Poorly car :(

lyndsay1986

My car broke yesterday

we was driving to my parents house around 40 miles away and engine light came on and then lost power .....tried to start it again nothing it was trying to start but just not turning over ..got it going again

did it once more...got it going again

leaving my mums it wouldnt turn over left it a lil bit and it was ok got us all the way home.

i have to book it in today for a diagnostics test bet thats going to cost a fortune

clever_username

All depends where you take it. Smaller local garage or a dealership?

The diagnostic test isn't going to cost a fortune, they'll just plug it into the machine and see what fault codes the car has generated.

lyndsay1986

i was thinking of taking it to nationwide autocentre?
my dad says to take it to the garage he goes to which is a small local garage.

i'm going to ring round a few places to get some prices

LandyAndy

lyndsay1986 wrote: »

i was thinking of taking it to nationwide autocentre?

Forget that immediately.

RishiC

LandyAndy wrote: »

Forget that immediately.

Agree. Stick with the local place your dad has recommend.

Strider590

LandyAndy wrote: »

Forget that immediately.

Much more polite than my response would have been.

:rotfl:

pinkteapot

Few weeks ago I paid £40 for diagnostics. Which as others have said consists of plugging a computer in. The issue will be what it finds. Fingers crossed for something minor. :money:

andygb

pinkteapot wrote: »

Few weeks ago I paid £40 for diagnostics. Which as others have said consists of plugging a computer in. The issue will be what it finds. Fingers crossed for something minor. :money:

I agree, and would add that it varies from make to make. I had the engine management light reset on an Audi, and it cost £70. There was nothing wrong with the car.
Some cars have a "limp home " mode, which reduces power when the light comes on.

Strider590

pinkteapot wrote: »

Few weeks ago I paid £40 for diagnostics. Which as others have said consists of plugging a computer in. The issue will be what it finds. Fingers crossed for something minor. :money:

Not entirely correct......

(these are only examples by the way)

A computer can't tell you that your air filter is full of dead leaves (causing your engine to run rich and the ECU to flag up an emissions fault), only a mechanic with a screw driver can do that

Diagnostic might flag up "lambda sensor error", this could be a broken lambda sensor (£100-£250) or simply a corroded wire/connector to the sensor (50p).
If just the connector then a dealership would replace the sensor and charge for it, a good mechanic would probably repair the connector for nothing in the hope of some word of mouth trade

The diagnostic isn't a replacement for good old fashioned fault finding, something non-technical admin staff and management simply do not understand.... Which is why I prefer a good old fashioned garage over a dealership, they're run by mechanics and not pencil pushers.

Best to get the diagnostic done and then take the results to a "real mechanic".

lyndsay1986

its actually my dads car what he used to use for work and let us borrow it.

he told us to take it into the local garage as thats where it was bought from and where its had all its mot and whatever work . Told us to mention to garage who's car it was and will get a discount so we have taken it there just waiting on husband letting me know what problem is. Fingers crossed its not a big job .

Looking on the net about nationwide and i'm thankful i sent car to local garage

esmerobbo

Strider590 wrote: »

Not entirely correct......

(these are only examples by the way)

A computer can't tell you that your air filter is full of dead leaves (causing your engine to run rich and the ECU to flag up an emissions fault), only a mechanic with a screw driver can do that

Diagnostic might flag up "lambda sensor error", this could be a broken lambda sensor (£100-£250) or simply a corroded wire/connector to the sensor (50p).
If just the connector then a dealership would replace the sensor and charge for it, a good mechanic would probably repair the connector for nothing in the hope of some word of mouth trade

The diagnostic isn't a replacement for good old fashioned fault finding, something non-technical admin staff and management simply do not understand.... Which is why I prefer a good old fashioned garage over a dealership, they're run by mechanics and not pencil pushers.

Best to get the diagnostic done and then take the results to a "real mechanic".

Cant count the times I have had people come with the EML on, plugged the reader in found codes made a note, reset it and said come back if it comes on again. Then never came back!

As you have said the code is a pointer to the problem but a little investigation can save a lot.;)