my mate just had his focus in at a non ford garage and was told the cylinder head gasket was gone this was based on the dash trick engine temperature which showed 143 degrees and that the alternator was faulty as it was charging at 14.5v all this for a car that was in for a service needless to say he wasnt happy so i said take it to ford who laughed and told him theres 2 sensors one for the coolant which is what shows up on the temp gauge and a cylinder head temperature sensor which is what is shown on the dash test the 143 degrees was not coolant temp but the temp of the metal on the cylinder head and theres roughly a 40 degree difference between the 2 so if cht is 143 the engine coolant is 103 there fore the fan will kick in as it did and the alt and battery were in fact fine as i already told him but the garage had him so worried he wouldnt listen short story dont trust garages who dont have a clue

ive had a few of thoses tricks to rip you off

im just amazed that they dont even know or understand what is basic knowledge how many others have just said do the work and been ripped off i know they are called stealers but mine is knowledgable and honest and will happily say we dont know. any his minds at ease now i thought he was gonna have a heart attack he was so worried

glad to hear it

you soon learn who out to make a fast buck i do most of my repairs myself

so save a fair bit.

money grabbing *£$%'s

i can remember my first car (peugeot 307), took it to peugeot dealers for a service...they rang me and said it needs alot of work doing. i asked price and they said about £3k!!!! i just said do the service, write down what needs doing and ill look into it.

so i get the car back, take it straight to a mate who knows alot about cars (used to work for VOSA) and still currently sorts my car and MOTs it. i show him the report and he laughed as he had it a week earlier doing the bearings! but nevertheless he gets on checking it, in front of me...showing me what he's looking for... he goes there is nothing wrong with that mate, they have just seen a young lad with a silver credit card so they'll try and rip you off!!

i will say however. if you compare ford dealers to peugeot dealers, ford are better hands down! i have never had an issue with ford (touch wood i wont) peugeot parts are seriously over priced and think people are stupid.

another story regarding peugeot dealers...my locking nut key was degrading, i was going through tyres and the garages were using windy guns!!! also reading horror stories on the forums i decided to bin the locking nuts...it was 2010 and no one nicks alloys anymore! so i replaced 3 of the 4 no problem but 1 was stuck solid...so i pay kwikfit and they wouldnt touch it. so i went to peugeot....they turned around and said (no word of a lie here) "it will cost £80 for the diagnostic" i says "what diagnostic?!? its a locking wheel nut stuck" they reply "maybe so, but we will need to hook the computer up and do a full diagnosis on the wheel" i just laughed and said "eff of mate, i own a peugeot planet lexia tool and it doesnt do that...you have just lost a customer" and walked out....in the end the fella who does all the work did it for me by the use of a windy gun, impact wrench and a big hammer lol

my old man has a citroen c4 vtr 100 quid an hour labour his power steering pump went the bill was 600 quid as it had to be programmed.

my old mk1 punto was the same a garage told me the head gasket was gone 700 to do the job i took it to my mums work at the council and there mechanic looked at it 20mins later he said its sorted 5.76 it cost all it needed was a new pressure cap at least there are some honest garages ford didnt take a penny from my mate