Someone who actually knows what they are doing!?

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kaylins

Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
74
Location
Bath, Somerset.
I am in desperate need of a garage or someone who knows what they're doing with a 1.7 Puma as anywhere I have taken my car to get work done just results in me out of pocket and still left with the same issue!

Last year I had an issue with the ABS for about 6 months. It took a couple of months just to convince a couple of people that it was the ABS. Had loads of parts replaced, still kept intermittently going off (even worse than before) until one day my partner got fed up, took everything apart, gave it all a good clean, put it back and 3000 miles later the problem hasn't reappeared and all works fine.

Had the Cambelt replaced not long after at a different garage. Luckily the Cambelt was done properly (as far as I can tell) however the rocker gasket wasn't put on properly and has had a slow oil leak since.

Took her in to another Garage in January for a full service and to check the oil leak. Put it down to the oil filter which was replaced - still leaking. Went back 2 weeks later, got them to replace the rocker Gasket and didn't see any oil for about a month and thought nothing of it. A week ago noticed a nice big puddle of oil under the front drivers side (was only little drops of oil before). Got a mate of mine to have a look, oil leak appears to be coming from the back of the engine and he noticed that the bolt in the rocker gasket cover has been cross threaded!

She's back in the Garage tomorrow for her MOT and I fear it's going to be a failure for the oil leak which not only they failed to fix (after spending over £100 for the pleasure) but also did a bodge job of and will probably need to now replace the rocker cover.

Needless to say, I won't be going back to that garage again! But that's 3 Garages in the last year that seem to have no idea what they're doing. So if anyone knows of anyone/anywhere local to Bath, Bristol or Chew Valley that they can recommend will do a good job, please let me know!
 
I'd be asking them to recheck their work on the rocker gasket if it's already started leaking! Do you know if they used a genuine gasket or a pattern part? Pattern parts are notoriously bad fitting and usually require some sort of sealant to keep it good. Genuine is always recommended now.

I dont know of any garages that way but there is a recommended garages thread which you could check out?
 
No idea if it was genuine or not, will find out when I take her in tomorrow. Even if is genuine, the fact that they've cross threaded the bolt isn't a great sign either!

I've had a look at the thread and there were 2 garages listed that are local but it seems they no longer exist or they've been renamed/under new management :-(
 
Good News - It wasn't a genuine rocker so it's now been replaced with a genuine Ford one.

Bad news - Failed MOT due to rust and knackered suspension bushes. Going to cost £450 to get put right :'(
 
Glad the gasket has been sorted..
£450 sounds steep to me to replace the bushes but I've not had them done for a few years.. if you know which bushes it might be worth calling another garage to get a cost for comparison.
 
It's not just for the bushes. Think it was about £200 for all the welding that needs doing in a few places, £130 for the bushes, £20 difference for the Gasket, £50 for the MOT then the rest is VAT and labour.

To be honest the suspension bushes were the next on my list to get replaced and at least I know she should be all good for the next year. The real kick in the teeth was that I spent £500 on last year's MOT getting all the major anchors welded. Rust is a bastard!
 
Ah well in that case the price doesn't sound at all bad :grin:

And as you say it'll keep you grinning for another year.
 
Yeah that's what I thought.
Not going to be able to get another decent car for that price either and she runs beautifully so it's worth it.

I swear that car will bankrupt me one day :lol:
 
Even if you spend £500 every year on it, you'd lose that in depreciation on a newer car before even paying any repair costs.

(This is how I always looked at it anyway, now I'm on the other side of the fence with the Focus depreciating instead of repairing :roll: )
 
Haha yeah that's what I keep telling my partner! He loves the Puma but any time I get something done to it "You could have saved that money and got yourself a new car" Yep, I could but it wouldn't be as fun. That and the amount of money I've spent on her already would have just been a waste :lol:
 
Yes - but one day (at an undetermined point in the future) these cars are going to worth loads. :lol: Well, that's what I tell myself everytime I have to spend money on it.

Besides - you can't get anything else for the money that either looks like one or drives like one. I'm sort of at the point where I've spent that much on mine that to stop now would be a spineless surrender and make all the previous repairs worthless!

Rust= :twisted:
 
red said:
[post]361355[/post] Even if you spend £500 every year on it, you'd lose that in depreciation on a newer car before even paying any repair costs.

(This is how I always looked at it anyway, now I'm on the other side of the fence with the Focus depreciating instead of repairing :roll: )

I tend to take same view, along with fact that I'm attached to Puma, however if you want (usually) minimal depreciation and repair costs get and 05MY Volvo built Volvo* (last build year before everything got screwed up by tighten emission laws and Ford bean counters)

As far as finding a decent mechanic, no idea down that way, there is a good Volvo garage, but often finding a mechanic that has a passion for older cars, rather than plug in, read codes, fit parts.... Is becoming harder to find, and when you find a good one, they are booked up weeks in advance.

*Not the cars built on focus platform :lol:
 

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