
I went to collect the car yesterday and immediately noticed it wasn't starting - engine spun merrily but no firing. Garage chap came out and got it going but it still took two goes and a lot of spinning. Drove home; sadly car is no better. After the first mile or so the lumpiness subsides but power is well down - if I try to accelerate with any force, instead of the usual quiet whoosh there's noise like a bus from under the bonnet. And mpg is down from 39 to 27. And before I took it to the garage it started after 2-3 turns; now it needs 15-20. Something is not right.
Obviously it will go back to the garage tomorrow - they found A fault but not THE fault. Any ideas in advance please chaps?
Tame Technician said:
YOU DEFINATELY HAVNT PUT PETROL IN IT HAVE YOU????!!!!??? even a small amount of petrol in a full tank of Diesel messes up the high pressure pump very quickly indeed.
Last fill was at Tesco Newmarket on 25 June, about... I have just looked at the receipt to find the date; to my horror it seems you are right... yet it went 40+ miles after that without issue so had ruled it out.The bus noise is a diesel knock, it's not in limp home mode at present.
OK, I'm an offical idiot - what is the best step? I have a local garage that is sound as far as they go but not rocket science, Scole Engineering who are excellent but 50+ miles away, and breakdown insurance.
Damn. Well at least it's my fault not the car's
ETA: Garage who lightened me of £1,000 is going to pump it out for me - 1/3 tank of almost neat petrol I calculate. I will tell them to do it properly, ie use the fuel pump, and to see if it's a double tank. Thanks to Scole Engineering for some telephone help
Perhaps one day they will invent an ECU that can adapt to both...?
Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 2nd July 11:24
Thanks Paul. Unfortuately I didn't read your bit about insurance before trundling it down to the garage again. I explained the position, namely that I had brought a car in that was running very badly and asked them to make it right. They had found a cracked exhaust I didn't know about (on reflection I'd noticed diesel fumes in the cabin sometimes when stationary) - they say they found this by revving it up and saw smoke coming through the engine compartment. They say their tester took it for a run up and down the hill after the exhaust fix and said it was running perfectly (on petrol?!). Hence they had called it 'job done' and I collected the car, £985 lighter.
So I drove another 45 miles thinking that perhaps a fuel jet was blocked - but the fact it wasn't pulling as usual and made the bus sound if I used too much club made me cautious so I didn't overdo it.
My view this morning was that if they had done their job of diagnosis properly they would have found the real problem - the petrol. They say that because it was running fine they had no reason to check this, and say the fault code reader didn't show anything (I suspect they didn't use one). Certainly had they found the fault I wouldn't have driven another 45 miles on petrol, possibly causing damage running into thousands. Both boss and tester were adamant the car was running perfectly; I had to remind them that even when I collected it it took 15-20 turns to start; even the boss had a go. The agreement I thought I had when I left was that they would make it right for no extra charge.
I walked home and then read the reply about insurance. To my surprise I was/am covered! With the prospect of a 'proper' multi-K fix at a dealer piod for by insurance I called the garage in the hope they hadn't started yet. However the work was already done - pump-out and new filter. I went to collect the car and the guy started tapping at his computer - which is not what I expect when it's a free fix. 'You say it's covered by insurance?' he says. Nice effort my man, but when I left here you said you'd fix it for free. 'No I didn't' said the boss. We then have a little chat involving logic, and the guy is not going to win that one. He gets to the point of scrubbing the invoice with a 'Don't come back' angle. Now I'll stand my ground but I'm fair, and the fact it needed a new filter was my fault, so I offer to pay for that (£45). That seems to mellow him a bit so we part with a handshake - because no doubt I'll need him again one day.
The car appears to be running normally; we shall see. If something is still wrong then hopefully I can still book it in at Expensive Dealer and get it properly fixed for just the excess.
Thanks to everyone who replied and helped me get a grasp of the issue and also a few facts to help me reason with the garage. I hope I now have a car that works and although I'll use the garage again, it will be for basic stuff only. I'm disppointed they tried to charge me for the second fix, and for implying that the car was fine when it left so I have must have done something else to it. If you are reading this Mr Garage, I need to know the amount up front, not afterwards when you've led me to believe it will be free. And next time you get a diesel car that runs like crap, sniff the filler cap first, not last.
So I drove another 45 miles thinking that perhaps a fuel jet was blocked - but the fact it wasn't pulling as usual and made the bus sound if I used too much club made me cautious so I didn't overdo it.
My view this morning was that if they had done their job of diagnosis properly they would have found the real problem - the petrol. They say that because it was running fine they had no reason to check this, and say the fault code reader didn't show anything (I suspect they didn't use one). Certainly had they found the fault I wouldn't have driven another 45 miles on petrol, possibly causing damage running into thousands. Both boss and tester were adamant the car was running perfectly; I had to remind them that even when I collected it it took 15-20 turns to start; even the boss had a go. The agreement I thought I had when I left was that they would make it right for no extra charge.
I walked home and then read the reply about insurance. To my surprise I was/am covered! With the prospect of a 'proper' multi-K fix at a dealer piod for by insurance I called the garage in the hope they hadn't started yet. However the work was already done - pump-out and new filter. I went to collect the car and the guy started tapping at his computer - which is not what I expect when it's a free fix. 'You say it's covered by insurance?' he says. Nice effort my man, but when I left here you said you'd fix it for free. 'No I didn't' said the boss. We then have a little chat involving logic, and the guy is not going to win that one. He gets to the point of scrubbing the invoice with a 'Don't come back' angle. Now I'll stand my ground but I'm fair, and the fact it needed a new filter was my fault, so I offer to pay for that (£45). That seems to mellow him a bit so we part with a handshake - because no doubt I'll need him again one day.
The car appears to be running normally; we shall see. If something is still wrong then hopefully I can still book it in at Expensive Dealer and get it properly fixed for just the excess.
Thanks to everyone who replied and helped me get a grasp of the issue and also a few facts to help me reason with the garage. I hope I now have a car that works and although I'll use the garage again, it will be for basic stuff only. I'm disppointed they tried to charge me for the second fix, and for implying that the car was fine when it left so I have must have done something else to it. If you are reading this Mr Garage, I need to know the amount up front, not afterwards when you've led me to believe it will be free. And next time you get a diesel car that runs like crap, sniff the filler cap first, not last.
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