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Top 10 car repairs you shouldn't pay for
speedyxjs - 7/4/11 at 04:26 PM

This made me laugh (check out the note at the bottom of the page!)

Davegtst - 7/4/11 at 04:52 PM

So basically do these things yourself to save money but if you don't know how pay someone who does.

Mr Whippy - 7/4/11 at 04:58 PM

and there's my sister who put screen wash in her cavaliers brake reservoir

what other stupid things will people do?

blakep82 - 7/4/11 at 05:00 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
and there's my sister who put screen wash in her cavaliers brake reservoir

what other stupid things will people do?


i've come to the conclusion that at some point in my cars life, someone has put anti freeze in instead of screen wash, now that all the laquer has peeled off my roof, and starting all over the rest of the body i'm sure it wasn't me

flibble - 7/4/11 at 05:01 PM

In a rush to get to an off road day in the 4x4 I managed to fill the expansion tank with screen wash - turned into quite a frothy journey followed by a very overheaatd one

Edit ^^ ahh, well timed equal stupidity

[Edited on 7-4-11 by flibble]

Davegtst - 7/4/11 at 05:08 PM

In the AA and my current job i think i have nearly seen it all. Screen wash in engine oil, PAS fluid in coolant, Engine oil in screen wash, coolant, brake fluid etc. Some people are too thick to be allowed to drive.

adithorp - 7/4/11 at 06:16 PM

We had a customer who asked over the phone how full should the water be in her Mini (proper one ,not BMW) as she couldn't see the water. So she was told "Fill it so theres just a little space below the presure cap, then come and see us to check where it was loosing it". She arrived later that day saying it wasn't running right. She'd got the hose out ("I got sick of going back to refill the jug" and filled the crank-case to the brim. Drained it, flushed it, re-filled it and it lived a long life after that... Then about 5 years later she did the same thing to a Renault 11!

blakep82 - 7/4/11 at 06:19 PM

friend of mine did that with her first car. but with oil. FILLED it with oil, tried starting it and blew EVERY oil seal out

ChrisL - 7/4/11 at 06:46 PM

A friend of mine decided to top up the oil, using the clutch inspection hatch!

AndyW - 7/4/11 at 07:02 PM

I like the one about headlamp bulbs. They have never tried changing a renault one then

owelly - 7/4/11 at 07:12 PM

The author has obviously never opened a car bonnet since 1978............
Hmmm.
No mention of not touching the glass on halogen bulbs. Just pull off the wires, unclip the spring and pop the new bulb in.......I wonder how many of those you'd pop before you started to wonder why?!!

mcerd1 - 7/4/11 at 07:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
friend of mine did that with her first car. but with oil. FILLED it with oil, tried starting it and blew EVERY oil seal out


a mate of mine did something like that

the oil light came on (pressure warrning, not a level one )
so he ignored it for couple of days before driving it to a petrol station to buy some oil

when he got there he just poured in the whole bottle, then tried to start it and kept tring till the battery was totaly flat

at this point he called his brother, and asked why it wouldn't start.... eventualy his brother worked it out and asked how much oil he'd put in - turns out it was at least 5l maybe even more of some unknown grade that was going cheap in the garage

(but he thinks its ok because its not the first time the AA man had to sort a car like that...)

mcerd1 - 7/4/11 at 07:52 PM

quote:
Originally posted by owelly
The author has obviously never opened a car bonnet since 1978............
Hmmm.
No mention of not touching the glass on halogen bulbs. Just pull off the wires, unclip the spring and pop the new bulb in.......I wonder how many of those you'd pop before you started to wonder why?!!

^^sounds about right - I liked the description of the HT leads coming from the dizzy

and I'd be willing to bet the author pays to have all that stuff done...


none of those things are really 'repairs' they are all just normal topups / maitinance....
if it was for common repairs on modern cars it should have included EGR valves and dual mass flywheels

carpmart - 7/4/11 at 08:44 PM

Agree that the bulb change is prone to failure!