Hmmm Poor workmanship in the Motor Trade has for a long time been a nice easy time filler for Trading Standards officers too stupid for real work. Has anyone considered a crackdown on customers. for instance those who shout by leaving CAPS lock on whilst posting. Is it me or does the post above not make any sense at all Hammy

Full service history gets all hyped up anyway. When I sell my car I'll have done all the servicing myself, to a much higher standard than most dealers I'll tell you as well. The only stamp in the book is the PDI. I know some dealers who stamp the book and do a pretty rubbish basic service. I've done a cracking job with Genuine parts but no stamp in the book. Which would you choose? Hammy

.........And what, please tell me would Trading Standards do if you told them? Maybe you would want that the dealer just stamps the book willy nilly, enters dates and mileages and calls it a service history. Would you be happy then? Hammy

So then, you bought an ex Lex leasing car, at auction, with no warranty, as seen & with no MOT. It failed MOT and needed a grands worth of work and now you want the auction house or Lex to pay. Words fail me..................................(We need a shaking head in disbelief icon) What, exactly, are you experienced at? Not buying cars Hammy

Find out which car the manager drives...............................

Back to the origional letter then. On the plus side it is 6 paragraphs before you mention the Sale of goods act (1923) amended or whatever. The downside is, £500 is waaaaaaay too much to pay for a Lambda Sensor :o . How did they force you to pay? Hammy

Nice Answer Hammy

Be careful using additives in modern diesel engines. Some of the later VHP (Very High Pressure System) are sensitive to what you run through them. In fact most manufacturers nowaday's state quite specifically in the handbooks that additives must not be used (Not that anybody bothers reading the handbook). So if you use an additive and it damages a very expensive pump or set of injectors then it's down to you. I can just imagine the thread on CAG:- "Car under warranty, dealer won't replace injection pump". Car won't start, needs new pump, they say no to warranty because of signs of contanination. Customer comes on here slating manufactuer, dealer and staff. Someone else posts "call in Trading Standards, Consumer Direct and the FBI", someone else quotes SOG Act 1865 blah, blah and all manner of fire and brimstone is directed at Dealer. Customer, of course, knows they put Redex or whatever in it and says nowt. I know, I've had recent, personal, experience of this and I was on the receiving end. I showed the customer the evidence and he paid up in the end vowing never to deal with me or relevant manufacturer again. Don't you just love customers!!!!!! Hammy

Just read this before going to bed!! Awesome post. I hope you never become a customer of mine though Hammy

HI P2337 The fault codes means "Cylinder #2 above Knock Threshold". One faulty injector won't cause a non-start. I doubt whether the camshaft sensor or bad earth would either. There is no Camshaft Relay as far as I know. Blocked Fuel Filter might cause a non-start though. I'd offer more help, with the vehicle details, but Freaky Leaky's convinced I'm out to steal your identity using the VIN of your car.................... Hammy

Ahhh well, whatever.

Hello "The story started when i bought the car. Had it serviced and within 10 minutes they cracked the Cylinder Head (screwed a cold spark plug into a HOT engine without using a torque wrench)." I've been involved in the repair of vehicles for a long time and this just doesn't sound "right". Scewing a room temp spark plug into a hot engine would not crack the head. They could have cross threaded it, then forced it, that might do it but not a temp difference. The head would have expanded, the plug would be normal, it wouldn't crack it though. There can be problems removing a Steel plug from a hot alloy head as the threads can be tight but again this wouldn't crack it. A torque wrench would only be used used in the final tightening stage of the plug fitment, i can't remember ever seeing a technician use a torque wrench to tighten a spark plug, most do it by feel and whether they used a torque wrench or not wouldn't have any bearing on the cracked head, again, thread damage but not a crack. Just sounds a bit wrong to me Hammy

Nice letter, Freaky Leaky will be especially pleased you removed the personal information I would reply back re-stating the points mentioned in your first letter and overlooked in the response. End the new letter "Last correspondence before court action" and if they don't give give you a satisfactory answer, do it. Hammy

I have to say that is probably the worst paint job i have ever seen. Whoever did this needs their equipment confiscating. On a lighter point, I do like the cable-tie holding the front spoiler on though Hammy

Don't want to get into a big row over this but, labour time for an oil pressure switch on a common Transit is 0.3Hrs (18Mins). At £80.00 an hour that's £24.00, £22 for the switch and VAT @ 17.5% comes to £54.05. Switch failure is caused by water ingress into the switch, all the new, genuine, ones are modified. If the one the OP got was a non-genuine one or one that has been in stock in an independents stock for some time the fault will probably re-occur. Not being funny, I'm just trying to put a bit of perspective on it Hammy

