It's here!

David French tried to scribble ...

Yup, that is the most likely scenario. I'm a bit of a wuss and look at the bad side .. then when it isn't as bad, it's a bonus .. ;)

Agreed. My experience with main dealers, however, is a little less than great. I would prefer to have an independant Landrover, preferably P38A, specialist have a look at it, while you are also there, and do you a separate report to compare with what the dealer says. It may cost a bit, but if the dealer is up-front, they may 'do a deal' and I reckon it would be akin to an insurance policy. Depending upon where in the country you are, there may be more posters here who could suggest a decent 'specialist' who might offer this service for you ..

God no ..

Heheheh, yup, even a P38A .. though maybe not by mere mortals .. ;)

On or around Sat, 01 Nov 2003 11:49:40 +0000, Tom Woods enlightened us thusly:

not easy to read... I like

On or around Sat, 1 Nov 2003 19:25:02 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

Still rate the later classics, meself, and if you get an LSE, it's almost a P38 anyway... albeit it has the air suspension to go wrong etc.

bummer about new toy, though, I hate it when that happens. I once acquired a new-to-me motorbike, which promptly got itself a puncture the next day. Not the same class of problem, mind, but just as deflating.

I noticed that one because it was an 'office body'. Makes a change from the radio body and ambulance bodies i'm used to seeing!

No, for ducks I'd suggest a Shotgun...

Martyn

Good job the Discovery was still on your drive. I don't think there is much point in deciding what to do for the best until the garage gets back to you. You need to know what went wrong and what they are proposing to do with it before you can make up your mind. What a horrible thing to happen, I feel gutted for you.

David, in the absence of AndyC, I'd suggest that you've probably only got a problem with the auto box (only?). On the P38, it's controlled by an ECU, along with the transfer box and this ECU talks to the GEMS ECU that controls the engine. The tie up is for stuff like changing the way the vehicle behaves in Low and High ratio and, more importantly and probably more significantly in this case, the gearbox ECU signals the engine ECU to retard the ignition when it wants to change up gear so it is a smoother change. Whether there's a mechanical fault in the gearbox which is preventing it from changing, and hence keeping the engine's ignition retarded, or not is something only time will tell. My heartfelt commiserations as they are fabulous motors when they're going well, and I'm not going to tempt fate by saying any more than that!

Simon U

I hope you're on the right lines. I should have found out today but guess what? The recovery contractor actually FORGOT to take it up to Sheffield at the weekend, so it won't get there until tomorrow now. I have to say, I've never seen a bigger display of complete incompetence than shown by this recovery fiasco, NTL notwithstanding (they're in a league of their own).

I'm worried that even in Park, the engine was making unpleasant noises when I tried to turn it over, but fingers crossed it's just the gearbox.

David

On or around Mon, 3 Nov 2003 15:36:16 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

since we've been discussing recovery services recently, who's to blame for this fiasco?

The company I use is ETA. They subcontract the despatch, etc, out to a company called CallAssist. CallAssist then chose to sub the recovery part out to an agent called Ravenscroft.

The ETA were really helpful and tried their best. Ravenscroft did OK until they forgot to take the car out of their compound and deliver it to Sheffield (bloody muppets). The weakest link was CallAssist, who acted as if they'd never dealt with a broken down vehicle on a Saturday before - literally. It took them over 2 hours of pfaffing around before they came up with the brilliant idea of doing exactly what I'd asked them to do in the first place, which they'd originally refused. Meanwhile I'm sitting in the cab of the breakdown truck parked up exactly where I'd broken down, for 2 hours, and literally dozens of phone calls are flying between me, the recovery driver, the ETA and Call-a-freaking-ssist.

The lady from CallAssist at one point told me they'd got a copy of the yellow pages out and were calling round all the garages they could find, to locate one that would repair an apparent major mechanical fault on my Range Rover at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. Then they rang the recovery driver to see if he knew of anywhere. 2 hours before, the driver had already told them they would never find anywhere open on a Saturday afternoon. Dunderheads. Apparently it said in their instruction book that they HAD to find a local garage who would do a same day repair.

I'm waiting for a callback from the ETA today to discuss the whole sorry situation. I really want to support the ETA, as they are a worthy organisation, but I'm not prepared to do this if their subcontractor is incapable of carrying out the seemingly simple task of sorting out my breakdown.

I'm thinking of moving to the AA "full whammy" service, as it seems better than the RAC full service, unless the RAC lady just didn't know her product. But it would be £172 per year, because I want the hire car option, any vehicle, covers both of us, etc.

On or around Tue, 4 Nov 2003 09:48:33 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

I've not found that much to complain about with the AA. But I gather their attitude has become crap.

meanwhile, I'd consider britannia, but they don;t seem to have a personal membership option. Since I use a variety of vehicles, vehicle-based membership ain't much use.

Personal cover for multi-vehicle use The services we offer apply only to the named vehicles you register with us. But, for an extra £28.50 a year, you can extend your cover to include any privately-owned car you or your partner either drive or travel in. When you take out personal cover, we'll also provide an extra membership card for your partner. Any driver using this service must carry a valid membership card showing their signature.

On or around Wed, 05 Nov 2003 07:36:55 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@dev.nul (QrizB) enlightened us thusly:

I sit corrected. I didn't know they did that. Have to look at their stuff again; not impressed with what I hear about the AA recently, and co-incidentally, my membership is due for renewal...

ROTFL!

Don't you just love the 'information age'!

I called a certain 'call centre' yesterday, one that's still in the UK at the moment, to be told that all of their systems were down, but they have a chap there who used to work for PC World who's looking into the problem... AAARRGGHHH.......

Martyn

I think I can see the problem...

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Wassat? a Triumph Trident or a BSA Rocket 3, or half of each?