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!