thegarageblog.co.uk : It’s so easy to overlook the simple things

With cars generally getting ever more reliable these days and having longer and longer intervals between services, it’s little wonder that the bonnet rarely gets opened between visits to the garage. When cars could barely manage 6000 miles between services and DIY maintenance was a relatively simple affair, it was quite normal for the owner to check the oil on the dipstick every week or so, and top-up if it was a bit low. Almost every car owner in the land had a rusty can of Duckhams 20W/50 or Castrol GTX in their garage with a little pull-up spout. If you were really keen, you might even have a metal oil pouring jug to precisely measure the 2 pints needed to take the level on the dipstick from minimum to maximum.

These days, fewer and fewer people ever bother to open the bonnet on their cars. The majority of engines (with some known exceptions) often use little or no oil between services, so unless the windscreen washer fluid runs-out it never gets checked. When it’s time for the annual MOT test, the number of cars with empty screenwash reservoirs and non-functioning washers is shocking. Personally, I can’t stand not having windscreen washers and as soon as it runs-out, I’ll pull-in to a service station and purchase one of their extortionately priced bottles of screenwash just to complete my journey (even though I have gallons of the stuff at my workshop!)

Now, an empty screenwash bottle is hardly the end of the world, but an empty oil sump can be the end of your engine! Certain cars seem to suffer worse than others for running-out of oil. One particular example that is fairly common is the old 1300cc OHV engine fitted to many Ford Fiesta and Escort cars, right up until recently. These (when neglected) are horrible old rattly engines even when they have oil, as part of the regular servicing requires the tappets (valve clearances) to be adjusted. Alas, by the time these cars fall into the hands of their 6th or 7th owner (possibly an impoverished student), the servicing won’t be quite as frequent as it should and the tappets will begin rattling. The owner will quickly get used to the rattling, and therefore generally won’t notice when the rattling gets progressively worse. This is normally followed by the oil warning light illuminating, and in turn, the car shuddering to a halt!

By this time it’s often too late and the damage is already done. Contrary to what many people think, the ‘OIL’ warning light (the RED one) isn’t there to tell you the level is low, but iluminates when the oil pressure in the heart of the engine drops to a critically low level! At this point, the engine is close to siezing and you’re just a short while away from a long wait by the roadside for the breakdown recovery people to arrive.

A reconditioned engine is usually around £1000 inc. fitting for a Fiesta 1.3 and even a decent secondhand one will be at least £600 with labour etc. And to think that all could be avoided by simply checking your oil every few weeks, and pouring in a pint or two if needed! If in doubt, you could always pop-in and one of our chaps will check it for you.

On the subject of breakdown services, I have the greatest admiration for the chaps (and occasional lady) that operate the AA and RAC patrols across the country. It’s not always easy to repair cars in a workshop, so anyone that chooses to do it by the roadside, in all weathers and working 10 hour shifts deserves a mention!

Whilst the vast majority are very knowledgeable about the workings of a modern car, and usually provide a pretty accurate diagnosis when they bring the car in to us, just occasionaly I wish they’d save the diagnosis for us to do? Imagine if you went to the doctor’s surgery with no idea what was wrong with you. As you speak to the receptionist to check-in, she offers her idea of what was wrong with you? “Good morning Mr. Smith, you seem to have a bit of a cold”, they might say. Thinking that you have just a cold, you wait for the doctor to see you. In his consulting room, he listens to your chest and looks down your throat and then tells you that you have Bronchitis! You’d probably be pretty upset, and your hopes for a quick Lemsip and a speedy recovery would’ve been dashed! We often encounter similar ’on the spot diagnosis’ but with broken-down cars. Often, the breakdown driver’s diagnosis is much simpler than the actual problem, but all it does it raise the hopes of the already distressed customer that it’ll be an easy and cheap repair. In the last week, we’ve suffered two of these cases, and in both cases, the customer was initially convinced that it was something simple, thanks to the well-meaning ‘roadside diagnosis’ by the breakdown driver.

Today, a Mondeo was towed-in with a suspected fuel pump failure (a £150 job) but as soon as the car was unloaded and pushed into our workshop, it was immediately obvious to the expert eye of senior technician and workshop manager James that in fact, the camshaft timing belt had snapped. This is almost certainly a £400 – £700 job, depending on the damage caused internally by the inlet and exhaust valves hitting the moving pistons!

Last week a recovery driver brought us a Corsa that had conked-out. His roadside diagnosis for the customer? A ‘loose wire on the starter motor’! The actual cause was that the engine had hydraulically locked with petrol due to failure of the ECU causing the injector valves to stick open, squirting neat petrol into the cylinders until they were full!

In each case, had the driver NOT offered any kind of diagnosis, the customer wouldn’t have been so disappointed at having their hopes raised first!

So, as a general guide when breaking down, tell the breakdown operator (if they can’t fix it and have to tow you back) NOT to offer a diagnosis at all. That way, if it is only a blown fuse or loose wire, WE can be your heros of the day!

Anyway, it’s midnight now and my cosy bed is beckoning. I’ll be sure to post again on Wednesday evening, and I hope you’re enjoying my posts so far and mayber even learning something?