Bloody car mechanics

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SpaceDawg

SpaceDawg

Active Member
Posts
935
Location
Cowfold, West Sussex
Just a gripe, I decided to do a full service on my Disco yesterday after having a very expensive service done about 18 months ago at Gumtree 4x4. As in £450+VAT for a full service and change all oils.

Anyway, before you say anything I did do an engine oil change about 9 months ago.

When I changed the diff oil today both the front and rear it was horrible.

The read diff oil came out green with a lot of water in it and the front was like black goo. Also to undo the filler bolt on the rear I had to get a breaker bar on the back and use the jack to crack it.

I checked the breather on the rear diff and its in place and it not leaking so I can only assume that the water got in before I owned it. That means that it was not done at the full service. I'm now going to do the transfer and auto box again, grr.
 
There's nothing more frustrating than paying through the arse for a service and not having it done properly. Sorry to hear your gripes mate. I rarely let other mechanics near my cars I prefer to do all work myself. If it wasn't for retaining service history on cars id never pay foe a service. oil seperates from its additives, that's why its changed so regularly. Could be that your oil hadn't been changed in a very long time. Totally understand your frustration though
 
I have the same problems here. I got mine back last month and it still had the OEM Landrover oil filter on that my mate bought in UK. What part of change ALL oils is so difficult.
Now I cant trust that the muppet did the difs.
So its a half day trip to a guy I can trust.
 
As the owner of a garage ( and several land rovers ) that specialises in 4x4 work. I often see bad comments regarding poor service received from other businesses. Please don't think that all mechanics and garages are there to rip you off. Some of us take great pride in our ability to do a professional job at a fair price. Remember we have staff to pay and insure. premises to pay for and insure. Expensive diagnostic equipement. Business rates, refuse removal, etc. We have just completed another Discovery 3 body on/off to replace 6 glow plugs. It's not the garages fault if customers buy vehicles that need constant attention due to poor build quality and design .But we tend to get the blame, not the manufacturer. I'm sorry so many of you have had bad experiences, but there are good ones about....honest.
 
I don't think they are all bad, but they are like women, if you find a good one who does exactly what you ask, without ripping you off or making a mess all over the place, then they are great.

My frustration here is that they are a Land Rover 4x4 expert. Quite disappointing.
 
Personally I steer clear of 'specialists'. I use my local Indy grease monkey for stuff that's I can't be arsed to do/can't do. Keeps the bits he takes off to show me, will pick the motor up from my house/run me home etc and the first couple of times I put some telltales around to check if work had been done ok. I am happy, I enquired at gumtree about some work and couldn't stomach the price lol.
 
There are some good mechanics out there and there are also some bad customers out there too.
Personally now I service, maintain and repair everything on my landy myself because its easy to do but many modern cars are very user service unfriendly so ya stuck with garages that have the diagnostics gear.
Last time I entrusted a garage with a "good reputation" on a Mitsubishi they did the easy stuff and ignored the bit I really wanted them to do even though I made a point about it.
This led to an MOT failure 6 weeks later and me paying twice for the same job to be done, robbing bas***ds
 
SpaceDawg said:
Just a gripe, I decided to do a full service on my Disco yesterday after having a very expensive service done about 18 months ago at Gumtree 4x4. As in £450+VAT for a full service and change all oils.

Anyway, before you say anything I did do an engine oil change about 9 months ago.

When I changed the diff oil today both the front and rear it was horrible.

The read diff oil came out green with a lot of water in it and the front was like black goo. Also to undo the filler bolt on the rear I had to get a breaker bar on the back and use the jack to crack it.

I checked the breather on the rear diff and its in place and it not leaking so I can only assume that the water got in before I owned it. That means that it was not done at the full service. I'm now going to do the transfer and auto box again, grr.
Click to expand...
green doesnt sound like water ,though many axles get water contamination through condensation etc ,black goo in front is some of the one shot grease from swivel housing mixing with diff oil, but does sound like full service wasnt
 
SpaceDawg said:
Just a gripe, I decided to do a full service on my Disco yesterday after having a very expensive service done about 18 months ago at Gumtree 4x4. As in £450+VAT for a full service and change all oils.

Anyway, before you say anything I did do an engine oil change about 9 months ago.

When I changed the diff oil today both the front and rear it was horrible.

The read diff oil came out green with a lot of water in it and the front was like black goo. Also to undo the filler bolt on the rear I had to get a breaker bar on the back and use the jack to crack it.

I checked the breather on the rear diff and its in place and it not leaking so I can only assume that the water got in before I owned it. That means that it was not done at the full service. I'm now going to do the transfer and auto box again, grr.
Click to expand...


There are some greenish gear oils knocking about and i presume your breather has a tube on it and your axle seals are fine.

Do you drive in water alot? I'd also be checking the wheel bearings for water.
 
Last edited:
well id just say dont go there again and be carefull with who you use and where you go, at the end of the day its your car that you use everyday, well maby, and its your pride and joy, witch you would want to be treated with respect,so id say never use them again and take it as experiance! find someone that you trust and can reply on to service your car and look after it properly! I do mine myself as i am an apprentice mechanic, so i know it is done as best as can be! take it as experiance and find some one else to look after your landrover!
 
Same as others I do all my own stuff now after an unfortunate bad experience which I also first noticed in the diff oil. That was the dealer! I have had good work done by various independants tho but unfortunately they do have to charge high labour rates due to all their overheads. Im fortunate that I now have a garage the disco actually fits in as it used to be the ****in rain that put me off doin things myself.
 
Aye, there are some robbers out there, main dealers included.

Found a local Mechanic to do my work. Removed the EGR, fitted the replacement kit, (one bolt broke, not enough penetrating fluid maybe, had to be drilled out) changed both engine oil filters, diesel filter, air filter, new engine oil, sump washer, checked all the axle, gear box, transfer box oils, checked coolant for anti freeze level, changed injector loom, changed fan belt, tyre pressures, and checked the prop shafts joints.

I supplied the parts, all from LR, except the EGR kit which I got off Fleebay.

£110 for the Labour, which I thought was grand.

Regards

Phil*
 
I was ripped off so many times by various garages when I was young that I went to night school and got a C&G 383 Motor Vehicle Engineering & Repair. Well as far as you can get without working in a garage (level 2). You need to do a year's full time placement to get Level 3 :(

I do most of my own work now, leaving the nasty jobs to one of two local garages that I trust - one is a friend of mine and the other is probably the best/most honest mechanic I've ever come across.

One side effect of the C&G is that I haven't needed any engineers reports for insurance cover on my vehicles (I have a long history of tuning and modifying lol). When challenged by the insurers I send a copy of my certificate and thats that :D
 
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