Hi,

I put my car into a garage run by Service4Service so that they could check out an engine warning light.

They said that they found nothing wrong with the engine so just reset the system and returned the car, however the warning light came back on on the next drive so I took it back in.

They said that the fault signal came from the lambda sensor in the exhaust, and because there was nothing wrong with the engine the sensor must need replacing. I agreed the work and price, which was reasonable at £192.

However on the next motorway drive the warning light has reappeared so it seems the sensor isn't the problem and there must be an underlying issue. Am I within my rights to try and reclaim the money they took for replacing the sensor when it appears that the original was working perfectly well and they haven't solved the underlying problem? I am taking the car back to the garage so what should my stance be on resolving the issue?

Thanks,

David

Dunno what you're driving but you can get a generic lambda for around £20 and they are replaced just like a spark plug so max bill could have been £50 or even less, so ask if this was a genuine manufacturers part and if not you might be lucky to get something back but don't bank on it.

There is no exact science for this type of fault and the computer can only indicate the problem and not say for definate the lambda 'is' at fault and as you authorised the replacement you would be hard pressed to get the old one put back and a refund.

Would agree with Conniff. The Lambda sensor could be faulty but only gives an indication to where the fault lies, in this case emissions. Have to agree though that £ 192 it sounds a bit expensive unless they replaced with an OEM part. However they are notoriously difficult to replace due to corrosion etc so it might be the case they had to repair the thread it screws into. Having said that, depending on use, the average useage of a cat is about 80 to 90 thousand miles. It's getting a lot better now that all cats have to meet a certain standard. There was a lot of mickey mouse stuff on the market for a while.

Personally I'd look at the cat first.

It would help if you posted age, mileage and type of car as some are more prone to failure than others, also if it runs on alternative fuel.

In real terms you would have the benefit of the new part so any claim you might think you had for the total amount would be negatted. In other words you are arguing about the labour costs only which dependant the cost of the sensor might only be £92...........hardly worth getting into an argument about at the moment.

Thanks for the response, it's a 2002 Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 litre, 3 door hatchback. It's only done 23,000 miles though so very soon for the part to fail.

They replaced with a genuine part, I checked out the price with the Vauxhall dealership and they would have charged the same, maybe not the cheapest place I guess.

Google seems to say that the lambdas often give a faulty reading if the manifold is rusty (grounding problems) or there is a leak in the system so I would assume they checked that.

If they ring up and say they've found the problem i'm tempted to argue that they should have discovered that in the first place instead of just assuming sensor fault, so laziness on their part. Do you think that would gel?

Many thanks for your responses.

I wouldn't call it laziness. The first thing to check is the computer to see what he says and if he said lambda then common would have said change it. If your pc anti-virus shows a positive, you take steps to get clean it you don't start looking for other faults, the same would apply here.

I wouldn't call it laziness. The first thing to check is the computer to see what he says and if he said lambda then common would have said change it. If your pc anti-virus shows a positive, you take steps to get clean it you don't start looking for other faults, the same would apply here.

True, but they said they checked everything and couldn't find a fault. If you check your temperature with a thermometer and it reads high you don't assume the thermometers broken. If the problem has persisted with a new sensor then the sensor isn't at fault and there must be a fault with the exhaust system/engine that they haven't identified. I would have thought replacing the sensor was a last resort once they've eliminated other possibilities. In any case if they come back with another potential fix that's going to cost more then I don't know whether to take it and risk the problem returning again.

Hi dd

Here's some info:- http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38337.html

My daughter has just gone through all this they changed everything they could think of on her corsa.It turned out to be a bent pin on the engine management leads...good luck..

Don't use Service4Service and save yourself a lot of money and hassle!

I made an online search back at the end of October to find garage able to carry out a service on my Chrysler Grand Voyager which I had just purchased and Service 4 Service came up.

I spoke to them and was assured that they could carry out a full service and mot as required. I

needed this as I am going to Italy next week on the 13th December.

Booking in at the end of October I thought this gave me plenty of leeway.

Service4Service then advised me that I needed brake pads all round, some suspension works and a new brake pipe and the total bill came to some £1250.

I paid and they returned the car

however when I went to use the car later the automatic gearbox had gone into limp mode.

In this mode only 2nd gear, neutral and reverse is available,

I informed them of this and also the fact that the new brake pipe they had fitted was leaking and they came and collected the vehicle.

After a few days they told me that gearbox solenoid pack was faulty and advised me that the repair costs would come to £1450.

I was concerned at the added cost of this but because I needed the car which was booked on ferries and due to go down to Italy, actually across to Sardinia and time was running out I asked them to go ahead.

I was told that the part had to be ordered in and would be about five days to supply.

Then I got an email asking me to pay £700 up front,

having just paid them £1250 for the service I did not understand this request and so I phoned them up to discuss it,

It took a number of phone calls

about 3 days before anyone came back to me and they advised me that the solenoid pack may not cure the gearbox problem.

I asked to speak to a manager and also requested a breakdown of costs and precisely what the fault code/s showing on the diagnostic systems were.

Another few days went by, and i am now into the second week before someone came back to me.

I asked them how the job was progressing as I was quickly running out of time and what was the fault code?

I was told that there was no code just a gearbox error.

Again I was told that the solenoid pack may not be the only fault and that its replacement would not necessarily cure the problem. I had told then earlier that the gearbox worked very well in "limp" mode and that it was unlikely to be the actual problem more likely the solenoid pack they had diagnosed or even more likely an electrical fault, after all it only failed after they had worked on the vehicle.

I then asked how soon was the work going to be carried out and then was informed that after getting the go ahead nearly three weeks ago now they had not even ordered the part. They were obviously worried that this part and the £1450 plus vat bill was not going to cure my car and expressing my severe dissatisfaction [no swearing] they offered to return it back to me

I gladly accepted this and I ordered the spare part at a cost of £200 from an importer up north.

It arrived in the post next day and I spent a couple of days both online and under the bonnet and replaced it myself.

Guess what it did NOT cure the fault.

Again I went back online and this time I bought a diagnostic computer.

This told me that there was a fault code, P0888 and that this was a possible relay error,

Looking through the various Chrysler information sites I was able to identify the relay and swapping it with an adjacent same type relay I tested the vehicle, Hooray it actually cured the problem and I now have a working car.

I am a freelance Air conditioning engineer and had needed a vehicle during the time i was without mine and i spent over £660 pounds in car hire costs, £200 on an unnecessary solenoid pack, a further £160pounds on diagnostic equipment and many days worrying about how I was going to get my car onto the booked ferries down to Italy.

I was a better car mechanic than Service4Service,

do yourself a favour and avoid them like the plague,

they lie, do not know what they are doing and could cost you a lot of money,

better to go to the slightly more expensive Dealers who at least will know their own vehicles.

Do not use Service4Service they are rubbish!

I could tell you a lot more about the terrible waste of time and money but I think you probably get the gist of it.