Am I being taken for a ride??

Round

I took my astra into a dealer on Fri cos the waterpump has gone/leaking. They said they can't do anything till moday cos they need a special tool. I was quoted £330 all in.

Yesterday they rang me to say it isn't done and nobody knows what they are doing cos nobody between both their sites has ever done 1 before on this engine...AAArrrgggghhhh..

The guy said it's dodgy beacuse of the timing chain??? huh?? I hope I'm covered if my timings out after or the chain snaps in a few weeks...

They then rang me again this morning to say the old pump is out but they have got to strip down the timing chain housing cos somethings in the way??
Whats in the way that shouldnt be there??
It came out shouldn't it just go back in now??
Anyway new quote £500 :shock: Not sure I can afford it but what do I do now? My cars in bits?
£170 is a big difference, thats like 3hours extra labour??? how big is this housing?? is it actually a three bed semi they have got to demolish??

Oh Happy Days...

Has anybody ever had done or done themselves a waterpump on a z22se??

baldie87

£500 i would say there taking the piss thats the quote to put a new chain in 😮

vocky

they didn't use the special tool did they, it locks the timing chain in place

demand to speak to the manager, why should you pay for their 'cock up'

george

Like you I was quoted £600 for engine repair on a 'free quote' by a non main dealer garage. Once the garage had the car in, the cost suddenly doubled to £1100 on items already discussed in depth plus cost of any futher parts and labour they hadn't anticipated, plus vat, plus consumables of course. This was taking me towards the cost of an exchange engine quoted as £1195 but in reality £2000 when all extras totted up. So I said not to proceed cos lost confidence in garage and their moving target i.e. what they would come up with. They then turned round and said sorry only a free quote if I had work done!! and had to pay for getting my car back with no work done.The garage trade seems like a licence to print money once they have your car in you ain't going to get it back unless you cough up even when you don't go ahead on a supposedly free quote and especially if they have your car in bits. A quote means nothing to them, cos the gett-out clause is more parts and labour required. 🙁
Finding a garage to work on a z22se at an agreed price is literally like finding hens teeth. Finding a garage who wants to work on a z22se is even harder. Oh how I love this engine - its a nightmare that won't go away! lasted over 12 months and no end in sight 🙁

The only good thing about the z22se is this website but I wish it would come up with a list of regional garages capable of working on this engine without charging the main dealer (stealer) prices. 63..

baldie87

if you want a dealer to do it ring a few up around your area as they all woant provide the same price all the time and discuss the job in hand just say that you want the water pump doing with out the chain coming off as you use the locking tool to change the pump. i think alot of garages try to take advantage of peeps not in the know 🙁

but for a vuaxhall garage to say they have never worked on the z22se is shocking considering how old the engine is and how many applications its in.

what area are you in? maybe a tech member could help you out dunno..

baldie87

i have just re-read your original post, so the engine is in bits at vaux i take it?

if so get on to vaux main office and complain like hell to them as you have been quoted £330 to do a job. by the sounds of it they are aware of the locking tool as they said they need a speical tool. so me thinks they are taking advantage of you as before they took the chain off they should of said it needs to come off and you need to agree for the extra work if you do not agree to the extra work then you dont have to pay for it. they have just created more work when its not needed.

if vaux is no good ring trading standards