ElsaWin shows the tightening torque as being 60Nm for that propshaft.

Is that all?!

If you google image search that part number, doesn't appear to be any threadlock pre-applied.

Maybe they were just left finger tight during reassembly, and someone forgot to torque them up ?

Maybe they were just left finger tight during reassembly, and someone forgot to torque them up ?

 

That's the most plausible conclusion.

Many years ago, we had a clutch changed on an Austin Ambassador, by a well known car parts supplier begins with H and ends in rds...

When I got the car home, the drive shafts hadn't been clicked onto place, I was missing two engine mounting bolts and the others were missing the nuts and washers, at any point the engine and gear box could have lept out of the car. This was before speed humps.

They said bring the car back, I said it is undrivable and unsafe... I know you shut in 10 minutes so get one of your technicians to my house within half an hour and sort it....

Which they did... This was before the internet, I was not impressed.

From my experience, I wouldn't trust H****rds to change a bulb, although now they are a seperate service department to the main shop.

Perhaps they should stick to looking after bikes.

When we had a Picasso serviced, at a Citroen main dealer, I looked under the bonnet before driving away, and half of the air inlet pipes were missing.

I have had oil leaks to match that of the Gulf of Mexico, after a service on one car, as they lost an "O" ring from the rocker box cover.

That was a main Ford Dealer too.

So why would I expect Skoda to be any different...?

The issue is, I am paying a huge amount of money to have the work done, by someone on the lowest wage in their dealership.

When my Yeti goes in for service... they had better get everything right, first time.

It used to be a joke in the 80's... never have your car serviced just before your holiday, if you expect to get there without any problems.

Most experienced motorists would have the service done two or three weeks before, so you can get it put right, looks like this is the policy to adopt now lol...

^ That's the reason why I prefer to do everything I can myself.

Update:  according to their service department, "a bearing on the shaft has failed which has led to the vibration and bolts coming out".  I asked "what bearing?  The shaft is solid", to which they replied "that bit on the end is a bearing".

 

I don't buy it.  I can see how an imbalanced shaft would cause a bearing to fail, but I can't see how a failed bearing would rattle two 90 Nm bolts out (and leave the third tight).  Especially as there was no indication of bearing failure whilst driving it (noise, vibration etc).  Plus I don't even know what bearing it could be; as far as I can tell that coupling is simply a cushioned coupling onto the output of the transfer box.  The output shaft will, of course, have bearings but for one to fail and cause this issue...?  One thing I do know - there was no discernible play in the shaft - it was solid; of course a simple 'grab it and shake' test may not be able to diagnose a failed bearing, but for what it's worth I felt no play at all.

 

I may be wrong - it may be this is what happened, but I am sceptical.  Anyway, It is with Skoda UK now.  All I want is my car back safe and working.  I want to be treated fairly and truthfully.  If they did make a mistake and apologised I was happy to leave it at that.   If it is a bearing failure then I will accept that (although at this point nobody has mentioned any prices, quotes or anything, which seems odd for an out-of-warranty repair).  If it is a cover-up then I will not leave it at that.

 

By the way, here is the diagram of where the shaft attaches (onto item 10):

 

During my recent dealer saga they weren't either truthful or honest, seems to be a trait of some main dealers.

Update:  according to their service department, "a bearing on the shaft has failed which has led to the vibration and bolts coming out".  I asked "what bearing?  The shaft is solid", to which they replied "that bit on the end is a bearing".

 

I don't buy it.  I can see how an imbalanced shaft would cause a bearing to fail, but I can't see how a failed bearing would rattle two 90 Nm bolts out (and leave the third tight).  Especially as there was no indication of bearing failure whilst driving it (noise, vibration etc).  Plus I don't even know what bearing it could be; as far as I can tell that coupling is simply a cushioned coupling onto the output of the transfer box.  The output shaft will, of course, have bearings but for one to fail and cause this issue...?  One thing I do know - there was no discernible play in the shaft - it was solid; of course a simple 'grab it and shake' test may not be able to diagnose a failed bearing, but for what it's worth I felt no play at all.

 

I may be wrong - it may be this is what happened, but I am sceptical.  Anyway, It is with Skoda UK now.  All I want is my car back safe and working.  I want to be treated fairly and truthfully.  If they did make a mistake and apologised I was happy to leave it at that.   If it is a bearing failure then I will accept that (although at this point nobody has mentioned any prices, quotes or anything, which seems odd for an out-of-warranty repair).  If it is a cover-up then I will not leave it at that.

 

By the way, here is the diagram of where the shaft attaches (onto item 10):

 

I'd ask them to give you any defective parts they remove.

^ That's the reason why I prefer to do everything I can myself.

Yes me too.

 

I've had awful service from main dealers before, so prefer to avoid them.

 

Some examples, on a Seat Ibiza I had:

1) I fitted genuine Seat headlight protectors to it, polycarbonate lenses that attach with metal clips. When the car when in to have a failed HID bulb replaced under warranty, they snapped one of the protectors and it just flapped loosely. This would have been OK if they'd admitted to it and replaced it - but they refused to admit they'd done it and I had to fork out for a replacement pair.

