nightmare new galaxy

[willywagga]

I wish I could say I was having the same results but I'm afraid I've been dragged down the harder route. Firstly I had the coolant warning on my dash,( I'd bought the car 2 weeks previous 2001 Alhambra Se 115Bhp diesel) brought the car to reputable garage, they initially told me it needed pump changed and cam belt, no problem I thought, they called me the next dat told me the head gasket was gone, this freaked me obviously, but I said ok deal with it, next day called me to tell me the cam drive was worn and would need to be replaced. Jeez I was despairing at this stage and totally regretted having bought the car. I'm in Cork in southern ireland bought the car in Belfast, the dealer doesn't want to know.

Anyway got all that work done and got the car back but it's not running like it was, it's slow to pick up from a stationary position, slow even powerless in low revs, the garage changed the maf didn't improve things much. The car runs great over 1800 revs. To date spent

[sanjsanj]

i'm sure dealers have to give you a three month warranty for free here, isn't this the case in belfast as well?

[willywagga]

Life is too short to start out on the litigious route, I think. The dealer doesn't want to know. The RAC, carried out a full inspection of the car before I bought it told me that mechanically the car was running well, they don't want to know.

Anybody got any ideas what might be causing the low power in low revs scenario my alhambra is suffering from. It seems to me that the mechanic is relying on guess work to fix the car and I'm footing the bill for the repeated misdiagnosis. I'm very quickly reaching my cut off point. He's changed the maf three times in as many days. He refuses to consider other causes other than "maybe injectors".

I find this approach unnerving. As having read the threads here, I may have already gone through huge unnecessary expense.

Anybody any ideas. Before I brought the car for the overheating problem, it was very nippy, really quick on the uptake and very responsive, now it drags its ass in low revs.

Edited February 16, 2008 by willywagga

[gregers]

i think you will find the sale of goods act would deal with this under the 28 day rule,you say the dealer doesnt want to know and you do not want to go down that root,my response to you is you are 25k lighter from not mentioning the sale of goods act to the dealer and shouting,i can not understand the rac decision aswell,if they have inspected the car then surely they must stand by the inspection???

iirc a dealer as mentioned above have to give you a minimum warranty of 3 mths ,ive had my gal a year now and it cost the supplying dealer nearly 3k in sorting out my problems and that was just to do with the sale of goods act and not using the warranty at all.

 

give the trade and standards people a call,there a friendly bunch and they will tell you where you will stand legally

 

hth..

 

oh and welcome to the forum.

Edited February 16, 2008 by gregers

[willywagga]

That may well be true, but I'm on the very far side of the island, with a car that is not driving as it should. I have already paid for the head gasket, the cam drive the maf etc, I am trying to get a little advice as to why the car isn't driving the way it was when I bought it. I need technical pointers here not legal, I feel. At this point I know I probably bought a pig in a poke, but lets move on from there.

Why so little power in low revs, why the sluggish start. I need somebody to suggest that it's not the injectors that maybe it's just a minor oversight by the garage.

[gregers]

i can appreciate wot you are saying m8,its just i wouldnt be happy having to spend even more of your hard earned on the problems without getting the dealer involved or at least trying to get him to reimburse you,

hopefully someone will be on shortly to offer more info on your problems and help you get them sorted.

[sanjsanj]

The mechanic is a reputable man

hmm, if this were true, surely he would hold his hands up and say it's my fault for the misdiagnosis, i'll fix it for free???

 

 

First things first, have the fault codes been read?

Edited February 16, 2008 by sanjsanj

[gregers]

have a looksie here might be of help

http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.ph...uggish+starting

 

or if you type in injectors in the search bar there seems to be a lot of posts on the subject.

 

i agree with sanjsanj about having the codes read,i cannot believe they havnt already done this with the amount of things and work they have carried out.

Edited February 16, 2008 by gregers

[mumof4]

just in case you dont understand what is meant by codes being read.

 

the car has an ecu, an onboard computer if you will that will record codes of any errors.

 

an auto electrician can read the codes, what he needs to do is read the car, clear the codes, you need to restart the car and see what error codes then reappear.I believe this is your port of call before anything else.

 

when you get the error codes, then you can come on here and ask for an explanation as many on here have vag com and will know what most of the codes mean.

 

do this before you authorise any more work on the car.This way you will know what it is that is wrong with the car.

 

legal wise, the members were only trying to help you save money that you have thrown at the mechanic possibly unneccessary.

 

you will find that if a mechanic doesnt know what is wrong with the car, then he will just replace anything he thinks it could be.you may have more than likely paid out already far too much for parts that were not needed.

 

your mechanic should work for Ford by the sounds of it!!

