Technical Siezed O2 Sensor

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Technical Siezed O2 Sensor

Sorry for the confusion but he said that it is £115 for one coil spring + the fitting + VAT.
£115 for a spring
+ fitting
+ VAT

Is very vague. Total bill could be anything

A garage buy at a trade price here’s an average retail price

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Is very vague. Total bill could be anything
That would be my worry. Break the top of the strut undoing the big nut, and you can add the price of a shock absorber to the bill. Also the top rubber mount under the wing might (quite legitimately) need replacing; £20 to you & me, but more likely inflated to another £50 if the price they're quoting for the spring is anything to go by.

If they say they encountered a few problems, and it's now £400, the OP isn't going to have a lot of options if they want to drive the car away.
 
I know your back is against the wall, but that's going to come to over £200 all in, a rip off on bot the parts and the labour.
That would be my worry. Break the top of the strut undoing the big nut, and you can add the price of a shock absorber to the bill. Also the top rubber mount under the wing might (quite legitimately) need replacing; £20 to you & me, but more likely inflated to another £50 if the price they're quoting for the spring is anything to go by.

If they say they encountered a few problems, and it's now £400, the OP isn't going to have a lot of options if they want to drive the car away.

I hope that’s not the case but won’t know till tomorrow I also hope that that’s the last problem with the car until a couple of months when I do the timing belt + water pump. Since I bought this car I have installed the following in just a couple of months including new starter, new battery, new rear exhaust, 2 new o2 sensors and tomorrow this coil spring all this has cost £ about £550 plus labour and god knows how much tomorrow is going to be.
 
Sorry for the confusion but he said that it is £115 for one coil spring + the fitting + VAT. It is a small local garage and here we have 2 main car part dealers that are local and do deliveries and deals with mechanics on a daily basis. The 2 main part dealers here are Livi auto parts and Dingbro. I rang Dingbro out of curiosity just to see if they have the part and they said yes they do it would be an “aftermarket coil spring” however they were not willing to tell me the price unless I had an account with them. They only deal with garages straight and not consumers.
Please excuse me for perhaps being a bit "thick" but I'm still unsure as to whether the £115 is for the spring alone or is it the price for the whole job?

Am I right that "Livi auto parts" is Livingstone Auto Parts? If so, that's a supplier who's been around a long time and generally well known for competitively priced parts. They are going to be pricing this around that £30 mark unless something has changed greatly recently. They're a bit far out for me to use but always one I have kept in mind just in case one of the Edinburgh based suppliers - SRS, Pentland Components, Dingbro, ECP, Teviot Factors and others - who are more easily accessible for me, can't supply. Dingbro have always been strictly trade only but they allowed me to buy on production of my IMI membership card. However when I retired and cancelled my subscription to the IMI, like TPS, they wouldn't sell to me any more. I would expect Dingbro to be even more competitively priced than Livi Auto Parts.

As a final thought it's worth considering that the discounted price most of us will be able to benefit from by buying from a trade supplier, ie. a Motor factor, is usually not quite as good as the price which a volume buyer, like a local garage, will be able to benefit from. On a purchase like this I would expect the garage will probably get another couple of quid off.

I hope that the £115 is for the whole job because if it's just for the spring alone it had better be a solid gold one!
 
Please excuse me for perhaps being a bit "thick" but I'm still unsure as to whether the £115 is for the spring alone or is it the price for the whole job?

Am I right that "Livi auto parts" is Livingstone Auto Parts? If so, that's a supplier who's been around a long time and generally well known for competitively priced parts. They are going to be pricing this around that £30 mark unless something has changed greatly recently. They're a bit far out for me to use but always one I have kept in mind just in case one of the Edinburgh based suppliers - SRS, Pentland Components, Dingbro, ECP, Teviot Factors and others - who are more easily accessible for me, can't supply. Dingbro have always been strictly trade only but they allowed me to buy on production of my IMI membership card. However when I retired and cancelled my subscription to the IMI, like TPS, they wouldn't sell to me any more. I would expect Dingbro to be even more competitively priced than Livi Auto Parts.

As a final thought it's worth considering that the discounted price most of us will be able to benefit from by buying from a trade supplier, ie. a Motor factor, is usually not quite as good as the price which a volume buyer, like a local garage, will be able to benefit from. On a purchase like this I would expect the garage will probably get another couple of quid off.

I hope that the £115 is for the whole job because if it's just for the spring alone it had better be a solid gold one!

