Bad service ?

[broady]

Hi Guys

First time here - like most I have found this site by search engine. Very informative site - keep up the good work. It's been very helpful for me when searching for a problem with my connect

Anyhoo - I recently bought an '05 Connect LWB 1.8 diesel with 40k miles on it.

I noticed oil in the expansion tank and booked it in to my local Dealer who told me it needed a new oil cooler etc....(yes I did a search on here and know a lot more now than I did!)

Dealer quoted £1700 inc new hoses etc but I simply could not afford that so we settled on £ 530 to replace the oil cooler, fully flush the system and a new thermostat and I would have to keep an eye on the hoses for possible future issues.

All done and I collect the can and drive it home (7 mile trip) I have not driven the van since and this morning I thought I would have a quick butchers to check everything OK.

Guess what.....hmmm.....black oil in the expansion tank. Not just traces, we're talking stick finger in water and finger comes out black

I cannot believe they have done the flush properly or indeed at all or the new part has failed immediatley (surely unlikely)and I am trying to locate the oil cooler they have fitted because I can't see that anything has been touched in the engine bay at all !!!

Can anyone help with the location of the cooler (listed on invoice as part no: F1405017 Adaptor - Oil Filter) and indeed any other suggestion as to what other than a huge cock up could have gone wrong?

Thanks chaps

Graham

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[coconut]

The oil cooler is at the back of the engine below the PAS pump (or above the OSF driveshaft)

By not replacing the hoses etc there is very little chance of getting all the existing sludge out of the coolant system anytime soon.
The only thing I can suggest is to keep flushing the system through (non-bio washing powder is the best) until clean then drive for a while and then flush again etc etc until clean, but it will take a long time and lots of miles to clean it out fully

Just out of interest, how much labour was you charged

[broady]

Thanks for the reply coconut

The labour charge was 239.85 + VAT - does that sound normal?

I was thinking that even if I replaced the hoses (£1200 sounds absolutely nuts!!?) then there would likely still be oil sludge in the radiator etc.. if that were the case?

If I flush it myself then what is the best method that I can do at home?

Very appreciative of any help

Cheers

Graham

[Turbo Tim]

In the past I have taken as much of the cooling system to pieces and steamed cleaned the components,sounds a very expensive repair to me,cant believe that .just to confirm that it was the oil cooler did they pressure test it ,or bypass it when they done pressure test on cooling system,OR did they just guess, http://www.machineryrepairs.co.uk

[coconut]

About 3/3.5 hrs labour, so not to bad then

As TurboTim says, the easyist way is to take as much off and steam clean it failing that, drain the coolant and take the thermostat out, then refil with (preferably warm) water and washing powder (about 1/2 a cup full to a watering can) and keep the revs at 2-2500 for 10 or so minutes, drain and keep repeating until clean then flush with clean water a few times to get any soap out then refil with antifreeze and water and keep a check on it, you may find you'll have to do it again in a week etc

[broady]

Thanks for the replies guys - much appreciated

I am not sure how the came to the conclusion that it was the oil cooler - I will ask them later.

As far as the hoses are concerned £1200 seems ridiculous to me - there must be, what, ten hoses to replace if you were doing every last one? Even if I had had them done I believe that they would themselves have been contaminated again as the dealer flush obviously wasn't very thorough.

Am I missing the point but for £1200 what exactly do they do with hoses ??!!

Anyway - as it seems I will be finishing the job myself to completely erradicate the oil over the coming weeks can someone point out where the thermostat is on the 1.8 dtti please.

Thanks again guys

Best regards

Graham

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[Turbo Tim]

to the right of the dip stick,its got a small pipe that goes to the expasion tank,be carefull sometimes the captive nuts spin in the plastic and you end up replacing the housing aswell(not cheap)