Hi Mike,

Cowboys and Sharks. This guy has a starting poblem in damp conditions and causing problems getting to work. He has been told that the car has had a diagnostic check and no faults found (No fault codes) and there is no problem with the car. He is now facing a bill for a diagnostic check and estimate to replace rad and cap. His fault has not been fixed. If these people had undertaken proper basic checks then this fault would be found and then advised about the over-heating problem.

Previous to this, he had an over-heating problem a few months ago in which various bits were replaced and now he is told that the problem is still there. Previous to that, he had a head gasket problem which went wrong and cost him a lot of money (long story). Recently, he had a tyre replaced and shortly afterwards was rescued on the M4 with said wheel hanging off. These people blacken our name and I make no apology in calling them cowboys and sharks.

Diagnostic Phones. I too do not give diagnostic help over the phone but if you had a mate that was 3 hours drive away and at wits end with a problem then I make exception to the rule. I am sure most fair minded people would as well.

In summary, whether this car has an over-heating problem is neither here nor there. His problem is only in damp weather which indicates an HT problem. All that was done on this car was some goon plugged into it and nothing was shown. Hence my call for some professional tech subscribing to UKAT to help him out.

Regards

Pete M