Mechanic question

[Epic_Dragon]

howdy folks, probably an odd query. But wondering what the general consensus is here. Would you expect if you had your car in at the mechanics for welsh plug/coolant leak, and car only had water in cooling system due to leak, would you expect coolant to be put in your car or not whilst its there? Had couple other things done too, bill just over 1k. But id have thought the coolant would have been changed or levels at least topped up when in there to fix a leak in the cooling system. Am happy otherwise. But just thought id ask what you would expect in the same situation? Am i just being too fussy or expecting service that just isn't provided at places in general?

[BMKal]

If the coolant level was low due to leaking, I would expect them to at least top it up before allowing the vehicle to be driven away.

If the cooling system only had water in it, I don't know that I would expect them to automatically drain and replace with coolant unless I had asked them to do that when booking the vehicle in. But I would expect that any decent mechanical place would at least offer to do that for you - obviously there would be a cost.

Depending which vehicle it is, it's probably not a bad thing that they did not just replace the water with coolant in any case without first discussing it with you. I'd rather they leave water in it (and top it up if necessary) than put in the wrong coolant and charge me for it.

[Eevo]

depends on the mechanic.

my normal mechanic wont do anything unless i say so. he wouldnt replace it with coolant if i hadnt agreed to it.

my local mechanic, who i only go to for quick jobs or emergencies, will do everything that he thinks is needed without asking. sometimes the bill gets nasty.


if you didnt ask for the coolant to be replaced, i wouldnt of expected it to be replaced.
examples like this is why its good to talk to the mechanic before he starts anywork. go through your aims and what you think is required. he will say what he thinks is required to achieve your aims.

[FeatherWeightDriver]

my local mechanic, who i only go to for quick jobs or emergencies, will do everything that he thinks is needed without asking.

Time to find a new mechanic... :mad:

[Eevo]

Time to find a new mechanic... :mad:

yeah, like i said, quick jobs or emergencies.
an example, the power steering on the the disco wasnt working properly, was intermittent. very dangerous on the freeway. because it was intermittent i assumed it was a particle causing a blockage (even though its meant to be a sealed system).

so i asked them to flush it to try n remove the blockage. turned out the pump was knackered. so he replaced it. i cant remember the price now but i was 2-3 times the price if i had down my own shopping.

did he fix the problem? yes.
is he dodgy? no. he just wants the problem fixed. he is quite honest. one time on another car he told me the problem had gone away, but he dont think he fixed it.

[landy]

I can only speak from a personal perspective.
I have had to quote for many similar jobs in the past (water pumps, head gaskets, blown hoses etc) and as part of that quote I will always include the correct type and quantity of coolent required. I then present the quote to the customer before commencing work. Some are happy to give the go ahead over the phone if the price is agreeable. Some may question if it really needs this and that.
So in short, yes. I would ALWAYS expect that the coolent is changed and not just topped up or just water added. remember that the coolent lubes the water pump seals and adds significantly to the cooling system efficiency.
I think its sounds half arsed to be honest.

Cheers

Nino.

[Epic_Dragon]

Thanks all. Yeah is a land rover place :) i just thought it was odd. My sister had a free spare wheel cover when hers was in the other week, so i was a not surprised to not have new coolant put in my vehicle. Or at th3 very least been asked if id like them to. I know its a small thing but its put a disappointment aspect on an otherwise happy with them experience. Just means tomorrow ill replace my own coolant.

[Sitec]

If a core plug needed replacing, then a considerable amount of coolant would have been lost.. If I were doing the job and had found water in the system, it would have all been dropped and new coolant put in. Any job that requires fluids to be dropped, should then have new fluids used when replenishing.. Just my opinion tho and std practise in the Ag Shop at work. New always used unless the customer is on a budget and specifically asks for old back in...

[Epic_Dragon]

Im just not sure to ring up and talk to them about it. Im not one to complain normally but i do think coolant should have been put in.

[FeatherWeightDriver]

did he fix the problem? yes.
is he dodgy? no. he just wants the problem fixed. he is quite honest.

I hear you, but if I'm paying for it then I would like to decide on costs.

Even if the conversation is:
Mechanic - "xxx is stuffed, you need to replace it, preferably with a new one"
Me - "any other options"
Mechanic - "not really, a reconditioned one is 90% of the price of a new one"
Me - "Oh well"

[bee utey]

A mechanic of my acquaintance always puts plain water back in after engine surgery, but he adds a specific rider to come back in a week to check for leaks before filling with coolant. It may simply be a communications failure here, who knows.

[Redback]

We are lucky with our Mechanic, he rings us if he thinks something should be done, the fact you had water in there instead of coolant, that would have been a phone call to say we should have coolant in there instead of water.

So I think at least a phone call to ask would have been nice, but suspect he has assumed you only put water in the system, which begs the question, if he knows TD5s, or modern LRs, why didn't he say something??

Baz.

[Epic_Dragon]

yeah well i had told them there was only water in the system as it had been leaking rather a lot out of the welsh plug, so id only been topping up with water knowing it would be getting fixed either at home or with the professionals, so the ratio had sort of dropped from coolant to water and its now pretty well all water. i dont know anyone who runs water only in their cooling system long term so them being professionals, id have thought they either would have said something or asked me waht i wanted to do. but then i never really have much to do with mechanics as i have always done everything at home. but im at the point now it just too hard physically so paid for the professionals to fix, but it just feels a bit half done? i dont know, maybe the heat over the weekend made me a bit of a grouch. i know i need a top hose, so maybe that is why they left it as they told me about the top hose needing replacing, and i told them ill be doing that at home as thats easy and i already new it needed replacing. so that is perhaps why the coolant was left as water? im very happy with how my beast goes now. had the tune/ecu upgrade thingy.

can any of the local (sa folks) point me in the right direction for a good trans specialist? think mine needs flushing. but its also doing a few weird things so think trans people might be best to take it to?

[s7000]

My mechanic knows I've had cooling issues for the past year or so, so he makes sure it's topped up for me.

He always calls me if there's something a little more serious...

[Eevo]

if the mechanic if the one im thinking of, i wouldnt be surprised if they did a half arsed job.

also, the person you speak to, isnt the person who does the work.

[bee utey]

can any of the local (sa folks) point me in the right direction for a good trans specialist? think mine needs flushing. but its also doing a few weird things so think trans people might be best to take it to?

The only trans specialist I have good knowledge of is MV Automatics at Blackwood. They do all the trans work for a few of the local LR owners that come through my place.

MV Automatics - Transmission Specialists (http://www.mvautomatics.com.au/)