After service smell.....

[woody]

Hi all, haven't been around for a while.. had some personal issues to deal with but i'm back and i have a question...

the situation is as follows:

I took my Astra SRI in for it's 15000 service as my insp light was on and i like to keep the car regularly services.. the car has actually only done just over 13000k's. So i drive in with my car all lovely and nice to hunter holden in St leonards, leave it with them and come back later in the day to pick her up.. I was told it would be ready at 12pm.. at 1pm after waiting around for an hour my car was finally dropped off the lift and brought round for me. I duly paid my bill and drove her off.

First thing i noticed was my brakes.. when i drove it in there was little if any travel in the brakes.. when i drove it out there was ample travel.. they still work but just don't have the hard feel they had when i dropped it off. second thing i noticed was on turning ont he aircon or heater a smell (not sure exactly what but it's almost a burny oil/fluid smell) encroatched on the cabin. I figured there was a spill when they changed the oil and that it would burn off after a few k's - three weeks later the smell still lingers.. i took it back in to Hunter Holden and asked them to check over the car to make sure there was no issue with the brakes and find out what the smell was, left it with them at 9am and was told it would be ready by 3:30pm.

At 5pm when i finally got my car back i was told there was nothing wrong with my brakes (like *expletived deleted* there isn't) and that they could find no reason for the smell in the cabin although they admitted there was one!

Now firstly i have to say up until this service hunter holden have been pretty damn decent to me. after this one i'm thinking i'll take the car elsewhere. the customer service has diminished and basiclly i'm not happy with their response to my query on the smell.

So the question. anyone else had a similar issue? or can any one suggest what the smell may be? and lastly, can anyone recommend a different service centre.

Cheers

Woody

(car still smells)

[InsaneAsylum]

did they do any work to the brakes? if they changed the pads they could have put the spring in the wrong way (again, something i've heard about).

i took my car to holden 3 times when i was under warranty.. i took 3 times to learn, but i learnt. 50km does not constitute a "road test"

[woody]

well "apparently" they didn't do anything to the brakes at all, they just mysteriously got worse.. Pads are fine, still have a good 10mm (or there abouts) on them, they tried to tell me it was just the pads "bedding in" but i've never heard of that happening in a 4 hour period!!

[DirtyHarry]

mate never take your car back to the dealer for service. its pathetic.
i myself have booked lube mobil for my 15000km service. I have bought the oil and the filter and will start chaning that before the guy arrives. that way its done quicker. and i can actually see what his doing. which wouldnt be much anyway. mind you i change the oil every 5000km anyway.

[Skibum]

May sound silly, but have you used your aircon for the first time since last summer. If you switch it on and use it for a while then turn it off again, the next time that you start your car, the smell that comes thru the vents is really musty and foul.

It will disappear after a while

[woody]

nah it's the heating & aircon & even if you just have the fan on... i've been using the aircon prior to service and post but the issue only arose after the service.

[MK]

Hey,
you said it was 15,000km service...did you have anything else replaced\serviced? for eg. pollen filter for the airconditioning system.
does the smell come up when you get into the car and after turning the engine on put on the fan\air con, without driving the car first?

[woody]

nope standard 15k service nothing out of the ordinary.. smell comes after the car has warmed up for about 5 mins

[MK]

hey,

Have you thought of taking the car to a detail place and have the engine bay cleaned\detailed?

[JasonGilholme]

pop your bonnet and check your coolant levels. I put some steel braided lines on my corsa and i had some radiator coolant get on the block and top of the gear box and i noticed a nasty burning smell coming from the engine bay after about 5 minutes when she warmed up. I also smelt it through the heater when i had it on as well.

mine doesn't smell any more but if your coolant is leakin youl continually get a burning smell.

hope it helps

jason

[woody]

Thanks guys - i'll go get the engine bay cleaned and see if it gets rid of the smell - I've checked all my levels and i can't find any leaks.

Anyone know of a decent detailer on the north shore?

[kirssn]

Woody,

you always have the option of sticking with st leonards and requesting which person who works on your car. if things have been good until now, chances are you probably had a 2nd yr working on the car and no doubt they wont own up to it.

personally, i've had quite a few cars serviced in there, no issues, and of the cars i've had serviced in there, my other half has only done the work on one car and no special treatment given because the cars were mine - we keep it under wraps the cars are to do with me. (he hasn't even done any of the work on my car, it gets given to other people)

if you want the name of a techo would work on it and tell you exactly what has been done etc, i can give you one. there is someone on the forum who takes there car into st leonards for its servicing etc. This person was given the name of the techo working on his car and asked if that person would be able to have a chat about what was done etc, there was no issue. no doubt the person of the forum will request for a specific techo each time.

[woody]

like I said Krissn, it's only this time that i've had any issues - i've always taken my previous cars there and had no issue but this time they seem to be trying my patience.. if you have the name of someone i could take to it'd be good.

PM me if you prefer.