General what does 'Servicing' involve?

[T14086]

I did'nt speak I wrote, think before you reply, IDIOT.

Only reason I said that was because when my hgt went in for a service at fiat they did'nt change the oil as I had marked the filter with tipex (mate at works suggestion) beforehand, same when my mums fiesta went into fords they did'nt bother, which is why I do it myself now, you must be an exception.

Guess we must be the exception,which is why we retain 'dirty' parts for customer inspection that day or leave old part in box in boot or passenger footwell.

Would you now like to grace us with your employment details?

 

[PUNTO-DUDE]

At low volume (1 or 2) its very noticeable,higher its ok cause your rapidly going deaf anyway :slayer:

Seem to remember something about having to resolder tracks on PCB? Got sovtek valves in it.

I've not worked on one of those newer valvestate amps, just the first series ones. The single ECC83 valve is pcb-mounted so it could cause stress to the solder joints through heat & mechanical shock when transporting the amp and/or replacing the valve - can't harm to reflow the solder on the pcb so give it a bash. just remember to drain the filter caps before you go poking around inside the amp, caps store charge even with the amp switched off and can give you a nasty belt. Of course it goes without saying that you should unplug the amp from the wall.

Other than that you might try replacing the valve - 99% of hum problems with anything using valves is due to a dodgy valve.

If none of that works then take it to a tech - it could be anything. btw, I'm assuming this is a fault with the amp (i.e. it didn't used to hum badly????).

Lastly, does the amp hum with nothing plugged into the amp (you're not using single coil pickups are you - they do hum BAD)

:slayer:

 

[NumanR]

If you take your amp to an amp specialist for repair they wont do anything to it and charge you an arm and a leg. Hang on! I am talking b......s, about something I know nothing about. Is my name Dan?

 

[PUNTO-DUDE]

If you take your amp to an amp specialist for repair they wont do anything to it and charge you an arm and a leg.

Thats actually closer to the truth than you might think - thats how I ended up starting to repair amps. I took an old valve amp to two seperate 'techs' who couldn't fix the amp but both charged me for troubleshooting saying that there was nothing wrong.

Thats why I'm so sceptical about the whole car 'service' thing - in the amp world a service for most techs involves spraying the pots with lubricant. My own service includes that and... cleaning valve bases, tightening any nuts & bolts, checking components are within spec, replacing leaky caps or noisy resistors, setting the bias (idle), checking ground connections are solid.

:slayer:

 

[dave]

stop

 

[NumanR]

The whole servicing issue has been brought about by people defining different procedures as servicing.
The manufacturer has a "manufacturers service", normally different from year to year to spread costs, (normally to reduce costs for lease companies) and therefore make the car more attractive to potentiol buyers.

Kwik fit type services, national chains that do a fixed price service whatever vehicle, normally priced by engine size, and non specific to the vehicle type.

Specials, these are normally done by small garages or garages trying to attract non franchise work in. Normally at a reduced cost, and again are non vehicle specific.

Old School, these are the guys who do a "proper" service, and check all brakes every service, and do an in depth check over and usually make the effort to contact dealers for advice on any extras they may need to do at certain mileages.

40 point check type services, a variation on the kwik fit type but usually carried out by main dealers on older cars.

Punter service, a complete variable, could be oil and filter or the whole works, who knows?

That is why a Full Dealer Service history is so valuable, because it is completely traceable, however there is a service that can be done for most price budgets.

NumanR

 

[DanGil]

Guess we must be the exception,which is why we retain 'dirty' parts for customer inspection that day or leave old part in box in boot or passenger footwell.

Would you now like to grace us with your employment details?

Thats a good idea leaving the old parts in there, I can only comment on experiences I've had and mine have been bad, whats my employment details got to do with anything?

 

[T14086]

Thing is Dan,it's not fair saying Fiat garages wont do anything when servicing your car...ok people do get ripped off (as happens in all businesses) and I would be a liar to say otherwise,however there are alot of garages out there who do honestly try hard to improve the overall image of the 'dealer'.
It's much nicer (polite) to say 'alot of garages do dont anything when servicing,I put a mark on my oil filter....etc i.e. not tarnish everyone with same brush.I cannot understand why the oil filter was not changed,its obvious you will get caught out eventually! Only reason I can think was the filter was not in stock? Even though this would of been easily sorted by "sorry sir we dont have oil filter in stock,i'll have a driver come out & collect your car & we will do oil/filter change then bring it back to you,sorry for inconvience sir".Afterall a unhappy customer tells 10 of his/her friends but a happy customer tells nobody.
Reference to employment details is that there are alot of techs who visit/post here trying to help others (in their own free time) & doing their best to make your time with Fiat a happier event.Without the customer techs wont have a job & Fiat go 'down the tubes',afterall we are all here for one reason,Fiats Would it be fair to dismiss all plumbers(if thats what you do for example)because of a bad few?

 

[DanGil]

Fair enought, doing it myself I know its been flushed and done especially with the variator issue, just don't get a stamp.

 

[The Sultan]

Yes Dan thats correct Fiat dealers dont service your car if you take it to them how right you are.....

So the fact i'm getting up at 6.45am on sat morning,getting to work at 7.30,getting everything ready for the morning customers(service sheets etc),then listening to customers/test drives with them & diagnosing their problems,do a couple of services,close up garage at 12.00,then do the paperwork...get home at(hopefully)2.00pm(7.00pm weekdays).Then come on FF for majority of rest of day helping(hopefully)others.......yeah us techs really do f*ck all

IDIOT! (think before you speak)

:yeahthat:

i wodent bother with the cam belt if its an 8v as i wont be damaged if it comes off just a bit of an inconvinience geting it to the garage

but defo whould with the 16v (16 valves shouting ouch again ouch again ouch again aint good)

 

[dave]

:yeahthat:

i wodent bother with the cam belt if its an 8v as i wont be damaged if it comes off just a bit of an inconvinience geting it to the garage

but defo whould with the 16v (16 valves shouting ouch again ouch again ouch again aint good)

oh thats very good advice isn't it what happens if it goes on a busy motorway?

BTW do you know how to use a spell checker?

 

[ger]

basically I used to get my car serviced by main dealer and service was rubbish. Get a mechanic to do it as a hobble now car is outta warrantee. He services it better than Fiat ever would do. It costs a fraction of the price also. Main dealers are there just to rip you off, I know cos I worked at one once and I was amazed at how much poeple will spend for a service.

 

[T14086]

basically I used to get my car serviced by main dealer and service was rubbish. Get a mechanic to do it as a hobble now car is outta warrantee. He services it better than Fiat ever would do. It costs a fraction of the price also. Main dealers are there just to rip you off, I know cos I worked at one once and I was amazed at how much poeple will spend for a service.

But does your 'mechanic' know Fiats better than dealers,have access to service bulletins/technical back up & have examiner diagnostic hardware/software?
Alot of folk complain about dealers 'finding faults' with cars....the thing is they know where to look wheres a 'all round mechanic' might not.You might find it cheaper getting a friend whos a mechanic to do it but personally i'd rather a 'dedicated to make' trained tech work on my car.