A follow on from the incompetent garages theme is the items missed on the PDI. I have had some minor cases in the past. The most recent being a fuse removed from the remote central locking circuit - apparantly they are removed to prevent the system operating in transit.
The most glaring example I have heard about was a lady who took delivery of her Japanese sports car. She rang the garage to complain that the ride was so jarring that it was unacceptable and much worse than the model she had test driven. Their initial response was that that the suspension was much stiffer and that she would get used to it. It turned out that the suspension is clamped for transit by boat and the clamps had not been removed.
I got that third hand so can't vouch for it - but it amused me.
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Many years ago a lady whose husband ran a haulage business told me that they took delivery of a new lorry which ran rough.
When they took it back to the supplying garage it was discovered that one cylinder has no piston or connecting rod.
Whether it was true or not I don't know, but I had no reason to doubt her.
One of out more technical contributors may be able to tell us if an engine would run under those circumstances.
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The lorry story reminds me of a fantastic story my dad told me about a guy his dad knew, not entirely related to PDIs though! After World War 2 (which I hope we're not about to make number 3) car parts were scarce and many people had to make do with what they could lay their hands on for parts or failing that go without. This guy had bought an old 6 cylinder Humber which was running a little rough. On closer inspection of the engine, he found one of the plug leads was not connected and was sparking against the engine block. With the engine running (don't try this at home with a modern car with electronic ignition, you'll cook yourself!) he put the plug back on. The next thing he knew he was sat on his garage floor slightly harder of hearing than he had been and he located the dipstick completely embedded in his garage ceiling. Turns out whoever had owned the car before had a problem with one of the cylinders and had just removed the piston and it's crank!
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I should have added to the above - the entire crankcase was therefore filled with exact mixture of petrol and air to combust. The whole thing exploded when he put the plug on and the only way out was the dipstick! Lucky he didn't have his head over it if you ask me...
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I guess it would have run, abeit, roughly. This example would have been in the days before turbochargers.
With a turbo, the crankcase would have soon pressurised and blown all of its oil out via the exhaust valve on the missing cylinder.
Rgds
David
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Perhaps I'm just unlucky, but;
2 years ago I took delivery of a new LR Disco Td5 from a main dealer in Surrey. It had an extremely hard ride, I was very disappointed. It was only after bouncing off a kerb when trying to park outside my brother's house that I decided to check the tyre pressures - they were all around 75psi!!!
This year I bought my wife a new Toyota RAV4 from a well known internet car company (hint: think of what you have in your kitchen cupboard). This car was delivered to my door on the back of a transporter, and it looked immaculate. But Mrs Simon was unimpressed with it, she complained it was a job keeping it on the road.
I called her ungrateful and tried it myself. Yes, you've guessed it. 65psi all round this time.
Most cars leave the factory with vastly over inflated tyres, because the manufacturer doesn't know how long the cars will be in storage (some models can take 18 months to shift) and therefore 'flats' will appear. It is the job of the supplying dealer to lower the pressures.
Based on my own experiences, I do wonder how many new cars are driven around on dangerously over inflated tyres. Perhaps the manufacturers could fit 'once only' caps on the valves to remind the dealers to do their job?
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When I was working for a Volvo franchise a customer collected his brand new 240 Estate and drove it 30 odd miles home. The following mornig he was on the phone saying to the service manager that the steering wheel was turning round and round, not moving the front wheels. A mechanic was immediately despatched to the owners home address only to find that the factory had forgotten to fit a retaining nut on the steering wheel and was therefore slipping on the splines.
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