Dr Kev. - Kam Servicing Network.

Hello again!

Well, it's been quite a time recently for Mr Blair. Our esteemed Prime Minister has been under fire from pretty much all sides recently - so it came as little surprise that he was taken into hospital on Sunday with a heart complaint. Whatever you think of the man, his politics or methods, you can't help feeling sorry for him. It can't be easy to be in his shoes right now, what with the rumbles of Iraq, the Hutton enquiry and continuing concerns over the rail/tube networks that no one seems to be able to fix (send in Kam, that's what I say!). My thoughts are with him and his family and we all wish him a speedy return to health.

In such turbulent times, everyone needs a little light relief now and again. Mine came in the form of a recent sporting tournament. No, I'm not talking the latest Derby game, nor the cricket. National pride was at stake recently in the World Conker Championships. Yes, regular reader, there are such things (and I'm sending the little ones armed with bags full for some undercover playground training!). In a sport that has gained in global popularity over recent years, I am delighted to say that Britain are the crowned victors in both men's and women's championships, in spite of a chronic shortage of useable conkers (apparently). In fact, the situation got so severe that it's reported conkers had found their way onto the internet auction house E-bay! And the prize for achieving such dizzying sporting heights? Tankards, goblets and unlimited ice-cream...

I'm sure that you know one or more people with some form of sniffle or virus. I've got one myself (please bring on the tea and sympathy - well, just tea will do fine thanks!) and I know people in every corner of the Kingdom (shouldn't that be Queendom at the moment? A thought that has been perturbing me for a while...) with everything from a light cold to a full-blown stomach virus. So, as you can imagine, it wasn't too pleasant having to open up the workshop in the cold on Sunday morning - a task made less onerous by Shaun and Scott's beaming faces. Why where they in at that hour on a day they weren't rostered to work? Be patient, regular reader. The answer comes...

On Thursday last week, Mr Greenwood brought his 15-year old Mercedes G-Wagon into the workshop to have a replacement radiator fitted.
"It's loosing about half a cup of water a week, Kev" he told me as he handed over the keys. "I know you warned me about the state of the radiator at the last service, but I just haven't had time to get it seen to" (where have we heard that before, dear readers?). "So, here it is!"

"It won't be a problem Mr Greenwood," I said, signing out a courtesy car at the same time. "It shouldn't be too long to get the new radiator and even less time to put it in for you. I'll give you a call when it's done."
"Excellent. Just so long as I can have it back by Sunday as I've got a wedding party to go to."

I looked at my watch. 11:30am on Thursday. "No problem."
Well, as predicted, the radiator was sourced from one of our trusted suppliers and delivered within 24hours. A short while later and the new unit was gleaming inside the engine bay while the old one, leaking obviously from a small hole in the matrix, languished in our disposal bin.

Now, many fast fitting companies would simply drop the new radiator in, re-anti-freeze the system and let you get on with it. But not Kam! The thing is, anti-freeze has a habit of finding any weak points in hoses and rupturing them. And of course, we don't want this to happen to you. So I pressure tested it - and water went everywhere! One of the heater hoses had split and we didn't have one in stock for this rather unusual car. So it was back to the suppliers, and I made a call to Mr Greenwood to update him on the situation.

To their credit, the suppliers actually sent one out by a special rapid delivery service to ensure that we could get the car ready for Mr Greenwood well in advance of his Sunday deadline. With the new part in one hand, and a fresh Lemsip in the other, I went back to the G-Wagon.

Another pressure test saw a second heater hose split and cover me in the fresh coolant that I'd just put into the car (it also topped up my part finished cold cure with antifreeze - that should ward off any bugs...)! Typical! It was now early afternoon on Saturday, and I was completely prebooked for the entire day on Sunday... Things were going to be very tight.

At least, I thought they were until both Scott and Shaun piped up.
"I'll come in tomorrow for you, Kev," they said, virtually simultaneously.
"Haven't you got a Golf Tournament tomorrow Shaun?"
"Yes, but I'll have to miss it. We need to get this car sorted!" Now that's what I call real dedication.

So it was the both lads arrived cold and early on Sunday morning to finish the G-Wagon for Mr Greenwood. The second heater hose had arrived (along with another that I'd ordered, just in case) and within an hour was installed. Time to hook it up to the pressure tester.

The howls of anguish could be heard as far away as Leeds I'm sure. As the pressure built up in the system, the G-Wagon revealed that it had blown a core plug out of the engine block! It looked like game over, until Scott checked on our superb computer system and found that the G-Wagon shares plugs with another Mercedes model - and we had a set on the shelf!

