Regular health checks

A little while back I previously touched on the importance on regular check ups on your car in another post. Today I am going to back up what I mean by this. 

If you have ever broken down, or been in a situation where you have to go without your car for a few hours, days, weeks you will know how stressful and how much of a life changer it really is, You have to rely on external factors that affect your day and you will need to find some sort of financial benefactor be that your savings, a loan, parents or whoever to afford to investigate the problem let alone fix it. 

So what are we suggesting here? 

Why aren’t individuals getting regular check ups on their vehicle?

Is it a time commitment issue?  

Is it a financial reason?  

Could it be a lack of understanding on the issues that it could cause? 

Or possibly false information being supplied by incorrect or less credible sources causing ignorance by the owner ! 🤦🏼‍♂️

Majority of my own research from speaking to various customers has been spent trying to find out why of regular health checks are not a something that is carried out. The responses I received were all of the above but the main reason being the later. LACK OF CREDIBLE INFO!!!

Forums! 

Il say it again..

FORUMS!!!! 

Forums can be a great source of information and can actually help you IF THEY HAVE CORRECT AND CREDIBLE INFORMATION! I cannot express the amount of times in my career that I’ve been stumped by a fault and looked for guidance via what seems a reputable source and it’s just wasted hours of my time but more importantly customers time or money! 

Here is something called the INFORMATION BIAS, if 1000 people said that you don’t need a MOT anymore because the law has changed, does that make it credible because 1000 people have said it? No! it’s still wrong and 1000 people would be wrong. This is the same with potential guess diagnosis on vehicles on forums.  They may not be credible and you should only use what is said as a guide and is relevant.

If your going to take what seems like great information from the web or from “my dads mates dogs breeders sisters boyfriend who’s a mechanic said” then make sure what your getting is credible information! A lot of garages or mechanics will be happy to take your money if you ask/tell them to replace a certain component because you saw 6 people of “onlyforumsaboutcars.com” fix the “same” fault with this particular component. There is no liability for the garage or mechanic which in turn means you have no excuse or reason to not pay them leaving you on the back foot before you start! 

How many people are pro-active with their vehicles? How many people check their vehicle before they think a fault occurs? 

I collated data on the subject and it turns out 8/100 people I asked vaguely have their car checked other than for a MOT! 

That’s less than 1 in 10!!!   

Let’s think about that for a second?!? 

That data would suggest that from the information given in my previous post (MOT STANDARDS and what it means for you!), 92/100 people do not provide adequate maintenance POST-MOT as its “a years motoring” to most. Driving on the road with a known defect could potentially end up with you further damaging your vehicles longevity, you could end up injuring yourself or more importantly injuring others. 

For example, I was called out to attend to a customer who ran a business and needed their van for work. I can relate to that, I need my van for my business, people need their cars to get to work and I felt empathetic towards this individual so I went out at the earliest time I could between other bookings. 

When I arrived the vehicle would not start, the battery was flat, completely flat, no lights on the dashboard, wouldn’t even crank over (making the engine noise without running). Firstly I checked the battery voltage with a multi meter and it was completely below spec. I then tested the battery with a reputable battery tester, again this failed. I visually inspected the battery through the inspection whole which also confirmed its demise. But why had it died? The vehicle was 4 years old and had relatively low miles on it. This isn’t unheard of but experience has taught me that this was an investigation that required further diagnostics. 

Firstly I replaced the battery as I had confirmed the fault was there. Once a new battery was fitted and the relevant computer adaptions were carried out, i could now start and make sure the vehicle ran. Fortunately it did, my suspicions but were correct. As I was carrying out my checks I noticed that the battery was being charged. We carried out a alternator load test and confirmed that the alternator was not charging the battery, upon inspection of the alternator I noticed it was covered in oil. The alternator was contaminated and no longer could continue to work as it should. 

After spending a rather little amount of time inspected the engine’s oil leak I confirmed it’s cause and removed the pipe so I could show the customer. 

Why am I telling you this now...? 

