September 2012
Dear John,
Am in a need for some desperate help.
A month ago, my car's auto-transmission (ZF6HP19) was diagnosed by BMW to be broken and in need of replacement. The car is still just about driveable but in safe-mode. It's 8 years old, 22,500 miles, 1 owner from new.
The cost of replacing the gearbox is very high, £5,800 all-in.
I have been looking for alternatives but have hit a brick wall whichever way I have turned.
Some garages are confident that they can fix it for £1800. I took it to one. He opened it. And then told me that he thinks that the mechatronic is also gone. He gave me a silly price for the mechatronix (£1700) and a total of just under £4k. To cut the very long story short I lost my trust in him and asked for my car back for which I paid £920.
Other garages tell me that that they can repair it cheaper but I have decided to go for a new gearbox. A garage offered to get me a new gearbox for £2.4k but that they cannot give me the exact price until they get the actual gearbox's part number for which they say that they need to take the gearbox out. Should they really need to do that? What if they then up the price, similar to what the previous garage did.
Some garages tell me that mechatronic cannot go wrong or that even if it does, it can be fixed without replacing. Others tell me that it is a closed unit and when it goes wrong it can only be replaced.
And there are those others that tell me that I should cut my losses and get rid of the car.
I have decided to keep the car.
It is looking more and more like a new box at the BMW dealership.
But do you have an alternative advice?
A very let down and distressed driver. Read more
I've got a 2005 Nissan Almera with a cd stuck in the cd player. I took it to Halford's, they couldn't replace it because the controls for the stereo also control the heater/air con. I've tried everything I can think of to get it out and failed. I rang the main dealer to ask how much it would cost to replace it; £600!
... Read more
Hello all,
Complete technophobe but here goes......
My garage who are currently servicing my Fiat 500 have told me that the water pump Fiat 500 needs replacing. The car is only 4 years old, 19k on clock and for the first year only did 20 miles (it was pre-registered and owned by Fiat). The quote for replacing the water pump and cam is an eye watering 385 quid (on top of the 250 for the service). Does this sound right to you? Why would a water pump give up so quickly? Currently booked in at an 'approved dealer'. Any advice / thoughts appreciated as I'm thinking of booking in my car post service to a local garage instead.
Cheers, dinlondon Read more
Glad you got it sorted. The leak was probably real - if you're having to top up coolant it means you're loosing coolant from somewhere.
Good morning
I am considering purchsing a Mondeo TDCI, my only concern is the issue regarding injectors and injection pump these can sometimes suffer. The car I am looking at has 100,000 miles on the clock and comes with fully stamped service history, the other one has aprox 20,000 less miles and is ten months younger, both cars up at the same price.... Read more
Hot starting puts the fuel system to the best test. The fuel will be at a lower viscosity & any tolerances in the fuel system components will be at their greatest, so attaining sufficient pressure to allow a start is at its hardest.
I only ever use the cheapest fuel available which is usually supermarket & don't add any other gloop & never had any fuel problems. Some others would probably disagree....
Hi,
Just a quick question -- are the fitting points for roof-mounted antennas standardised?... Read more
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I ran the wires around the windscreen under the trim. It was neat and tidy. ...
Hi, I bought this car (Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6hdi vtr+) 2 weeks ago from Arnold Clark Northwich its a 57 plate picasso with 39000 miles on the clock and I have noticed a chirping sound like the cam belt maybe slipping. Does Arnold Clark have any responsibilty in this matter as I have had the vehicle for less than a month and the cam belt isn't due replacement until 10 years or 150,000 miles whichever comes soonest. I realise that this might be seen as a 'service' issue rather than a warranty claim and need some advice, Thanks in advance. Ste Read more
I think I would double check the 150k or ten years.
I purchased my 09 plate VW Golf GT 140 Diesel with 26000 miles on the clock from a VW dealership in April 2012...Yesterday I took the car to my local dealership as i had noticed the clutch burning when i park up over a kerb at work, i have been driving for over twenty years, having had many cars from new and nearly new this is the first time i have had a problem with a clutch...The mechanic stated that there was a problem with it...The servicing team stated that I would have to bring the car back for them to investigate it...he states that it could be either a mechanical fault or driver fault...I have an extended warranty...He stated that the clutch wouldn't be covered if it was found to be my fault! The cost being around £960.00. I stated that if that was the case, how could they determine that it was my fault when I've only had the car for five months having covered less then 4000 miles....Being the second owner etc..I'm due to take the car back on the 4th October, I'm beginning to think already that there going to find no mechanical fault and that I'm going to have a bill for almost a thousand pounds for a car I've had for five months! Anyone had similar issues with VW...Any advice out there would be much appreciated.... Read more
Re gear selection became impossible.
