M-Fix: TVR M Series Engine Technical Directory

Not the way to spend a saturday...and there is a moral to this story!

I had a basic service to do on a relatives car , and all should have been easy. Car is 3 years old, all that was needed after a full inspection was an oil change. So, off I went to the local car retail store (it was Saturday afternoon so no trade places open), and I bought the filter and some oil (had a good stock of sump washers with me). The only problem with doing this work was it was in another town, so I was unable to buy parts in advance until I knew what was required.

I got back and drained the oil, then removed the front wheel to get to the oil filter (this was not a TVR)! Having brought a good basic assortment of tools, I then kicked myself when I realised I had brought the wrong oil filter removal tool - the one I needed had a woven material strap which would fir in the narrow gap between filter and engine block. So, I was lucky when I found a handy rubber "constrictor" type gripping tool in my relative's kitchen drawer - the filter was a really tight fit, and would never have budged using hand force. Next was the start of the crazy stuff - the new filter had a burr of metal trapped under the crimped part at the seal end - and I saw this and thought it may be unsuitable as it may leak under running pressure. However, as I was wanting to finish off, I thought I would try it and check it for leaks as it may be ok. Well, you guessed it, it did leak, so I had to get in the car and drive all the way to the shop again to try to get a replacement.

The first comment by the shop owner after I explained the problem was "you may be able to get another one if the supplier agrees once it's been looked at"! I know the policy in parts shops is warranty can only be paid for items checked out properly, but this filter (ok I did fit it rather than bring it back unused) was very obviously poorly manufactured. The shop owner then called his supplier, and attempted to describe the fault to him, but was unable to explain the fault correctly - he called the oil inlet holes "breather holes"! I got the impression that the supplier was asking about thread damage, as the owner kept saying "no, not the threads", and then finished by saying he thought it was a manufacturing fault. When finished, he said to me that he couldn't give me another one as he had none (without even looking!), that a refund would only be possible in a few days IF the supplier agreed to it, and he had a very pessimistic tone when he said this. As I was needing to finish the job, and not in the mood for an argument, I took the filter out of his hands, and walked out. I will contact the manufacturer of the filter directly and sort it out with them.....but in the meantime, I am £6.99 down for doing the work until someone refunds me. This is not really of concern to me, after all the value is peanuts, but I have a strong opinion about bad after-sales service when anyone with any sense could see that the filter was a reject!

The moral of the story is this:

1. Don't fit a part without checking it first for defects. If you do fit it, you will not find a refund/replacement comes easily. I broke the rule by taking the 50/50 gamble that it wouldn't leak.

2. Store chains (e.g. Halfords) although putting smaller shops out of business will almost always be very reasonable in event of a faulty item. Not too useful for us TVR owners though...

3. Being honest is the way I was brought up, but I am slowly learning that honesty is abused by more of society today. Saying to the shop owner that I had fitted it was maybe my biggest error - had I cleaned it up to make it appear unused then I'm sure the refund would have been given, regardless of the fact I wouldn't have known it leaked until fitted and tested. The owner used this to his advantage, knowing full well that manufacturing was the fault.

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Trade waste dumping & wheely bin hypocrisy - UK County Councils

When I had my workshop I thought it would be a good idea to find out how much it would cost to have a wheely bin for the workshop. The place was in the grounds of a farmhouse, with other small trade units, and the bin for the house was collected every week.

Anyway, I phoned the council up to ask for a price list to be sent to me, and was told by the advisor that I would be fined up to £2000 if I didn't get a bin! I was just enquiring, and what followed in the post was basically a letter stating that I should get one or else....

So, I ordered my bin, which cost £100 per year, and when I started to use it (it was marked as a trade bin), the normal household lorry collected it.

My annoyance had now become anger, as the bin agreement had a minimum rental period, and why I needed the trade waste bin at all was a mystery. So, they collected used oil filters, oil bottles, car parts etc etc and it all went to the wrong place....or did they have a trade waste facility?? The £100 per year bin rental was not really fair either, considering the business rates were about £1000 on the building....and I thought that was supposed to cover local services???

I scrapped my bulk oil at the local recycling plant, plus scrap metal, and had my paint/thinners waste collected by a paint collection company (which also cost a bit), but trying to do things "properly" always ends up costing more.

