F1 autocentre Cheltenham - Now car wont start!

justboy85

Hello anyone who has experienced problems with the big garages before please help as i'm not sure if i have a case or not!!

My wife took our 7yo megane to F1 autocentre 4 days ago for a service and mot, the damage was £300 covering 2 x tie rod end (£130), Brake fluid change (£32) and break clean!! (£34) amongst a few other small bits. We werent overly concerned about this as its an oldish car and i use it to commute to Birmingham everyday so just wanted the work done.

Today is sunday and my wife dropped me off with my family in swindon before heading off to meet a friend with our 6 month old girl in the back.

She didnt get far down the road before she phoned me telling me there was smoke pouring out of the front of the car. I called our insurance company and arranged the breakdown service to pick me and the car up and got my wifes friend to pick her and our daughter up.

On further inspection the mechanic couldnt get the car to start, it didnt do a thing, he thought the smoke is most likely to be the engine.

I was dropped home in Cheltenham with the car which is outside our house i am just wondering if we have a case against F1 autocentre or if it just bad luck with an oldish car!? Any comments greatly appreciated.

vikingaero

It could be F1 or it could be entirely random. Cars do fail after services and it's not necessarily anyones fault.

tim9966

Did they put the oil cap back on? Years ago it was left off after a service on mine which caused lots of smoke.

There is a very good chance it's linked with the service as it's happened so quickly afterwards.

andygb

vikingaero wrote: »

It could be F1 or it could be entirely random. Cars do fail after services and it's not necessarily anyones fault.

Exactly right. If it was to do with the service, then I suppose that they could have overfilled by a large amount on the oil change, which could cause all kinds of nasty things to happen.

vax2002

Diesel or petrol ?

justboy85

Its petrol - would overfilling on oil subseuently stop it from starting altogether? thanks for all your replies thus far really appreciated

atrixblue.-MFR-.

first things first would be to have a mechanic look over it.

the smoke could be down to a number of things.

like:
shredding timing belt then snapped.
water pump failure let water out then seizure.
electrical fire.
seized pistons due to lack of oil (yes sometimes the grease monkeys can forget to put the grease (oil) back in).

the garage you takle it to needs to strip it down and make a professional report if any of the items that were replaced by F1 have been ill fitted or even not replaced then you have a case.

renault megane mk2 track rod ends are £12.00 each from a motorfactors and 10 mins if that a side to replace. over £100 seem steep! and you dont have to have it tracked either just count the thread turns when taking old ones off or mark with a pen the lock bolt location.

in_the_Cotswolds

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

you dont have to have it tracked either just count the thread turns when taking old ones off or mark with a pen the lock bolt location.

Then in about a months time buy two new front tyres.

EdGasket

mechanic wrote: »

Then in about a months time buy two new front tyres.

No, counting the thread turns is a valid way to do the job; then tracking is not necessary as everything is as it was before. F1 will of course do tracking anyway as they want to make money and probably don't employ anyone who can count beyond 10.

in_the_Cotswolds

EdGasket wrote: »

No, counting the thread turns is a valid way to do the job; then tracking is not necessary as everything is as it was before. F1 will of course do tracking anyway as they want to make money and probably don't employ anyone who can count beyond 10.

And I've done it that way but still checked the tracking. Don't forget there may be a difference between genuine and pattern parts.

maninthestreet

Let's not get side-tracked on tyre issues, they won't stop the engine starting.