Ey up, Dropped my car off at a respectable local garage at 9 am this morning for the cam belt/water pump/coolant change for what I thought was quite a decent price ( £300 all in)

They said the car would be ready mid afternoon, however, at 4.30 they rang to say its not ready because the mechanic has spilt oil down the intake manifold and that its now smoking a bit and needs running for half an hour or so.

They told me on the phone it will be ready for no later than 10am tomorrow but its set alarm bells off now, surely if oil has been spilt down the inlet manifold then its gonna end up in the cat or at the very least knacker some sensors up???

Any thoughts?

Edited 19 August, 201114 yr by JonsVRS

Ey up, Dropped my car off at a respectable local garage at 9 am this morning for the cam belt/water pump/coolant change for what I thought was quite a decent price ( £300 all in)

They said the car would be ready mid afternoon, however, at 4.30 they rang to say its not ready because the mechanic has spilt oil down the intake manifold and that its now smoking a bit and needs running for half an hour or so.

They told me on the phone it will be ready for no later than 10am tomorrow but its set alarm bells off now, surely if oil has been spilt down the inlet manifold then its gonna end up in the cat or at the very least knacker some sensors up???

Any thoughts?

do you not mean he has spilt some oil and it has run down onto the exhaust manifold and is smoking ?

Pass, the garage just said the mechanic had spilt oil down the inlet manifold and now it was smoking

Ok, firstly the car was sent in for cambelt, water pump and coolant change so where did the oil come from to be near your engine bay ?

secondly i would have thought if he had spilt some oil it would have been on the outside of the inlet. Therefore needing the engine to be warmed up to burn the oil off before giving the car back to you and you worrying why its sat on your drive still smoking as the inlet cools down.

There's no reason i can think of that the inlet should have come off to do the repairs you had done so i'd have thought it was spilt on the outside of the inlet not the inside.

Hope this helps.

Regards Dave

Dave above has it spot on.. I really doubt they took the inlet off, if they did I'm not sure why!

And what were they doing with oil - it wasn't having an oil change was it??????

All sounds very dubious to me.

Do you have anyone who can go with you when you pick the car up to inspect it????

No Im afraid I don't. I was curious as to why they'd gone near it with oil as that was only changed last week. I'll ask them tomorrow morning.

No Im afraid I don't. I was curious as to why they'd gone near it with oil as that was only changed last week. I'll ask them tomorrow morning.

are you sure it wasn't coolant that was spilt?

He told me oil on the phone. I'm going to go down first thing before they open to a: find out I'd someone's taken it home and b: what they've been doing to it.

Worse case scenario is they've put the belt on wrong and bent valves.

Edited 19 August, 201114 yr by JonsVRS

I wouldn't start thinking that the belt has gone wrong. There is always that sneaky suspicion that your car has been used by a staff member to get them home and back which is why i always write my mileage down when i drop the car off. Whilst your car should have been test driven, there is nothing wrong with asking them the route they used for the test drive, just tell them you want to know so you can keep an eye on your mpg or for some reason like that. They of course don't have to tell you but surely your response to them then would be "what have you got to hide by telling me ?"

It's more than possible that the mechanic wiped the inlet down with a rag in his pocket which has oil on it or some other totally innocent excuse but you really have to ask them, tell them you only had an oil change last week and you use specific oil on your car so need to know if they have "topped up" for you as the 2 oils then might not be compatable.

Hope this helps and i really hope your reading too much into it. However as said before i do totally understand your concerns and hope you get some answers.

Regards Dave

UPDATE: Picked car up at 8.30 am and was assured all ok now and it drives lovely etc.

I asked about the "oil" that had been spilt and discovered that it was , in fact, power steering fluid that had dribbled down the inlet manifold where the mechanic had tied the pipes out of the way. Drove car away, got half a mile and went back due to the power steering making an alarming noise due to the spilt fluid not being replaced!!

Also discovered there now a strange rumbling noise coming from the timing gear which certainly wasnt there before.

The garage have told me to run it for the weekend and take it back to them one day next week so they can strip it down again, however, Im not willing to drive the car incase the rumbling noise is the belt rubbing against something. Oh, and one of the plastic screws on the cam cover is now missing.

Either way its going back at 8am Monday morning and itll be staying there until Im happy with it.

Might be worth checking that they replaced the stretch bolts on the engine mount as well (as, iirc, that they need to be removed to enable the belt to be changed - certainly that is the case on my oil burner).

Glad to hear you picked it up ok and the "oil" issue was actually a mis-interpretation and not an issue as such.

Did they do the power steering fluid before you left there ? I'd agree not to drive it unless you have to, sounds like there is something definitely wrong and they need to investigate. I'm sorry, i can't be much use as to the specifics of an Octavia, my mechanical knowledge is more broad and quite a few years old, i started off as a mechanic but quickly found out that the plug a box in and it told you what was wrong wasn't the way i wanted to work so only stopped in the trade for a few years.

Hope your not left hanging without a car and they look at it pretty quickly and find the source of the rumbling.

Good luck and Regards Dave

Update:. Took car back to garage and left it with them for the day. They rang and told me it was ready for collection at the end of the day. When I asked what they had done they said they had checked their work and nothing was wrong, however , the noise had quitened down a hell of a lot and now seems to have disappeared. I reckon they realised they'd left something loose but didnt have the balls to admit it. Lesson learned, Ill not be using them again.

Ok, firstly the car was sent in for cambelt, water pump and coolant change so where did the oil come from to be near your engine bay ?

secondly i would have thought if he had spilt some oil it would have been on the outside of the inlet. Therefore needing the engine to be warmed up to burn the oil off before giving the car back to you and you worrying why its sat on your drive still smoking as the inlet cools down.

There's no reason i can think of that the inlet should have come off to do the repairs you had done so i'd have thought it was spilt on the outside of the inlet not the inside.

Hope this helps.

Regards Dave

To get the engine mount bracket off of the engine block the engines needs jacking RIGHT UP to clear the chassis leg and air con pipes and the intake hose and dog bone both need removing to prevent any damage.

That why the intake pipe would be off and when the PAS resevoir is loosend without having the pipes disconnected it gets turned upside down right in this area so can understand PAS fluid could easily get in to the plenum chamber.

which garage was this as i live in doncaster and dont want to end up using them and getting myself.

thanks

JA's autos next to Denaby crossings.

JA's autos next to Denaby crossings.

cheers mate. will stay away from them. maybe we should start a list of trustworthy garages.

Sounds like a plan