please help don't know what to do?
I have a ducato w reg, 2.8 non turbo maxi.

needed a new clutch so took it to a new big garage opened near to work quoted £350.00 total, so agreed and delivered van, later that morning they phoned, there's a problem, the flywheel is burnt......and can only get one from the fiat dealership £580.00 plus vat.....for everything said I? err no addtional to the already agreed price, don't do anything I'm coming round, garage is close to our office. fortunately a guy is in our office that was once a mechanic, he agreed to come round to the garage with me to have look. when we got there, the garage guy said yeh £580 plus vat, i haven't got that kind of money no chance, ok he said I could have it skimmed, oh and how much would that cost? 100.00, the guy who came with me said what ???? for cleaning it with an emery cloth? the flywheel was a little blue, advice was not too bad, so I told the garage guy just put the new clutch on, he wasn't happy "you'll have to sign a disclaimer" err I don't mind signing something saying that the flywheel is blue, but not against your new fitted clutch...

anyway he argued this for a while, but then gave in....... I said I'll be back to pick it up at tea time.

well van done and took van home. sat on drive till this tea time, decided to take a run out to mothers home (rented farm house) to take daughter so she could collect her birthday card from nanna, got there ok,

but when I tried to start the van to come home.....Nothing dead as a door nail, can't be batteries as new, popped bonnet and first thing found a 17mm spanner wedged across top of engine , then crawled underneath found a wire hanging down off the starter, nut missing so hadn't been tightened up........then saw the feed wire to the brake sensor, hanging loose and had been rubbing on wheel so now bare , and then found the boots on the joints were ripped .

right can't see anything else so here goes, yayyyy she started so thought at least we can go home and go to the garage in morning complain about the other things. strange sound when engine under labour sounded like enginr running whilst the air filter box wasn't on, stopped had a quick look couldn't see anything and odd sound stopped anyway. so started home again.....


end of driveway onto main round up to junction, no power....OH ********* what now, tried to reverse back from junction no problems plenty of power, then realized couldn't get 1st or second gears was trying to pull off in third, managed to turn around and get moving by starting off in third back to the farm. a friend came out and the cables seem ok, all connected seems to be a problem in the gear box .

had to leave the van at the farm and cadge a lift home.

any ideas, I'm thinking the garage have bodged the whole thing. is this likely and how do I prove it or is it more likely that the gear box has just gone?

and what now,

any advice

al

Phone the garage up then take it back, tell them what you saw & what happened. Stay calm. Advise them you consider the work incompetent & will give them one chance to rectify it before you go to the local newspaper. Let them know that you know your rights (if you dont, call some-one who does before you kick off). If the garage are decent they will accept your view & do all they can to get you mobile, explain your circumstances if self employed etc....

If they are not reasonable you may need to consider challenging them with an independent Engineers report which will be costly, explain that they really dont want to have to pay that as well as do the job you entrusted them with twice....

Be firm, be calm, be right...

Just looking around the forum, had a quick look at this thread (got a Bravo so never on here) and, all I can say is . I agree entirely with the above post, and if they begin saying, no, can't have been us, demand to speak to the service manager, and calmly explain you will report it to their regulating body due to how dangerous their negligence could have been.

thanks guys

managed to contact one of the partners this morning, (this garage is new in our area, big garage certainly looks the part, newest one of a chain of five), explained what happened and what I found and all within 20 miles from leaving his garage, at first he wasnt too interested, then by the end, although he didn't accept responsibility he did say he would have a chap to the van in the morning incase something to with the gears had been put on back to front or loosely?

so will have to see tomorrow, however I have photographed all the problems/damage including the 17mm spanner.

fingers crossed

al

if its a normal metal fly wheel you just skim them not replace

UPDATE, 9.30pm tonight the garage owner phoned my mobile, he can't make it back until saturday as his wife is staying in hospital, so he is instructing a mechanic to go to the farm tomorrow, he now thinks could be that the arm that the cable connects to on the top of the gear box may have slipped around, thus not engaging 1st and 2nd gear. said his guy can have a look at the van see if he can't get it drivable so it can be driven back to the garage.

al

thanks for all your support and advice guys,

well where to start...?

went to garage, mechanic said how do you wan to do this....if i follow you we cant bring the van back to the barage. so I drove the mechanic with tools to the farm, 30 seconds after crawling under, he anounced i know what the problem is, and to be fair I'd say its not really any ones fault as such. , i only said OH.

yeh he carried on its only the gear outer cable retaining clip, its sprung off..and I'll fix it... , we need to make something up so we can get back tot he garage, first we walked up the road to see if we could find it as it must of sprung off near the farm. no hope.

so started to make one up from bits out off my tool box, he crawled under again to test this piece we'd made and he announced I'VE FOUND IT! it had landed on the frame.. YAHoooooo. so he put the spring back in and refitted it. my van has all gears.......

can't believe I didn't see it the other night.... but then again in my defense I don't know what I'm looking at, hell I don't even know my name sometimes .

any way, so chuffed it was ok, i asked him about the lower ball boot, and he said that they often use a special glue and just glue them, so I said if you give me the glue I'll do it, can't see the point of dragging the van all the way to the garage now the main problem is fixed. (I'm just so happy) so I drove the guy back to the garage, he apologized for the error that were made.

on way home the garage partner phoned to check everything went alright.

