FTO AUSTRALIA

urgh, title says it. died last night while i was in the city. was waiting at an intersection for the lights to go green when my car started shuddering before completely dying out. Lost power steering. lights were still fine though. had to get a tow truck and all. any idea what could have happened?

You broke your power steer and/or ALT belt and it ripped out/broke the wiring for the crank sensor.
Crank sensor wiring goes down the front of the engine behind the 2 acc belts and in through the timing belt cover.

hi all, so i just got back my car from the mechanic, it seems a little pricey, any idea if this guy is ripping me off? here is the copy of the tax invoice i received.

$660 to change the stepper motor?

f**k that! Find a new mechanic, I could've replaced it for you for free in 15 minutes.

Daniel2019 wrote:$660 to change the stepper motor?

f**k that! Find a new mechanic, I could've replaced it for you for free in 15 minutes.

it was brought in last week on monday and on tuesday, i called him and he said he didnt have the equipment to find what was wrong with it and had to go to a friend of his who had better equipment. he then dropped me an email last friday saying the auto mechanic had it fixed but would like to keep it over the weekend to ensure everything was up and running well. and today, boom, hit with this crazy ass bill.

Who did you take it to? Name and shame!

I agree with Daniel, thats too much. A brand new stepper is just over $200 and is held in by 2 bolts and takes less than 5 minutes to remove. If he just cleaned the existing one and put it back in, thats even more of a rip. It does cost $100 or so to get codes read/reset and if they arent familiar with the car, they couldhave spent some time trying to work out where everything is.You shouldnt be paying for their lack of knowledge though.

i went to the shop down the road from where im at, its called Mytek Auto at 209 Anzac Parade, Kensington NSW 2033

http://www.mytekauto.com.au/

man, this sucks...any idea what can i do?

Edit: according to him, he forwarded it to another auto electrician

Never go back there again is about it. It's all paid for and stuff now so can't do much. Find a new mechanic

im quite surprised actually, because he seems to have really good reviews online and figured that maybe he was considered as one of the honest ones around. unless maybe its his "friend" that ripped me off instead.

Kept it over the weekend?
More like drove it around for the weekend.
Did it have many extra Km's on it?

You can put a complaint into the "Department of Fair Trading".
If they are a member of "MTA" Motor Traders Association, you can report them.
Before you do any of the above you will need to inform the business that you are going to put in a complaint and give them the opportunity to fix the issue themselves.

For future reference...
You could have got the codes out of the ECU yourself, found the issue and changed over the stepper motor. All the instructions are on this forum.
There are plenty of members also willing to help, all you have to do is ask.

Tip....the first tow truck receipt should have the car's Km's written on it when the picked it up from you.

Post up on here first next time! I am always happy to help with minor to moderate work for forum members

Free that is.

hm, so i just checked the odo, there seems to be an additional 30km on it and about 1/4 tank of fuel lesser. is that something i should be particularly concerned about? i personally think it is, but what would you guys say?

Well a test drive after fixing it would be 5km at the most, but more than likely 2-3km.
30km in the city is a long drive.

If you are not happy with it do as I suggested previously.
But again, you will have to let the company know and give them a chance to mediate with you.
Fair trading will insist on it.

Absolutely. 30km is quite a lot. Test drives typically shouldn't be more than a few kilometres depending on the problem. For an IDLE issue, car shouldn't have to have been driven around the block more than once, and around 1/4 tank in that amount of kilometres says the car has been thrashed quite hard, thats very high fuel consumption. No way 30km was needed, they have obviously taken your car for a bit of a cruise. We test drive around 2km at work typically. Shouldn't need more than around 5.

Edit: just don't forget to wipe off the kilometres you drove to get the car home.

What I would do is...

Call fair trading for some advice. Tell them that you feel you should try to work it out with the mech.
This way you have already started a record with fair trading.

Go to the mech and mention that you have contacted fair trading for advice and they have advised you to discuss your issues with him.
Say that you have an issue with the price on the invoice and the amount of Km and fuel used.
Ask him to break down the invoice and show you how he came to that amount.
Ask him to justify the km and fuel used.

If the mech asks you for a suggestion to solve the issue, suggest a 50% refund.

If you are not happy with the outcome then re-contact fair trading.

BTW Daniel and I are both working mechanics.

You could even contact another mechanic shop and ask them for advice on price and km used.

PHIL069 wrote:BTW I am an awesome mechanic and Daniel is an apprentice

Can't claim it yet

ahh crap, i guess i should have asked another shop for a quote as well. i guessed i trusted this guy because his rates for the oil changes were fairly reasonable earlier on and i panicked a lot that night when the car died and had to get towed away and i was asked to give an address so they would be able to drop it off. i guess i have learnt my lesson