Car service advise?

Scuttsy

iolanthe07 wrote: »

One thing to be very careful of is the timing belt pre-tensioners

Eh? You just said it had a chain, not a belt.

100% definitely a chain

Hmmm can you tell i'd been on the wine last night when i replied:beer:

I meant chain but the point about the tensioners stands!!!

Hammyman

lazer wrote: »

For those saying about the brake pads wearing, surely anyone driving will know when there brakepads have worn and get them changed? Do drivers not ntice when the brakes become less responsive?

If there is no warning light the first indication you get is a scraping sound as the metal backplate of the pads gouge chunks out of the discs. Then instead of just changing pads you need new discs as well. Worn brake shoes may not even fail an MOT. It was common for MK3 cavaliers to pass an MOT with the handbrake shoes worn to metal because the rear brakes were a dual pad/shoe combo with the shoes used for the handbrake.

Unless you drive your car hard you won't usually notice any reduction in responsiveness especially as it is a gradual reduction over a very long period of time. Mine worked just as well with 1mm of material left as they did throughout their life and I do drive mine hard.

catherine12345_2

[/QUOTE]

How do you think the next owner of your car will feel?

Broken Britain.[/QUOTE]

Please don't fret about the next owner of my car Broken Britain. No doubt they will ask to see my service history, notice the obvious lack of service stamps and pay me accordingly. It all comes out in the wash.....as my mum would say!!

red_eye

take a look here
http://www.goodgaragescheme.co.uk/ and here http://www.motor.org.uk/accreditation/automotive-technician-accreditation-ata.html before you go halfords or kuick !!!!

red_eye

pendulum wrote: »

The brake check would've been done during the MoT every year.

4 years without a service means you've abused your car to be honest. I'd treat it to a good service now that you can afford it, brake fluid, coolant, oil, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter... no doubt the cambelt is due if it has one, so get that changed along with the auxiliary belt. Maybe even the spark plugs while you're there. Go to an independent rather than a chain or they'll have you over. It'll still cost you a good few hundred quid.

MOT only check that the brakes work on the day of testing no guarantee, it could have a less then a few hundred miles of life left.

MOTs should be regarded as as the vehicles is roadworthy ONLY on the day of the test

red_eye

catherine12345 wrote: »

p.s. my mot is due soon too but I definitely won't be having service and mot with the same garage - I usually go to Motmax in Nottingham who only do mot's - no repairs. It will be interesting to see if the servicing garage tells me that certain things need doing or I won't pass my mot...then Motmax pass me anyway!!!!

If it was me I will tell you that a part may need replacing. Take brake pads for example, say they have 200 miles life left and you will do more then that before you next service. As you asking the questions you are here chances are you dont know how to check your brakes you could be driving with faulty brakes.
As long as the brakes work as it should during the MOT it will pass but will probably kill you 201miles later. Find a independent garage and use them regularly the will get to know you and offer a personal service I have posted links where you can find a good mechanic.

red_eye

pendulum wrote: »

I said the brakes are checked at the MoT every year and that's a fact, so I'm not wrong at all. They check that each wheel records a suitable braking effort (i.e. check the brakes actually work properly), check for contamination from leaking brake fluid, fowling of the brake cables and so on. That, my friend, is a check of the braking system. I didn't say it was a comprehensive check, and no check will cover everything, but it IS a check.

only way to check brakes properly is by removing the wheel only then you can see both pads and the condition of the disc, there is no other way looking though the holes in the wheels is not enough hence the efficiency test

red_eye

lazer wrote: »

For those saying about the brake pads wearing, surely anyone driving will know when there brakepads have worn and get them changed? Do drivers not ntice when the brakes become less responsive?

nope they usually come in moaning about the noise the pad makes on the disc with out the friction material

pendulum

Hammyman wrote: »

If there is no warning light the first indication you get is a scraping sound as the metal backplate of the pads gouge chunks out of the discs. Then instead of just changing pads you need new discs as well.

Not true, you normally get a squeaking first as there's a raised prong in the pads designed to cause noise when they are low. Even if you wait until you lose all the material and start to hear a horrible grinding noise the discs can usually be saved if you get it seen to straight away.

red_eye wrote: »

... there is no other way looking though the holes in the wheels is not enough hence the efficiency test

The efficiency test isn't there in case testers can't see the pad material as you imply (sometimes you can, sometimes you can't), it's there to test other parts of the system.

Remember my reply was to someone who suggested the brakes hadn't been checked at all for 4 years; pointing out that they had been at least partially checked once a year during MoT. It's not recommended to never service your car properly in between MoT's, we all know that.

catherine12345_2

Hello all

Just wanted up update you on what happened. I decided to go with Nissan in the end. I looked up some garages on the good garage scheme website (thanks red eye) and rang two as their service descriptions didn't include everything I wanted. The quotes were almost identical to the nissan price so I went there.

They did a full service and I was surprised to be given a quote for ONE urgent item (a single tyre change) and a couple of other small advisory bits. I then popped into a local garage for a quote for the same work and they quoted an almost identical price after confirming that the work did need doing (Nissan have an offer on for new tyres at the moment apparently!!!).

In all, I think i've got off very lightly this time. I am happy to pay for the bits that need doing and I will always compare the prices of the chains with my local garage in future.....especially now I feel more confident in just dropping in and asking "stupid" questions.

Thanks for all you advice

Catherine