Eye watering car repair

[woohoo]

I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee, dealership constantly found things to fix on it. Last straw was something like £900 to replace bearings.

Took it to an independent garage and he looked it over and told me they did not need changing.

Same for the misuses Mazda, told 2k to fix car, missus was all ready to buy a new one. Walked out of there cursing, anyway had it for a year or two sold it on, guy who's got it loves it.

If you find a good independent stick with them.

[Gumbo Robot]

How old is it? How many miles etc? Is it worth fixing?

90k 2008. Probably worth about £4k.

I took my old Alfa 166 I had a few year back to the local MOT station round the corner because they were the only ones open and I hoping for a quick turn around.

Went round to pick it up, failed. Guy was almost laughing at me pricing up the cost to fix it. Came to £2800 or so, I'd had car for 3/4 years and only paid £2000 for it so I told him politely to foxtrot uniform and took it away. Got it all sorted for just over £300, and car lasted a good few more years before I just fancied a change.

Was ridiculous, apparently it needed a new steering rack, new upper and lower front suspension wishbones, that was bulk of it plus loads of other 'bits'.

Needles to say, I had the last laugh.....

I'm sceptical about their diagnosis. They showed me some flow chart they'd followed & how they'd arrived at their conclusion. Didn't look like they'd done anything mechanical to achieve this.

[_V_]

Seems pretty obvious advice to get a 2nd opinion from a good independent garage. Then see where that leads you.

[VectraMan]

There are people that clean fuel injectors. Costs about £50 for 4 last time I had it done. It might not be the answer, but dealers don't even try that sort of thing.

Or just look for parts yourself. Before I knew about that I had a misfire in my S2000 that they said was down to injectors; £1000 for 4. I managed to buy some from Japan for £400. Then again the same dealer told me that it needed a new clutch for >£1000, but I fixed it myself with a bleed and a £5 bottle of brake fluid.

Probably the best thing to do is find the RAV4 forum (there must be one) and you'll probably find 100 other people who've had the same problem.

[_V_]

Main dealers aren't called "stealers" for no reason on mechanic forums....

[I just need to test it]

There's also stuff you can buy to put in your fuel tank that cleans injectors. A tenner or thereabouts.

[MrMarkyMark]

There's also stuff you can buy to put in your fuel tank that cleans injectors. A tenner or thereabouts.

We've gone from £2000 to, possibly, solving the problem for a tenner.

Who says there is no magic, anymore, here, on CUK

[Troll]

Looks like RAV4 EGR can be blanked too - not sure how you would get over the warning light - remove the bulb from the dash?

[AtW]

Only £2k??? Give them £4k and light up a fine cigar with £50 note before you leave.

It's the contractor way. It's the only way.

HTH

threaded

[zeitghost]

90k 2008. Probably worth about £4k.



I'm sceptical about their diagnosis. They showed me some flow chart they'd followed & how they'd arrived at their conclusion. Didn't look like they'd done anything mechanical to achieve this.

Yeah.

The guy who "fixed" my boiler for £500 in parts followed a similar flow chart.

Needless to say, I'd wager that there was nothing wrong with the bits he changed, but moving something temporarily fixed the thing for 10 minutes or so.