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Arnold Clark -failed to replace my oil cap after a service and I drove 600 miles with oil squirting out of my engine


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I really need some help with a problem I have.

 

I was on a 4 day touring holidayicon last week in Scotland in my second hand motorhome which I only purchased around 4 months that I have been saving up for years to buy.

 

On the second day in Scotland the service light came on.

With only just purchasing it I wanted to get it seen to quickly

I booked it into Arnold Clark, Falkirk Road Grangemouth.

I told them exactly what type the motorhome was and they said it wasn't a problem they could sort it out for me the following day which was the Wednesday.

 

I took it into them and waited from 10:30am until around 3:30pm then went to the service desk and asked how the service was doing.

I was informed the service had been done but they were having an issue resetting the service light and they would have to take the motorhome to another garage up the road for the light to be turned off. I agreed to wait so they took the motorhome.

 

Over an hour later I returned to the service desk again for another update.

They said they still were having an issue turning the service light off and it must be a problem with my motorhomes body computer.

they said they couldn't do it.

 

I immediately called the dealership where I purchased the motorhome from in Lancashire and they said they could turn the light off for me if I bought it into them on the Saturday.

 

I paid Arnold Clark for the service as I wanted to get away as by this time it was about 5pm and going dark because its winter and I was booked into a campsite in Edingburgh.

 

I got into the motorhome and drove off.

I got about half a mile down the road when I noticed that now not only was the service light illuminated but the airbag fault light was also illuminated all the time, which Arnold Clark hadn't mentioned anything about.

I returned to Arnold Clark immediately.

 

They initially denied all knowledge of the airbag light and said it must of been on when I brought the motorhome in as it was impossible for them to of caused it.

after a lot of heated talk they finally ask me to return the following day so they could attempt to rectify the issue.

 

However, knowing the garage in Lancashire could turn the lights off I didn't return the Arnold Clark the following day and instead had a days holiday driving around sight seeing, which is why I was in Scotland in the first place. Plus as Arnold Clark were unable to turn the light off on the service day, it was logical to assume they wouldn't be able to turn it off the next day either and I would waste another day of my 4 day holiday for nothing.

 

The weather from Tuesday through to Friday was mostly terrible with torrential rain and high winds, plus I was smothered in a cold.

on the Friday morning I decided to drive down to my parents house in Lancashire which was mid point on my way home to Hampshire and also only 10 miles from the garage in Lancashire where I bought the motorhome from.

 

I arrived at my parents early on Friday, it was still raining and windy

I decided to immediately take the motorhome into the dealership.

 

However, on the way from my parents house to the dealership the motorhome started to make a strange engine noise.

on arriving at the dealership I popped the bonnet with the service guy standing there.

 

We found the oil filler cap was missing from the engine and the engine bay was coated and dripping with oil from the engine.

The oil filler cap was found in the window screen wiper well above the engine.

 

I had driven in excess of 600 miles with no oil filler cap in place and oil squirting all over the place.

I was smothered in a cold and with the rain and wind I hadn't noticed or smelt anything wrong.

 

I immediately called the Arnold Clark dealership to complain.

The head service guy there spoke to me and informed me it was impossible for it to be their error has after servicing all vehicles are inspected by someone else prior to returning the vehicle to the customer.

 

Yet from the point the motorhome was returned to me after the service, I had either been driving, cooking or sleeping in it until it being parked outside the front window of my parents house for 10 minutes before driving it down to the dealership and finding oil everywhere.

 

Arnold Clark as informed me they will investigate the issue but they seriously doubt its anything to do with them.

The investigation will take several days and I must not have the motorhome worked on by anyone else in that time.

 

they expect me to stay at my parents house 250 miles away from home and miss work until they finish their investigation.

The dealership in Lancashire has had a quick look at the engine and have found the turbo has been damaged due to lack of engine oil as it is now making a strange noise.

 

Luckily though, they don't think there is any other damage to the engine, but they can't really tell properly without taking the engine apart.

All they have done is fill the engine with new oil and made sure the oil filler cap is in its correct place and apart from being noisy it seems to run.

 

From my initial conversation with Arnold Clark I know all they are going to do is fob me off saying its nothing to do with them

I will be left with, at best, a damaged turbo that needs fixing, probably at my own expense

I just think it is wrong and I am absolutely disgusted.

 

I think Arnold Clark should own up to their error and I should be refunded the £224.96 for the service,

the £61 something pence I have had to pay for the engine to be quickly inspected, refilled with oil and cleaned,

plus whatever the cost of fixing the turbo and whatever else is wrong with the engine will be.

 

Incidentally, The dealership in Lancashire turned sorted out the dashboard lights in no time. So what were Arnold Clark doing??

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You say service light. Is it a service light or a check engine light?

 

Did any low oil level or low oil pressure lights come on?

 

Arnold Clark themselves confirmed it was the service light both on the phone when I initially called them and described the light and at the point of the motorhome being serviced.

 

No light came on when driving. This was put down to the dashboard computer being messed up with the Arnold Clark service diagnosis machine which caused the Airbag light to falsely illuminate and therefore cause the dashboard to perform erroneously. Once the motorhome was back at the dealership where I bought it they corrected the dashboard errors with their proper diagnostic machine in a few minutes.

Edited by stuenguk
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Be very interested to know why you chose AC for your service in the first place.

Has their reputation not reached Hampshire yet??

 

You are correct in that you won't get any joy from AC-

--they will just say you can't prove it was them who left cap off.

 

The extinguishing of dash lights can be done by any half wit even with a simple computer.

 

If you want your vehicles properly serviced / repaired then take it to a family run garage.

They are run by their reputation unlike AC who are run by accountants.

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