The customer had previously been told not to worry about his minor oil leak over a year ago and as it’s “something that just happens with these vehicles”. The false information supplied to the customer not only lost him an exceptional amount of money but also lost themselves a days work all for the price of £48 pipe. 

The £48 pipe that split, leaked oil, contaminated the alternator which then didn’t charge the battery, killing the battery. 

Having all of this done, the customer then had a bill in excess of £600 + the time out of work. 

We charge £25 for a health check...

We will let that sink in.

£25 once every 3/6 months could allow you to be pro-active in the way we look at our vehicle. You would :

• Identify faults before they get worse

• Have peace of mind knowing your vehicle is checked over and is safe on the road.

• Save money for the future so you can invest in your safety

• Prevent potential stress for your own mental wealth.

You have a check with the dentist every 3/6 months and you are pro-active with looking after your teeth, why wouldn’t you want to be pro active with the way you look after your car? 

If anyone has any questions about their vehicle they want answering, any topics you can suggest that you may want to talk about or want to make a booking, please feel free to contact us: 

 07384606131

Ash@auto-tekrepairs.co.uk

 Auto-tekrepairs.co.uk/contact-us

MOT standards

MOT standards and what it means for you! 

Many people think that because a car has passed an MOT it means your car should be safe for a another year!

I CANNOT BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW INCORRECT THIS ASSUMPTION CAN BE!!

Here is another analogy for you, when you go for your check up at the dentist (MOT Test), they may say your okay and to come back in 6 months (pass) or they may say that if you carry on brushing hard you will get gum problems (minor advisory - easy fix). They may tell you that you have a hole in your rear right molar and you need a filling (major defect). You get where I’m going, it’s an assessment of your teeth (vehicle) there and then! 

An MOT test is a basic minimum standard that your vehicle has to meet to stay on the road. Although this means you get a “years motoring” this does not mean that the safety of your vehicle is guaranteed for a whole year. 

You could get a PASS certificate, drive down the road, a stone flicks up, chips your windscreen, develops into a crack and therefor turning into a failure (within the specified area). Same goes for any electrical equipment, a bulb may go, a engine light may come on. Any variable is possible! 

As an authorised examiner for the ministry, I would estimate as rough number that I have tested a few thousand vehicles since holding my qualification. This has allowed to see multiple vehicles of the same variant and compare to one another. 

I have tested vehicles that have done 1000 miles a year, I have carried tests on cars doing 60,000 miles a year. Does this mean that a car doing 60,000 miles as more of a chance that it will fail? Possibly but not necessarily it is all down to how they are maintained! 

So what am I trying to explain here? 

PRO-ACTIVE ROUTINE MAINTENANCE!!!

A vehicle passing an MOT or not is down to how much maintenance or how many regular checks are carried out on your vehicle. 
People take pre-cautions every year by getting regular check ups on their health for example, you would go to a dentist for a check up every 3-6 months. Why do people do it? Because they do not want any unexpected health implications in the future, they may no want any financial implication, most of all it gives people PEACE OF MIND!

so why wouldn’t you want that for your vehicle? Why wouldn’t you want to save yourself from emotional stress?

If you book your car in with us or a reputable mechanic and have a inspection carried out on your vehicle, you should receive a strong indicator on the likely-ness of getting a PASS. 

Some parts of a MOT test the average mechanic will not be able to guarantee with the specific equipment for example, emissions test equipment, brake test equipment and headlight alignment equipment. BUT... a good mechanic should be able to inform you of any concerns they may have with any on these areas. 

So.. key things to take away from today...

1. An MOT is not a guaranteed years safety it’s just a lawful standard for the time of the test.

2. Anything could happen once leaving the test station.

3. Not every mechanic knows the MOT handbook or knows how to access it

4. BE SAFE, BE PRO-ACTIVE, GET YOUR VEHICLE A SMALL INSPECTION EVERY 6 MONTHS OR 5,000 MILES!

If you want to see how when your MOT runs out or when it was last tested you can access that via this address: 

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.76955543.349213256.1570872676-1004217258.1570658913

Simply tap in your registration and confirm the make and colour on the next page.

