Marshy
04-08-2006, 12:33 PM
Having searched the forum, most people seem to agree that steam cleaning is the enemy of engine electrics. And who am I to differ?
Some of you may recall my hydraulically assisted brake woes from a couple of weeks back. To cut a long story short, I sourced a part from a breaker, and my local garage fitted it, stuffed new fluids in and bled everything. Fine. Car was running well when I picked it up and I was consequently a happy bunny.
However.
Close inspection when home revealed that, in order to find the hydraulic leak in the first place, they'd steam cleaned the engine bay. Now, they might have got away with this, but for two factors: my rocker gaskets are leaking slightly, so I already had some oil accumulation in the plug wells; and on one bank, the plasic cover that normally seals the coils away from damp has a bolt missing.
Upon starting the car later that evening, it ran like a bag of nails, leading me to turn the air blue.
So this morning, I hauled all the coils out on that side and used up about half a roll of kitchen paper soaking up oil, water and mayo. The coils had gunk all the way inside them too, which was plain nasty.
The good news, and damn am I proud of myself (not being much of a spanner wielder), is that once buttoned up again it fired straight up and ran like a champ.
I shall, however, be enquiring about a partial refund given the hour and a half spent correcting the outcome of their work. That and the other half hour or so refitting the glove box and footwell carpet properly. Oh, they even managed to completely soak the sound deadening on the underside of the hood. FFS.
One day, one day, I'll find someone I trust to wield spanners near my car. I think this is the fifth outfit I won't be using again.
Some of you may recall my hydraulically assisted brake woes from a couple of weeks back. To cut a long story short, I sourced a part from a breaker, and my local garage fitted it, stuffed new fluids in and bled everything. Fine. Car was running well when I picked it up and I was consequently a happy bunny.
However.
Close inspection when home revealed that, in order to find the hydraulic leak in the first place, they'd steam cleaned the engine bay. Now, they might have got away with this, but for two factors: my rocker gaskets are leaking slightly, so I already had some oil accumulation in the plug wells; and on one bank, the plasic cover that normally seals the coils away from damp has a bolt missing.
Upon starting the car later that evening, it ran like a bag of nails, leading me to turn the air blue.
So this morning, I hauled all the coils out on that side and used up about half a roll of kitchen paper soaking up oil, water and mayo. The coils had gunk all the way inside them too, which was plain nasty.
The good news, and damn am I proud of myself (not being much of a spanner wielder), is that once buttoned up again it fired straight up and ran like a champ.
I shall, however, be enquiring about a partial refund given the hour and a half spent correcting the outcome of their work. That and the other half hour or so refitting the glove box and footwell carpet properly. Oh, they even managed to completely soak the sound deadening on the underside of the hood. FFS.
One day, one day, I'll find someone I trust to wield spanners near my car. I think this is the fifth outfit I won't be using again.