[mumof4]

we do have a few members in Ireland, not sure if any of them have vag com though.

 

welcome to the forum, im just sorry that its a problem like this that has brought you to us.

 

 

but you MUST get in touch with trading standards.you may even get all the money back you have spent already on it.

[willywagga]

The mechanic has all the diagnostic computer equipment required, he tested all the sensors they were all clear, he's baffled. He does all the high end testing that I think is available. I brought my car to him for that reason. He said it happened that injectors behaved erratically after the head was removed and skimmed, these particular injectors are a pump as well so might be a reason, and that I should have them tested which should cost about

[bigjohnboy]

I wish I could say I was having the same results but I'm afraid I've been dragged down the harder route. Firstly I had the coolant warning on my dash,( I'd bought the car 2 weeks previous 2001 Alhambra Se 115Bhp diesel) brought the car to reputable garage, they initially told me it needed pump changed and cam belt, no problem I thought, they called me the next dat told me the head gasket was gone, this freaked me obviously, but I said ok deal with it, next day called me to tell me the cam drive was worn and would need to be replaced. Jeez I was despairing at this stage and totally regretted having bought the car. I'm in Cork in southern ireland bought the car in Belfast, the dealer doesn't want to know.

Anyway got all that work done and got the car back but it's not running like it was, it's slow to pick up from a stationary position, slow even powerless in low revs, the garage changed the maf didn't improve things much. The car runs great over 1800 revs. To date spent

[gregers]

and the point of the above post is???????

[bigjohnboy]

hi willywagga sounds to me it could possibly be a timming fault ask your mech to recheck timming belt fitment hard to get on and easy to make a mistake hope this helps keep posting

[willywagga]

hi willywagga sounds to me it could possibly be a timming fault ask your mech to recheck timming belt fitment hard to get on and easy to make a mistake hope this helps keep posting

 

Ok thanks for that jr, I'll mention that to him on monday morning when I call him. I've noticed that the car seems to idle at around 1100 rpm. Pulling away from traffic lights the car seems to falter and drag its ass until revs hit about 1600rpm then it takes off like a hot snot. This slow uptake can happen in any gear it seem when the revs are low.

Edited February 16, 2008 by willywagga

[sanjsanj]

does the same happen in neutral?

[willywagga]

it idles at around 1100 rpm but doesn't sound like it. It sounds lower than reads. In order to move away from a stationary position efficiently I have to prime it with a couple of revs otherwise it crawls away.

 

I can't explain this in a technical sense.

[mumof4]

does it suffer turbo lag? tdis ( if yours has a turbo which i am assumeing it does) do have turbo lag initially till the revs are up and the car gets going.

[bigjohnboy]

hi willy just a couple of things to try. you can adjust the injector rocker stroke quite important after a strip down of cyl head.also blocked exaust/cat caused by cyl head gasket problem .also air intake blocked good luck.

[willywagga]

Thanks jr for those suggestions, they are very worth mentioning to my mechanic before he removes my injectors. AS there wasn't a problem in this area before he stripped the head this would suggest to me that the work he carried out caused this new problem, and that it is his responsibility to fix. Him being a considerable mechanic has him in the lofty position of being able to ignore suggestions I might make. At the moment he has the upper hand and calls the shots as regards what might be the cause of the problem, with me picking up the tab. I'm really beginning to think that the cam belt was incorrectly fitted, itself causing the low power or causing the injectors to misbehave causing the low power issues. Thanks for the advice.

 

Not sure if this is a turbo issue, on the basis of my crude descriptions would you describe the problem as a turbo related matter. I'll mention this to the mech and see what he says.

Edited February 17, 2008 by willywagga

[willywagga]

spoke to the mech on monday morning, he said all these parameters were checked,(we're not amateurs here) not the rocker, not the turbo: car has full boost. So he's taken the injectors out to have them tested, which to me means new bloody injectors.

 

Anybody want to buy a haunted alhambra.

[willywagga]

Update !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just thought I'd let you all know how things have been with my dear Alhambra, well they checked the injectors:ok. They checked just about everything possible. blah,blah etc. Finally decided to remove the new cam shaft and replace the old one and........bingo.... power back the way it was when I left the car in to have the overheating issue sorted 7 weeks ago. They were given the wrong part. I must collect the car tomorrow. I will be wanting the cost of the camshaft back seeing as my car doesn't seem to actually need it replaced, plenty of power, spins the wheels in second gear etc. I do deserve money back right.

And probably for the MAF, but I'd settle on the cost of the cam and the labour fitting it etc.

So how's that, I've aged 2 years I have erectile dysfunction etc Jeez lol