Worrying things that garages say......

[skinnyman9000 0]

I rang a garage local to me today to sort my idling problem out. They've been going for YEARS, so you'd assume they're quite good. I told him it was a 1990 1.8 16V rado, and explained the problem. He then asked me if i had any failure lights on the dashboard, again i explained it was a 1990 car, so no. He then said he could take a look at it, but they dont have diagnostic equipment. Again i explained that he doesnt need it, its an old engine.

 

Despite this i still deciding to book it in because with an idle of 2.5kish i cant really drive too far. Then the final question from him. Is it a petrol or diesel?

 

Now im sorry, but if a mechanic doesnt know what engine the KR lump is then he isnt worth poop!! I understand that he has to know about a vast amount of cars, but after 20 years experience are you telling me that he doesnt know what a corrado is?!?! Or that he has never seen a KR lump before?!?

 

Im not a mechanic, but if you give me the make, model, year AND engine size of a car i can pretty much tell you if its a diesel or not!?!

 

Am i being unreasonable to think that a mechanic with 25yrs experience should know the answers to these questions already?

[Jim 2]

Hmm.. not necessarily. It's not entirely reasonable to expect a garage to know everything about every car ever put on the road mate! Bear in mind if they have to deal with every make of every model, they're not going to have fanatical knowledge about these cars like we do :)

 

I used to take my cars on and off to a garage my dad really trusted - and when he first looked at my G60 he said "Who fitted the supercharger?" - he never knew about the G60 as an engine and quite reasonably I think. Admittedly I never let him loose on that car for mechanical work, but they did the sunroof repair for me (fitting the repair kit from VW) and were very thorough - cleaning the headlining, etc etc. And despite having the car for like 3 days only charged me £100.

 

Don't be too afraid of back street garages! :)

[skinnyman9000 0]

True.

 

It just worries me that it 25yrs he's never seen a KR lump, ya know?

[Jim 2]

He probably has - just probably doesn't remeber! :)

[Toad 0]

TBH, most mechanics aren't going to know it as a KR, it's just a 1.8 16v engine, like in a golf or something.

 

if you aren't happy take it elsewhere.

[g ansell 0]

Im often cautious of taking a VW to a garage that doesnt specialise in them. My first car was an E reg mk2 polo, it needed a service and the engine wasnt running very well, so on my dear mother's advice I took it to a local garage that had been running since the 1960's. I took the old girl in (the polo not my mum) left it with them for the day, picked it up, on paying asked if everything was ok with the car etc to which the mechanic replied " like a race car" Ok then.... Took it away but the problem was once the engine was warm, every time I dipped the clutch the car would stall. :? I took it back, left it with them for another day and a half and they eventually found that they had not reattached a tube ( vacuum?) on the carb. As simple as that you might think but all the same I'd much rather pay an extra £10- £15 for an independent specialist. Maybe its just me but I like to err on the side of caution after that, and some other experiences I have had with mechanics.