Put my Stilo 1.9 JTD in for a 36K service at a Fiat dealership close to 
where I work.   When I collected the car they handed over my receipt and a 
list of operations carried out on which they ticked the relevant boxes for a 
36K service.

Later that night I noticed that the brake fluid change box wasn't ticked 
despite this being a requirement in the service schedule.  Next morning I 
checked a few other simple things such as screen wash (not topped up but 
charged 2.50 for it) and door hinges (had not been lubricated).  When I got 
to work I rang the service manager and explained that I was unhappy with the 
service and extremely concerned that a number of items had been missed. He 
promised to deal with it that day and called me back 20 minutes later after 
speaking to the mechanic who did (or didn't do) the work; the service 
manager explained that the mechanic had forgotten the screen wash but had 
changed the brake fluid.

To ensure I was completely happy he offered to check the car over personally 
if I took it in.  That wasn't practical so he then offered to bring the 
mechanic with him to see me at work.  I went out to the car 5 minutes before 
they arrived armed with a torch and had a quick look at the rear calipers; 
no sign of a spanner removing road grime from the bleed nipple and no signs 
of fluid on the caliper suggested it was unlikely the brake fluid had been 
changed.

When they arrived the mechanic apologised for forgetting the screen wash but 
said he had changed the fluid.  I then challenged as to why the fluid 
reservoir was only half full for which he provided a valid explanation.  I 
then asked why there were no signs that the N/S rear caliper bleed nipple 
had been undone to which he explained that it was seized and he had undone 
the flexible hose in order to bleed the brakes.  H then told me that all the 
other calipers had been bled through the bleed nipple.  So I showed him the 
O/S rear caliper at which point he went 'oh' and his manager just looked at 
the floor.

Mechanic then continued to dig a hole by saying that they were both seized 
(contrary to what he said 1 minnute ago!) at which point I explained the car 
was under 2 years old and was still in warrranty and this should be 
rectified and not ignored.  He then explained that when siezed they 
sometimes snap when an attempt is made to remove them; again I explained 
that the car was still under warranty and if the brakes were not servicable 
then something wasn't right.

They then took the car back to the garage and returned it 5 hours later, 
with new bleed nipples, signs that the fluid had been changed and even 
valeted the car for me.  The car was far more responsvie (so I guess they 
changed the air filter on the 2nd attempt).  I guess some people would just 
hand the money over and assume that the work was done.

Credit to the service manager as he wanted to put things right and wasn't 
happy that he was paying somebody to do a job and it wasn't being done to 
the right standard.

Andy

"Guy King"  wrote in message
news:3130303034323739433E4DB173@zetnet.co.uk...

> The message 
> from "Andrew"  contains these words:
>
> > he had undone the flexible hose in order to bleed the brakes.
>
> Since the purpose of changing the brake fluid is to remove the possibly
> (usualy) contaminated fluid from the pistons, doing it by removing the
> hose isn't going to acheive the desired result anyway.
>
> --
> Skipweasel.
> In the beginning was the word.
> And the word was Aardvark.
>
>


Surely bleeding by taking the pipe off is just going to leave some air in
the system, what a load of bollox!

The message <NHr%e.4493$O%.1729@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net>
from "Dave Griffs" <dr.clayton(no spam)@talk21.com> contains these words:


> Surely bleeding by taking the pipe off is just going to leave some air in
> the system, what a load of bollox!


Not necessarily. I've done it successfully before now. A handy trick
which I've used for years when bleeding rear brakes after a cylinder
change is to clamp the hose, change the bits, then open the tap and just
let the fluid flow out on its own. Takes a few minutes and sometimes you
have to squeeze the pistons in and out to help it along, so it's best
done before you refit the shoes.
The main advantage apart from simplicity is that you don't push the
master cylinder piston over the unused bit at the end and damage the
seals.

-- 
Skipweasel.
In the beginning was the word.
And the word was Aardvark.

> Put my Stilo 1.9 JTD in for a 36K service at a Fiat dealership close to 
> where I work.


I`d be tempted to make sure Fiat UK know about it ! (and the 
"satisfactory" resolution of course), and trading standards.

It`d be a real shame if they were forced to recall and reservice
every car they`d done for, say, the last 6 months...

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