If you want something done properly, do it yourself

[Jim Bowen 1]

A mix of emotions here, got corrado all stripped now and found two pretty big problems which would of led to my funny steering that i've never been happy about.

 

Had the car nearly 6yrs, done over 60,000miles and something has always been wrong.

 

Local garage hasn't ever noticed these things, and my mate who was meant to be great at helping on VW's has turned out to be a bit of a guesser and not really got any special knowledge of stuff.

 

Found my top mounts fitted wrong, meaning a nut was catching on the top mount bearing, locking the steering around corners then suddenly releasing (main reason why i stopped driving it)

 

And just found that my steering rack boots were all loose, a pipe linking them was missing and one end hadn't been greased, meaning the track rod would hardly move, gone all rusty and siezed up.

 

So a bit miffed that in all those years no one picked up on these problems and me not really knowing (started mechanics when i got this car).

 

I found the wishbone bush totally loose and the front wheel moving in the arch, no one else picked up on this. Same with the rear axle, the bushes were literally falling out in bits. Not picked up on MOTs and not noticed when i took car to garage multiple times to be checked out.

 

Only working on it myself now and going to travel around to use proper corrado specialists for some jobs.

 

Feel like i've had the car all those years and something has always been wrong, leaky shocks, too low, siezed track rods, wishbone bushes totally gone, axle bushes totally gone.

 

Looking forward to getting it back on road now, MYSELF :mad:

 

Rant over, although at the same time i'm happy i think i know whats been wrong

[VR6Pete 0]

Should feel a different car once it's sorted. Very frustrating when you pay good money thinking it will be sorted, gutting when it isn't and same problem persists.

 

I only let 3 different people work on any of my previous VRs. 2 off vr6oc and Vince at stealth.

[owen g60 10]

Seen so many of these threads.

 

I have had a similar steering issue to you... i would get a loud clunking noise when turning at low speed.

 

Have had my setup checked many times and nobody seemed able to figure it out... new rack and most suspension components replaced and it still did it.

 

Turned out everytime it was put back together the mechanic and used an air gun to do things up and had been over tightening my droplinks.... i replaced them and torqued them to the correct settings and no more loud clunk. as the ARB doesnt hit the wishbones anymore.

 

It was still hard to turn the wheel... well more so than other corrados i have driven.

 

So i started replacing my topmounts again.... when i got them off i found that there was no upper spring plate on them so the coilovers were turning against the rubber of the topmount not the bearings.

 

I now have another set of spring plates that i shall be fitting later today.

 

 

Some of this work has been done by supposed VAG specialists that have been recommended to me by many people and at a considerable expense.

 

 

It is slightly scary that these people are 'specialists' and they have done hundreds of other cars.... i now wonder how many others thay have done coilovers on and forgot to put on simple things like spring plates???

 

 

I shall be aquiring a garage soon if i can and be doing even more of the work myself.

[P3rks 11]

I've had this before. But a long long time ago.

 

It was on my old 1994 Clio 16v. The headgasket blew and I took it to a garage my family had used for years.

 

£700 later she was all fixed and she ran like a dream, then a few days passed and a groan appeared. Two weeks later when setting off from some lights there was a massive bang and the car wouldn't move, it'd select gear and rev but wouldn't move.. At the time I was useless with cars and I had a mate who was good with them take a look. I was already broke because of the headgasket cost and I wanted to know what was broke so I could decide on cost and course of action.. Upon further inspection none of the gearbox bolts were tight, I could undo the majority by hand, some had worked more than halfway out. To this day I believe the mechanic forgot to tighten the bolts on the gearbox, it lost fluid, ran dry and blew up. He wouldn't accept responsibility as I've had the car two weeks and anything could have happened.

 

Oh to top it all off, we found the fuel pipe feed to the engine had been routed through the centre of the exhaust manifold too!

 

I know the HG was an engine out job and I think he lost interest when putting it back together and did it all half arsed.

 

Since that day 99% of work carried out on cars has been my own. If you want something done properly, do it yourself.

[tony_ack 0]

Problem is that there is some stuff you just can't do yourself either through lack of space or equipment (or knowledge) sometimes. I got the wheels aligned by a 'professional' alignment place in Sheffield, and they pretty much guessed it and didn't tighten the strut bolts or tre nut enough (so it collapsed to full negative camber on both sides and chewed through a new set of conti sports). Got it done at Stealth in the end when I went for a remap, but it's a bit far to go every time it needs doing.

