Posted by Tony Sefton on December 4, 2009, 9:25 pm Message modified by board administrator December 7, 2009, 3:56 pm
Is Chris Mason still monitoring this forum. ?
Hi chris. what would you do if one of your Members worked on a 2005/6 vehicle for a smoking and later a non start situation, After a “DIAGNOSIS” they condemned the diesel pump and quoted the customer £1700 for the pump + labour plus Vat.
The Customer then removed the vehicle and relied on their diagnosis and shopped around for a better price, I Supplied him with a “Brand new Bosch ” pump for £1200 + vat and he had it fitted at a diesel specialist. Due to the fact that the pump/ecu required programming the vehicle then went to another specialist to be programmed.
The Vehicle then smoked as it originally did before it broke down, so they advised the customer to take it back to the dealer. and due to being low on fuel the dealer topped it up with £20 worth of diesel.
it carried on smoking, so they code read it and condemned the "new pump" due to a single fault code relating to fuel metering. and to be fair, their guided diagnostic info takes them straight to a faulty pump without any diagnostics being carried out . ( most likely the same code that caused them to condemn the original pump )
At this point alarm bells should have started ringing but they insisted that the new genuine Brand new Bosch pump was faulty and the customer should have bought a genuine "Dealer" pump off them and it would have been ok. ( or it would have been their problem )
We talked to the Dealer, the Diesel specialist, Bosch Technical, and the customer to get as much of the story as possible, ( although Dealer info and customer info differs considerably )
The customer Expected me to get another pump off Bosch and give it to him for the Dealers to fit, Which I refused to do as I said what happens if they fit the pump and give you a massive bill and it doesn't cure the problem. ?? Will they pay for the 2nd new pump. ?
Anyway, Bosch Technical Agreed that the vehicle needed getting away from the Dealer enviroment to avoid a "MASSIVE" Bill and possible legal action either way. ( customer to Dealer Or customer to Bosch or to myself etc )
We got the Vehicle in and emptied the diesel filter into a jar and found that the fuel was an orange colour, ( not fogetting that the tank was almost empty and the Dealer had put £20 of fuel into it. ) and there was dirt and crap floating about.
At that point we removed the tank and cleaned it out and refilled it with fresh diesel. and set off to test drive the vehicle, i only got about 5 yards and one of the lads shouted, hold on, its got an air leak, which turned out to be a dirty great hole in the intercooler, A replacement intercooler was fitted and the car runs as it should do with no smoking. This Highlights the need for basic diagnostics and for the Technician “NOT” to rely solely on fault codes and guided information. How much could this vehicle have ended up costing if it had been left with the Dealer. ? would they have fixed it. ? would they have cured the real problem and insisted that it was caused by the faulty new pump.? Where would it all have ended. ?
I shudder to think what the end result would have been if this car had been left for them to sort out, How Many pumps would they have wrongly diagnosed simply on the evidence of a fault code. ?? How much would the invoice have been and how much should it really have cost if they had Diagnosed it properly. ?? I personally would be very reluctant to take any car to a main agent and leave it for them to diagnose and repair due to seeing and hearing of this type of service unless i knew them personally and could be kept informed of the progress or problems that arose during the job. I,e who wants to get a call from the dealers saying something like----- Good morning sir we have fitted several parts to your car and you now owe us £2000 but we still haven’t fixed it so would you like us to carry on and look for the Real problem. ?
Well said Tony. You know, I know and we all know that this is not a one off. I can also relate similar horror stories but Tony has said it all.
You expect main dealers to know better (or do we?). I had the local Mercedes dealership ring me a couple of days ago re a Vito. I am not a "diesel man" but they wanted my advice which once I get full details will endeavor to help. Normally, if I get stuck on a vehicle I might turn to the Main Agents - not the other way round.
I don't know how many of you guys out there are affiliated to these motor codes etc,but I am a one man band and do not belong to any. I have better things to spend my money on and when I see these myriad of codes and organisations mentioned on this site, I wouldn't know which one to join anyway. However, I look at the bigger picture. Our industry, or indeed any other industry would not need this plethora of quango's if the main player (Trading Standards) were properly armed and given the powers to cut out sharp practice and poor workmanship in ALL industries. Any business falling short should be dealt with by ONE recognised body then the customer would no longer be confused by the mish mash of tin pot organisations that prey upon people like you and me.