Got to Jabba nice and early and Mike put the car on the rollers. It was a little flat, but wasn't down on power much. Then he pointed something interesting out to me. The N75 valve was the original valve, complete with corrosion and all. The dealer hadn't replaced it.

Cue a rather annoyed call to Claybank Skoda who confirm they replaced the wrong valves. No wonder it took them so long to do it! The valves they replaced were completely the wrong ones, located behind a hard to reach bulkhead.

I'm down at the dealer tomorrow to get the N75 replaced (after providing the dealer with the correct part number). Jabba were professional and knowledgeable, and even tried to source me an N75 locally, but we were out of luck. If only the dealers were so effective...

that must be immensely frustrating rob, sorry to hear of all this hassle.

hope it gets sorted quickly.

Bl**dy hell! No wonder it still felt flat after they "changed it".

Hope you're going to ask them to pay for the money you've spent/lost.

What valve resides behind the bulkhead? Surely they must know where the N75 is.........apparently not!

Well, at least it explains the problem! Any idea what the valves they replaced were actually for?!

Is there any reason other than convenience that you go to Claybank over Horners?

Rob.

To be honest, they're not even any more convenient, and their courtesy cars are abysmal. The reason I have been going there is that I bought the car from them, and at the time they offered me the best deal, and seemed to be in that "big enough to do the job but small enough to care" category. Now I'm beginning to think they're "too small to do the job properly but too big for that to be a real excuse."

This is their final chance to do the job right.

seriously rob, ditch them(after you've got things sorted) and go with horners. they wouldn't mess you around like this in the first place.

i remember when i was looking for an RS the first time round. went to claybank, got all the unimpressive salesman spiel including how he thought it was 'cheeky' when owners who haven't bought their cars from him come to get servicing. he also implied that they wouldn't be treated as equally as one who had. i left, deeply unimpressed.

some days later, i got a follow up call from him. i told hi i was buying from horners. the ****** had the nerve to tell me to bring my car to them for servicing 'anytime'.

as you can tell, not a great fan of theirs from 1st impressions. however, they are the impressions that last...........

In fairness to Claybank, they have honoured the warranty, which technically they don't need to do (but which I feel all Skoda dealers ought to. Are you listening LadyLoki? ). When I went to Horners, I got the impression they were a nasty, faceless corporate machine - especially their "take it or leave it" attitude which really got my hackles up.

It seems no dealer is perfect.

Oh dear...

[imagines sound of Rob's head beating against Jabba's wall after their discovery]

So how many days lost already on this valve thing?

Originally posted by Witchfinder in this post

To be honest, they're not even any more convenient, and their courtesy cars are abysmal. The reason I have been going there is that I bought the car from them, and at the time they offered me the best deal, and seemed to be in that "big enough to do the job but small enough to care" category. Now I'm beginning to think they're "too small to do the job properly but too big for that to be a real excuse."

This is their final chance to do the job right.

I'll second that.

If they weren

Originally posted by Witchfinder in this post

Jabba were professional and knowledgeable, and even tried to source me an N75 locally, but we were out of luck. If only the dealers were so effective...

I feel a bit bad now Rob 'cos I think I probably had the last N75 that Jabba had in stock when mine went in for a re-map a couple of weeks ago.

Jabba gave me the old valve back so I took it down to my friendly dealer on the off chance of getting it replaced under warranty. Anyway, left it with them and have just received a phone call saying the new one is ready for collection:D A result me thinks. Now just to send back to Jabba for them to put back into stock and me get's a refund. It's just a shame you weren't in until next week......

Isn't it starting to be a bit worrying that we have more knowledge about things than the dealers? Maybe we should invite a few to the site?

Rob

It was nice to meet you today at Jabbasport. I think its shameful they changed the wrong valve- if I were you I'd ask to see their MD and tell him what happened and what he's going to do about it and that dent we found under your bonnet where the monkey had left the old one laying there and then slammed it shut, that's negligence!

Chris

PS I was well pleased with my result, best yet Mike said

Originally posted by SilveRS in this post

Never tried Horners for the very same reasons and their cars always seemed the most expensive on Autotrader

Really? I found Horners better than Claybank for pricing because they sell ex-hire cars, which was what I was after.

With regard to the facelss corporate thing though - which branch of Horners was this? Never been to the one in Bury to comment, but if you speak to Gary at the Manchester branch you should find he's very helpful, especially if you mention Briskoda...

Rob.

Rob, after my wife worked for EuropCar for 2 years, I wouldn't touch an ex-hire car at all.

There is a great deal of risk involved, and usually the cars never got serviced even though variable was only introduced a year or so ago. So they regularly had Vectra's and Mondeo's with just shy of 20k on the clock and no servicing. As for how they get driven... that

Originally posted by SilveRS in this post

Ever heard of Ramadan?

lmao!! with NO disrespect meant at all to any faith, that is very funny. honestly, you'd think it was a 'fast and the furious' convention around these parts at ramadan as opposed to a period of religious significance!