Yea I just dropped the car off this morning, the £115 is for the whole job apparently but god knows what might come up or get broken while he’s trying to replace it.
 
I've been thinking about this chap's predicament. Oops, sorry, I'm assuming you're a chap? Anyway, If this turns out to be the rip off it's maybe looking like - I have all my fingers, and as many toes as I can manage, crossed for you - There are two Fiat/Italian car specialists here who I can confidently recommend to you. There's my favourite, Harrison's here in Leith: Harrison Motors, 74 Jane Street, EH6 5HG tel: 0131 555 7552 (owner Kenny, or his son, Ryan are both very approachable) or there's mclennans out at Loanhead: https://www.mclennansgarage.com/ who I don't know so well but know are very well regarded. Both these garages are steeped in Italian car knowledge, are ex main dealer people, and I can thoroughly recommend them. You could come in on the M8, round to Loanhead on the bypass and be there very quickly I would think? For a job like this spring I would think you could negotiate in advance to wait while they do it and just go off for a walk around for an hour or so. In fact, although it would take you longer, if you came in to Harrison's you could take in the dubious attractions of Leith Walk or walk to Ocean Terminal in about 10 minutes and visit the shops (which, once the tram works are finished, will undergo a redevelopment) and/or Royal Yacht Britannia. Shortly the Tram construction will be completed too so you could hop on a tram - which will be about 5 minutes walk from Kenny H's garage - and be up on Princes Street within maybe 10 or 15 minutes where you could pop into the new St James Quarter or just go a walk in Princes Street Gardens if, like me, you're not an enthusiastic shopper.
 
Yea I just dropped the car off this morning, the £115 is for the whole job apparently but god knows what might come up or get broken while he’s trying to replace it.
Oh good. I must have been composing the above post while you posted this. So glad to hear it's the price for the whole job. I don't think that's unreasonable. Hope it all goes well. Do please let us know how it turns out won't you.
 
Sorry for the confusion but he said that it is £115 for one coil spring + the fitting + VAT.

Yea I just dropped the car off this morning, the £115 is for the whole job apparently but god knows what might come up or get broken while he’s trying to replace it.
Thank god for that

Top one sounded like a rip off

Second one sounds more reasonable.

As a garage normally adds a little extra in case the job doesn’t go according to plan. Old cars rarely go strictly according to the book times
 
Mechanic just phoned me there to say it’s all done now, he’s installed a new spring coil and the brand is called Apex apparently it’s meant to be good. He said that all in its £115 including VAT. Away to pick up the car now. Hopefully that noise when turning the steering has disappeared.
Happy days 👍
 
Mechanic just phoned me there to say it’s all done now, he’s installed a new spring coil and the brand is called Apex apparently it’s meant to be good. He said that all in its £115 including VAT. Away to pick up the car now. Hopefully that noise when turning the steering has disappeared.
Yup, a name I recognize, sure I've fitted this brand myself in the past: https://www.apexsuspension.com/about-us/

Price for the job is reasonable. Sounds like a good outcome for you.
 
2 new shiny o2 sensors, new battery new coil and starter should keep me going for a bit hopefully without needing anything else. Regarding the newly installed battery the strap round it is not tight as you can see it’s a bit loose so is that fine? Not like it moves around or anything but was wondering how I could tighten it?
 

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If you look at the bottom of the battery you'll see there's a "step" sticking out all the way round. Look at your's and you'll see that the "step" on the back side of the bottom of the battery is tucked under a "lip" of metal on the battery tray. The front is retained by the ridged bracket which is held in place by that one nut - which is plainly visible in your picture. Most modern batteries are held in position in this way. I think the strap on the Fiats is just a secondary restraint and is of little importance.

The new battery I recently fitted to our Panda - which is a Yuasa, replacing the original fit Exide - leaves this strap just very slightly slack. I've just left it the way it is and it seems to be absolutely fine.
 
If you look at the bottom of the battery you'll see there's a "step" sticking out all the way round. Look at your's and you'll see that the "step" on the back side of the bottom of the battery is tucked under a "lip" of metal on the battery tray. The front is retained by the ridged bracket which is held in place by that one nut - which is plainly visible in your picture. Most modern batteries are held in position in this way. I think the strap on the Fiats is just a secondary restraint and is of little importance.

The new battery I recently fitted to our Panda - which is a Yuasa, replacing the original fit Exide - leaves this strap just very slightly slack. I've just left it the way it is and it seems to be absolutely fine.
Strap just to contain the battery in a accident. So still important

I just put a few twists in it to take the slack out
 
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