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Post by silverdragon on Mar 31, 2015 7:02:20 GMT
Get you into some of that.
If thats a complete "job done" no more worries and your MOT work done, (Inspection = the equivalent of UK's MOT?...) then you have a good spanner man there.
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Post by GTCGreg on Mar 31, 2015 7:05:07 GMT
Good mechanics are hard to find. But it sounds like you found one.
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Post by OziRiS on Mar 31, 2015 8:11:59 GMT
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but if he doesn't pounce on me with a lot of extras when he's done, I'm definitely going back there next time the car needs fixing.
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Post by the light works on Mar 31, 2015 13:51:24 GMT
Reminds me of one of my first major problems as a driver... Stranded on the side of the road with broken throttle linkage, which had a ball and socket joint that kept popping loose. I fixed that by wrapping some shrink-wrap round it to get me home. But I had tilted the cab, I had remembered to take my flask off the window ledge, and my bag off the seat, and everything else out of the cab that van fly when the cab tilts, so all good... Except the cab wouldnt tilt back. We dont have motorized tilts, its all manual....(Even the heavy ones are hand-pump) So I could get the cab moving, but not enough to get it to latch back down?... I had been there half hour trying. Eventually another trucker stops... which you did back then when you saw someone in trouble. He was about the size of Danny Devito?... Anyways, he comes up "There's a trick to it lad, watch this..." He climbs up the wheel, grabs a hold of the cab, and jumps, using his body weight to drag the cab down, it lands with a bang and secured in place... this one, the control valve is a simple bidirectional valve. you normally pump until the cab overbalances, and then it coasts the rest of the way to the stop,either way it is going, but if it is stiff "raising" you can actually pump it down to the latches. (you don't need a safety brace to work on the engine, because if the lift fails the cab will fall forward) |
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Post by the light works on Mar 31, 2015 13:53:29 GMT
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but if he doesn't pounce on me with a lot of extras when he's done, I'm definitely going back there next time the car needs fixing. nice to get a decent mechanic, isn't it? my mechanic does tend to add things to the list of stuff, but in his defense, I am operating at the upper limit of capacity, and so I tend to wear things out. |
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Post by kharnynb on Mar 31, 2015 19:34:40 GMT
This is why i prefer to take the car to service at the local "fachschule"(vocational school).
The students are there to learn, and usually motivated and the teachers will check their work as they get graded on it.
They've done better work than any previous mechanic i've ever had, for less than half the price.
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Post by OziRiS on Mar 31, 2015 21:17:51 GMT
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but if he doesn't pounce on me with a lot of extras when he's done, I'm definitely going back there next time the car needs fixing. nice to get a decent mechanic, isn't it? my mechanic does tend to add things to the list of stuff, but in his defense, I am operating at the upper limit of capacity, and so I tend to wear things out. It is nice. Turns out I didn't listen properly when he told me the price over the phone. He told me he wouldn't be able to get a new horn for me until after easter, so I'd have to wait for that. Figured I'd just tell him I'd install it myself and save the money. Turns out I didn't have to. It was already part of the price, along with putting it in. All I have to do is show up next Tuesday after lunch and they'll have it installed in about 10 minutes. He also threw in a new wiper arm and wiper to go with the new rear window wiper motor. No charge. In return, I assured him he'd just gained a new regular customer  |
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Post by OziRiS on Mar 31, 2015 21:25:29 GMT
This is why i prefer to take the car to service at the local "fachschule"(vocational school). The students are there to learn, and usually motivated and the teachers will check their work as they get graded on it. They've done better work than any previous mechanic i've ever had, for less than half the price. We have one of those more or less just across the street from the Skoda shop, but I wouldn't leave my car in their hands. I've gone to that school and the teachers there are in a nasty habit of believing they don't have to work for their money. They'll gladly hand the students an assignment and then disappear for hours on end, without leaving a means of contact so the students can get in touch with them if they have questions. I actually applied for a teaching job there once. Forklift instructor. I've been told by an old colleague of mine who's a teacher there that one of the other teachers made an active effort to prevent them from hiring me after having had me as a student for a week. His argument had been that my military background made me too strict. Translation: When I teach, I actually make an effort to actively TEACH. I don't just leave people with an assignment and hang around somewhere drinking coffee. Apparently, he saw that as a threat to his way of life  |
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Post by kharnynb on Apr 1, 2015 3:50:24 GMT
ouch, that sounds bad...Finnish teachers are way to proud of their jobs to screw up that bad.
