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Coincidence...really? Hmm, advice needed please!


slew77

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Took my car in for its P1 service + MOT today at a main dealer. All fine on the drive there. Go to pick the car up, they say that it passed with flying colours, no problems, but as I pull away, straight away the car feels shite and I notice the engine warning light is on, and the traction control warning light. So I turn straight back round and back to the garage. They run a diagnostic and say the throttle body has gone. Also, while the mechanic is running the test, he says, it might be the throttle body, I've had one go like this before...

 

They say they haven't done anything that could have caused this and it's just a coincidence that it's gone. But that doesn't ring true. Apparently there's not much to go wrong with a throttle body, so is it likely that they've had more than one go during a service? And that they could predict that's what the problem would be without even driving the car themselves? I don't know much about the mechanics of a car, so have no idea, just feels like a massive coincidence that it went during the service, they didn't notice anything and it wasn't spotted until I go to drive away.

 

I've got to go back later to talk to the manager, but am assuming that he's just going to say tough, it's not our fault, it's just coincidently gone. Anyone have any advice on this (apart from take it somewhere like abbey next time!), is it likely to just be a coincidence, i.e. they go after a certain time or is there something I should be suspicious about, e.g. ragging the crap out of the car to hear the K1.

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hmm maybe they unplugged it when pissing about and didnt put it back in properly?

did they wash the car and maybe wash the engine bay? could be water in the connector?

its also possible that some ***** decided to poke his fingers in?

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Id fight that crap, the problem was non-existent before you handed it over to them, and they return the car broken. Get them to fix it. If it was handed back with a huge dent in the panel would they say tough sh!t about that as well?

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tell them to do a throttle body reset to sort it, but personally i'd be having a check all round the bolts and fixings in that area to see if they were recently disturbed. ie. they took your good one off and fitted a crap one only to put yours back on again and charge you 1k.

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They said it went on the rolling road for the MOT, could that have damaged it?
They should know NOT to use the rollers for testing the Brakes in the MOT. That can destroy the diff as already mentioned

+1

 

They should know that any car fitted with a limited slip diff (LSD) should be brake tested on the real roads, not on the rollers.

Basic knowledge any MOT tester should know.

I'd go back and tell them that they messed up and if they didn't put it right, they would hear from your solicitors and trading standards.

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Thanks for your advice.

 

When they ran their diagnostic they said it shows it's the throttle body at fault. Is there any way I can tell whether it is in fact the diff or would I need to find someone with a similar diagnostic tool to be sure? I.e. they break the diff, say it's the throttle body and therefore not their fault, charge me 1000 to put it right, but actually replace the diff - or am i just being cynical now?

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Thanks for your advice.

 

When they ran their diagnostic they said it shows it's the throttle body at fault. Is there any way I can tell whether it is in fact the diff or would I need to find someone with a similar diagnostic tool to be sure? I.e. they break the diff, say it's the throttle body and therefore not their fault, charge me 1000 to put it right, but actually replace the diff - or am i just being cynical now?

:thumbdown::scare:

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do you still have the car? if so can you check the code that is being thrown up and see if it is the diff or throttle body error - at least check it with which coide they 'say' is showing?

 

there's a link in the guide section showing how to check the code....

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The car is still at the dealers. If they don't offer to fix it free of charge (which I seriously doubt), I'll take it away and try to pedal reset to get the error code, then if it's not the throttle body :angry:. If it's not the diff, I'll take it to abbey, wish I'd done that in the first place, all this for a small nissan stamp in a service book :rant:

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The car is still at the dealers. If they don't offer to fix it free of charge (which I seriously doubt), I'll take it away and try to pedal reset to get the error code, then if it's not the throttle body :angry:. If it's not the diff, I'll take it to abbey, wish I'd done that in the first place, all this for a small nissan stamp in a service book :rant:

 

if its out of warranty i wouldn't bother with a dealer stamp.

 

if they moved the butterfly valve at all when poking around it screws with the TB, a TB reset should fix it. if not it might need a new TB.

 

sometimes it might be a bit sticky they can be cleaned, but very carefully.

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The car is still at the dealers. If they don't offer to fix it free of charge (which I seriously doubt), I'll take it away and try to pedal reset to get the error code, then if it's not the throttle body :angry:. If it's not the diff, I'll take it to abbey, wish I'd done that in the first place, all this for a small nissan stamp in a service book :rant:

 

if its out of warranty i wouldn't bother with a dealer stamp.

 

I'm supposed to have a P1 right about now, but gonna only look out for the P2/P3 ones and even then I won't go to the stealers.

P1 is basically an oil change that I can do myself for about £80 less than what a stealer would ask, and my MOT will be done by my local garage which do know their stuff.

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The car is still at the dealers. If they don't offer to fix it free of charge (which I seriously doubt), I'll take it away and try to pedal reset to get the error code, then if it's not the throttle body :angry:. If it's not the diff, I'll take it to abbey, wish I'd done that in the first place, all this for a small nissan stamp in a service book :rant:

 

if its out of warranty i wouldn't bother with a dealer stamp.

 

I'm supposed to have a P1 right about now, but gonna only look out for the P2/P3 ones and even then I won't go to the stealers.

P1 is basically an oil change that I can do myself for about £80 less than what a stealer would ask, and my MOT will be done by my local garage which do know their stuff.

 

I don't blame you for doing the P1 yourself. As they were explaining to me that they couldn't have done anything to cause the problems as for a P1 all they do is the oil and filter, I wondered how the hell then they could charge £200+ for it.

 

Having said that, is that true that the throttle body would be nowhere near where they were working?

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Worst case senario:

 

I have preowned diffs and throttle bodies if required. :thumbs:

 

Hopefully it wont come to that.

 

As the guys have suggested, pull the codes and do your resets. :thumbs:

 

Alex.

 

Thanks Alex, I may well be in touch !

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Went to pick it up, ready for a row...manager comes out and says, "we've fixed the problem" :yahoo: Massive relief!!!

 

What they reckon is that there was a build up in the throttle body, which they said was probably down to them and what they used to clean the filter (or something like that)...anyway they cleaned it and there's now no problems :)

 

I asked them about their MOTs and the limited slip diff and they said that they are aware of the problem with rolling roads, but they use a roller that doesn't damage the diff - whether that's true or not, I have no idea, I'm just relieved to have my zed back!

 

Thanks everyone for your help though!!!

 

[still gonna go to abbey next year]

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