The lads not only replaced the blown plug, but also replaced the others for good measure - and do you know what? This time, the car pressure tested OK! Everything was hunky-dory and it was time to deliver the car back to a rather sheepish Mr Greenwood. Why sheepish? Well, when the lads arrived with the G-Wagon, he admitted to them that his pride and joy had been loosing closer to three pints a week! That's some half cup, Mr Greenwood!
The moral of this week's story is that Kam don't just do a complete garage service. We don't stop at tyres, clutches, exhausts, engine diagnostic tests or even complex mechanical/electrical rebuilds. We'll go that extra mile to ensure that every problem is completely solved to give you total peace of mind, and keep you out of the workshop for longer! If we hadn't pressure tested the G-Wagon, Mr Greenwood would have been back in a very short time with all of the same problems - costing him more time and money...
Until next week,

Dr Kev Allen

Hello again!

Regular reader, I am totally ashamed by the latest outbreak of football violence in Turkey. I'm not going to speculate on which team started it, or who threw the first punch - but I will say that it is totally reprehensible and does even more damage to the beautiful game. Someone once said that rugby was a hooligan's game played by gentlemen and football, a gentleman's game played by hooligans. On the strength of the antics in Turkey, I'm left wondering...

There's a fight of a different kind brewing in Parliament. Iain Duncan Smith (or Ids as he is known - sounds like a medical condition to me) has, apparently, acted improperly and employed his wife as the diary secretary when he became leader of the Conservative Party. Well, I'm sure that is very wrong and very naughty, but let's face it regular reader - do we really care? Let's ignore the minor issues and get back to proper politics - healthcare, education, law and order, pensions and the like. If this country spent as much time worrying about the things that matter as the little fringe bits that don't make a blind bit of difference in the real world, I feel that we'd actually get something done... I will get off my soapbox now.

Which reminds me... David Blaine is coming to the end of his "Box Stunt" - 44 days sealed in a glass box dangling over the Thames. A feat of endurance, surely, but I personally don't see the point. Hunger strikes are nothing new and it isn't really anything that special. Now, a Buddhist 100-day fast retreat - that's something different...

This week's tale concerns a Mr 'X' - name completely obscured to totally protect his identity and prevent his misguidedness becoming common knowledge. Anyway, Mr X owns a brought his 'P' plated Peugeot 306 in for its full service and free MoT last week.

"Now Kev, I know what I'm about with this car" he said, waving in its direction. "There's nothing wrong with it, it's mint. I'll see you in a couple of hours."

Well, let's just say that Mr X didn't really know what he was about with this particular car as it failed the MoT on plenty of minor points, although to be fair all of the major systems scraped through. As you know, as well as providing the MoT sheets, we also do a thorough inspection of the vehicle, which we carried out before performing the full service. We do it this way around, because then we can give the customer an instant idea of exactly what is needed, rather than finding the faults in dribs and drabs.

I was quite shocked when I got to the rear brakes. Removing the drums was quite a job - not helped by the large amounts of brake dust that liberally coated every surface and were compacted into every groove. Once they were off, a familiar sight greeted me - the cylinders were leaking from behind the dust seals but hadn't quite got to contaminating the brake shoes.

Naturally, I advised Mr X of this when I gave him the full rundown of the car's health. However, the knowledgeable Mr X only gave me permission to fix the MoT points and a few of the service recommendations.
Now, I'm a man of the world and understand all about budget concerns. I know that sometimes the ready cash isn't there to fix everything at once, but the brakes were potentially deadly. We insisted that it should be done, but Mr X wasn't having any of it and refused to get his wheel cylinders replaced.

A few days later, Shaun took a phone call from a very panicked Mr X.
"Shaun, I need you to retrieve my car from a brick wall!" As it turned out, Mr X had had to stamp on the brakes to avoid a cute, fluffy bunny rabbit that had leapt out of a hedge at him - and found that the brake pedal just went to the floor! That cute, fluffy bunny rabbit had a lot to answer for, by the sound of it (it wasn't Mr X's fault of course - or was it?).
Shaun naturally dispatched the Kam Rescue Team to the scene and disentangled the wall and the 306. Fortunately, the 306 only sustained light cosmetic damage and wasn't seriously injured.

Once back in the workshop, Shaun started to strip the brakes - and guess what he found? The brake cylinder dust seals had given way and dumped all of the cylinder fluid over the brake shoes! It didn't take that long for Shaun to fit new shoes and cylinders to make the 306 roadworthy again.
"I should have listened to you the first time," said a dejected Mr X. "If I had done I wouldn't have hit that wall and would have actually saved some money..."

It isn't our business to tell our customers how to spend their money, but we do try to give the best professional advice that we can. It's obvious that we are in this trade to make money (we do have to eat!) but not at the expense of our customers. As I hope you, and any potential Mr X's out there, should know - we only fix those things that need fixing so if we do recommend something, you know that it really should be attended to. And of course, if you have got a particular budget, we do our utmost to stick to that.

Until next week, drive safely!

Dr Kev Allen