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Fuel is dangerous!!

elizium

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Had a bit of a scare today - trying to crank my car over and nothing but spluttering and then death. Sometimes it can be difficult to start, so i decided to persevere a little longer.

All of a sudden, a young lad came over and knocked on my window to let me know (in Russian so not easy to understand for me) that there was a large lake of petrol under the car and it was getting bigger!!

Stepped out of the car and there was petrol all over the street... I realized this was probably not a good thing and popped the hood. My MORON of a mechanic it seems didn't think it was necessary to tighten the fuel clamp to the fuel rail - I guess it seemed unimportant... fuel was just being pumped straight out of the car, over the engine and onto the floor everytime I turned the key and the pump started working.

Dressed in my best suit, as I had an important meeting, I started going to work reaffixing the fuel hose - why it couldn't have been one of the clamps with easy access is just my luck... now it's time for a trip to the dry cleaners. I'm just glad I parked in the street last night instead of in the garage - I don't want to think about the consequences of fuel in a confined space and no young lad to let me know the problem - could have been one of the shortest ventures into parenthood ever recorded (still haven't even seen the baby yet)..

Lessons learned (again)... if you want work done properly do it yourself!!! if you have someone else do any work double check it and then do it again yourself. After 1 year of arguing with the missus about letting me have somewhere so I can do the work on my car and not pay some useless tw*t to do it wrong she finally agrees. It scares me at people's incompetence - I took the car to this guy last time to change the ignition key cylinder (simple enough) - car comes back filthy, stinking of cigarette smoke - one headlight not working - center console scratched to hell - part of the +ve battery cable broken/missing - tein EDFC not working. The fuel leak is from the last time he had it to install the fuel pump and pressure regulator.

Sorry to rant it just really upsets me... I've worked on cars for a good 10 years myself and never ever had any problems... my wife is against me doing this as 'it is not something a business professional like me' should be doing. This kind of thing is exactly what I want to avoid happening by doing it myself :)

Wife's only comment when I called her today - you just need to sell your old piece of sh1t car and buy something newer. :rant:

I despair
 

Nicely

Moving on...
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:eek: That was a close one... Thank God for the kid.

I sort of feel that I should be getting someone to do the work on the car, especially when I ripped a fingernail off the other week. But I am reluctant to do it for the same reasons you said. I've been bitten severely in the past by people and don't trust very many places to touch my cars.
 

elizium

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Nicely said:
But I am reluctant to do it for the same reasons you said. I've been bitten severely in the past by people and don't trust very many places to touch my cars.
I'll never forget taking my 300zx to the 'most renown' dealership for such cars in NE USA. At that time there was clearly very visible blue black smoke from the tailpipes... I explained the issue and ended up paying them about $300 for a diagnostic... they told me everything was fine!!! They could find no problems..

I guess this oil in the turbo is normal for them :)

It was my first and last lesson in trusting other people :)
 
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Albert

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better to do by your self...

There are no services in Russian, wich can do your car perfectly.... or it will be VERY VERY VERY expensive!
 
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Tearer

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Elisium It is very bad. Once I have same situation with my russian car VAZ2109. Fuel go out from pipe. It was good that I smell it and fix in time. but can you imagin if someone smoking neer you!!!
Russians say: Chip is not good. So for my posteriory, I decided to pay littel more, then pay twice for repear.
I do my car in Altechno company.
Albert, sometimes you did not have time to do it by yourself.
 

elizium

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Tearer said:
Elisium It is very bad. Once I have same situation with my russian car VAZ2109. Fuel go out from pipe. It was good that I smell it and fix in time. but can you imagin if someone smoking neer you!!!
Russians say: Chip is not good. So for my posteriory, I decided to pay littel more, then pay twice for repear.
I do my car in Altechno company.
Albert, sometimes you did not have time to do it by yourself.
At least our petrol in Russia is cheaper... I'd be mortified if I lost 20+ liters of fuel at over a pound a litre!!
 

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elizium said:
I still think my favourite part of the morning were the guys standing around watching me deal with the car - only standing a half a meter or so from the lake of petrol.. smoking!!!
:eek: :eek:

This i one of those stories that happens to people it should, people who love there cars and take care of them. I think we all have the same worries with regard to others working on our cars.

Get somewhere to work on your car mate :thumbs:
 
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Tearer

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I heard history when after music-box installation in to the car, guy see charge increase of fuel. When on service looked, have seen 2 twisted screws in a fuel highway.
can you imagin!? :cool:

don't lose courage
 
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Lee75

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I don't trust anyone to do my cars, if i do it myself then i know its done right most of the time :D
you had a lucky escape :nod:
 
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TC

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As a BMW Tech, I see stuff like this at work everyday, it's really sad that there are incompetent techs out there like this :rant:

But yes silly mistakes like that happen to $250k cars too :eek:
 
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Isn't it funny how we all prefer to work on our own cars because others lack the standard required. Mind you guys, we're probably all fussy b4stards - I know I am.

I check, check, then double check. Once done, I re-check. That way, you'll never be caught short. The last time I had my wheel alignment done, I got the wrench off the guy once finished and rechecked all the bolts. He must have thought I was crazy :D

piece of mind - priceless.

It all boils down to the fact that not many people take pride in their work anymore. If you can find a mechanic who is passionate about cars and takes pride in their work - stick with them.

remember, there are no good garages. There are only good people who work in garages. A business is only as good as the people it employs.
 
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