I took the octavia to national tyres today to get the tracking adjusted as it was pulling to one side. I left it there with them for an hour and went shopping with the family. When I came back I was told tracking couldn't be done because of a split gaiter. Now I understand that this is something that can happen at any point but, less than two weeks ago the car had the front brakes worked on by my regular mechanic as the brakes had been squealing since new pads /discs. Of course I have no proof but I suspect that have deliberately split the boot. The showed me some grease on the wheel liner , which showed that it has only happened recently. How recently is the questions. Anyways I suppose I could complain and kick up a fuss but I don't suppose it will make any difference. Anyone ever repaired a boot? I have seen patches made from inner tube on the net and heard about people glueing them in the past? Any thoughts welcomed

You could easily have thrown up some road debris that's done it.

Have a look at the condition of the boot...be easy to see whats happened then.

In my experience they tend to split in one of the corrugations as the movement of the joint constantly flexes them. They do tend to go suddenly as well.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Repair a gaiter? :no:

New boot is only £12 from Euros http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Skoda_Octavia_1.8_2003/p/car-parts/car-transmission/transmission-parts/cv-boot-kits/?656443160&1&3bd2a86bc7bfd4034965be121e28a27311497d14&000445

 

Now what I don't understand, why can't they do the tracking with a busted CV boot??

Parts £12 labour about £100. They didn't do the tracking as it would have to be redone after the boot was changed. They were doing me a favour. As my regular mechanic said probably the old screwdriver through the boot to win more work. Annoyed at myself for not being clearer when I booked it in and telling them everything had been done last week except the tracking or sitting there and watching them doing it

Its pretty **** when you feel the need to sit and watch a "Trained guy" do his job to make he doesnt F^&k it up, on purpose or by accident.

 

had my old car in to get a wheel bearing done, and got a call that afternoon to say the cv joint had snapped

"when it being reversed off the ramp after the hub change"....

i had my doubts about when it was snapped.. and if it really was off the amp, but like couldnt prove anything...

 

had to pay fora  new cv, leave the car there overnight.. only upside - they didnt screw me for labour.

I had a very similar experience years ago when my car was in for some brake work. Garage rang to say boot was split and they should change it. They were not too happy when I said I'd call in for a look, and I was suspicious when I saw the split (cut?) was very clean, very straight and across the folds. They usually don't split that way. I had to get it mended but never went back there!

Having had plenty of Vauxhalls, they always split in the crease.

It ain't right, but I hit the point a long time ago where, with the exception of mechanics who are personal friends, no one works on my cars unless I'm watching them.

Before I take it anywhere, tyre fitters, MOT centres, I always make it VERY clear that I do my own work, and I know exactly what is under there.

 

It pays to jack it up and have a good luck before going.

Is it the original boot? If so, it's at least 12 years old.

Did you look in the wheel arch before driving away? You tend to get a characteristic band of splatter.

I have just jacked up the car and surprise the damage to the boot is Phillips screwdriver sized on the top of the 1st ridge (gearbox side). Do you think I should contact trading standards or go back to National Tyres? I have cleaned up the grease such as it was and put a miracle patch on the boot. I will see if this stays on over the next few weeks .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is shocking. id be onto the trading standards personally...

Threaten National Tyres with trading standards and the local paper. Take lots of photos of it. They will probably agree to do the work for free, but tell them you want your normal mechanic to do the work and send them the bill. 

Here some pics I took whilst down there . Pic number one shows the boot. It's not fantastic quality but you can see the puncture mark. Pic two is the inter cooler pipe I think . Looks like it is about to come out and is covered in oil? Also the air con pipe was covered in some oil. Are the two pipes anything to worry about?

The grease from the cv boot is really thick, when mine split recently I had lumps of grey grease stuck around the wheel arch, inside of the wheel and various bits of suspension.  The second picture looks like normal leakage of oily muck from the intercooler pipework.

Sorry I should have been clearer. There were a few small lumps of grease as the puncture had only just "happened" - I reckon the ran it up on the rollers or even on a jack. Anyway the question about oil was to do this the inter cooler pipe which looks like it is coming out of the inter cooler - see second picture.

Leakage of oil round the joints on the intercooler pipework is pretty normal.  I can't remember now what that joint should look like so I'm not sure if it is OK or not.

 

Does the aircon work OK?

It was working fine in the summer. Difficult to tell at present to be honest . The car is steamy from various leaks and doesn't seem to delist effectively , and I know the recirc flap motor is U/S .

i had this happen at halfords auto centre in exeter, went in for a 'cheap' mot, got a phone call at work saying it needed an inner cv boot and track rod end on the same side, they were quite surprised when i took the car away to be repaired elsewhere. when i picked up the car the arch liner was clean, but by the time i got to my mates garage it was splattered in cv grease and there was a nice screwdriver shaped cut in a otherwise perfect cv boot.

 

needless to say i got it motd elsewhere after fitting a new cv boot, i didnt change the track rod end as there was no play whatsoever, halfords just wanted to charge extra labour.

 

takes the ****, but a lot of places are like it

Advace Pitstop across the Republic have a habit of doing the

"you came in for tyres, but we cant let the car out because your brakes are dangerously worn and need to be replaced..."

 

In particular with women who go in and have child seats in the car.

 

W&nkers. All it does is drive business away, as, if you get stung once, you'll never go to another one.

and the occasional genuine case will just say "oh yeah..." and head off anyway thinking they are being conned.

The area manager from Cambridge called me today and offered to view the damage at some point. We had a sensible discussion about it and I might take him up on his offer. The patch has worked to this point though the car hasn't been over 40mph . Tomorrow it's going for a motorways run onlyp 20 miles or so but at least it will hit 70. The oil on the bottom of the inter cooler pipe has come back and also is on the other side of the auxiliary belt pulley, but not on the belt itself. Any ideas where this might be coming from other the Intercooler?

Have you checked the seals on the driveshaft where it comes out of the gearbox. On my old car they were weeping but the motion of the driveshaft chucked it all over the place.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk