Problem with garage..

My dealings in the past with Volvo dealers has been good. I would put it to them that they diagnosed a problem and this shouldn't have happened given that they should have refitted the ECU and checked it was all OK before letting it go.

If they aren't receptive to this - contact Volvo head office (Marlow , Bucks I seem to recall) and let them know that this dealer has performed well below par and has caused you further cost and expense as a result of their sheer incompetence.

They might be more sympathtic to your cause when head office lean on them :)

Cheers Dan.

Volvo dealer

as being

(£148) and had

cheque. The garage

was on but

not 5 minutes

was very

mechanic

charging voltage

probably what

allowed the

another for half the

is not

Certainly sounds like the garage has been negligent. As for stopping the cheque and issuing another. They are right. It would be illegal If you made a claim. What would you be claiming for? It appears that their negligence has not caused any permanent damage? The charging problem would still have needed to be fixed. If their negligence has only caused inconvenience to you and your wife, is it really worth taking it any further than complaining to them, in the hope that they may be sympathetic, and refund part of their bill. Mike.

There's no way you'd get near 38 volts with the battery still connected.

18, more like, with the regulator failed hard on. Also, when this happens the battery warning light doesn't come on as the system is still charging. What does happen is that if left unchecked it boils the battery dry.

Hm, thats strange. Wife tells me his meter went off the scale so he switched to the next one. Oh well, whatever's wrong with it, its going to cost me yet again. Trouble is, we can't go back to the Volvo dealer. Do you think it is just the regulator? Volvo only quoted us for a new alternator (£250) and fitting (£70)!.

The battery is knackered now, though I don't know if it boiled-up or not. Thanks for your input.

Nope, just great inconvenience and annoyance. I guess you are right. We'll have to accept it. Thanks.

Hm! We might do that. It'll be a little satisfaction just telling them we are complaining about their service to head office My wife insists on us having a car. My motorbikes never cost me like this! Thanks Dan.

Odds are then the battery died & fried the alternator. Anyway fitting an alternators easy, if you don't want to do it yourself then any garage or mobile mechanic can do it. A recon alternators about £70, a new ones about £100 unless you've got aircon , when for some reason it's about £200. Any autoelectrical place should be able to rebuild your old one though , that's normally cheapest

The regulator can be replaced on most alternators - but it's probably not cost effective apart from on a DIY basis. A proper exchange alternator should be as good as new, and last as long.

Battery as well? Expensive Xmas.

Not odds on at all. Batteries normally fail with one cell going high resistance, which *reduces* the possible load on the alternator. Also, the regulator on the alternator is designed to restrict the maximum output current anyway.

Like all things, it depends on the standard of the re-con. Some are merely cleaned up secondhand units off scrapped cars. Others are fully re-built to 'as new' specs.

Yeah : ( Though it could have been much worse. The Volvo dealer phoned us today with an offer to waive the ECU fitting bill of £63, which we accepted. We had the car towed to a local garage this morning. It needed a new alternator (£80) and battery (£35), and labour at £35. A very reasonable, speedy, and pleasant service from AutoFax of Dukinfield, Cheshire.