The Poolie Bunker

Got a 52 reg Ford Focus and haven't had it serviced before.

It's started being a bit of a Tit lately so was thinking about getting it serviced.

I have some questions for those in the know....

A) what is involved in a service, is it a standard list of things that are checked?

B) roughly how much would one cost?

C) where's the best place to take it in Hartlepool?

C) Hindles at Graythorp.

Seriously though you don't want to bother with a dealer for an older car unless they're offering you a really good special offer, you'd be better off using a good local garage. I'd expect you to pay up to £100 for a Ford Fukus.

The service will change your oil, plugs, filters, bits and pieces like that and also tell you what else might be knackered and need replacing. When did you get the timing belt changed for example? This is why you need to find a garage that you can trust rather than one who'll give you a list of things as necessary when they're not really.

Can't recommend anywhere in town myself as I use a specialist place through at Diddlesbrough for both of mine, but I'm sure that there'll be some folk on here who can help out in that respect.

I know Holliways are offering one for 99 quid but I imagine they'd shaft me in price for any extra work that needed doing?

Yep.

And for £99 they're probably gonna look to recommend you get stuff done that doesn't necessarily need doing aswell in order to shaft you big style.

What mileage is it on? is it petrol or diesel?

Ripper makes a good point on the timing belt if it goes can trash the engine. They should be changed at 100'000 miles according to Ford.

Have a look here and enter the relevant details of your car, it will give you the list of service items as per manufacturers recommendations.

http://www.etis.ford.com/fordservice/se ... A.dulv0676

Its a petrol (1.4) with bout 65,000 on the clock, no idea about timing belt...

Timing belt usually between 60,000 and 80,000 as a general rule of thumb. Same thing as cambelt if you know when that was done?

And regarding price and what gets done, all depends on what type of service you want. Imagine if you aint had it done for a while then you need a full service which will be around £100.

As for where to take it, never had any problems with Glenesk garage near Greensides.

I used to take our previous motors there, although not been for a few years now they were always spot on when I used to go there. Reasonably priced and honest, two very important factors!

Mine is costing me £120

Has is had a new clutch yet? that might not be too far off if not.
Id recommend Morgans in oxford road, theyre not too bad on price and certainly wont shaft you like soem of the main dealers will.

Hasn't had new clutch and saying that, it has started to make a whirring noise when pressed in.....I think Ripper was right in his 1st post

Don't forget that getting it serviced won't sort out the clutch or any noises, you are talking about servicing not repairs and noises usually mean repairs.

Do you know when the last service was? Most of the time its just an oil and filter change and a wipe round with an oily rag. If its a major service then its a few more changes a set of plugs, more glances at stuff and a lot more money.

If its got problems then get them specifically identified and fixed.

Mr I pretty much sums it up. Although I must say, there are advantages to having your car looked after by a dealership, not so much from a service point of view (though I'd always recommend it), but more in respect of fault finding / diagnostics. I see it on an almost daily basis. Punter brings his car to our workshop as a last resort, cos Fred in the shed can't fix it, his mates brother who knows a bit about cars had had a look and he's baffled, he's trawled countless forums on the web and had a go himself, but he still can't fix it. Nobody can fix it. He's spent a small fortune on the damned thing now and the dealer is the last throw of the dice.

So 'we' take a look. And more often than not find the fault within an hour..."why didn't I just come here in the first fookin place" is the usual response!

C&G Motors in Stockton. Been using him for last 6 years as have half the people in our office. He is a one man band but extremely good prices and he knows what's he's doing and has all the up to date equipment etc...

01642 612554.
( And no, I'm not on commission:)

Any fool can change the oil but modern cars need diagnostics and most small garages can't afford the equipment or the enormously expensive monthly updates. They'd need the gear for every manufacturer.

I can do pretty much any job on a car short of stripping down engines and gearboxes but sometimes I get stumped at diagnosing the fault. Thats the difference between a technician like Mr Bandages and a amateur fitter like myself.

What are these noises and what do you mean by 'It's started being a bit of a Tit lately'?

Mutters, that's not as far fetched as you might think!

Cheers for all the advice lads, guess I should start saving me pennies!

I needed a new key for my car (NATS zapper style thing).
I rang the Nissan dealer & it was £140 for the key plus £90 to put it in the computer & programme it - Total £230
I looked on ebay & bough the zapper part for £25,I googled the programming & basically it was something like press lock,press unlock,turn key on n off 6 times n that was it programmed

The screen on my dashboard flashed up "Service Due" so I rang Nissan,they offered me a service which I declined as Id had it done elsewhere so they said "Bring the car in & well get rid of the service due message for £140"
Again google told me something along the lines of "Turn the radio on n off 3 times,press buttons 1,2,3 then turn radio on n off again" n that was it message gone

I wont argue that dealers may well be the only way for certain jobs,but when they pull blatant con tricks like that is it any wonder people avoid them like the plague ?

we always take ours to JRM Motors, just behind the old petrol station, next to the scout hut, opposite the Travellers Rest.

Never had any trouble with them.

http://www.jrmmotorengineers.com/