Horners Manchester have always been excellent for me, even before the days of Briskoda. however, mentioning briskoda to gary never hurts

as far as i understand it from all the staff - sales, service, reception - that i know at horners skoda, the rover dealership is a lot more impersonal and they hate it when they get seconded to cover rover work eg. if someone goes off sick.

With regard to the hire cars - I was told Europcar only have them for 1 year or 15k miles, whichever comes first. Mine had 13k on it...was definitiely serviced by Horner's before I collected it, and I seem to recall from the service schedule it had some kind of initial check at around 3k miles or something.

But like you say, I might just have been lucky...

And yes I have heard of Ramadan...I'd never buy a ex-EasyCar Merc A-Class! But seriously, how much damage really can be done to a car from a year of "bad" driving?

I couldn't comment on the Rover side of the franchise, as the most I've had to do with them is asking them to transfer my phone call to the Skoda service dept...

Rob.

Originally posted by robmawer in this post

And yes I have heard of Ramadan...I'd never buy a ex-EasyCar Merc A-Class! But seriously, how much damage really can be done to a car from a year of "bad" driving?

Quite a bit , especially if it is thrashed to within an inch of its life when it is supposed to be run in gently over the first 500 miles

dont buy the fabia silverline loan car some one i know had yesterdsay!!

thrashed to within an inch of its life ha more like 3-4 mm

Originally posted by robmawer in this post

With regard to the hire cars - I was told Europcar only have them for 1 year or 15k miles, whichever comes first. Mine had 13k on it...was definitiely serviced by Horner's before I collected it, and I seem to recall from the service schedule it had some kind of initial check at around 3k miles or something.

But like you say, I might just have been lucky...

And yes I have heard of Ramadan...I'd never buy a ex-EasyCar Merc A-Class! But seriously, how much damage really can be done to a car from a year of "bad" driving?

I couldn't comment on the Rover side of the franchise, as the most I've had to do with them is asking them to transfer my phone call to the Skoda service dept...

Rob.

Rob, with all due respect you got a bargain and came out smelling of roses, fair play.

But the other side of the coin is this; Vectra Estate was lent to and Asian man via AA. Car returned on forecourt with broken starter motor gear, and no rubber on the front wheels... yes the wire was showing through the tyres and there was a distinct burning smell around the car. Silly bitch behind the counter took false credit card details and never checked, so the Asian man gets away with it.

As for the car they have it towed to the workshop to be fixed and sold on quick. So some poor bugger ends up with a disaster car and Vauxhall get it in the neck. The point is you are increasing your risk of getting of bummer tenfold.

As for servicing, I can only go on Europcar policy during 97/98. They may well have changed it, as I know they were starting to implement more buy backs.

Originally posted by SilveRS in this post

But the other side of the coin is this; Vectra Estate was lent to and Asian man via AA. Car returned on forecourt with broken starter motor gear, and no rubber on the front wheels... yes the wire was showing through the tyres and there was a distinct burning smell around the car. Silly bitch behind the counter took false credit card details and never checked, so the Asian man gets away with it.

Sorry, not funny really, just the thought of someone drag racing in a Vectra estate...

But what sort of long term expensive damage would have been done to the car? Things like the clutch and that would need replacing sooner, but would there be any damage to the engine block/pistons, etc. or wouldn't you just end up with a car which had been " worn in" quicker?

Rob.

Rob, once the N75 valve problem is sorted, and assuming that all is then OK, would you please update your post in Jabbasport to complete the story?

Finally got the right valve changed (I've just had the engine cover off and they've done the right one). The power delivery isn't as full-on as before, but is smoother. I need to run a full test to be sure which will take place this evening I think.

Interestingly, the dealer also replaced all of my coilpacks. Apparently they are under orders to check coilpacks on all cars that come in, and to replace them where they are the old type. If you want your coilpacks sorting, now's the time to book into your dealer to get any problems sorted out.

Originally posted by robmawer in this post

Sorry, not funny really, just the thought of someone drag racing in a Vectra estate...

But what sort of long term expensive damage would have been done to the car? Things like the clutch and that would need replacing sooner, but would there be any damage to the engine block/pistons, etc. or wouldn't you just end up with a car which had been " worn in" quicker?

Rob.

Well, I guess it all depends on how often the car was redlined and how long. There is a good reason for running an engine in, especially in a Vauxhall.

Sorry to go off the topic of this post.

Rob can't hear any strange noises in his car beacause of the SPEAKERS:D

Originally posted by SilveRS in this post

Well, I guess it all depends on how often the car was redlined and how long.

Er...does it matter how often and long the car's redlined after the running in period? :eek:

Rob can't hear any strange noises in his car beacause of the SPEAKERS

Although according to some that explains the strange noises...

Rob - glad you managed to get it fixed...where are you planning on testing seeingasit'saThursdayandall...?

Rob.