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Wheel cylinder manufacturing fault - non paid warranty

I bought a rear wheel cylinder for a car I was servicing, along with a new set of rear brake shoes. After fitting everything all seemed fine, until after the road test. The new wheel cylinder was leaking and had ruined the new brake shoes, and after investigation one of the seals inside the cylinder was bent back on itself, and totally ruined. This had been badly fitted by the factory and was obviously a manufacturing fault.

I took the cylinder back and showed the parts manager, who said that it would have to be proved that the fault was from manufacture. He could clearly see that the seal was damaged and I explained that I would hardly have removed it before fitting. He said all he could do was sell me another, plus another set of shoes, and send it away for investigation (a common policy I'm afraid, as per the oil filter story above). Well, guess the rest?

Right, no warranty was given because the cylinder had been found to have been fitted and used with "contaminated" fluid. So, no refund, and I had lost the price of the wheel cylinder and shoes from the job.

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Faulty exhaust

As the story above, I bought an exhaust only to find that the silencer (muffler) had a massive hole in it from a poor weld. I returned it to hear the very same story above - that it needed sending back for examination. So, I was approx. £75 out of pocket for 3 months until finally the company agreed to refund me.

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Reconditioned engine warranties - beware of the dodgy shops who never pay up if it goes bang!

Yet another warranty story. When I was 17 I bought a reconditioned engine for my VW Beetle, and it worked fine for a couple of weeks. I fitted the engine, and the warranty was only valid if I took it for a first service & inspection. This I did as per the rules, and a couple more weeks went by before it seized up solid.

As always, the unit had to be returned for inspection, and it had to be with all ancillaries so that they could "bench test" it. Well, the chap on the phone told me the timing can cause seize-ups on those engines, so I was ready for them! I marked the position of the distributor so that when they found it was correct, they couldn't lie to me. Sure enough, they said they had got the engine started, and the timing was so far out it was the cause of the seize up, and promptly sent the engine back to me as scrap. I looked at the distributor and it had been moved to a totally stupid position where the engine couldn't have run at all, and the crank was still seized up in the same place (and believe me it was SOLID). So, how could they have checked the timing if it couldn't have run at all? Also the moved distributor.

I never got anywhere with them even after complaining to the managing director, and at 17 I didn't know what I do today about the sale of goods act. However, how could I have proved they moved the distributor? nowadays a digital camera makes easy work of that type of thing.....

Never send an item back for warranty inspection without either taking photos of the relevant areas and damage/problems, and also write a signed declaration of the fault found along with a witnesses signature (the best witness would be an independent engineer)! In fact, try to get an engineer's report before you send it away if the value of the item warrants the engineer's charge.

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Warranty procedures and understanding different stores' parts sale policies

Main Dealers and Motor Trade Factors normally have a warranty procedure like this for any faulty parts:

Part returned by customer, buy item again only option
Receipt Note given to customer
Part awaits warranty inspection (between 1 week and 3 months!)
Decision made, warranty inspector files report, dealer awaits credit
Credit arrives
Customer finally contacted so can collect refund
Customer collects refund (normally angry by this time)

Car Accessory Shops also operate like this if you are unlucky, but some of the more friendly places will take your word for it after inspection. Normally the places to use are the ones run by enthusiasts rather than stock controllers who don't give a damn about the "joys" of motor repairs!

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Exploding paint cans (in the post)

If you find a store that sells aerosol cans and tells you they can post them, be very careful! The Royal Mail don't actually allow these to be sent in the post, and I can certainly say that I agree with this after I ordered a can of crinkle paint for the dashboard panel. The parcel had been sent on a hot week in July, and had exploded in a Royal Mail van. It was left on the doorstep and the postman literally ran away before I could stop him to ask what he had left there (it didn't look like a parcel)!

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Useful things about car dealerships - eg. Why no stock on certain items that should be stocked - eg oil, keys etc

Ever wondered why oil isn't stocked in a car dealerships' parts department? It is because the oil is bulk delivered at great discount, and is placed in a large tank for the workshop to use. Oil is available for the parts departments to order, but the margins are so low (sometimes no profit at all), that the parts manager would rather not sell oil for no gain. Some of the "nicer" parts managers will always decant some workshop oil into a container for a reasonable price.

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How to tell when you are being taken for a ride when trading in your old car (or, watch the film called Fargo!)