To check the MOT manual for a class 4 vehicle, take a look through the following address: 

 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/?_ga=2.198145580.2036416197.1570926965-972518972.1570926965

If you found the information here useful and possible enjoyable please give the company a like on our social media, share the post with friends and let them know the importance of a routine check up! 

Regular servicing

How Regular servicing maintains the longevity of your engine

A new client to me asked me the other night if going over their service schedule was something to worry about. To which I said I would create a post to show them what could happen.

I could of answered this in many ways with complex explanations and diagrams etc, I could of said yes it’s so bad give me your money but I feel there is simple way to answer and that’s with an analogy. If you went for a steady run to the gym across a period of a few hours (motorway driving), then entered the gym did some weights (traffic driving) and finally then some interval sprints (hard acceleration) the whole way home. By the time you got home you would of burnt an excessive amount of calories (fuel), your muscles (engine) would of worked hard and you would of sweat an excessive amount of fluids (oil) the whole time. During this process you would ideally hydrate your body right? If the body is left de-hydrated (low or contaminated oil) you feel more tired, you will be more sluggish and the moving parts of your body won’t work as efficiently as you normally would!

The same goes for your engine, the oil is the water in your body and the engine is the muscles that make your body work.

The role of oil in a combustion engine is to lubricate all the moving parts and keep everything as it should. A little bit like your blood. Every combustion engine will contain oil with a specific viscosity and a temperature grade. For example 5w-30 semi synthetic.

As a muscle has various parts that make it work, an engine does also. To simplify things an engine has what is known as a crankshaft, this usually sits above/in a container of oil at the bottom of the engine and when the engine is running it spins through the oil and pushes it through various little gaps to get it around the engine keeping everything lubricated.

When this oil gets low the engine works harder as the moving metal parts have less lubrication to go around and you end up getting tiny metal particles that build up in the oil.

Now a brief outline of the basics has been covered, we can move onto the regular servicing explanation.

Every manufacture will have set a specific oil grade (like we mentioned earlier) and a specific oil change interval. The higher the performance vehicle, the lower the servicing interval timing or milage.

For a demonstration as shown in the photos at the bottom of the article, I will use a VW Transporter T6 2.0 turbo diesel. This vehicle and different models within the VAG group, can be set to run roughly 2 years and 18,000 miles on one oil change interval providing you use the right oil grade. (Longlife servicing)

If these servicing routines are not adhered to, the oil as pre-mentioned will gather an extensive amount of metal particles which makes the lubrication harder in turn creating a less sustainable oil.

Once the integrity of the oil has been compromised it will cause various different damages to the engine and thus causing failure of the moving parts. This is where start to see turbo failure, crankshaft / bottom end bearings to knock, oil pressure faults and many other issues.

Unfortunately for the customer I’m using as a demonstration in the pictures, they will be requiring a engine and possibly a turbo. Although their engine could be repaired, it is more economical to them to replace it with new engine pre-built.

As you can see the oil has a silver glimmer to it (metallic particles), you can even see metal particles in the sump if you look closely. There is particles in the oil strainer (like a filter) which should not be there at all. Finally the cause of the knocking noise from the engine, the big end bearings of the con-rod are destroyed which has scored the crankshaft.

I hope this has educated some of you and although this is a basic level of understanding, I hope it helps you realise that by spending on average £100-£150 on a oil service, it’s saving you potentially £3000-£4000 on a new engine.

Remember the harder you make your engine work, like your body the hotter it will get, the more chance it will need hydration and need for it to cool down properly. If this isn’t done then the higher the chance you will do damage which in turn will reduce the longevity of your oil.

This is why regular servicing is such an important request for your vehicle, so please do not ignore your service light when it comes on. Book in with us or any reputable mechanic and let’s me more pro-active to keep you and your vehicle safe.

Thankyou all for reading!

Oil with metalic particles

Oil strainer - Filter as such

Crankshaft scorn from lack of lubrication

Crankshaft bearings - scorn from lack of proper lubrication