I think that is a major part in the quality of finnish education, teachers are highly valued and therefor very proud of their profession.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 1, 2015 7:00:43 GMT
The regular mechanic I use is a good friend, and the reason he is, is because he steadfastly refuses to rip people off.
He is a customer in the club, and gets his order books filled by other customers "Have you got time to do" every time he goes in....
Of course he has, and by being good reliable and totally honest, no one gives a stuff about what his hourly charge is when he actually works, because many times he has said "look its down to [xyz], I will get it on order and let you know" and he hasnt stated charging until he has the part in his hands... inspections are free, its the work that costs.
His MOT work is fully on the "Only whats covered by the MOT" rule, so, there is no nasty surprises by "You need this bulb changing and a new suspension arm.."
I had a question about a slightly dodgy spare wheel, it was a get me home thing that perhaps needed replacing, "Its not in the MOT"
I had been assured by the previous place it WAS part of the MOT....
The previous place had told me my seatbelts needed replacing because the didnt auto-rewind.
That took half an hour and a squirt of wd40 on the bearings, good as new, they wanted £140 a pop for new units and fitting fee....
That was half a dozen years ago, I still have the perfectly serviceable belts in place.
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Post by OziRiS on Apr 1, 2015 7:44:37 GMT
ouch, that sounds bad...Finnish teachers are way to proud of their jobs to screw up that bad. I think that is a major part in the quality of finnish education, teachers are highly valued and therefor very proud of their profession. Which is probably why Finland cosistently scores among the top 3 (and often end up as number 1) in Europe when comparing the abilities of school children. Our school system is the most soshulist part of our entire system. Instead of dividing the kids up according to ability, making sure the best students are challenged and the weaker students are helped, we put everyone in the same class and the lessons are arranged according to the lowest common denominator. The result is that even the average kids sometimes aren't challenged. |
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Post by the light works on Apr 1, 2015 14:18:19 GMT
The regular mechanic I use is a good friend, and the reason he is, is because he steadfastly refuses to rip people off. He is a customer in the club, and gets his order books filled by other customers "Have you got time to do" every time he goes in.... Of course he has, and by being good reliable and totally honest, no one gives a stuff about what his hourly charge is when he actually works, because many times he has said "look its down to [xyz], I will get it on order and let you know" and he hasnt stated charging until he has the part in his hands... inspections are free, its the work that costs. His MOT work is fully on the "Only whats covered by the MOT" rule, so, there is no nasty surprises by "You need this bulb changing and a new suspension arm.." I had a question about a slightly dodgy spare wheel, it was a get me home thing that perhaps needed replacing, "Its not in the MOT" I had been assured by the previous place it WAS part of the MOT.... The previous place had told me my seatbelts needed replacing because the didnt auto-rewind. That took half an hour and a squirt of wd40 on the bearings, good as new, they wanted £140 a pop for new units and fitting fee.... That was half a dozen years ago, I still have the perfectly serviceable belts in place. When I had my Acura, one of the buckles became inconsistent. it would stick open. I happened to be reading the manual and it said seatbelts were 100% covered by warranty. - it so happened a plastic bit on the driver's door handle had failed, so I just took it to the dealer, and said, "while it's here, the passenger side belt is having problems" new seat belt buckle, no charge. |
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Post by OziRiS on Apr 18, 2016 23:54:20 GMT