...
Let me give a brief info. about my car - I haven't driven it in about 1-2 months and today i switched the car on; 1st problem was the dying start on the system - it sounded as though the engine had trouble starting up with a pessimistic start - I don't have a clue what that is about especially considering that my car has done less than 12,000 miles in total...
... Read more
Can you tell me what the mechanism does - will it harm the engine or the other parts?
Also the non start condition as you put it - will it quickly go away as i start driving?...
I have recently bought a Mondeo Zetec 12 reg first registered March 2012..
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The deliberate deleting of "non essentials" to low end models and the fitting of "not yet mandatory" items - seen as "luxury" rather than "safety" accessories - is nothing new. Years ago Escort Popular drivers were denied reversing lights, hazard lights, rear screen heaters, head restraints and the like well into the 1980s, whilst the Granada Ghia-driving elite were treated to headlamp washers, auxiliary lights and that all-important rear cigarette lighter.
My current car (Spanish-market Toyota Avensis "Comfort") has the 2012 model year "must-have" DRLs, but the base-spec halogen variety (with twin filament 5W/25W bulbs for dual use as sidelights) just to make it absolutely clear that I'm driving the base model. It is the only car I am aware of which has been subject to "DRL apartheid", although I find the lack of reversing camera, touch screen and climate control somewhat more irritating.
I have a set of winter tyres for our car.
When is the best time to fit them ,I was thinking the 1st week in November,until the 1st week in April.... Read more
Put Kleber Quadraxer on a set of e-bay wheels on the wifes car last winter, brilliant. She has a 40 mile commute and the old folks home she works at is at the top of an unsalted estate, getting stuck is not an option. Will fit them late October/early November and leave them on until March/April time. After 5000 miles last winter there was very little wear even though its fair to say it was not a terrible winter.
Best part about them was the cost, £70 a corner fitted, the standard Michelin Primacy tyres are £120 a corner. Add to that the facts that the car drives no differently and is quieter especially on bad tarmac I would have no hestitation running them all year round if we did less mileage and did not have a second set of rims. May fit them to my car when tyres are due if I can get them in the right size....
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Firstly, apologies to all of those who replied for my delayed responses. I was expecting to be notified by email when someone responds to my topic but that does not seem to be the case here.
Anyway, I have now moved on to phase 2 of the issue.
I got hold of a ZF supplier in the UK and got the price of a new gearbox, including surcharge and carriage, oh and that other thing that cannot be avoided. I am willing to pay for all of it, including the reprogramming of the gearbox/car.
The issue I have now is that no mechanic wants to install it for me. They all offer to fix the gearbox but when I specifically ask them to change my gearbox they either give me an over-inflated price for the part or come up with other excuses. I can name and shame a number of garages that I have come across just in the past 3 days. One of them, a recommended BMW specialist by a member of a forum, gave me a fair price initially only to up it by over 50% in the very last moment, attributing the cost to the actual gearbox, which I know is not the reason, and telling me that they are still cheaper than the main dealer by 1 gran! Another offered to fix it with genuine ZF parts, as all of them claim to be doing, but would not get me a new gearbox because they have fallen out with the supplier (?!). So who are they getting the genuine ZF parts from then?!
I think it comes down to this: by fixing the gearbox, garages get to keep a much bigger slice of the pie (£2k vs. £600 inc VAT). But it costs me the same! And that is why I prefer to install a brand new one. I don't want to have think 1 year down the line whether they really used new parts, if they put the right oil in, if they replaced all seals and other parts, etc. Or if they tell me when I take the car back to them: 'you did not expect the car to work like it did before the issue, did you?!'.
Don't know about you, but I am rather amazed by all of this. It's been quite an experience and nothing has been fixed yet. I am down £1k from one cowboy and there is an army of them out there, with not a single honest one in sight.
Just tonight I found one very small garage in NW London that is willing to change the gearbox for me but it's neither a gearbox specialist nor a BMW garage. I may have to take that risk.