Thread: Dealers Service Can You Believe What They Tell You.

Originally Posted by AK83

Took them a while to get them there tho.
HQ, maybe one of the worst.
three on the tree mechanism that would always jam up. For a spring chicken with no idea, the car was just broken and wouldn't go .. fix was to pop under bonnet and free it up by hand. Once that was known, the spring chicken was more self reliant on getting home.
Still didn't make it 'reliable' tho .. an constant problem.

Had forgotten all about this! Had an HJ that did this all the time. Got real good at reaching under the bonnet and giving the linkages a wiggle. Mind you I'd hardly call that making a car unreliable, just a niggle IMO. Never failed to get me home unlike some of my Land Rover offerings over the years...

Originally Posted by travelrover

Or local member who is an estate agent and a developer!!!

Developer! I am surprised the swear filter didn't filter that word out. ********* would look better.

I suppose one could include Insurance Rep in the above titles as well?

Originally Posted by travelrover

Or local member who is an estate agent and a developer!!!

eg, Bob Jelly down in Victoria as featured in Seachange ?

My late father-in-law always referred to them as Land Sharks and Real Estate Criminals. He reckoned they are a lower form of life than used car dealers.

Originally Posted by 87County

eg, Bob Jelly down in Victoria as featured in Seachange ?

Yes, I remember Big Bob. What a great Australian TV Series Seachange was.
Was he also the local LR Stealer? He had the right qualifications for one.

Originally Posted by Homestar

... Got real good at reaching under the bonnet and giving the linkages a wiggle. Mind you I'd hardly call that making a car unreliable, just a niggle IMO. Never failed to get me home unlike some of my Land Rover offerings over the years...

First couple of times for me .. mind you I was brand new to the world of motoring .. a car that failed to proceed is an unreliable car .. but only from that perspective .. ie. zero knowledge or experience.
Yeah, once the trick was taught to the newbie ... it wasn't considered unreliable .. just a nuisance(and usually at the worst possible moment).

HQ totally failed to proceed when LH wishbone disconnected itself doing a left turn .. failed to get home under it's own power.

RRC, considering all the troubles it did cause, and having done more than 500K klms in it(I got it with just under 150K klms .. always got me home, even when kind'a broken, like overheating, or running rough, or whatever)

I think I had about 20 Rover(cars) of some type, starting with early 60's P6s to later on V8's then a swag of SD1's .. only two ever failed to get home. One broken mains cap(V8) and then a dizzy problem on one of the SD1s.
All others were bashed into by some inconsiderate mobile chicane type motorist.

Rodeo was fairly reliable. I did about the same number of klms in it as my RRC, but much quicker time frame.
Failed to proceed twice, once an alternator, once an AFM. towed for AFM, but alternator I got one second hand and replaced on the side of the road(most painful roadside fix, and should have just got it towed home in the end).

My one and only experience with a dealer was with my Rodeo(99 model) used as my courier vehicle .. hence the high klms per year.
I took it only to do the tappet shims, as my mech couldn't do it quick enough for me, to keep me mobile.
Told them NOT to do the plugs, as I'd only just done them .. and wanted only a wheel alignment and tappet adjustment on top of an oil change .. NO plugs.
Of course they changed them and wanted to charge me nearly $180. I refused, they argued the point, I still refused .. etc, back and forth for maybe 30mins.
They refused to release the car and even threatened to call cops!
Anyhow, just to be done with them .. I paid demanded my old ones back ... and never returned.
Never even considered a dealer to do any work.

Mine with the Commodore was the tappet covers are leaking at the rear. My response was "so you didn't replace or seat them properly when you fixed the valve seals then? "
Miraculously the tappet covers fixed themselves and the a/c needed a top up instead.
Took it to a a/c shop some years later - they said the system hadn't been touched since built....

Originally Posted by Homestar

Had forgotten all about this! Had an HJ that did this all the time. Got real good at reaching under the bonnet and giving the linkages a wiggle. Mind you I'd hardly call that making a car unreliable, just a niggle IMO. Never failed to get me home unlike some of my Land Rover offerings over the years...

FWIW,once the rubbers are changed on those gear linkages,and they are adjusted so they lined up correctly,as per specs,they work fine,until next time.

The HQ i had never let me down,did over 300 000k's in it.
We travelled all over this great country in it.
The HZ did once when the timing gear stripped.A common easy fixed repair.