Do any BR's know how easy it is to change the rear wheel bearings and brake cylinders on a '95 Laguna 1.8 non abs. Is it an easyish job and so worth getting a Haynes manual for, or am I better off getting it done at a garage. I am pretty much mechnicaly minded so do not think the cylinder will be a problem but never done a beaaring b4 so would be gratful for advice. Read more

There are quite a few issues to this post but I will try to keep it as short as possible.

Back in April I bought a 2001 Impreza Turbo 2000, with full service history and 37,000 genuine miles. Part of the service documentation supplied was an invoice which stated the clutch plate, cover and release bearing had been replaced under warranty ten months previous. With just 6,000 miles on the new clutch, some heavy judder is evident when the engine is cold.

The car had 3 owners prior to myself, the first owner kept the car for around 12 months before trading it back in at the dealership where he bought and had the car serviced, the second owner had the car for about 18 months, having it serviced at the same dealership, but he traded the car in at a different dealership. The third owner bought the car two months later, on condition a clutch judder problem was rectified and the car was given its 30,000 in the sale price. He sold the car in a private sale to me ten months later.

The car was due its 37,500 mile service so decided to have a well known local Subaru dealership take on the work and give the car the once over. They had been most helpful and accommodating when I was looking at example motors, prior to buying this car in a private sale they offerd to HPI check it for me, so I felt confident they would offer an objective view of my new car. They kindly provided a written report which drew attention to the fact the clutch was juddering and the pedal felt heavy and the locating bolts on the gearbox bell housing had been removed and replaced with shorter 'ordinary' bolts. Other than that there was nothing to report. They enquired what I had paid for the car and commented that I found an excellent example for the money I paid for it. I asked the service manager if he could come up with a reason why a dealership would remove these bolts, he stated there was no reason or benefit in removing them. On checking Subaru's warranty system he informed me that the warranty clutch replacement had not been done under the Subaru warranty so it must have been under the selling dealerships own warranty. He also commented that Subaru were advising the replacment of the flywheel and a modified clutch.

I contacted all the previous owners of the car and verified with the dealers who had worked on the car before to determine if the gearbox bell housing had been separated from the engine prior to the work on the clutch being replaced. The evidence indicated that it had not. The car had only had routine servicing carried out, and some minor modifications which by way of exhaust and induction kit, which a dealer had completed.

I took the car to the dealer who had done the clutch replacment, the service manager immediatly went defensive then swiftly took up an offensive stance, insisting that the dealer that looked the car over on my behalf put his allegations in writing. I was swift to point out there were no allegations from the other dealer, but that I was seeking an explanation for why the locating bolts had been removed, and why the flywheel had not been replaced as per subarus recommendation. I showed him the other dealers comments in the report provided. He made a number of outrageous comments, that the bolts could have fallen out on the road, and they may have replaced them. Work could have been carried out at another garage, I couldn't prove that they were removed by his mechanics, all the mechanics had been replaced since then so he couldn't check this up, when I enquired about record keeping or job cards, there was no record beyond the warranty invoice etc, etc. I pointed out that on balance of probability, the bolts were removed when the clutch was being changed, I had checked through the vehicles history in sufficient detail to satisfy myself that no work had been done on the vehicle by anyone since the clutch was changed. At this point he told me he would not do anything for me and I should speak with the owner.

I spoke with the owner of the dealership on the same afternoon, and let him drive my car, he said there was no evidence of clutch judder, I told him that was because the car was warmed up, it would be there if the engine were left overnight. Regarding the bolts he made little or no comment. I allowed him to have a copy of my report and he agreed he would have an independent vehicle engineer examine my vehicle, the next day. He offered me a courtesy car, but I was unable to contact my insurance company to arrange insurance. He agreed to have one of his drivers collect my car from my home the next morning. He said that if the engineer found anything wrong with the car in that area they would have to look at it.

Next morning a driver called to collect my car, I left him a not e stuck to the dash to make a mental note of the severity of the clutch judder when the engine was cold, and report this to the owner of the dealership. My car was returned the same day around four hours after it had been collected. I believe someone was thrashing the life out of it, as it had a quarter tank of fuel in it when it left my home, it had covered 24 miles and was now empty with the warning light illuminated.

