Big cock up revealed. Much shame and disappointment has occurred. You will be aware, if you follow everything I write, that I have had worries about the motor for some time now. From time to time it has blown volumes of oil from a breather pipe at the front of the engine, which used to vent in the front cross member. The oil the distributed itself under the body and the rear of the van. Messy. I re-routed the breather into a catch can in the wheel arch so that the first half liter of oil was retained leaving less mess. We still had trouble and on one trip away for a month lost loads of oil on the M1 and the van needed cleaning extensively down the near side. Also there were starting issues, particularly cold start. It was getting embarrassing leaving a campsite between autumn and spring without needing to issue breathing apparatus to other campers.
These issues were niggling me and, bored between Christmas and New Year I had a look at what might be possible re-build wise. I quickly found a company in Essex who would do magically everything needed fro a fixed price of £2500. All seemed well and the could collect it too. I did ring another more local firm and they didn’t want to do it. (Also I asked an Elland garage for a price and they agreed it would cost £1200-£1500 plus parts which I had to provide but this didn’t work for me). So Mike came to collect and we had reservations, and Sandra had kittens when she saw the tinny trailer Heidi went on and nearly stopped me but off she went and we thought we may never see her again. Mike said they were a good firm and I should look on YouTube about them. Mike sent pictures of her being dropped off. I Googled and YouTubed and didn’t find too much to worry about except a couple of recent bad reviews which were contested.
I rang to see what the plan was. The ramp was broken – couple of days. I rang, there had been a power cut – couple of days. I rang, the ramp they needed was coming free tomorrow. I rang and it was done ready to go back in! What! It wasn’t out 2 days ago. How have you done it so quick. Our guys are experts they work 24/7. We’ll take it for a drive on Monday you can collect Tuesday. But what have you done? Whatever it needed. We’ve put in whatever was necessary to make this engine good. What parts did you need? How come you got them so quickly? We use Europarts they are good. But what did you use? I’ll send a list meanwhile here are some pictures.
The engine had clearly been taken out. It definitely had a new cam belt, maybe a water pump and definitely the cylinder head had been resprayed silver. But had they taken it off to do that? I arranged to collect – you can only pay cash or transfer. Oh! I had a nice train journey and Heidi was in the yard engine running. I asked for information about what they’d done. Nothing. List of parts. Nothing. Statement of work they just gave me a vague standard list. I was seriously bothered. I had a good look round but couldn’t tell what work had been done. I paid and drove off. Volumes of oily smoke for the first few miles. I turned back, planning my complaint, when it all stopped smoking and ran smoothly. I stopped and started again. Checked for leeks, and over heating. Checked oil and water. Nothing to worry about so I set off home. Long drive at less than 60 (running in you know!).
The next morning I couldn’t wait to start Heidi and really see the difference. It took a long time to fire. Longer than before. Clouds of white smoke, then she caught and ran rough … and gradually warmed up and ran smoother. Later I went for a longer drive. Blue smoke for a while – possibly less than before and cleared, but once hot the exhaust fumes seemed worse than I remembered. The next day I drove again. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t the ‘as new’ engine I had been led to expect. I rang. They said it was not right because the fuel pump timing was wrong. I said why didn’t you check that. We didn’t change anything!! Bring it back and we’ll check it, but it will cost you. No way!! I found a diesel specialist and went for a chat. He came to have a look. He said that the timing was fine but the compression felt down on at least 2 cylinders and there was a tappety sound he didn’t like. I was after compensation. He recommended a diesel consultant. I spoke to him. He said this kind of fraud was common! I had been conned by slick web advertising and had little comeback short of forensic rebuilding, which would cost and may not get me anywhere. He would inspect and recommend for £300. He mentioned W Browns in Halifax.
I spoke to citizens advice – they helped me write letters. I didn’t get a response. I lost sleep. I have never been so distressed or distracted by anything like this before. I had to find a way of letting this go. We went for lunch somewhere. I didn’t enjoy Heidi any more. I didn’t want to plan out usual February trip, I didn’t want anything to do with her. Covid-19 came. Phew. Time to think. I came up with a plan. As restrictions were lifting I rang Brown’s. They suggested Colin at Feather Diesel in Elland (who?, why didn’t I know about them before all this?) I rang and told the whole story. They said bring her in. Colin had a look. He wanted to test compression and check the injectors. Compression was fine. Injectors were not good (fucked was his word but … ). One was really bad and the others not much better. He changed them. Things were a lot better, but he wanted to check the timing one more time. He concluded that there was little more could be done to improve things without spending a lot of money. Next step was the injector pump then a rebuild at about £3k, but he was too busy at the moment to want to take that on. He felt it was OK for now and to drive it. I went to have a look. It was running more smoothly, but with a little tappety sound he didn’t like and much cleaner. It cold started on the button, but it was a warm day so not a fair trial. There were very little fumes coming from the breather pipe. I paid up £400 and left fairly happy with Colin and Heidi again.
Follow – up. Over the next period I started it a few times. Always went on the button with hardly any smoking. August came and after a few trips it was MOT time. There were issues with the front near side breaks due to regular dosing in engine oil which caused a fail, but these were soon rectified MOT Pass and the mechanic was very pleased with how she ran! Happy days. A few trips have left me confident she will start easily. There has been no sign of breather pipe oil or even a breath from the pipe so all good. Did they rebuild the engine???