Dave2302

3 Diseasels now, the donkeys helmet Mondeo sold

FFS, never ever had to use that method !!

I wouldn't let those indianeers change the batteries in my Maglite, used to be good but recent, well last 5 years, have been a shower of shite for us. Now it's funny you should say that, I used to use them lots 12+ Years ago when I had the G/Box firm, very good, and very local to me !! Earlier this year I had a right load of grief with a Range Rover L322 ABS Unit, and sent it there 3 times.................. It was a right oddball intermittant fault, but yeah, point taken, I'll be a little more hesitant to recommend them for the future Cheers for the heads up, !!

Succinctly put................. make that +2

Love it !! The famous " Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak your mind and remove all doubt " springs to mind with most punters

Private Sale, very tidy Car, but I think he paid dear bearing in mind he spent almost 2.5k in our workshops getting it all up to scratch !! V12 S 600 AMG Apart from ABS issue, which was relatively cheap, he had to have Second Hand Cluster, which we virginised, fitted and coded, plus 2 Door Actuators for Soft Close, Valve Cover Gaskets, 24 Spark Plugs, (only the easy ones had been done) Alternator Clutch pulley and Idler Pulleys / Tensioner / Belt, Lower Arms and full Alignment and 1 ABC Strut weeping, plus all oils and fluids / filters. !! Drives like brand new now though

I feckin hate that, had an MB in recently, guy had just bought it. The t!ts had cut, (ripped) off 3 led's from the circuit board and wrecked it, had to fit a new cluster :frown All it needed was a RF ABS Sensor and Reluctor Ring !!

Hi AB Motors, So you spent 5k and got back 1k, if you'd put the 3k in a pot or on deposit you'd still have 1k .............. I think you know the answer. Do your own warranties is my advice, I have never used a Warrranty Co, when we had the Gearbox firm we used to do claims for customers, it was nothing but grief, almost everything was put down as wear and tear, a car with Trans out was stuck on the lift for days while they sent an assessor, read know nothing tit !! And then it would take weeks of chasing to get an invoice settled !! In the end I refused to do that work. Amusing Warranty Tale:- In Kent they almost always used to send the same "assessor" to us, and after his first visit I knew he was a numpty. So one time, he turned up to view a Jaguar X Type 4X4 box which was stripped on the bench, I pointed to a pair of work benches, he went straight to the bench next to the Jag box and looked at an old BL Metro Auto all in bits He then examined a few parts and said "Ah yes these Jaguar boxes are known for this, I can see the problem straight away" he went away and rejected the claim on wear and tear !! I phoned "Warranties are us" or whoever TF they were and they were highly embarrased and did actually pay the claim in that instance !!

/\ /\ /\ If OP is actually a Motor Trader then gawd help all of us (and I'll have Salt and Pepper with me hat) Sounds more like an EBay / "Face Tube" / Gumtree Billy who's just bought the Car after boring and wasting the time of a fair few traders beforehand

BBA Reman Rochester Kent

I think you have hit the nail squarely on the head with that statement !! Any Mechanic capable of Dash Removals and Diagnosing and fixing HVAC, will be charging at least £45 per hr. High end Cars and HVAC is a specialist subject on it's own Remember also, it has to be a good and proper job, awkward screws left out, damaged unseen padding, wiring clips and ties, HVAC Flap Seals etc and that car will have all kinds of rattles or wiring chafing, and also HVAC may not be working at its best afterwards !! We did cheap labour to death in another thread. BTW this isn't a dig, just what I have seen and heard of over many years in this trade

I would have thought anyone in the motor trade would have the set of Decoders on their Laptop by now, I got them ages back, never had one I can't decode, not just FORD but Blaupunkt, Clarion etc etc etc etc Disc costs naff all on fleabay There are also some free ones if you google HTH

I cannot believe that BMW is more complex than a W221, I have had complete Dashes and HVAC out of S Class in less time, much less, can usually do one in a day !! Sadly this is the problem with Warranty Work, they never want to pay !!

Now you just know you gotta do the rest of that floor and walls

FFS

Very well said, although you will probably get slated for wanting to pay for a decent job first time Love the "Parts Darts" ............... And don't forget to change the DMF while your at it

I do not fleece my Customers. I advise them, and tbh, I have never had anyone not do a DMF at the same time, despite cost. This may be a location thing again,my Customers like their Cars reliable, a breakdown up here in bad weather with no phone signal can be very serious sh!t !! /\ /\ /\ Couldn't have put that better myself. Back in the late nineties when I had the Transmission firm we did 2 or 3 without changing DMF, and before the 12 months was up they had either come back rattling or juddering, so nope, I don't do them without now, and nope, I don't feck around asking customers to sign disclaimers, the sort of guy who wants a cheap job is not the sort of customer I want. My workshop is booked up 3 weeks in advance, and has been for a very long while now !! We all do very high mileages up here, a lot of my custom is fleet owners. One guy does Bristol and Back from IOS weekly, his Manual E Class Estate has now done 230k miles, and due to the way it has been maintained it still drives like new. On the flip side, if I removed a Gearbox and found the DMF to be very recent, and not Chinese, of course i would send it back to Factor for Credit, but that has never been the case, usually the bast@rds are rattly anyway by the time the Clutch needs doing !!

Yeah, my thoughts entirely Welcome, btw I'm older than you and have a very good grasp of Technology, both IT and Vehicular

Yes I agree with that, it is the Logos andname that are normally the problem A sentence however, that mentions the Name should not be a problem. One could always try telling them to feck off and see what happens next LOL For example, the Landy Man, have LR actually copyrighted "Landy" ????????????????????

I agree with you on a sales car, statutory warranty etc, but if I'm putting a Clutch kit in a workshop customers MB, VW, whatever then I personally have to guarantee it, and I don't wanna be doing it again in 6 months time cos they are whinging it rattles or judders 30 years !! That is around when they first appeared in about 1995 era Like me, you're showing your age lol

It was their 126's that inspired me The Skinner Bro's, they were mates of mine, took my Fiat 500 to Avon Park once with them. Nice lads, but they didn't like my Business partner who used to take it to strips more than I did and tell everyone he built it etc etc !! Mind I didn't like him much either after he stole a load of money out of the Business, then cost me an f'ing fortune to get rid of the c*nt !! The elder Bro lost his young son, very tragic, they are lovely Guys, good craic

Bummer !! BTW, I wasn't trying to sound offensive, and you've answered me, you did indeed change it !! I just come across as abrupt sometimes, I say it how I see it FWIW, (and obviously you may have), I always use the LUK Clutch Kits, rather that the cheapies. I have only had one LUK Concentric Bearing go, in a fair few years now, like you it was immediate, like whilst on road test, and was on a Vauxhall Astra. The Factors did cough up a few hrs labour at trade rate as goodwill gesture These concentric Bearings are a right pain, and I feel yours, it is a real bugger when you fit a new part only to find it's wafty I also agree with the other post about DMF's, if I'm doing a Clutch on a vehicle with DMF then it's having one of them too, or I will simply turn the job away Again I only use LUK. Cheers Dave