AA silencers

I think you'd struggle to sell it without MoT. If you have a fail sheet showing it doesn't need much it can help bring in a bit more but really people will underpay knowing they'll be getting a bargain. You are legally allowed to drive a car to an MoT station without an MoT or Tax, but you do need insurance. Most people who's insurance covers them to drive 'any vehicle' only covers them if the vehicle is insured by the main driver or vehicle owner. What needs doing on the brakes? Is it still within the 10 day retest period from it's original MoT test? Where is the car at the moment? Has she filled out the SORN? If the tax is out you won't have long before the beloved DVLA send you a fine through the post if the SORN isn't sent to them.

Im not sure, every family member is trying to help out and well you know what they say about too many cooks...

I'll defo let her know about the SORN, the car is at her house in Trentham.

Im pretty sure its coming up to the 10 days soon (or possibly over which is a waste!)

I just thought it was a shame, it could be worth a bit of money for her and because of poor organistaion shes only going to get scrap value!

Were going over soon to have a look, just wondered if there was anything we could do!

Thanks for the advice, like I said its a matter of everyones trying to help and not a alot getting done!

Try to avoid it going from scrap if you can. It's such a shame for a perfectly good car going on the heap for the sake of a little work and a bit of planning. If it was more local I'd offer to come and get it for you as my insurance covers me to drive anything and if I'm taking it for MoT it doesn't need tax or current MoT. Has anyone got a trailer? Have you called to see if a recovery company will move it? has anyone got a really comprehensive breakdown recovery policy that would cover taking it to a garage for repairs (regardless of it's MoT status). maybe take the tack of 'we tried to take it for MoT but it won't start, now we need taking to a garage'.
The main things are you must get the SORN completed (can be done immediately on line) or you'll be fined. Ensure that if it's driven on the road the driver is insured. The Police are pretty good when it comes to understanding the need to move cars for MoT repairs regardless of Tax so long as all other documents are in place (SORN and insurance). If you have no insurance and you're on the road they (quite rightly) get really grumpy about the whole affair. Make sure if you're moving it to a garage they have you booked in the diary so the Police can see that's where you're headed and back up your story if you're stopped.

Ignore me, blonde moment

Thought I'd pop in to leave some feedback about the cambelt/water pump change on my W-reg Fiesta. All in all another positive experience, so if you wanna stop reading there then feel free to do so because the rest of this is just me saying how awesome these guys are


I think I mentioned elsewhere in this thread about AA sorting my rather dodgy brakes out, so when it came up that I might need a cambelt change soon(92k miles, 12 year old car with no proof it had ever been replaced before), I didn't hesitate to get it back in with these guys. Initially booked in for a Saturday as I work 9-5 during the week, a problem came up which had been caused by someone having been tinkering with the engine before I came into possession of the car. As soon as they found out, their mechanic on the job gave me a call to keep me in the loop, and before long came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to get around the problem without some help.
[For the record, it was a crank bolt, I think? It was holding a cover on that protected the pulley system. Had been way overtightened, and the poor sod just couldn't get it off. There was a major risk of the bolt snapping in the process of undoing it, it was that tight. Gotta love whoever worked on the car before I got hold of it!]

He put the car back together and we got it booked in for the following Friday(technically yesterday at the time of writing, seeing as how it's now after midnight). After what I can imagine was a lot of blood, sweat tears and certain foul words(I know if it was me, I'd have been swearing like a trooper) they finally got that blasted bolt loose without damaging the engine. Again, they kept me in the loop but it was such a pain that it took a lot of the day to sort out.

When I went to collect the car the mechanic advised me to check the water levels in the morning once everything had settled down, and top up if needed(the water pump had also been changed and the relating system bled of air but you can still get the odd air pockets).
I took it for a decent drive around Stafford(up to J14, off at J13 and back home so a good 30 minute drive) and upon firing up I noticed a major difference; it actually idled. I hadn't realised this until today! Before it was a little rough and lumpy but I always assumed it was a normal idle; now it's completely smooth. Maybe whoever worked on it previously didn't time it properly? And on pulling off the car felt... well, tighter, is the best way of describing it. Rather than putting my foot down and getting lots of noise but not really going anywhere(put down to it being a 1.25) I got almost immediate response. It shocked me a little on traffic lights when changing from red to green! You can definitely feel the difference, and you can tell the car's been put back together properly.

