Mechanic not doing work but been paid

AdrianC

Mistral001 said:

A few drops of oil in the antifreeze will harm your engine?  Where did you get that idea from?

Indeed. A little oil in the coolant may be a symptom of a problem, but won't cause one.

The "scam" is that a potential car buyer contaminates the header tank, then says "Oh, look - oil in the coolant, head gasket must be gone. I'll give you <substantial amount less> and save you the hassle."

The "foreign" bit of it is just sub-Farridge kneejerk scaremongering.

forgotmyname

Seen comments on the net about not mixing the Red OAT and blue antifreeze. Forms a gel they said. 

I have had a jar of almost neat solution with mixed red and blue varieties and so far not a drop of sludge or slime.
Although this jar has not been heated to 100ºC over and over. Maybe thats my next test?

maxi78

forgotmyname said:

Seen comments on the net about not mixing the Red OAT and blue antifreeze. Forms a gel they said. 

I have had a jar of almost neat solution with mixed red and blue varieties and so far not a drop of sludge or slime.
Although this jar has not been heated to 100ºC over and over. Maybe thats my next test?

Hi, i put what was recommended  still goes to show there was no red then

EdGasketTheSecond

AdrianC said:

Mistral001 said:

A few drops of oil in the antifreeze will harm your engine?  Where did you get that idea from?

Indeed. A little oil in the coolant may be a symptom of a problem, but won't cause one.

The "scam" is that a potential car buyer contaminates the header tank, then says "Oh, look - oil in the coolant, head gasket must be gone. I'll give you <substantial amount less> and save you the hassle."

The "foreign" bit of it is just sub-Farridge kneejerk scaremongering.

Thanks for explaining this thread; I couldn't work out what the OP meant from the rambling description.

fred246

I am afraid OP that this is normal for garages and mechanics in the UK. It is an unregulated industry. Mechanics don't need any qualifications or experience to work as a mechanic. They are not registered. Anyone can open a garage. If you go to a garage and find they have charged you for something they haven't done then official government advice is to take the car back to the garage and ask them to do it! So any number of garages can fail to complete service items which is what happens and there is no penalty. Most people don't check so they never know. If you lose out by their failings then you can claim for that. So if your engine was damaged you could claim for the repair bill. The problem is always proving the link. Example if a garage doesn't change the oil at 2 years and the cars engine fails at 6 years old there is no way to prove it. So garages get away with their shoddy standards. Mechanics don't need to be registered so they can work to these appalling standards quite happily forever and you can't do anything about it I am afraid. The best thing if you can do is to do the work yourself. If you can't you have to use garages. The government won't police the industry so you have to do that for yourself. Ask family and friends. Read online reviews. Research yourself. Nobody will do that for you. Remember main dealers are just as bad as independent garages. They have never been shown to have higher standards.

Mistral001

maxi78 said:

I believe it was just water they put in. That's my whole case. 

The petition is for scum trying to scam people out of a lot of money .  Just unlucky finding the water after the scammers. Just need to sell my bmw to get golf back. Lost my job, mortgage to pay, kids and cats to feed etc

So should I look into small claims?

If that is the case, then it is something Trading Standards will be interested in.  They have wide ranging powers and can bring prosecutions.  The time delay might be an issue, but then do many people check their coolant after a service?