Dr Kev. - Kam Servicing Network.

Hello Again!

I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know that 94 out of the 96 boxes involved in our house move are now unpacked! I never realised quite how much stuff Mandy and I possessed – and how much of it neither of us have used in the last five years! Still, it all fits in neatly and at least we can sit down in comfort.

This week, one of our regular customers came back to us for the first time in a little while. No – he hadn’t defected to another garage (how could you even think that), he’d been in London working at Canary Wharf. Now back in Nottingham, Mr Kev Carrington (and this is his real name, by request) had a problem that two other garages had failed to fix.

“Kev,” said Kev (yes it did get confusing!), “I’ve got a problem. My car is holding off badly between 30 and 35mph, but ONLY in either 3rd or 4th gear. It’s been getting worse and no-one seems to know what to do with it!”

“No problem,” I replied. “Bring your car in and we’ll get it sorted for you.”
While Mr Carrington was bringing his car in, I took a minute to check back through our computer records. Before he left for London, we had changed his timing belt and given him a farewell service. Until that point, the ‘P’ plated Rover 220 turbo diesel had only needed to come in for the regular services.

“The first garage I took it to fitted a new fuel and air filter, and that made things a little better for about a week,” Mr Carrington explained, when he arrived. “So I tried a second garage. They fitted new fuel injectors and again, the problem was only a little better. The last set of people I explained this to thought I’d need a new fuel pump – but as I knew I was coming back here I decided to give it to the experts.”

“I’m certain we’ll sort it, if you take one of our courtesy vehicles I’ll give you a call in a few hours to let you know the progress.”

Even though we’d seen the car come in, I dispatched Shaun to give it a proper roadtest. He returned ashen faced.

“It’s terrible Kev, absolutely appalling. I have never seen anything like it at all…” So up went the bonnet and Shaun started ferreting about underneath. The injectors and filters had indeed been changed, however the fuel filter was of the wrong type for that car! In addition, the fuel pump was a little loose. Ten seconds with a spanner and that was tight as a nut. Time for another test drive.

I don’t even think Shaun got to the end of the road before he stopped and reversed gingerly back. “Still no good. I’ve checked the obvious things, Kev, that only leaves the awkward stuff!”

“Have you checked the timing belt out?” I know we had only replaced it two years before, but sometimes belts can stretch a little and cause the engine to misfire. Once the belt covers were off, it was obvious that the belt wasn’t the cause – it looked like new. A fine job we did, if I do say so myself!
While Shaun was revving the engine experimentally to see if anything was leaking, sucking air or wobbling, Glynn sauntered past with a steaming cup of tea.

“Shaun, if I tell you that I know what the problem is, you won’t hit me, will you?” Glynn knew that the worst thing possible after you’d spent ages on a problem was to have some smarty come up and fix it in a second!
“Go for it Glynn, this one’s got me at the moment.”

“Well, your fuel injector pump is loose. As the engine revs, it is moving ever so slightly, and that would be enough to throw the timing completely out!”
Glynn and Shaun swapped places and Shaun agreed with the diagnosis. The difficulty was that not only are fuel injector pumps relatively buried in the engine, but that one of the bracket bolts was sheared and two of the others were missing.

With a look of determination, Shaun set to, drilling and tapping out the sheared bolt before reaffixing the mounting, including Loctite to ensure that the bolts couldn’t work loose again.

Once everything was back together and the timing was reset, I called Mr Carrington, who was able to come down a few minutes later.
“Take it for a test drive,” urged Shaun. “I’d like to check that you can notice the difference…”

He was only gone ten minutes and reappeared on the forecourt with his wheels spinning. “Have you put a supercharger in there?” He laughed. “I’ve never known it have so much power!”

The fault on the car wasn’t caused by anyone, bolts can work loose over a period time. However, as to why the problem only presented itself between 30 and 35mph and solely in either 3rd or 4th gear is still a mystery. Doubtless the laws of physics have an answer, but I’ve got more cars to fix! What I do know however is that the problem won’t return again in a hurry!

Until next week, happy motoring!

Dr Kev Allen