Dr Kev. - Kam Servicing Network.

Hello again!

Have you seen Beckham's comments about losing the chance to win the World Cup that have been published in the media recently? He feels that he's missed the best opportunity to lift the trophy that he's ever had - and seems to have written the rest of the England squad off in the process by saying that last year's competition may be the best chance that any of them will ever have! What about the current or future line-ups? No wonder the press keep blowing hot and cold on him if he's coming out with those statements!

Something else I spotted and just had to tell you about is the latest Toyota Prius. Now, you know me, I love all cars equally (but some more equally than others) - but this Prius looks like something special. It isn't the car as such, but rather one of the options that you can buy for it - the automatic parking system! Yes, that's right, the Prius will park itself without any input from you at all! Just imagine that - I'd love to get the chance to test it out in some of the more poorly designed multi-stories that I've encountered. Mandy would love it, as she finds reverse parking a bit difficult at times if the kids are play-fighting in the back (as children do). I wonder if Toyota would be kind enough to give me a go; in the interests of unbiased reporting of course...
As you all know, we were running a skeleton staff here on Bank Holiday Monday to make sure that we could get your cars back to you in time for the return to work on Tuesday. With plenty of jobs on the books, it was quite a busy day. However, the schedule changed slightly when Mr Amberton (name changed to protect his innocence) brought his Ford Transit in.

"Kev, I really need your help! I'm trying to get a piece of machinery to one of the businesses on the industrial estate and my van is grinding and banging at me! I need to deliver this equipment because the company are working today and have a production deadline to meet!"

He was looking really rather panicked by this point. Glancing at the van, I recognised the logo on the side as belonging to one of the locally based industrial courier firms. "Ok Mr Amberton, it shouldn't be a problem. What I can do is lend you one of our works vans so that you can make your delivery while we attend to the Transit."
His eyes positively lit up, regular reader, and he pumped my hand enthusiastically. I can't tell you what he had in the back of that van (a machine of some sort, but nothing like I'd encountered before) but it was rather heavy! Once we'd packed him off in our van, it was time to get the Transit into the workshop.

Since we knew that Mr Amberton needed the van back as soon as possible (he had to get another piece of equipment back to the Scottish borders by nightfall), I asked the ever-wise Glynn if he would give me a hand. Naturally he agreed, not before making another brew though! I swear that man has caffeine for blood!
Mr Amberton wasn't exaggerating when he said that the van was grinding. Think of an old fashioned football rattle (the rectangular thing that you swing around) and that was just one part of the noise! It was also whistling and banging at the same time - this was not good.

Obviously, the first thing to do was to take the wheels off, as it was plain that the noise was coming from that area. You won't believe what we found under there and I don't think that I have ever seen such a mess in all my years in the workshop!
As soon as the driver's wheel came off, the problem was clear. Because the van had been hammering up and down the motorway, and had obviously missed some vital services, the brake discs were broken! There was a huge crack running through each front disc, the pads were threadbare and the mechanism was worn down almost as far as you can go. I can't believe that the van still stopped!

On further investigation, it transpired that the wheel bearings were significantly worn and both lower ball joints were completely shot. Amazing. Of course, being a Bank Holiday Monday, not many companies are as dedicated as us here at Kam (or Mr Amberton's courier firm for that matter) - so where were we going to get the right parts?

Help was at hand in the form of our super computer model list, which gave us the numbers for all of the bits that we would need to repair the running gear. And, what do you know, the Kam parts store had everything on the shelf! A quick phone call to Mr Amberton brought him up to date with the situation and gave us the go ahead to fit all of the new parts.

You're probably wondering how long all of this took. Well, I can tell you that from the van grinding in to purring out, we spent two hours on the job! As you can imagine, Mr Amberton was delighted - so much so in fact that he has given Kam the maintenance contract for all of the vehicles on his fleet (over 20 vans I'm told)! He is coming back next week to trial our Stunners as he's heard so many good things about them through this column!

Of course, not all grinding noises are as easy to diagnose as this one was. But it just goes to show that what might just sound like a grind could actually be deadly serious (potentially literally). I'm still amazed that the brakes on that Transit worked at all - there really was a very nasty accident waiting to happen there. But all's well that ends well!

Until next week,

Dr Kev Allen.