I've run into a new problem with the car and I'm hoping one of you can help. The problem is electronic, there's no doubt about it. It's downright weird. It all started with my electronic "parking disc" only working internittantly. For those who might know what that is, it's this thing:  I still have this problem and up until a few weeks ago, I thought I just needed to replace it, but now I'm not so sure. First weird thing that happened after this was the "check engine" light flashing on and off for no apparent reason. Then one day the key fob suddenly didn't work. I was trying to unlock the car and it just wouldn't. Unlocked it manually and all of a sudden, the key fob worked again. It worked for about a week and then one day I couldn't lock it. Did it manually again, the fob worked afterwards and has been working ever since. And before you ask about the battery in the fob, it's not that. Girlfriend's key fob didn't work either and hers had the battery changed about a year ago. That also worked again once I'd done the manual thing. Last week I was waiting for Girlfriend outside the pharmacy and rolled down both front windows. When she came out and I started the car, the passenger side window wouldn't close again. We drove home and I figured that with all the electrical stuff that's been going on with the car lately, I'd try a hard reset. I disconnected the battery, reconnected it and the window suddenly worked again. Haven't had a problem with it since, but the parking disc and "check engine" light are still doing weird things. Within the last couple of days, even more weird electrical stuff has happened. The preheating lamp has started blinking all the time (it's a diesel, so it has that little coil symbol that lights up before the engine starts to let you know that it's preheating and you shouldn't start the engine until it turns off) and two days ago, the cruise control just suddenly stopped working. That last one was a pain in the butt, because it died as we were headed for Germany - a 1½ hour drive on the freeway. I've been thinking that I might just need a new battery to at least take care of some of the problems. It certainly seems there's something wrong there considering the whole hard reset deal with the window problem, but I've tried it again to see if it would fix any of the other stuff and it hasn't. I've read somewhere that there's a known problem with VWs and Seats where a faulty brake light switch can apparently cause the problems with the preheating lamp and the cruise control and since Skoda is pretty much a VW/Seat wearing a different hat, that might hold true for my car as well. In that case, does anyone know if that's a relatively easy thing to fix, or should I leave that to a mechanic (C64, I'm guessing you would have some knowledge on this)? It's not that I don't want to spend the money on taking it to the machanic, but I'd like to at least know what's wrong with it before I do. I know I've said earlier in this thread that I've found a mechanic I can work with, but a lot of bad experience in the past has left me less than trusting of these people. Knowing what needs fixing helps ensure they don't make stuff up that I have to pay for. |
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Post by the light works on Apr 19, 2016 1:00:38 GMT
I don't know if it translates to your car, but my parents' old minivan had a computer module called the body control module that was in charge of those sorts of things - and yes, it lost its marbles and needed to be replaced.
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 19, 2016 2:48:35 GMT
If the check engine light is coming on, the first thing you should do is check for error codes. If you don't have a code reader, many auto supply stores (at least around here) will lend you one or even check it for you at no cost. A code reader can read codes for more than just engine problems. Many chassis errors are also often stored. A code that starts with "P" is engine, emissions or transmission. Codes starting with "B" are body codes, "C" are Chassis codes and "U" are computer communications error codes.
In any event, with so many different systems going wonko, it sounds like it may be a bad ground issue. You're right in that C64 may have some insite. He's had a lot of experience with VW's.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 19, 2016 9:41:42 GMT
In that I had a lot of problems recently with my own key fobs, and changing the battery on the vehicle cured a lot of erroneous errors, a good check on the battery may throw up some faults, in that my old one, even though showing healthy, was down to 40% of its ability to hold charge.
The check engine "may" be a faulty sensor on the oil level?.
Other faults "may" indicate that starting the vehicle has drained the battery that much, especially on a diesel, that the battery hasnt got a lot left to run everything else...
Especially during Winter when you had your lights on pretty much all the time?.
This may explain why the "!heater" light is flashing, it isnt working properly, as it cant drain enough current?.
I would run the battery in for a quick check, and these days, batteries are that technical it has to be done disconnected from the vehicle to get a true reading, as the probes work out a percentage of viable cells on the thing.