I'm now happy, my faith in humanity has now been restored, i was really expected a showdown, but no all ended well

thanks for helping me to keep calm. guys

al

and then found the boots on the joints were ripped .

Glad you managed to get them to sort gearbox linkage, The boots that were ripped are you refering to the drive shaft cv joints? I would not be happy with glueing them it is not a lasting repair (I have done it has a tempory fix)No matter what way you look at it they bodged the job & the mechanic(bodger) who did the job sent the vehicle out knowing the faults were there.Me I would have insisted that they go over their work & correct their mistakes at no cost to you.

Farty

All still well? Glad things turned out well

thanks guys

still got gears, and yes after a good few days, I have found that the boots are well and truly knackered, but even now I think i still don't want that muppet loose on my van, not being very mechanical and a bit of a worryer i would fret constantly not knowing if hed bodged even more.

so over the last few days I have collected all the new filters and I'm going to replace them, and when I get back off holiday a friend and I are going to attempt to replace the boots.
I have been under and looked and proded to check there isn't anything else loose, oh and let everyone I know in our town know where my van got done over

al

Hi guys

a little update, went to Devon for our hols, covered just over 400 miles, and crunch
no gears, the clutch cable was loose tried to tighten the adjusting nuts as they were loose, no good, horrible mechanical whizzing sound, from clutch area and cable fully tightened up.

ended being transported back to lincoln on lowloaderAA report says suspected clutch release bearing..

been intouch with trading standards, and written letter, have to wait no for 14 days.

Hmmmm, that's not so good. If there's a direct link between what went wrong now and the problems before then the garage will either have to accept responsibility or try to drag it out through courts etc.

Good luck Al,
Please keep us posted on what happens next. My advice is to write everything down, including conversations and times by telephone. Communicate by email if you wish and ask for a reply to confirm receipt.
As already mentioned if you get no joy tell them you are going to the local newspaper and BBC Watchdog. The last thing a newly opened garage want is bad publicity it hurts. I know, I worked for a main dealership for many years luckily we took care of peoples vehicles but I knew of a number of garages that did not.
Good luck and stay calm, you are in the right.
Cheers,
Rob

thanks guys, here's an update,

tried to call the customer care manager, no return reply until next day, but basically asked what went on, then said can you bring it in.....err no no gears clutch not working. can't you turn engine off then put it in gear......as you don't live too far away...errr no...not prepared to risk trying to drive through city center like that........ok i'll be round in morning.......8am. ok thanks.

got to 9am, fed up texted the manger, got to back to work......oh was just about to ring you, one of our mechanics is on sick, yer know what they are like, on the p**s the night before and phone in in the morning, obviously can't bring it in on own...but will be there tomorrow morning....ok

so the manager arrived this morning, with another whom he said was his top mechanic, I told the manger I wasn't happy with the boots as well, ok he said well look at them, anyway they had a look under the bonnet and the top mechanic turned his back to me talking to the manager, so i moved around him to see his face, didn't understand a word he spoke anyway as it was in very bad broken english/polish, but did see the hand gestures making a fork shape with his fingers pulling, i looked at the manger and said is that bad then? he said maybe not could be a problem with the pulling thing at the end of the cable that operates the clutch, Oh...he then said the aa arnt always that technical with these things they decided it needed taking to the garage, so off they went.......

I called into the garage an hour ago, after finally getting away for lunch, and the manager said they have found the problem, there's a pin in the fork thingy (my words can't remember his) that has broken so isn't pulling the clutch , but don't worry were fixing it.....right o then and off I went.

so waiting now for a call, see if they will try to charge me............then there might be a few fire works

nice calm al

they phoned said it was done ready to be picked up, great said I, i'll drop car off and get bus in to pick it up. No its ok we'll bring it to you.

oh ok thanks

they arrived said a bolt snapped, that holds the bar that goes right through the clutch, but they have fixed it...
strange that innit, I said...

he also told me that they have ordered two lower ball joints as they are sealed units, will be here tuesday and i can go any time at my convenience to have them fitted.

going shopping tonight so going to go in the van, to try her out.

but all in all, happy she's home

thanks everyone for helping to keep me calm
al

Glad to hear it's fixed again. Hopefully you'll have more luck this time. Did they charge you in the end?

sorry for late reply, haven't been back for the ball joints to b fitted yet, too busy at work, but don't think they are going to try and charge, but gonna have a good argument if they try.....

Again, digging up this old thread but, still all going smooth?