classic car forum header
Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
Register     Posting Photographs     Privacy     F/book OCC Facebook     OCC on Patreon

You need a new gearbox mate.
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration. Forum Index -> Classic & Vintage Cars, Lorries, Vans, Motorcycles etc - General Chat
Author Message
Billf



Joined: 01 Jul 2011
Posts: 202
Location: North Cyprus.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:06 pm    Post subject: You need a new gearbox mate. Reply with quote

I was chatting with a friend last night about car repairs stories Many many years ago i had a Renault 10. Nice little car drove well. Toured all over North Wales with my wife a young kids. After about a year or so i started having problems with the floor mounted gear stick. To change gear any passengers would just about have to get out of the car and i had to keep my legs pushed up against the door. Not too easy to keep my foot on the clutch The gear stick was really loose and wobbly. So off to the local Renault Main Dealer, (Did not have that much knowledge about cars then) Which was then Grierson & Graham Carlisle. Asked one of the guy's in the workshop to check the gear stick, he said "You need a new gearbox mate"

And he gave me an eye watering price to replace the box. So i am sat in the car thinking what to do next and a guy knocks on the window and say's, I work in the part shop and heard what the mechanic said, he said the gear box is fine you need these, and he gave me a hand full of Roll Pins. and he told me how to replace the Roll Pins. Not an easy job for me at that time, I think i had to take the back plate off the box to access the gear stick forks, but it was a very very long time ago. I did do it, and was pleased with myself.

But what if i had asked the garage to replace the box would they have just put a new Roll Pin in there?????
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dipster



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 408
Location: UK, France and Portugal - unless I am travelling....

PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I started my working life in what was known as "the motor trade". In my experience such rip offs were not a rarity. I imagine that you would have got a new gearbox though. The old one would probably have been sold on as a good second hand replacement......
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7075
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 11:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also started my working life in "the motor trade". The difference was I was working for a cowboy who intended getting rich quick regardless. If a replacement gearbox was required it would come from a scrap yard or a "mate" in the trade but the customer would be charged almost, but not quite the full price. This made the customer think he was getting a bargain when in fact he was being ripped off.

I would be given a wire brush and told to clean up the component before fitting...

The garage owner did eventually become very wealthy and ended up running a BMW franchise. Sad
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Keith D



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Posts: 1164
Location: Upper Swan, Western Australia

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 2:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As recently as twenty years ago I took my Mitsubishi Colt (bought new by me) to the Local Mitsubishi dealer for a service. The car had 56,000 km on it from new. The service manager called me in with the 'boy' who had serviced it and told me I needed a new clutch and water pump.

I told them I would think about it and took the car home. I had noticed nothing amiss with either of the "faults". I listened to the water pump with my ear to a screwdriver placed on the casing with the motor running. Nothing nasty, just the usual smooth whirring of the pump. I lived in a quiet street so I propped the front wheels into the kerb and tried to make the clutch slip. No way!

I finally sold that car when it reached 100,000km and guess what? It was still running perfectly with the original water pump and clutch.

It goes without saying that I never went anywhere near that shyster dealer again.

It brings up a serious point however. I know enough about cars that I can check these things out and perhaps be less liable to be ripped off than others. However, what happens when my computer dies? I know almost nothing about them and I am completely at the mercy of the technician!

Keith
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ukdave2002



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4231
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 7:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We had a similar experience with my wife's Peugeot 407 some years ago. It went in for its 2nd service, having only done about 14,000 miles. When I went to collect it the service manager announced they had changed the front discs and pads as they were below the minimum level Shocked I asked to see the old ones and was told that they had just had their scrap collected!! ....this wasn't some back street garage but the main Peugeot dealer!

On the basis that they hadn't been given authority to change them and didn't have the evidence ( the originals) I declined to pay the entire bill. This caused a bit a argument, and they refused to hand over the keys. Now in this particular Peugeot dealer the service counter at the end of the showroom, so our conversation within earshot of customers. The sales manager came across and asked what the problem was. When I told him he gave the service manager a look that said it all ! He offered to cover the cost of the service and the next one Smile

The next time we went there was a new service manager!,

Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
lowdrag



Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 1600
Location: Le Mans

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Working for an insurance company in Leicester, our cars were delivered by a delivery driver from Appleyards Edinburgh. It was parked up in the garage, I looked for dings and dents and signed for it. Off he went in the old one, but when I came to go home the 'box was jammed in first. That did need a new gearbox! Ah, the British Leyland Marina; what a car.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2701
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ukdave2002 wrote:
Now in this particular Peugeot dealer the service counter at the end of the showroom, so our conversation within earshot of customers.


