Service zoo

[fear4fun]

So I dropped my 400 off because it had failed aircare and was still having some cold start issues, even in the warm weather. It has now been at the shop for a month (granted 2 weeks of that he was working in and around other booked jobs). Today, it was finally decided to have the injection pump bench tested. I'm cheesed because this is my daily driver and only vehicle!! I'm also cheesed that he didn't explain the advantage/cost of having the injector bench tested right when he said that he thought it was the problem. I've paid way more now in labour to have him twiddle and diddle with the different settings to try and get the pump running well.

Anyway, this is half a rant and half an opportunity for people to offer some advice for what I should do next. It should be noted that I am full-time student, part time pastor that has a stay at home wife and three kids!! Money is tight!! I am dreading what this tab is going to cost.

So much for vacation road trip next week!

[TardisDeli]

Wow, sorry to hear of your problems. Failed aircare...that is unusual, delicas usually pass easily due to the diesel. How can I help... where did you take it to? I am happy to phone your mechanic and politely suggest that a bad review on this forum is not good for business. There are several L400 owners with extensive engine knowledge, if you want to ask them how much time it should take to do x task, so you know you only need to pay for an actual completed task not just moving the vehicle around while working on other vehicles. Keep in touch, Christine.

[Bullwinkle]

I'll echo that I'm sorry to hear about your troubles as well. As someone who had the same issues in the very early Canadian days of the L400 (summer '09) it was difficult getting the problem diagnosed. Even though I was pretty sure it was the famous IP seal issue, my dealer had all kinds of other suggestions to try rather than just getting down to it and replacing the pump seal directly.

Rough starts below 10C and mine would stall about 500m up the road every morning. Had to wait a bit then it would turn over with a fair bit of complaint and a big cloud of smoke. After that, it would be fine all day. Once I gave up on resolving it with the dealer and did finally get to CCAutos instead (who knew the problem well), it was a pretty easy fix and they were awesome to work with (thanks again Glenn!) but the kicker here is that replacing a $20 seal required 5-6 hrs of labour...

Some have done the work themselves and there are a few writeups on the Aussie and UK forums on how to do it but it isn't for the casual mechanic unless you're a very competent 'shade tree' amateur wrencher. Lots of potential for things to go wrong so if your shop has now found the issue there's likely not much in the way of options other than to see if you can find middle ground on the costs. They seem to have treated it like a learning opportunity, which can be fine, but shouldn't fall on you to pay for their training. If they want be philosophical on it (though not many do) they should look to this as a potential PR move for them to help you out since I'd be so bold as to say that every L400 will need the IP seal done sooner rather than later and being known as a shop that can get this deal properly at a fair price will be great for business for months/years to come.

Sometimes difficult to convince business owners to take the long-view when they're trying to cover payroll today but it may be worth a shot. The flip side is that bad word of mouth among a relatively small community of Delica owners is most definitely not a good thing...

Good luck.

[fear4fun]

Well, I am not sure that this was the shops learning opportunity. They are a Japanese auto, RH drive dealer specialist and sales lot. When it was dropped off, the plan was to have the IP seal done. It was, but it was the adjustment of the injector that was taking all the trouble and time.

To add insult to this, it is the third time it has gone in for the cold start. Each time something different has been done which hasn't solved the problem. Even though the problem hadn't been solved, I had been happy with his reasons why. This may be the straw that now gets me to drive into Vancouver for all my service, but that is difficult because the Deli is our families daily driver and only vehicle.

Anyway, once I get a breakdown of my costs from this guy I'll maybe post it here so I can get an idea of what is fair to pay for and what is not.

Thanks for all the help!

[fear4fun]

Wow, this just gets even worse.

After deciding that having my injection bench tested was the next step, I asked if it would be okay for me to pick up the IP and take it to a friend of mine that works at N W Fuel Injection where all they do is work on injection pumps. Yesterday, he said this would be fine and that the pump should be ready for me to grap this afternoon. He just called and told me that if I want to take my pump to my guy, he won't finish the job. He will only do it, if I allow him to send the pump to his guy (which when I told my friend the minimum price he laughed and knew exactly what company it was because of how crazy over-priced it was for just a cleaning).

I've now called CVI to see if I can get my van towed from Abby to them and see of they will finish the job for me. All of this after he has already had my van for over a month!! Argh!!

[nxski]

I'm sure there's an ultimatum that could be given somewhere in here. Was it the shop that rendered your van unable to drive? Are they still charging you for their time?

[fear4fun]

He tells me that he has put in countless extra hours over and above what he has charged me. If I take the van it sounds like he isn't going to give me a break on those extra hours (though he didn't say that, it felt implied). My van was drivable, though smokey on its start. Now that the injection pump is off, it isn't drivable and after since doing the IP seal, he says he's been trying to make adjustments to that it will run smoothly again. So I'm guessing even if I said put the IP back on and I'll take it like it is, I likely won't run well.

Plus, now that he has had it so long, my insurance has expired and it needs to pass aircare before I can insure it again. The main reason for this escapade anyway.

Hopefully, CVI is willing to take on the job and someone on the Forum has a sweet hookup to get me towed from Abby to Richmond for 'cheap.'

[nxski]

Damn, what a prick (harsher language should be used but thos is a public forum). I hope you manage to figure out a solution, that's completely unacceptable.

[fear4fun]

Being towed from Abby to CVI in the morning! Thanks to Butch, got me a great deal on the towing and has re-instilled the confidence that a person should have in a mechanic.

Now, lets see how much I'm going to charge me to get my van released from his shop with the IP in a box. This is going to be a battle I know. The end result might be a forum based smear campaign...not my style, but in this case it would just be me being honest right?