Oil pressure warning switch is a common failure, most ford dealers would know this and charge only for the switch and connector plus a bit of labour, usually under 1 hr. Did someone actually quote you £140 for this? on the other hand if they replaced the switch because of a guess you wouldn''t be very happy with them if they sent your van out with little or no oil pressure. You would be on here complaining they had done a poor job and want a new engine for nothing. We can't win Hammy

Interesting post, jetman. The failure of three injectors is indeed rare, plus the forth one on it's way out. I wonder what diagnostic technique the independent used to arrive at this conclusion. However one or more faulty injectors would lead me to suspect a fuel problem. Without your specific vehicle details its difficult to answer the question of plastic or steel, copper plated tanks. As far as i know Mondeo tanks have alway's been plastic. I did once ask for specific vehicle details on here but i got severly rebuffed by freakleaky.........so i can't help you there. Probably all your trouble arose from contaminated fuel. If the fuel was comtaminated why do you think there is an inherent weakness in the injectors, it was the fuel that broke them! Why do you think Ford are playing their cards close to their chest, Ford cannot be responsible for the type or quality of fuel put in one of their vehicles. Hammy

Forgive me, but as this post is already going slightly pear shaped, the Mod Gods might allow me to make an observation What on earth is a Chief Executive Officer of a computer-driven XXX company doing buying a retail Laptop for business use from PC World? Your not an MP are you? Hammy

Well there you are, I do sometimes get it wrong, dosn't happen very often mind you. Good result then. Over and out Hammy

Good Result, you must be very pleased. One of the reasons why it's so difficult to make a profit nowaday's, nobody want's to pay fair price for anything, it's alway's someone else's fault, or under warranty. Can I also, gently point out that you probably didn't "take on" Toyota, you "took on" a franchised Toyota dealer who backed down and gave you a refund, tyre and pollen filter. Whether they were truly liable or not is a matter of opinion but Toyota (The Manufacturer) had nothing to do with it. Anyway, as you say, you won. Hammy

Despite what Alex says, timing chaims do jump, just look at the Ford Transit............... Anyway, my advice would be. Are you a member of the AA or RAC, if so they can provide an independant report. Hammy

No actually, it wasn't a joke. I make much more money doing lots of smaller, more economical repairs than I do with more difficult long winded repairs. Volume on a smaller return you see. Don't assume all garages just try and get the biggest repair possible out of the poor customer. There are easier ways of making good money without ripping folks off. Hammy

Pops 1. Was the clutch biting point right at the top of the pedal travel when you bought it, this might indicate a worn clutch. You might be able to tell from the parts but it won't be easy. 2. The pressure plate clamps the clutch disc to the flywheel, if the clamping action is weak that can cause premature wear on the clutch disc. If this is the case the wear on the pressure plate is consequencial to the weak pressure plate and so it will be covered. 3. You have to gauge the reaction of the dealer as to whether or not you can trust them. Hammy:)

Hi Pops Here are Hammy's thoughts and don't take any offence from them, they are only what I would say if you were stood in front of me in a Dealership:) I've seen clutches wear out, and I mean worn out, not faulty, within 2500 miles. Clutch slipping when warm could be wear and tear in which case it's not going to be covered under any warranty. You just have to live with that. However it can and probably will be a weak presure plate, which will be warranty, get them to keep the parts and show you them. You will see if they are worn. Why have you already started and logged a complaint with Peugeot warranty, there might not be anything to complain about. Graham is in the service department, not on it You havn't got a grievance yet and no-one buys a car for the benefit of reliability. You buy it to go to the shops and cars are intrinsically un-reliable and wear out. The dealer, probably, would not have closely inspected the clutch before you bought it. If, and it's a big if, you wore out the clutch why are you not prepared to pay for it? Good faith is often mis-quoted and it was working when you bought it. Bit early to involve the RMIF, who are the NCS? National Crime Squad? So then, now the helpful bit. Let them strip it down, if it's worn try the weak pressure plate argument, if it's really, really worn, it must of been like that when you bought it and the dealer should pay, flatly refuse to pay, and argue that it was like that when you bought it. If it was you................stop riding the clutch!! Please don't take offence at my humour, 30 years in the motor trade has made me like this Hammy

Here goes Questions What sort of car is it. Was the gearbox a new one. Not engaging until you rev it, is it an automatic. Why is it at his other garage. A receipt he scribbled on the back of his business card doesn't sound too good. 4 weeks to fit it, not good either. What is wrong with it exactly? Answers 1. Recover the car, it's still yours, get another gargae to help, sue for the money. 2. You have alraedy given an independent machic £700. For an unbiased opinion you need the AA or RAC which will cost more money. A local main dealer will give you an opinion for nothing. 3. if the report shows the gearbox to be dud you need the paperwork to reflect this with an accurate description of the fault. 4. Don't give anyone £700 without a receipt again Hammy