[24V Renshaw 0]

This is exactly why I do everything myself and always have done. There are so many "regularly serviced" cars driving around which are shot to bits in so many areas. I think the garages must quite often notice this stuff but do the minimum they need to each time.

 

Jay

[Jim Bowen 1]

Really excited about driving it again now.

Will be hard to get rid of this car now, must know it inside out after all this work.

 

Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk

[d3927 0]

Would be really good to know of trusted good mechanics, who have been used by members, and maybe a list produced if there are any of these RARE breads out there?

Edited April 14, 2012 by d3927

[tim20vt 0]

It will be worth it they feel so much better on fresh bushes etc,unfortunately I think I'm so paranoid no one does anything right I ended up doing every part of my cars rebuild,now I'm doing every part of my house rebuild,if your learning to do it yourself your probably far more dedicated to making sure its done right,good luck

[easypops 8]

Would be really good to know of trusted good mechanics, who have been used by members, and maybe a list produced if there are any of these RARE breads out there?

 

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[Tigerfish 10]

I had a similar thing on my Mk1 Lexus GS300 Sport. Head gasket went while I was away from home so went to a recommended garage up in the Midlands. Picked the car up and thought the slight smell of petrol was from having the head work done. When I got back to Basingstoke, petrol was litterally pi$$ing out. They had nicked one of the injector seals so it was leaking petrol. So had to dismantle all of the inlet side of the engine to get the fuel rail off and replace the o-ring. Then checked the timing and it was a mile out. A couple of weeks later the car started chugging, steadily lost power and then failed to start. RAC guy came out, and after a bit of messing about (both of us trying different things), realised the distributor wasnt turning. After removing the timing belt cover, the exhaust cam sprocket had come adrift, the bolt hadn't been done up properly. Luckily on the mk1 straight six engine, it is non interference, so pushed the sprocket back onto the keyway and tightened bolt back up, ran like a charm. As a consequence, I wouldn't recommend Charlesworth Motors to fix diddly for anyone.

[bmwcompact 10]

Well I dont want to excuse sloppiness, disinterest, lack of integrity, downright dishonesty or whatever else some mechanics get up to. But if you work on an old car (like a 20yr old Corrado) you start to realise the dilemas that a Garage must regularly face. Seized bolts, parts that are coroded, parts that get broken- these all get in the way of schedules to be met and agreed prices. Its not difficult to see that it will often be a case of bodging and/or being economical with the truth rather than face an irrate customer with a hefty increase in the bill or a days delay while further parts are procured.

 

As you work on your car and you spend hours cleaning or painting parts before reassembly with new bolts, clips, gaskets, seals or whatever, just think what a time consuming, expensive logistical nightmare it must be for your average garage (especially if they are not a marque specialist). So it shouldnt be such a surprise to find the jobs often not done properly. Likewise its not hard to see why tens of thousands get spent on renovating something as ordinary as a beetle or golf-its all about the cost of labour/overheads.

 

Ive been fixing my own cars for over 40 years, partly cos I get the satisfaction of knowing I have achieved something, partly cos Ive saved money and partly cos then I know I've done the job right (or know that Ive done a temporary bodge that will be put right later). Occasionally I'll put something together incorrectly and sometimes it takes a while to diagnose a problem. But when you work on your own car(s) you see what will be due for repair or replacement, you see whats starting to go rusty, and generally keep on top of issues rather than suddenly being faced with an inconvenient surprise.

 

I accept there are those who will always have to rely on others to do their repairs/maintenance. I think in that case its necessary to find a garage dealing with older VWs and built up a relationship of trust, where its clear to the owner that you, the customer, expect work to be done correctly and that you want to be informed of all issues good or bad relating to your car.

 

Anyway I empathise with your need for a rant! And as a member of this forum I am sure you know already of the frustration and satisfaction of being your own mechanic!!

[anne t 10]

If i can add my expierence from my very first golf from a so called expert in the vw world back in the day 8v mk2 put in for kent cams various other work done ,about 3years later decided to strip of all the goodies when my boyfriend noticed no kent cam,lightned fly wheel or new fuel pump .You trust someone to carry out work which they seem to

have a great reputation for service So basically if it takes me 5times longer than a garage better to do it yourself boyfriend helps but i,m not afraid of getting my hands dirty:smug: