As you will be aware from my previous posts of late I have had timing problems. I just thought an update was required (now that I have calmed down a little bit). Long story!
In a nutshell, I had got the timing chain changed (as a precaution) at 71K last January and got it serviced in December as I had almost done my 12K miles since January.
The engine management light came on and went off again on the Saturday between Christmas and the New Year. The car then ran roughly and my usual (certainly no more!) garage was closed for at least another week for Christmas. I really can't do without my car so I took the car to the main dealership in Northern Ireland (Donnelly's at Mallusk) on Monday 30 December. I thought that it would be something simple related to the service and I can only praise the efforts that Donnelly's made in getting the car running again and it was also very decent of them to loan me a 500 while my Panda was off the road.
As the car presented as running, but very roughly like on 3 cylinders, they initially went through all the easier options of what could be wrong and even tried parts which if they didn't help, they removed and didn't charge me extra. As that didn't resolve the problem, they had to strip down the car and discovered it was the timing chain guide which had failed, and they replaced the whole timing set and checked everything was running correctly for a couple of days afterwards.
I paid for the repair and collected the car. Unfortunately bad luck mark 2 struck the next day and I had to return to get a new clutch installed.
I picked the car up last Tuesday and I must say the car is running the quietest I've ever heard it run. I reacquainted myself with the feel of new clutch which feels so much smoother.
Then on Saturday I was invited to a book launch in Newry. Unusually for me, I left the kids at home. So glad I did! Not even half way home, I felt something wasn't quite right with the rear driver side wheel. I suspected a wheel bearing and decided that I would call into A-One Tyres at Dromore which was roughly about 5 miles further up the road. However when I got as far as Dromore and indicated to turn in, I realised I had no brakes! The car didn't want to go in a straight line and I quickly went down the gears and steered to try and keep the car straight and successfully managed to pull off the road avoiding having an accident. I felt somewhat shaken up and having found somewhere safe to stop, I then called the AA. They arrived pretty quickly to the damsel in distress on her own. AA man asks about what happened and asks me to move over so that he can try out the brakes himself. Then he removes the rear driver-side wheel and removes the cover for the rear drum. Several small pieces of shoe lining fell out onto the ground. I had no mission of him being able to source parts mid afternoon on a Saturday so I was left without much option other than to be towed to an AA recommended garage. It was closed till Monday, but the AA man locked the car up safely till they re-opened on Monday. On Monday, the mechanic told me that it had been a gradual fail of the brake, that it had heated up quite a number of times before the fail (unfortunately I never smelt anything). The shoe itself had quite a bit of rust under where the lining would have been. I believe that should have been spotted in a full service! It didn't make me feel any better when I was told that quite often when the lining goes, it simply jams the wheel and you end up pirouetting down the road out of control! The shoes have been replaced (both sided) by the AA approved garage and I have the car back again. However I'm feeling somewhat paranoid about what's happened and have booked the car back into Donnelly's for a full safety check on Thursday.
With all that has happened I feel somewhat disappointed by it all. I don't feel comfortable driving the car at the minute and I'm wondering that after spending all that money on the car if I can ever love it again like I used to before all this happened. It's not as if I had skimped on anything. I always have got it regularly serviced at an approved garage, and got a full pre-MoT check and any work advised done prior to the MoT. It has always flown through the MoT here without any advisories at all. I never even got a "sorry" from the garage who carried out the servicing.
I'm now left feeling "what is going to break next"?
In a nutshell, I had got the timing chain changed (as a precaution) at 71K last January and got it serviced in December as I had almost done my 12K miles since January.
The engine management light came on and went off again on the Saturday between Christmas and the New Year. The car then ran roughly and my usual (certainly no more!) garage was closed for at least another week for Christmas. I really can't do without my car so I took the car to the main dealership in Northern Ireland (Donnelly's at Mallusk) on Monday 30 December. I thought that it would be something simple related to the service and I can only praise the efforts that Donnelly's made in getting the car running again and it was also very decent of them to loan me a 500 while my Panda was off the road.
As the car presented as running, but very roughly like on 3 cylinders, they initially went through all the easier options of what could be wrong and even tried parts which if they didn't help, they removed and didn't charge me extra. As that didn't resolve the problem, they had to strip down the car and discovered it was the timing chain guide which had failed, and they replaced the whole timing set and checked everything was running correctly for a couple of days afterwards.
I paid for the repair and collected the car. Unfortunately bad luck mark 2 struck the next day and I had to return to get a new clutch installed.
I picked the car up last Tuesday and I must say the car is running the quietest I've ever heard it run. I reacquainted myself with the feel of new clutch which feels so much smoother.
Then on Saturday I was invited to a book launch in Newry. Unusually for me, I left the kids at home. So glad I did! Not even half way home, I felt something wasn't quite right with the rear driver side wheel. I suspected a wheel bearing and decided that I would call into A-One Tyres at Dromore which was roughly about 5 miles further up the road. However when I got as far as Dromore and indicated to turn in, I realised I had no brakes! The car didn't want to go in a straight line and I quickly went down the gears and steered to try and keep the car straight and successfully managed to pull off the road avoiding having an accident. I felt somewhat shaken up and having found somewhere safe to stop, I then called the AA. They arrived pretty quickly to the damsel in distress on her own. AA man asks about what happened and asks me to move over so that he can try out the brakes himself. Then he removes the rear driver-side wheel and removes the cover for the rear drum. Several small pieces of shoe lining fell out onto the ground. I had no mission of him being able to source parts mid afternoon on a Saturday so I was left without much option other than to be towed to an AA recommended garage. It was closed till Monday, but the AA man locked the car up safely till they re-opened on Monday. On Monday, the mechanic told me that it had been a gradual fail of the brake, that it had heated up quite a number of times before the fail (unfortunately I never smelt anything). The shoe itself had quite a bit of rust under where the lining would have been. I believe that should have been spotted in a full service! It didn't make me feel any better when I was told that quite often when the lining goes, it simply jams the wheel and you end up pirouetting down the road out of control! The shoes have been replaced (both sided) by the AA approved garage and I have the car back again. However I'm feeling somewhat paranoid about what's happened and have booked the car back into Donnelly's for a full safety check on Thursday.
With all that has happened I feel somewhat disappointed by it all. I don't feel comfortable driving the car at the minute and I'm wondering that after spending all that money on the car if I can ever love it again like I used to before all this happened. It's not as if I had skimped on anything. I always have got it regularly serviced at an approved garage, and got a full pre-MoT check and any work advised done prior to the MoT. It has always flown through the MoT here without any advisories at all. I never even got a "sorry" from the garage who carried out the servicing.
I'm now left feeling "what is going to break next"?
