SportKa MOT advisories question - oil leak

AliceBanned

Thinking about it and having a closer look today, I think something came loose when the pothole damage was caused. Sometimes it's a domino effect rather than separate incidents.


I've spoken to another garage as the first lot are keeping me waiting.

AliceBanned

I phoned this new garage - round the corner from my flat, on Weds afternoon and they 'booked me in' for 11am today. That was the soonest they could do. And now they have put a recovery in front of me - fair enough they have to do that but I am waiting now to speak to Autonational Rescue to see whether they will recover it to a better garage - one a friend has recommended.


I have had to phone the nearby garage twice to chase up what is happening! Such terrible customer service. They probably think I'm stuck here with the car so I won't go elsewhere. If I can get free or reasonably priced recovery I will..

AliceBanned

Well by letting me down they have let me find a garage I really like..a quirky place where they are serious car geeks.:D No car salesmen in sight. Lots of dogs and horses, all in a village six miles away (I live in a big town). It was like being in another world..


They are pretty certain it is a nut or two that have corroded - they just jacked it up and started looking straight away in the yard with me standing with them. It felt like they do it as a hobby! He said it doesn't look major but getting to change them because of its position is the trickiest thing.


Oh and Autonational Rescue were brilliant - didn't get all jobsworth about me being collected on Wednesday, just said in the circumstances it would be ok for them to take it to someone who can repair it, and they wouldn't charge me on this occasion. They didn't have to do this! So I've found that a lot of things go wrong but there are a lot of nice people to help if you stay calm and don't freak out before finding them.


And...I have a Nissan Micra courtesy car until Thursday (just in case they need that long but they probably won't). The guy has a couple of them as courtesy cars but he has never even met me before! Everything was so laid back.


He said the Micra is boring but incredibly reliable and cheap to repair. I'm actually quite enjoying driving it as it is smooth and comfy. It's just nice driving something different, especially a small car as it reminds me of my first days after passing my test somehow. Even though it has taken most of today (my day off) sorting it out, I don't mind as I feel that I found 'my' people.


PS I must be a geek.

AliceBanned

pps they had interesting vehicles - they do mainly classics and preparing cars for rallies..So interesting in there. There was something from the 1930s..and a few classic campervans.


I asked whether mine might make it to classic status and he politely shook his head..:D

Richard53

You seem to have found a place where the people are genuinely interested in cars and fixing them. Surprisingly, this is quite rare! Be nice to them, hang on to them, recommend them to your friends.


When I first got my MX-5, I went to a small specialist to have it fully serviced and looked over. He had the car on the lift straight away and we spent ages chatting about it. In half an hour, I had worked out that he had a very good knowledge of the cars and a desire to do a good job rather than an adequate one. It's two hours' drive away for me, and when you add in the chat and coffees it's not very time-efficient, but I have confidence in him, and you can't buy that.

AliceBanned

Yep Richard you get the kind of place. I didn't know such places existed - or maybe wouldn't have thought they worked on mainstream cars if I had seen it. Oh I knew as soon as I spoke to the owner on the phone that this was something different but didn't expect to find such genuine people who I would feel so relaxed with.

It does make me realise that when people have a true passion for something their whole attitude to people is different. It's generally such a shark-infested world if yoi are surprised to be treated well! Oh I've started telling my friends and recommending them already.

Do you enjoy the Mx 5?

Richard53

AliceBanned wrote: »

Do you enjoy the Mx 5?

Yes indeed. I had never owned or even driven an open-top car in 43 years of motoring, and after I sold my motorbikes I fancied something a bit different to keep me happy. It's comfy, quick-ish, handles like a roller-skate and seems to be pretty bombproof mechanically. It's great fun and we had a fabulous holiday last year touring France in it, with the roof down every single day. I've kind of scratched that itch now and would consider selling it and getting something else, but my wife won't hear of it. She drove a Midget in her youth, and I think she sees the Mazda as 'her' car, even though she doesn't drive it.

AliceBanned

Sounds great. Oh well, if she ever changes her mind about selling...;)


These guys also tipped me off about petrol quality from supermarkets. It has had two new lambda sensors since I bought it and the mechanic said best to buy more often at Shell.


There was me saving Nectar points. He said supermarkets tend to just scrape through the requirements for petrol quality..I had no idea - I always bought the cheapest.

BeenThroughItAll

AliceBanned wrote: »

Sounds great. Oh well, if she ever changes her mind about selling...;)


These guys also tipped me off about petrol quality from supermarkets. It has had two new lambda sensors since I bought it and the mechanic said best to buy more often at Shell.


There was me saving Nectar points. He said supermarkets tend to just scrape through the requirements for petrol quality..I had no idea - I always bought the cheapest.

I'm afraid right there he's talking out of his ar5e. I've posted many times on this subject myself, having customers who rank in some of the biggest manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of road fuel in the UK. I have personally witnessed their operations, including the blending, storage, additive dosing, loading, transport and delivery of fuels - and whilst the higher end SuperProCoolBlendCleanFuelExtremeTigerPower 3000 might have slightly more cleaning additive, the basic stock is the same stuff you'll find at Sainsburys. It comes from the same tanks, via the same pipes, in the same tankers.

Regarding the lambda sensors, if the car's going through them more than once every 60K+ miles, I suspect that the garages involved are just fitting crap lambda sensors. It is incredibly, vanishingly unlikely to have anything to do with Sainsburys.

rich13348

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

I'm afraid right there he's talking out of his ar5e. I've posted many times on this subject myself, having customers who rank in some of the biggest manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of road fuel in the UK. I have personally witnessed their operations, including the blending, storage, additive dosing, loading, transport and delivery of fuels - and whilst the higher end SuperProCoolBlendCleanFuelExtremeTigerPower 3000 might have slightly more cleaning additive, the basic stock is the same stuff you'll find at Sainsburys. It comes from the same tanks, via the same pipes, in the same tankers.

Regarding the lambda sensors, if the car's going through them more than once every 60K+ miles, I suspect that the garages involved are just fitting crap lambda sensors. It is incredibly, vanishingly unlikely to have anything to do with Sainsburys.

I agree. I have a fuelgenie fuel card for my work van, so I must buy from tesco, Morrison's or sainsburys and I have no problem with my van which has done 82000 miles in 2 years with no furl related issues ou smoky exhausts.