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Post by OziRiS on Apr 19, 2016 10:39:12 GMT
Just found a YouTube vid where it was explained that the flashing preheater warning light actually has nothing to do with the glow plugs, as I expected. It means there's some sort of fault with the engine management system.
Just spoke to the mechanic. He knows the problem with the brake light switch affecting the preheater alarm and cruise control system (explanation: hitting the brakes switches off cruise control, so any problem with brake electronics will automatically render cruise control useless for safety reasons - the preheater alarm is going off because of the way the car is wired) and that would be the first thing he would check. As for the other stuff, he doesn't think the battery is the problem. He says as long as the car starts without issue, the battery should be fine, but I'm not sure I buy that.
Anyway, he's so busy he can't take my car in until the 10th of next month, so still, any help with anything I could possibly fix myself would be greatly appreciated. Anything I can fix now won't show up on my bill on May 11th.
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Post by wvengineer on Apr 19, 2016 12:33:43 GMT
One thing I have seen on hatchbacks, keep a close eye on the wiring harness to the rear door. When I had my Subaru Outback, it was a common cause of electrical problems in those cars that where the wiring goes to the rear door, it goes though a weather tight rubber conduit, it was known for wiring to get either caught, pinched, or just rubbed in such a way that it would wear the insulation off of a wire and it would short to the frame causing grounding issues. When people had that problem, the common fix was to reorient how the rubber conduit was installed so it was at a angle less likely to pinch the wires. People also commonly recommended wrapping the individual wires and the whole bundle with heavy electrical tape to prevent future issues.
I would suggest at least inspecting the wiring to your rear door for possible damage. While you are at it, you may also want to look at the wiring to the other doors as well.
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Post by the light works on Apr 19, 2016 14:20:18 GMT
If the check engine light is coming on, the first thing you should do is check for error codes. If you don't have a code reader, many auto supply stores (at least around here) will lend you one or even check it for you at no cost. A code reader can read codes for more than just engine problems. Many chassis errors are also often stored. A code that starts with "P" is engine, emissions or transmission. Codes starting with "B" are body codes, "C" are Chassis codes and "U" are computer communications error codes. In any event, with so many different systems going wonko, it sounds like it may be a bad ground issue. You're right in that C64 may have some insite. He's had a lot of experience with VW's. that totally slipped my mind, and I have had chassis ground issues before. |
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Post by OziRiS on Apr 19, 2016 18:32:47 GMT
One thing I have seen on hatchbacks, keep a close eye on the wiring harness to the rear door. When I had my Subaru Outback, it was a common cause of electrical problems in those cars that where the wiring goes to the rear door, it goes though a weather tight rubber conduit, it was known for wiring to get either caught, pinched, or just rubbed in such a way that it would wear the insulation off of a wire and it would short to the frame causing grounding issues. When people had that problem, the common fix was to reorient how the rubber conduit was installed so it was at a angle less likely to pinch the wires. People also commonly recommended wrapping the individual wires and the whole bundle with heavy electrical tape to prevent future issues. I would suggest at least inspecting the wiring to your rear door for possible damage. While you are at it, you may also want to look at the wiring to the other doors as well. That makes sense and ties in nicely with GTCGreg's thoughts about a ground fault. Wonky wires seem like a good bet at this point. Girlfriend called me while she was driving home from handball practice with boy and told me the preheater warning lamp had stopped blinking. Told her to check if the cruise control was working again and it was, so it's starting to look like at least some of the problems have something to do with loose/broken wires. It may not be the brake light switch, but the wiring from the brake lights to the switch that crapped out. I'll try to take a look at that wiring harness tomorrow, but if memory serves me, it's not that easy to get at, so we'll see how far I'm comfortable with taking this on my own and I'll report back. Thanks to all of you so far. If nothing else, I'm starting to get a better picture of what would be plausible causes, which means I have a better chance at catching any possible BS from the mechanic that'll end up costing me more than necessary. |
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