Not very good. That gf dressed to impress at work as per expected with the job description.
When not at work without the slap on she was just a pretty girl with a nice smile and fun to be with.
I'm curious to know what job description would mandate an employee looking like a slapper?
In larger towns, you may even find one who specialises in your make of car. Often has factory trained mechanics - and the better ones as they will often pay them more than a main dealer despite charging you far less.
I had a super BMW one in London. Never found fault with them at all - as opposed to every time I used the main dealer. Sadly the owner retired and they closed down.
Fan , sensor or fuse? On a modern car the fan doesn't operate unless required to stop the engine overheating and/or air con is required. In this cold weather, and for short journeys, the fan may not come on.
Some tasty bint's at a local VAG garage round these parts;!..
There some time ago now i bought a second-hand car only a year old, it had one rather annoying problem tho. Drivers seat had a big depression on the right hand side where the previous owner must have had an arse bigger than mine. Took it back and we agreed that we'd pay for the parts and they'd throw in the labour.
Went to collect it from their car park and Hello! Bump changed a bit but still there:(
Parts that were supposed to be changed were in the back of the car and very clean they were too, looked like they'd never been used. And they hadn't been used in fact they had dates stamped on them after the car was first on the road. The sods hadn't changed them at all, all they had done was to farm the car out to a local car upholster who pulled the seat squab around a bit and never bothered to change the new parts.
Took it back in there on a crowed Saturday morning they tied to hush me up a bit but the contents of the garage heard the tale and shortly afterwards my missus came into some decent money and that cost them the sale of a brand new car, went an got a Volvo many good years of motoring that provided too:)
I suppose these have the dress code you asked about
But please don't consider my mothers opinion that a dress code of a dolly bird makes them a slapper. I believe that it was only recently that the trolley dolly on Virgin Airlines are now allowed to wear less slap than the average tart on Wakefield Westgate on a Saturday night.
Having other servicing done it was reported that the fan was not coming on when engine hot. Dealer wanted 200 quid to replace the fan - I declined at the time. Also fitted with air con only working when driving along.
The new fans can be had for 50 quid. The original fans on the fiestas were very poor quality with cheap brushes.
I have checked the fuse and the relay which are OK. I have not checked the fan itself since I'd have to jack up and crawl under to access the plug. But these fans often fail, so less likely to be the control system. I was not in a rush to fix but needs to be done before weather heats up.
I would do it myself but SWMBO is not keen (her car). You can get the radiator out from above if you disconnect some water hoses, but if jacked up properly is easy to change from below (according to YouTube).
There is some wiring loom clipped across the fan housing and all those clips will probably break so need replacing.
But I would expect part 50 quid, fitting, 1/2 hour, 50 quid, total 100 quid.
But I might just take it back to the dealer and pay the 200 quid.
Simon.
If it's an old clunker you don't need an engine fan, if it gets too hot in hot weather just put the interior heater on max temp max speed. IME it's only an issue when stuck in traffic in heatwave weather.
NT
It's going to be a real issue if you can't use the aircon when in a traffic jam on a hot day?
I daresay there are some that throw a wobbly when they don't get every little thing they'd like.
NT
I once had a car in which it was not possible to turn the heater off
- we got by just fine with the windows open when needed, it never seemed such a big issue that I had to bite the bullet and sort it out (it was one of those jobs that you just knew you'd regret starting before it was finished).
Memories of my first car, a VW Beetle, come flooding back. I picked this up at trade. It had been imported from South Africa, and was a bit behind the European model changes. IIRC the greasing interval was 1500 miles. It was OK as a first car, but not after driving anything else. Motorway trips in a cross wind were very interesting, as the steering, even with new king pins, was incredibly soggy.
M62 eastbound was fun. If I didn't get a good run at it I had to change down before the summit.
A fun job was changing the spark plugs - on the 1500 engine you needed a plug spanner that would take the tommy bar at 45 degrees.
Then there was the heater designed so that, if it was going to stick, it would do so fully on. As it was a waterless system, the air could get pretty hot, and a passenger once had a pair of shoes ruined. It was just some flaps and a lever, but once it had seized you had to get underneath to free it off.
It had an interesting screenwash system. The water reservoir was connected to, and pressurised by, the spare wheel. You simply pushed the control and water squirted.
Only when it eventually stopped working did it become clear that there was a pressure limiter to make sure that you didn't run the tyre flat.
My only success was once getting an exhaust fitted free - almost all the free fit exhaust firms wouldn't touch it without an extra charge. They took all day and had to change a stud.
Chris
But would an 'old clunker' even be fitted with aircon?
(And if it was, would still be working at maximum efficiency - if at all?)
Check the follow up post from the OP.
I got fed up with Ford main dealer servicing being incompetent about 20 years ago, and switched to back street garage 100 yards up the road, and they've been excellent. I still say I want genuine manufacturer's parts but I could ask for cheap compatibles - the point is it's up to me. When I needed a new exhaust, they warned me the manufacturer's spare was complete crap (and not the same as original fit) - that's the benefit you get by knowing the mechanic. It's been the same staff doing the servicing for 20 years.
Apparently, a key problem with the main dealers at the time was they couldn't get good service staff to stay. No idea if that's still the case today.
The owner of my local specialist make independent - now closed - said he paid more for decent factory trained mechanics than the local main dealer, despite having an hourly rate to the customer of well under half. And they were more fulfilled at work too since they often got a chance to fix things rather than just fit new parts. And to interact direct with the customer if needed.
The garage near me - the guys on the floor don't want to interact with me, and I suspect I'm not _that_ bad a customer.
OTOH I work in software, and I know loads of people like that. Technical wizards, and social misfits. Not everyone, but enough to make you realise why there is the myth of the antisocial geek.
Andy
I just mentioned it as one of them was summoned by the boss to explain a problem direct to me. As opposed to the main dealer where the service supervisor just picked one at random from his book of excuses. And that the mechanic seemed very happy to do so.
As an aside, I took the old Rover in for an MOT there, and nearly the entire workshop turned out for a look. A change from the endless stream of BMW and Mercs.
Yes- some do, some don't.
It's no myth, but it's not reserved for programmers. In most things rising to the top requires huge time input, which means much less socialising, if any.
NT
Well I have managed that. A friend suggested a local "backstreet" garage he has been using for years. They have given a good quote that is a nice bit cheaper than the dealers, but not "too" cheap (i.e. dodgy) and offered a choice of manufacturer or aftermarket parts. Good stuff. Simon.
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