2) I had a cambelt change. Doing this required one of the boost pipes to be removed (on the PD130, they used pipes that "clipped" together). After the cambelt change, they test drove it and the pipe kept popping off under high boost. They phoned me to say the pipe was "worn" and needed replacing at a cost of around £90-100. Odd after I'd never had a problem over many miles. I declined their offer, and went to collect the car. I drove it home gently, then had a look. Within a short space of time I'd refitted the pipe and attached the clips correctly, never had a problem with it again (over many miles).

3) One warranty repair required them to take the instrument cluster out. On refitting, they used the wrong length screws (too long), and the 2 screws that fitted in the top of the cluster caused two bulges on the top of the dashboard.

4) Another warranty repair was for a rattle from the gearlever. In accessing it, they broke several bits of trim, resulting in more looseness/rattles than it went in with.

5) As part of a service, I paid for a brake fluid change. When I got it back, I had the wheels off (switching winters/summers) and found that only one of the four bleed nipples had been touched. 1 had been disturbed/cleaned and had evidence of fluid around as you'd expect - the other 3 were still coated in dust/muck and clearly hadn't been touched. So much for a fluid change - only fluid in one of the lines had been bled through.

And my favourite:

6) It went in for the top front strut mounts to be replaced. When I collected the car, the steering felt stiff. After a bit more driving, I noticed nasty graunching noises as I tried to apply any lock. Took it back, they said they mounts "just needed lubricating" and just sprayed some oil vaguely in the direction of the mounts. Needless to say this didn't cure the problem. Looked at the car at home, and noticed the front looked lower than it should. Got a torch, looked in the top of the arch at the mounts, and realised - they re-assembled both front struts without the top bearing! The tops of the springs were sat directly on the metal of the suspension turret. When you tried to steer, the noise was the ends of the springs grinding directly on the metal. And that's why the car was sitting lower. Took the car back, went ballistic at them. Got the car back with it fixed - but they would never admit they'd made a mistake.

 

So all in all, my main dealer experiences haven't been great. Taking it to the dealer felt like I was paying over the odds to let a bunch of ham-fisted baboons loose on the car.

When I see a car advertised as having "full main dealer service history" - well that's not a great selling point to me.

 

Where possible I do all work myself now, using genuine parts from TPS. I can take my time and make sure everything is done properly.

I know I've changed all the brake fluid. I know I've used the correct oil. I know I've replaced the filters. I double check I've tightened everything up

 

I also know that not all dealers/tech are bad. I've had discussions with some techs on forums over the years (including on here) and they've been very clued up enthusiasts who I'd completely trust my car to.

Update: the car is ready for return.  Of course they wanted me to go and get it at first (not possible - I am at work in my other car) but then said they'd deliver it to me tomorrow.  Fair enough.

 

When asked what had been replaced they said "the propshaft", and the installation had been inspected by their master technician.  Still no mention of payment, goodwill or anything.

 

I spoke again to SUK who have a 24 hour SLA, so hadn't yet got around to contacting the dealer.  However I was put through to my 'case worker' who was very reasonable and very pragmatic and assures me he will be looking into it.  I won't go into too much more detail here - walls have ears and all that - but hopefully I can update at a later date.  At the end of it all I will have a working car, which is all I ask.  However, I have also hopefully put in motion a process that may help SUK, the dealer and their customers to be reassured of safe workmanship.

If they did make a mistake and apologised I was happy to leave it at that.

 

Was that a pig i just saw fly past?

So, the car is back with (allegedly) a new propshaft... I shall be underneath it later checking for myself!  I haven't driven it but the workshop assures me it has passed a test drive (and it was driven back to me).

 

And with it comes the paperwork.  Here, in black-and-white, is what I consider, in my opinion, to be either a bare-faced lie or an enormously ignorant mistake.

I'm sure you took some pictures before sending in? ;-)

I'm sure you took some pictures before sending in? ;-)

 

Yep - see post #4 of this thread (I have others too).

...I even took pictures of it up on ramps and being recovered to prove that this all happened.  It is a sad state of affairs when you expect to have a fight about these things and have to proactively gather 'evidence' to prove your position.

^ That's the reason why I prefer to do everything I can myself.

 

Many years ago I replaced the pads on my son's Favorit which had been previously serviced solely by the supplying dealer in the west of Scotland (nowhere near West Lothian!) when I discovered that one of the calliper mounting bolts had its head super glued in place!  

No surprise that the dealer denied any knowledge or responsibility.

 

Norry

Edited 16 April, 201511 yr by Norry

Strange to hear the prop shaft is to be replaced if the bearing had failed but I'm not a Skoda mechanic .I have had this effect happen a couple of times years ago on old Fords the first time the needle bearings failed in the c/v joint on the single prop shaft and the vibration was unbelievable and the second was when the bolts holding the single shaft to the gearbox became loose which I realised in time ,so I can appreciate that the extreme vibration of one to cause the damage to the other bolts or bearing but not to the prop shaft unless it had balancing weights on it,just a thought.