I find it a bit weird when they do this. I had a row with a local dealer about some of the items they'd failed my car on, which had to be done in earshot of anyone in the showroom. And on the odd occasion I need to go to the Audi dealer for dealer-only parts for my daily, I'm dressed for doing the job but have to go into the citadel of polished wood and aluminium to pick up the parts.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
peppiB



Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 686
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Once had a Passat fail MOT - told I needed a new rear wheel bearing.
'Funny' I said, 'I had that replaced last week' and happened to have the receipt in my pocket. They didn't know where to look. Had to take car elsewhere though, nothing done to it, and it flew through test with no advisories.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7075
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 12:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The 3.5 litre Range Rover was leaking ATF from the steering box. I went to the Land Rover dealers to see if they sold a repair kit and was told that these boxes were sealed for life and not serviceable. Apparently I would need a new steering box. £700, thank you very much!

When I got home, I looked up the steering box in a workshop manual and noticed a rubber seal at the bottom of the shaft where the oil was coming from. I found a suitable 20p rubber seal and after a few minutes I had removed the steering arm, extracted the old seal, deburred the splines and slid the new seal up the shaft. I then reattached the arm. job done.

When I was next at the dealers, in the most polite manner, I told them where to stick their £700 steering box!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
V8 Nutter



Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 601

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many years ago I put so much petrol in my V8 Pilot, the service station I used said I was entitled to a free full service. When I collected the car they told me the two rear wheel cylinders were leaking. It caused some embarrassment when I pointed out the rear brakes were not hydraulic. I stopped buying my petrol there
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7075
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

V8 Nutter wrote:
Many years ago I put so much petrol in my V8 Pilot, the service station I used said I was entitled to a free full service. When I collected the car they told me the two rear wheel cylinders were leaking. It caused some embarrassment when I pointed out the rear brakes were not hydraulic. I stopped buying my petrol there


You couldn't make it up. Excellent story.

Gave me a giggle anyway!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Ashley



Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 1426
Location: Near Stroud, Glos

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You chaps need a bit of "high end" car experience.

Friends of mine bought a Ferrari and crashed it. Maranello collected it, estimated the repair at £27,000 and then explained that front halves of the car that they wanted to replace were made in small batches every couple of years and that they'd just run out. They felt that in view of the delay, the car should be written off.

My chums bought the write off from the insurers and took it to a local panel beater used to making bodies for vintage cars etc. He tutted and chin scratched, warned that it could be expensive and asked them to leave the car for a couple of hours. When they returned, he apologised profusely and told them that the bill would have to be £700. The job was perfect, so they had him spray other bits of the car.

I could tell more.....
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7075
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ashley wrote:
You chaps need a bit of "high end" car experience.


I could tell more.....



Please do!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Rusty



Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 272
Location: Bunbury, Western Australia

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 3:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good stories blokes !

When I was an apprentice one of the other young blokes in my year (there were 5) had become a specialist in automatic transmissions and not long after completing his apprenticeship he got a job with one of the largest replacement transmission repairers in Perth (OZ). He told us what he was going to earn which was double what we were getting and we all wished him luck and off he went. The company involved was the local agent for one of the largest makers of transmissions in the world and is still going strong even now. Anyway about 3 months later he was back at his old job with us and said the big pay was conscience money, and after working where we were honest with our customers he couldn't handle the unscrupulous way this mob were working ! This very large and reputable company that you all would be very familiar with, used to get people with minor auto problems call in and tell them that their box was completely worn out and needed to be replaced so into the workshop the car would go and an "exchange" box would be fitted, then they would adjust the bands on the "completely worn out" box, paint it and then put it on the shelf waiting for the next victim to come in.
Just like some of you have been saying you rely on the integrity of the repairers you have to use and are at the mercy of "experts" in some fields that are more complex than the average owner can normally deal with, Autos and Diesel fuel injections are a case in point as well as electronics (which always get me) Electrics I can handle, but "electronics" is witchcraft to me.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
stevel98



Joined: 04 Apr 2014
Posts: 74

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My Dad's old neighbour came to me quite upset that his trusty Fiat 127 couldn't get all the gears all the time and the local Fiat dealer quoted him £400 for a new gearbox (this was back in the '70's) that he couldn't afford.

We put it up on the ramps to see if there was anything to be done, expecting not to find anything wrong external, as after all, if the official dealership said it needed a new box then they must be right.

What we found was a hinge bracket for the selector mechanism on the back of the gearbox that was missing a nut off one of its two studs and the other one almost off allowing the bracket to move around and bind. I showed this to the old guy and we replaced the two nuts adding spring washers, and hey presto!, ..a smooth shifting Fiat 127...

He drove me down to the dealership and gave them all what for and the service manager basically got his *rs* handed to him! He was offered a free service for his trouble, but they were told where to put that.. I knew the guy as a gentle old chap, but his rage was at a whole new level and kind of scared me a bit!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration. Forum Index -> Classic & Vintage Cars, Lorries, Vans, Motorcycles etc - General Chat All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
OCC Merch link
Forum T&C


php BB powered © php BB Grp.