When you take a car into a main dealer to trade it in, don't think for a minute that the salesman cares about your budget. I once took a motorbike to a dealer after first phoning them to ask roughly how much they would give me for the bike as a trade-in. The salesman said approx. £3500 after I gave him the details of the bike, and I asked again for him to give me his word he was serious about this offer. He confirmed this, so I rode 50 miles to the showroom so he could see its condition. Upon arrival he looked out of the window at the bike, and said he could give me £2300 for it!

This was crazy and I reminded him of our conversation just 1 hour previous. He said "hold on, I will go to see the sales manager about this".....and came back after a joke or two and no mention of the dispute to the manager, to say that the manager had agreed that they could offer me £2500 for it!

I left in a rage, and sold the bike for £4000 privately 2 weeks later.

I watched the film called Fargo the other week, and noticed that the salesman in the film did almost the same thing!

What I would suggest when trading in your old car is this:

Expect to get much less than the true value of your old car, and a lot of dealers who don't sell older cars will just sell the cars in job lots to local second hand dealers or auction them off. In fairness they don't always get a lot for them, sometimes less than they give you for the car....but they will always make their money on a finance deal if you take one up, or on accessories and bonus targets. Remember that they are trained to make you think they care about them (and some do), but as in all jobs, the behind the scenes picture is a lot different than the facade. If you can, sell the car privately and you will get more for it.

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Crazy Furniture Delivery Story

I recently ordered a large piece of furniture from a well know Scandinavian superstore and had to get it delivered as it wouldn't fit in the car. I was told there would be a call on a set date to arrange the delivery day, which had to be 5 working days from the call date. Bearing this in mind I booked a day off work within this period so I could make sure I was ready (the cost of delivery was £80).

Problem no.1 came when I received the phonecall 1 week early, and I was told that delivery had to be within 5 days....therefore my booked holiday was useless. They also told me that delivery to my area was only on Wednesdays or Fridays, so basically I had a very short time to arrange a day off work. Luckily my boss agreed, but it didn't go down too well.

Delivery was early on the correct day, however 2 items were missing as they had delivered a split pack - the 2 items had not been sent within the bag. I told the delivery driver, who said he was only working on the company's behalf and was a private business. I wrote the items were missing on the delivery note, and they left. I called the store I ordered the item from, and spoke to customer services. I told them the story and asked if it was possible for me to go there on the day and collect the two missing items (their online website showed a stock of this item). The advisor said there was no stock, and that I would have to wait for 48 hours to be called back by the warehouse depot. I mentioned the stock situation on the website, and she just replied "it's incorrect". Having to force an apology out of her was not really going to help, but she eventually said "sorry is all I can say"! I asked if I could go to another store that stocked the item, and she replied "yes but you'll have to pay for it and sort out the credit later - it would take a long time". I gave up with this person, and contacted the company's customer service online chat. I told them the story and asked if indeed there was stock at the store I called, they said that there was definitely stock, and that I should go there to get my missing bits, no problem! Ok now I was on a mission.

I copied the online chat from my computer, took my receipts and delivery note, and travelled the 50+ miles to the store. When I arrived the customer service room was full of miserable looking people, and an angry customer waving his arms at the manager asking for petrol money. I took my ticket and waited an hour to be served. The assistant was very polite, and I explained my story. He said I could get the bits no problem as there were 7 in stock, and walked off to check with someone. He came back and asked if I used the stores own delivery. I said "of course - it cost me £80". He said, oh! Was the delivery from us or the depot. I said the depot as the store had no stock when I last visited. He said....ohhhhh. I asked if there was a problem, he walked off and said "no problem".

When he returned, he said (nervously), you will have to go home, and wait for the depot to call you as delivery was from a remote warehouse! I said "you're joking - after I have been told to come up by the online chat customer service, and also that you have stock". He then said "did you bring your incomplete item back", and I told him "no because the online chat advisor said not to do that" and showed him the copy again. He again said ok, and walked off into an office. Eventually he returned and said it was OK, and that I could go and collect the missing items.

Any morals to this story?

1) Keep all records of correspondence
2) Don't believe anyone in customer service who seems negative from the moment they pick up the phone, they may not really care about the customer.
3) Try to be as pleasant as possible, even perhaps joke with the person at the counter - you will get further if you keep things happy.
4) If you have contradicting information from two separate advisors use this to your advantage by stating that someone has not been telling the truth. Normally the manager will be embarrassed and do a little more for you.