So, a friend of mine calls me to ask for my help in repairing her car. Her garage has had the car back three times for the same fault, engine light comes on and stays on. She then tells me they fitted a new EGR valve. Three times. On the same car. Within three weeks.
Yeah, I know! You can see why she called me now.
So, I told her I don’t do repairs anymore but I’ll have a quick look for her, just to see if there is anything obvious that I could suggest to her to take back to her garage. And then I looked under the bonnet . . .
I’ve got a 2.2 Evoque in front of me and it’s in a shocking state! Trims missing, wires hanging loose, finger prints everywhere and a shiny new EGR valve right at the back. I look at the fault code and it’s an EGR flow fault.
OK, I can see why they changed it, but why does the light come on? Again? And again? So I poke and prod as I look at the system and then I see it. The spring-loaded flap on the EGR cooler is just a flap. The spring is AWOL! The EGR was (probably) working well but with the spring missing/broken the flap doesn’t open and close as it should.
Now I’ve spent a big part of my life at JLR and I love the brand, looking at this Evoque in this state made me angry and upset in equal measure, and she knew it.
So what did I do, I hear you ask?
Obvious really, I took it in to work with me the next day, ordered a new cooler and fitted it, tidying the engine bay as I went along. Carried out the road test from cold, over a distance and at a speed to make sure the drive cycle is complete and happy. Back in the workshop I checked for leaks or faults, none found. I gave it a quick degrease and washed the car before returning it back to the customer. Fixed.
I then gave her a bill for fixing the car, noting the poor standards that were also put right and charged her accordingly. She just paid the bill and passed it on to the other garage, which refunded her the money, in full!
It doesn’t take much to put everything back to how it was before you started. I take pride in customers being unable to tell if I had been in the engine bay or the back of a dashboard, making sure everything goes back as it was. I’d always make sure all trims and fittings went back as they should, leaving a finished product behind.
So the next time you put something back together, just slow down and think.
Is this the best it can be?
Is this the best I can do?
If it’s not then make sure it is, it doesn’t take a lot of extra effort.
Ironically, I went to the garage in question a couple of weeks later to offer my services of training and development but specifically my diagnostic course. However, the owner of the garage told me that all his staff are trained already and that they don’t need any further training. I then asked if they ever get come backs or problem cars or if they ever get to refund customers over misdiagnosis, to which he replied no. All his tech’s are master standard. Hmmmm, not too sure about that answer!
Doing the job properly means doing it right when no-one else is looking. Quality is everyone’s responsibility, isn’t it?
