Need a mechanic

[tamara]

Yep maybe i need to move out of London or sell the van

[jimpainter]

£1k is ridiculous.

[tamara]

There doesn't seem to be anywhere else local

[pionte]

Hi Tamara, sorry to hear about your problem

Finding someone that you can trust and that actually knows about these vans can be difficult . It sounds like one of the mechanics thinks that you may have a valve problem ? now as Kev said a brand new head complete ( there are 2 on these vans, left and right ) costs under £300, the head contains all the valves. I havnt swapped one of these, but I would imagine that it would take 5 or 6 hours, and as some garages can charge as much as £100 per hour for labour you can see why the cost can quickly get out of control... couple this with the fact that some unscrupulous garages know that not many people can or want to work on these engines then they just pick a figure out of the air.... and if the customer is desperate enough then they will pay it. Even worse is that a lot of times the work is then done to a poor standard.

Im not too sure the whereabouts of you in London, but I have heard good things about these guys https://www.facebook.com/magicbusco" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They are in Peterborough, there hourly rate is around £30 , so much cheaper. I bought some seats from them and thought they sounded good guys. Could be worth getting it recovered to them on a trailer ?

They will do a complete Subarau engine conversion including sourcing all the parts for around £2000 , Im not saying that this is the right course of action for you, but it kinda puts into perspective the "quote" of £1000 to fix the valves !!

My best advice is dont rush into handing over your money, there are lots of stories from people who have handed over their money only to be let down by bodgers and crooks.... get proper written quotes, and dont hand over the money untill you are happy , and if possible pay via credit card... that way you stand a chance of getting your money back if things do go wrong.

Good luck

[what2do]

£2000, would be interested to hear if someone has had the conversion done by them and how they rate it. Sounds like a fair price and still a lot cheaper than most garages out there.

What you haven't said, Tamara, is how desperate you are to get the van back on the road. This will determine what options are available to you. Is the van a daily drive or do you just need it for the nice weekends and holiday season?

[tamara]

Hi its not my daily drive we have been fixing her up for the past year ,was so looking forward to using it throughout summer ,had our first weekend booked for 6th of June but it doesn't look like we will get to use it any time soon maybe have to consider transporting her out off London somewhere

[300CE]

Not sure if anyone's used these guys before, they advertise in Camper & Bus magazine and are based in Deptford, so again not to far away from you - might be worth a call:

http://www.thevwenginecompany.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Shaundon]

There's a guy near reigate with about 30 years experience on these vans , not too far outside london , his name is Mike and hes a one man band really , very old school, no email, so you'll need to call him if you want to try him.

I've used him a few time sand hes a nice bloke.

PM me if you want his number...

[waltraud]

Jacks garage in Ladbroke Grove used to be good. A kiwi guy called Grant ran the place. Tbh when people say a head is 300 that does not factor labour costs and if it was me i might consider a new engine unless I was fairly confident about the rest of the unit being good. Bit of a Pandora s box. When you are desperate you might even consider 'Elite' engines.

[kevtherev]

Tbh when people say a head is 300 that does not factor labour costs

yes realistic labour costs to undo about 16 nuts, remove two spark plugs and a rocker cover.

[waltraud]

Ok, im just suggesting that it may not be that straightforward as is so often said on here....ie will exhaust come off? Will studs be intact, will the job reveal further work s needed. Im not cynical but speaking from experience.

[pionte]

Ok, im just suggesting that it may not be that straightforward as is so often said on here....ie will exhaust come off? Will studs be intact, will the job reveal further work s needed. Im not cynical but speaking from experience.

I agree waltraud, it could have 4 seized then snapped exhaust studs, tinware that may not want to come of, I hate garages taking the pi$$ with sky high quotes, but I personally have done jobs on the van that should have been a couple of hours that turned out to be 5 times that long to do properly, okay when its my time but I can see why corners are cut and bodges are done.

How many times have we read on here stories from people who get their van back after long delays only to find that jobs havnt been done properly, dont get me wrong Im not trying to defend poor workmanship and cowboy outfits, but I have worked in a main dealers ( and for my self ) and I know that things arent always as the manual suggests.... even on new cars let alone 35 year old ones.

If the garage was honest upfront and said that it may take 2 hours or may take 6 , then at least the customer can make a call on whether to start the work with them or move on, what tends to happen is that the garage will either quote low and bodge, or quote sky high because they dont really want the work anyhow..

unfortunately these vans are time consuming to repair properly... time costs money, finding a trust worthy mechanic that doesnt charge high hourly rates is the pot at the end of our particular vw rainbow .

[tamara]

Thanks 300ce gave The vw engine company a ring and we have decided to go for a new engine not worth paying all that money just for the valves makes more sense to do whole thing ,

[what2do]

Tricky one this, most of us would happily swap heads, involve a friend, show/teach another enthusiast how to do it, drink tea, eat bickies, rap knuckles, curse, wax lyrical, etc. all in all a none too unpleasant experience due to the fact that labour costs aren't being charged.

Thus, Tamara, who do you know? Is anyone willing to lend a hand, that's the question?

As has been said, it rarely is a straight forward job, thus all the problems mentioned previously may also occur if you go down the route of an exchange engine. Hopefully, this will be factored into your budget and you'll be savvy enough to not accept a lower price bodge.

I dread to think what costs I've saved by working on my van with Itchyfeet, and I hadn't met him before he invited me to his place.

Fingers crossed for you, mitch.

[tamara]

Hi its going in on Friday for the new engine, lets hope there are not too many other thing wrong with it