One of the biggest problems we have with customers when talking about cambelts is that they always say “My cambelt isn’t due till 60,000 miles!” even though the car is ten years old and the dealer recommends 60,000 OR five years!! 

The main component of a cambelt is rubber which deteriorates over time, this is one of the main reasons that dealers specify a time interval as well as a mileage interval.

We had a call from a Megane R26 owner saying that his handling was poor and he suspected that the lower swivel bearings were at fault.

As he was from Hertfordshire it was hard to diagnose it over the phone so we recommended that he come up and we would do a full suspension check.

After he arrived we checked the car over to find the O/S/F road spring had broken and this was the cause of the handling problems he had been having.

Renault’s spring prices are ridiculous so it was quickly decided that the customer would source a new set of lowering springs from Eibach and would return to have them fitted.

A week later the customer returned and the springs were fitted and all the handling problems
were eradicated leaving a happy customer.

On his way to work this customers Toyota Hilux Surf started to overheat so he pulled over to check his coolant to find it had all gone.

He topped up the coolant but as soon as he started the car it disappeared and when he looked underneath there was a puddle of pink creamy liquid coming from half way down the vehicle.

He had it recovered to the garage and it was our challenge to find out what had gone wrong.

First we removed all the under trays and found the pink creamy liquid was coming from the top automatic gearbox breather!

We drained the gearbox to find it was full of gearbox/coolant mix indicating a major failure in the gearbox cooling system.

The next port of call was to check the gearbox oil cooler which is situated in the bottom of the radiator and straight away we found that this was the cause of the problems.

As the vehicle was a import the customer was able to source a radiator cheaper than the main
dealer, the next day it arrived and we fitted it as required, next was the clean out operation of the cooling system and gearbox which we did with a coolant flush and gearbox flush.

The customer was informed that as we couldn’t get all the oil and coolant out of the cooling system and gearbox he would have to return the car for future flushes.

Once all of the work was completed we needed to test drive the car to make sure it selected all of its gears as it should and that there was no more mixing of the gear oil and coolant.

A very worried customer rang saying his car was hissing and the suspension had dropped on the N/S/R, We of course told him to bring it in straight away to find the fault and a solution.

On inspection it was apparent that the N/S/R suspension air bag wasn’t lifting the vehicle as it should.

We connected the BMW to our diagnostic computer and tried to re-inflate the air bag but the hissing returned and a hole was found in the suspension airbag.

We sourced a new air bag at half the price of the dealer part, fitted it to the car and programmed it through the diagnostic computer. Once the vehicle started the suspension system re-inflated the car was ready for the customer to take away the same day leaving a happy customer.

This Alfa Romeo Mito came into us with a complaint of a strange smell, also the gearbox was noisy and sometime’s locking up.

The gearbox had to be removed to try and find the problem.

As we started to remove the gearbox it became obvious that the strange smell the customer had complained of was in fact gear oil.

After removing the gearbox we found a hole in the casing and several ball bearings
etc that had punched their way into the bell housing.

After talking to our gearbox specialist we found that this was a common problem with the Alfa
Mito and the gearbox unfortunately was un-repairable.

The customer decided to let us source a reconditioned gearbox and replace the
clutch (whilst the gearbox was out).

Two days later the gearbox arrived, so we fitted the reconditioned unit into the vehicle along with a new clutch kit.

Once the work was completed and tested the customer collected their Alfa Mito and was very
happy as we had saved him £££’S on a new gearbox from the main dealer.

This Picasso was brought in to us with its clutch pedal sticking down causing the car to not
drive as it should.

As soon as we checked the clutch pedal it was very apparent there was a major fault on the clutch itself.

We removed the gearbox and clutch to find the clutch pressure plate had split into 3 pieces!

Something we had never seen before!

The customer was informed of the problem, the clutch kit was replaced and gearbox refitted as required. The vehicle was then tested and the customer was informed their car was ready for collection.

This Ford Galaxy came into us after the owner had tried several other garages who kept telling him that he would need to replace the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) on the exhaust system to be able to turn off the EML (Engine Management Light).

The first thing we did was to carry out a full diagnostic of the cars control modules to see what faults were causing the EML to come on, the main faults related to excessive soot accumulation inside the DPF which was stopping the car carrying out its own Regen (Regeneration of the DPF is carried out by the engine ECU which cleans out the DPF).

We removed the DPF to examine the soot content, and decided to try cleaning it out with a hot pressure washer.

Once the DPF was clean and dry of water we refitted it to the car and carried out a ‘Forced Regen’ (telling the ECU to carry out a regen whilst it is stationary).

Once the ‘Forced Regen’ was complete and all the codes were cleared and it was time for a road test, straight away on the road test it was apparent that the car felt smoother and had improved power.

The customer brought the car back a week later for us to check for any codes, all the modules were clear and the customer was very happy.

These two lovely 2014 Ford Rangers came in today for their first annual services, due to the block exemption law we can service the newest of vehicles without affecting their warranties.

Is servicing important on a new car?

The simple answer is yes, all new cars come from the show room with a PDI (pre delivery inspection check) but this is only a very simple check so basically your car has never been fully checked over since it left the production line! Also lubricants age with time and filters get full of all the dirt and contaminants that your engine produces.

Most new models also have teething problems and therefore require specific items to be checked on the annual services, for example Ford have sent a memo out about this particular model saying that the wheel nuts must be torqued to 136nm even if they have not been removed (and they all did need tightening!).

Servicing is expensive!

If you go to the dealers then Yes servicing can be expensive, but there are many independent garages out there like ourselves who offer the same quality of service if not better for a considerably lower price.

Can I trust an Independent Garage?

If you do your homework you can find plenty of trust worthy garages for example if you check our review page you will see some great reviews. I know what your thinking “anyone can put the best reviews on their website” that is why we have links to several independent review sites and urge new customers to check them first before letting us work on there cars.

Any questions about car or van servicing please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01332 205070 or drop us an email to dave@aaronsautos.co.uk

This Honda Civic Type R came in to us to have a full steering and suspension checkover and then it was to have its geometry setup for fast road and slight track day use.

The first thing we did after checking all the components is to take measurements of the car as it was when it came into us so we can see what changes are needed.

The most obvious problems were the ride height and the lack of front camber, but after taking our measurements we could see that the rear tracking was toeing out by 4.5mm and the camber was not equal on both sides.

Once we had made all the necessary adjustment on the ride heights, camber and front and rear toe the car was ready for a simple road test to make sure all the adjustments had worked for the better.

The customer collected his car and took it for a spirited drive and later that day he sent us a message saying how much better the car felt.

If you are looking for a full geometry setup or just a 4 wheel alignment make sure the garage you are using know what they are doing, and have a full understanding about the adjustments they are making to your car.

If you would like more information or just some friendly advice give us a call on 01332 205070 or drop usan email to dave@aaronsautos.co.uk