Dodgy workshops!

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BoyracerAU

Active Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2011
Messages
218
Location
Sydney South
Car
1985 W123 230E & 1994 R129 SL500
Hi All,

I averted a major gouge today and I'm very pleased, so I thought I'd share it here. :rolleyes:

Best I start at the beginning.

I acquired my E220 at the beginning of the year. It was a one owner car with 78,000 miles on the clock. The car was playing up and the original owner decided it was time to replace it.

I understood the gearbox had been rebuilt only a year or two ago (at great expense), but the wiring loom had not yet been changed. I took a punt and bought the car fairly cheaply, copped the cost of a new engine harness squarely and the car has been just great since then. As posted in another thread, I've traveled about 6,000 miles and grown to appreciate this car immensely.

Recently, the car developed a bit of a shudder on acceleration. I figured guibo coupling and possibly engine and gearbox mounts would need changing.

When the viscous fan coupling also failed I promptly ran it into an independent MB workshop near my office and asked them to look into the shudder and do a B service at the same time.

They'd had the car for all of an hour when they called to say there was GBP 5,000 in work that needed to be carried out immediately. They advised that the gearbox would need rebuilding along with a long list of other things!

Within another hour, they had built the list up to GBP 6,600 and were wanting me to give them the go ahead and warned me that I really shouldn't be driving the car in it's current state.

I must admit I was quite shocked. I told them I wasn't ready to part with that kind of money and that they should just do the fan coupling and complete the service for now. The bill for that was just over GBP 1,000.

When I went to collect the car, they reiterated that I really shouldn't be driving the car and that I should be planning to bring it back to them as a matter of urgency.

After I got over the initial shock, I decided to take the car to another independent MB workshop on the other side of Sydney. These guys had changed the wiring loom for me and I knew I could trust them implicitly. It's a real pity I didn't go to them straight up, but as they're quite some distance from both my home and my office, I really didn't feel I could've nursed the car to their workshop with a faulty viscous fan coupling. No possible way with Sydney traffic the way it is.

At any event, they had the car for half a day before they rang to say that they had reversed the front guibo coupling which was on backwards and that they had reinstated a bolt which was missing! They'd already been out for a test drive and the car was perfectly good and the shudder was gone!

They also replaced the front and rear brake pads, front discs and machined the rear discs and mended a connector on the starter inhibitor switch so my reverse lights are working again! Their invoice total was GBP 640.

Needless to say, I was only too delighted to pay their account! All I could think of was what I had saved by not being ripped off by that other workshop.

It's so good to have a workshop that can be trusted to do the right thing.

Happy motoring! :bannana::bannana::bannana:
 
Oops! Sorry, it was mis-spelt. It should be 'giubo', which is a flex disc according to what I just googled.
 
Aussie slang for gearbox? Just an uneducated guess!
 
much more exotic than doughnut !
 
I've never heard of that word either.

I thought it was a whatyoumacallit when I first read the post.
 
It is a shame that dodgy monkies like that are allowed to trade.

You'd think in this day and age it would be possible to prevent if govt could be ****d...
 
It is a shame that dodgy monkies like that are allowed to trade.

You'd think in this day and age it would be possible to prevent if govt could be ****d...

If you mean the British Govt. I suspect they don't have any clout in Australia.
 
Who was it BoyracerAU, can you name....??
 
As much as I would like to, I don't think naming the dodgy workshop is a good idea.

I can however name the people who have proven themselves to be completely trustworthy and do excellent work, so I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending: :thumb:

Lingane Motors
91 Hunter Street
Hornsby NSW 2077

TEL (02) 9477 5344
 
A little further than Ollys, but if he's busy, sounds like a worthwhile trip! :D
 
If you mean the British Govt. I suspect they don't have any clout in Australia.

I'm referring more to the same situation we have in the UK.

The situation is Australia is not quite so relevant to me...
 

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