That was six weeks ago, i recieved a telephone call from the dealerhip yesterday stating the engineer had now submitted his report, he did state the locating bolts were replaced with 'ordinary' bolts, and after test driving the car there was no clutch judder. In concluding his comments which he was passing on from the owner of the dealership, he said they would be happy to replace the bolts, but I would have to bear the cost of that. He went over the same nonsense about bolts falling out or being removed by someone else, etc etc. I countered these points in the same way I have already mentioned above. He suggested that if I was unhappy with this I should take it up with the owner of the dealership. I told him th reason why clutch judder was not evident was because it was only present when the car was cold. The couple of hours which they had it would not have been near long enough for the engine to cool sufficiently. Just to prove he wasn't interested or listening to what I was saying he stated the engineer said there was no clutch judder.

I will be writing to the owner of the dealership and copying my letter to Subaru UK. I consider it extremely sharp practice to do half a job then have the customer pay to have it rectified. The customer focus of the service manager and owner of this outfit in my opinion is both non-existant, and short sighted. There goes another Impreza they will never be paid to work on, ironically they are known to be the most expensive dealership in NI for servicing work.

Besides voting with my wallet by giving my business to another dealer, or engaging a solicitor is there any recourse my informed assiciates in the back room would offer?

I am not bothered about having to replace the clutch, or replace these bolts I saved a lot on this car and had a grand in my back pocket to upgrade the cars security and put right any minor defects that I may not have been happy with. It is more the apathetic approach from the dealer and his service manager that has really ticked me off.

A long post I know, but I wanted to recount all the facts to you. Your comments, criticisms and objective viewpoints are always welcome.

Leon Read more

Taken from another website I frequent:

Ken.

Not to condone anyone breaking the law but you have to admire the bravado of 4 youths from australia.
3 of them approached a mobile speed camera van and asked the operator a series of sensible questions about the equipment.
The distracted operator didn't notice the 4th youth unscrewing the vans front number plate.
After saying goodbye, they left and fixed the vans number plate onto their car then they repeatedly sped past the van at high speed .
The automated penalty system then issued 17 speeding tickets to the van operators . Read more

In my quest to keep down the cost of motoring I'm interested to know if a S/H LPG conversion is a sensible choice. We have an LPG retailer 5 miles away, on a route we use. We do mixed motoring, but not often more than 35 miles at a time (hence my user name), as we also live close to a good train service. Assume 12,000/yr, and a purchase price of £2,500.

Your thoughts, please!

Read more

.......heart attack through stress.

Insurance - wooo. I love this time of year. Some of you may remember my pst a few days ago;

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=32...9

about renewal time for me. In case you don't want to read that post, I'll refresh your memory. For my 3rd year, I got the renewal through quoting £967.00. The trouble is the website quoted me £700 ish.

I took all your comments on board and did the sneaky thing first of all. I tried to get a quote online. It let me put all my details in, the card details etc.. and then I'm confronted with;

Sorry - we are unable to provide you with a quote at this time

Still remaining relatively calm if not mildly annoyed, I phoned them giving all my details and explaining my problem.

THEM "Oh well sir - your renewal should be cheaper than the internet quote"

ME - "Well....it isn't"

THEM - "Just let me put you through to the policy department"

Before I had chance to utter a word, I was put through to someone who's grasp of the English language was shaky at best.

I then proceed to explain my whole problem again after which I was told I'm an existing customer and therefore inelligible for an Internet quote.

ME "Don't you think it would have been a good idea to at least hint at that on the website?" (I'd looked over the policy wording beforehand and couldn't see anything remotely suggesting that I couldn't renew via the website)

THEM "I am sorry I do not understand"

ME "Never mind. Look - It seems to me as if I'm being penalised for being a loyal customer when a new customer could come along and get a cheaper quote simply because they're allowed to use the website. Is there no way you can reduce the quote?"

**Worryingly long silence until I'm about to reel the whole lot off again when...***

THEM "We can do you £888.00"

ME "Have you been lis.....forget it. Can you please send me proof of my 2 years No Claims bonus? Thanks."

Needless to say, now I am angry. Existing customers are being penalised for not being able to use the site. So now I'm trawling through the web again looking at more ridiculous quotes.

I do love these Sundays.


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Adam Read more