So in summary at the end of that mammoth wall of text, I'd like to extend my most sincere gratitude towards AA once again for looking after my mighty beastly motor, and in particular to the mechanic who spent pretty much two whole days with a bolt that refused to budge with little to no luck. They also charged me less than I was quoted so my wallet's also happy too!
You'll be getting my custom again chaps, most definitely. I certainly now feel more confident taking my car to Cornwall and back in a week's time! See you soon!

Glad we could help out MoD. It's a common thing with older cars that some people are happy cutting corners, so cheap nasty work gets done. It's a shame but we see it a lot. Whether it was an over enthusiastic home mechanic or just a bad day for another garage, anyone can make a mistake a guess. I'm just pleased we could get it sorted for you without any further trauma.

AA Silencers said:

Glad we could help out MoD. It's a common thing with older cars that some people are happy cutting corners, so cheap nasty work gets done. It's a shame but we see it a lot. Whether it was an over enthusiastic home mechanic or just a bad day for another garage, anyone can make a mistake a guess. I'm just pleased we could get it sorted for you without any further trauma.

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I could understand people treating it poorly if it were, say, a K reg or around that age. But a 10 year old car by modern standards is a much more reliable/better car than a 10 year old car would have been ten years ago, if you follow what I mean. There's really no excuse in any case for not looking after something that gets you from A to B, and is often used to ferry friends, family and loved ones about. So whoever had the Fiesta before me really needs their head looking at, in my opinion.
But heyho, no real harm done I just don't get some people is all, lol.

AA, gona be cheeky here, any hints how much a new handbreak might be on my Civic please?

Which element - the lever, the ratchet, cable, interconnects, rear mechanism, pads or drums?


Oh, and handbrake

AA Silencers said:

Glad we could help out MoD. It's a common thing with older cars that some people are happy cutting corners, so cheap nasty work gets done. It's a shame but we see it a lot. Whether it was an over enthusiastic home mechanic or just a bad day for another garage, anyone can make a mistake a guess. I'm just pleased we could get it sorted for you without any further trauma.

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My purple BMW, the one you did the rear end welding on AA, had issues warming up. Pretty obviously you start at the stat, so off came the cowling, the fan and the thermostat cover.

No thermostat!

Of course you wonder if the thermostat was removed due to overheating issues, it is, after all, an old BMW and therefore a piece of crap, but for the cost of a stat (£6.90 from the local factors) I thought I'd find out. Turns out it works just fine with a new stat in.

There's cutting corners and there's being negligent for the sake of it.

Funny thing but removing the stat normally kills as engine. Water pumps feed back into the block and up into the head. The stat retains pressure in the head and although more flow reduces temperature if the pressure is dropped by increasing the flow you get localised boiling in hot spots within the head. When we're building performance engines we often use secondary cooling pumps to circulate more coolant directly to the back of the head furthest away from the pump then remove the stat and use a restrictor plate to balance the extra flow and pressure capacities with the temperature required. The key factor in engine survival is oil temperature anyway, unless you start to squeeze the combustion process with increased compression or timing. That's when head cooling becomes critical.

What's happening with the handbrake Zeb? maybe we can remotely diagnose a bit so we can give you an idea what you might need.

Working at 18% efficiency according to MOT (tried to get in with you but couldn't get a space in time, we had already run out on the old one!)

Guess that's not much help with which part is wrong so will probably have to bring it in, amirite?

Damn my spelling...

Sounds like it just wants adjusting, or at worst a new cable. Simple enough job in both cases on most cars.

All depends if it's drums or discs but Shoes may be right. If it's good on the foot brake but bad on the handbrake it's not necessarily anything serious. You can give us a call to book in on 01785 213500 or via the forum, but I'm working away for a few days as of this evening so if I go quiet I'm not ignoring you!

Had a nice, late Christmas surprise from my motor today... anyone know what time AA open of a morning?

halfmanhalfbrisket said:

Had a nice, late Christmas surprise from my motor today... anyone know what time AA open of a morning?

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Took some finding, but..

AA Silencers said:

We open half eight in the mornings. we aim to close by half five monday to friday but we don't always make it in time! Saturdays we're open until four.

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Another glowing recommendation for AA Silencers!

Went in to speak to them about a sticky and slow electric window and instead of just telling me that I would need to bring my car in for them to look at, I was given a tip on a possible fix which I have duly carried out and it has worked a treat.

Things like this will only bring good recommendations from me!

Thanks!!!!!

Cheers Big Blue. Sorry for the slow response, as you probably gathered when you called in it's a mad house here at the moment. Glad the windows are working again. Just in time for the frost and snow when they'll be kept tightly shut!