Oh Sh11t how bad whats the damage?

[mr_awol]

I ran peugeots for a while and on the few occasions I needed repair work (manly not my fault but one was) I just told the recovery company to take the car to my local main dealer and post the keys through the door. Next day the bodyshop manager would phone me to ask if I wanted my courtessy car delivered or would I pick it up and he always dealt with all aspects of the insurance claim.

The only time I ever had contact from the insurers (other than to get my side of the story) was when one insurer (NFU I think) suggested that I had to go to one of their 'approved' repairers instead. I told them I was sure that my choice of main dealer would be just as good and that As far as I saw I their only role in all of this was to write the cheque at the end. Again, said repairer sorted it all out thereon and I heardno more. Once when they had no courtessy cars available they sent me down enterprise and hired one until they could supply one of their own.

My mother has recently been crashed into and her insurer (co-OP) sent her to some Mickey Mouse place in whistable who were a nightmare from start to finish and never did manage to stump up a courtessy car.

In short, choose a decent garage and get the work done properly.

Edited 25 December, 2012 by mr_awol

[Scribbler]

Sorry to be blunt and try and get the thread back on track but the insurance repair isn't an issue anymore thats all sorted i made them fix it. Its the emulsion mayo in the engine im consearned about. After christmas im gonna give it a long run then drop its guts and refill with quality oil im not changing filter though as its 6 months old tops.

is that being stingy?

[stevetdci]

Yes it is, your going to change £50 worth of oil and not bother with a £5 oil filter ? It's the filter that drags the crap out so I would certainly change it.

[littleade]

+1 for me too. Not worth the potential risk IMO. It might be a waste of time but you're potentially risking a £5k engine for a filter that costs a couple of quid, so if it was me I'd change it.

You can have the mayo with some fries next time you go to mackies too :-)

[cheezemonkhai]

Sorry to be blunt and try and get the thread back on track but the insurance repair isn't an issue anymore thats all sorted i made them fix it. Its the emulsion mayo in the engine im consearned about. After christmas im gonna give it a long run then drop its guts and refill with quality oil im not changing filter though as its 6 months old tops.

is that being stingy?

If you're not going to change the filter.. then don't bother changing the oil.

The filter is as important as the oil and it's also going to be full of everything nasty that's in the old oil and some of the old oil too.

Far better to get a new filter in there and some new oil.

If it's been properly serviced, then I wouldn't bother with either for another 6 months. Regardless of the quality of the oil, if you don't get a car up to temperature for a while, then you'll never drive the water out of the oil and you'll get that mayo.

So before wasting money on the oil, I'd take it for a run to get hot after cleaning off what you can and keep an eye on it.

If you want to change the oil and it isn't due, then I'd wait until spring, then do it then. That way you'll have passed the mayo season as the temperatures will have gone up.

Obviously if it's due before then, then do it, but what you see it totally normal in winter.

Edited 26 December, 2012 by cheezemonkhai

[Scribbler]

Yes it is, your going to change £50 worth of oil and not bother with a £5 oil filter ? It's the filter that drags the crap out so I would certainly change it.

Normaly i would agree and a big advocate of not cutting corners or scrimping on materials. The reason i don't want to touch the filter is two fold. Firstly I haven't got the proper sized socket to remove the Filter canister. Its a big un about 35mm Hex across flats from memory, i nearly split the plastic last time i changed the filter less than 6 months ago probably about september time. I also nearly rounded off the edges too. So i promised myself that i would buy a new Filter container this time rather than just the element and also get the proper socket and torque settings also. So to do it properly as i will do at next service interval it will cost considerably more than £5. Also the emulsion formed if as you lot have diagnosed is from condensation forming then i wont have been collected in the filter i don't think which is down near the sump. My guess is its all at the top of the engine. Im purely talking about a quick interim oil change maybe for a few months until summer when i will change the whole lot.

[silver1011]

As as has been said, changing the oil without changing the filter is completely pointless.

If you don't have the right tools then don't bother.

[stevetdci]

Summer is 8 months away .... You could get and indi to change the oil, I'd be tempted to give the engine a quick flush too. So engine flush, drain then run it on some cheap oil then drain and fill with the good stuff. I'd rather spend £100 on oil rather than run the risk of the hg failing. I sold my 206 run around because the hg had started to go, it wasn't a difficult job but by the time you have stripped it down it would be in the region of £300 on a vrs it wouldn't be as easy or cheap.

You said yourself you don't like cutting corners so don't start now

[cheezemonkhai]

An oil change isn't going to prevent an HG failure. If you think you have a HG issue, then you'd surely want to look at the cooling system and coolant etc.

Seriously, I've said it as have others, it's probably just a bit of condensation from short runs in cold weather. If you change the oil and do short runs it will just come back anyway, so you're throwing money down the drain (Well oil recycling centre).

Edited 27 December, 2012 by cheezemonkhai

[cbr600]

Do not use Nationwide repair centre's just cowboys had loads of chew with them which resulted in my car being returned to them 4 times over 2 years due to morethan giving lifetime repair warranty.

[Stuart_J]

You can elect to get your car repaired anywhere you want. The Insurance company can not insist you use their repairer, all bodyshops work to "thatcham rates" for repairs so the cost to the Insurance co for a "proper repair" shouldnt be an issue.

Some insurance companies now own large bodyshops to try & keep costs down, I read that as do as cheaply as possible. There are also deals with Accident management companies where a percentage of the repair cost is paid back to company once the repair is complete in return for the company guaranteeing the bodyshop all or a certain amount of its work so the bodyshop are already working on a very tight budget. The same deal applies on lease cars so if you have a lease car make sure it goes back without damage, if it has damage in the contract it often says you get the bill & a "commision type fee is factored into those as well. Yes it stinks but where theres huge sums of money floating around a few percent skimmed off the top can be very profitable to some.

If you elect to use an independant you will often be told you loose your loan car but you should be able to find a bodyshop with a free loan car, they do that just to get work. It may be a very basic car but thats preferable to a bodged repair.

Lastly when you take the car in make sure its clean & tidy & tell the manager "politely but firmly" that you are the fussiest bloke he is ever going to meet, anything less than better than new will be rejected, makes for an interesting conversation but Ive found having put up with the cowboys elected by the Insurance companies in my younger days I have had no problems recently. If it comes back perfet MAKE SURE you say thank you, in writing even better, if they do a good job they deserve to know, these days we are all to eager to criticise & never say thanks, if you ever need them again that thankyou will be invaluable.

Re the Mayo in the oil, if you are not loosing water I wouldnt worry about it, if you want peace of mind get a dealer to do a lube service "oil & filter". Our cars on variable servicing & I always have a lube service at around mid point, Oil is the life blood of the Turbo & IMO its worth a change but thats just a personal thing

Edited 28 December, 2012 by Stuart_J