Tony Russell
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2009
- Messages
- 139
- Location
- Glasgow ish.
- Car
- Vaneo. 1.7CDi. I know. Stop laughing ! I need an MPV and it had to be Mercedes. OK ?
Dear Agony Aunt,
About 7 weeks ago I got #3 injector replaced on my Vaneo 1.7 CDi.
at the weekend, the familiar sound of a blown seal, along with the smell and smoke in the engine compartment came upon it.
I took it back to the garage who had fitted the injector, and they did the work and left it out for me to collect.
As soon as I started it, I could hear the rasp of the seal again.
It's a funny thing - you don't get it when you rev, just when it's under load, accellerating, going uphill, etc.
I suspect they did the work, revved it and then parked it up.
I went back in this morning and they told me it was #4 seal they fixed this time, not the one they did before.
Fair enough, but it's still not fixed.
we went for a run and the owner conceded it was still seemingly blowing.
I asked how much I owed, and was a bit surprised when they said £160.
I would have thought he'd have said nothing till we fix it, but there you go. I've not paid yet anyway - not that I'd do a runner, I'm just a bit stunned at the moment.
His advice was to drive it until it blows out again, and then bring it back.
By that logic it will cost me another £160 to have them mess about and perhaps not fix it.
You can tell I'm starting to lose faith a wee bit.
Now, I've read all the manuals, and Lofty's stuff, and I discussed the use of injector pullers and seating tools with them, only to be told "you don't need all that".
I'm kind of losing faith. I think that #4 blew because the clamp wasn't seated right when #3 was refitted, and there is a chance that they have stripped the threads on the head - which he tells me is definitely not the case.
So I called Mazzoni in Port Glasgow.
Talking to him I got the comfortable feeling that he knows exactly what he's talking about, and I was an idiot not to go there in the first place.
However, he did warn me that he's not happy to take on someone else's bodge, and that it could be a very expensive job to fit inserts or re-tap the head.
These are the things I wanted to hear about though, seeing that's what I read - as opposed to "You don't need all that fancy stuff".
Anyway. What is the position here ? Am I obliged to pay for a repair that wasn't a repair (I appreciate they put in time, but it was no use to me), and can I ask them to pay for the Merc independent to rectify a fault if they introduced it ?
I really don't want to do that because I like the folks in the local garage, but I can't afford to keep throwing cash out like this.
I'm really getting the feeling that if I'd just paid the indy in the first place, I'd have been better off by about £1000 by now.
Confused, Scotlandshire.
About 7 weeks ago I got #3 injector replaced on my Vaneo 1.7 CDi.
at the weekend, the familiar sound of a blown seal, along with the smell and smoke in the engine compartment came upon it.
I took it back to the garage who had fitted the injector, and they did the work and left it out for me to collect.
As soon as I started it, I could hear the rasp of the seal again.
It's a funny thing - you don't get it when you rev, just when it's under load, accellerating, going uphill, etc.
I suspect they did the work, revved it and then parked it up.
I went back in this morning and they told me it was #4 seal they fixed this time, not the one they did before.
Fair enough, but it's still not fixed.
we went for a run and the owner conceded it was still seemingly blowing.
I asked how much I owed, and was a bit surprised when they said £160.
I would have thought he'd have said nothing till we fix it, but there you go. I've not paid yet anyway - not that I'd do a runner, I'm just a bit stunned at the moment.
His advice was to drive it until it blows out again, and then bring it back.
By that logic it will cost me another £160 to have them mess about and perhaps not fix it.
You can tell I'm starting to lose faith a wee bit.
Now, I've read all the manuals, and Lofty's stuff, and I discussed the use of injector pullers and seating tools with them, only to be told "you don't need all that".
I'm kind of losing faith. I think that #4 blew because the clamp wasn't seated right when #3 was refitted, and there is a chance that they have stripped the threads on the head - which he tells me is definitely not the case.
So I called Mazzoni in Port Glasgow.
Talking to him I got the comfortable feeling that he knows exactly what he's talking about, and I was an idiot not to go there in the first place.
However, he did warn me that he's not happy to take on someone else's bodge, and that it could be a very expensive job to fit inserts or re-tap the head.
These are the things I wanted to hear about though, seeing that's what I read - as opposed to "You don't need all that fancy stuff".
Anyway. What is the position here ? Am I obliged to pay for a repair that wasn't a repair (I appreciate they put in time, but it was no use to me), and can I ask them to pay for the Merc independent to rectify a fault if they introduced it ?
I really don't want to do that because I like the folks in the local garage, but I can't afford to keep throwing cash out like this.
I'm really getting the feeling that if I'd just paid the indy in the first place, I'd have been better off by about £1000 by now.
Confused, Scotlandshire.