Came home on a flat-bed taxi today !

[Jimbo]

   

Severe loss of power (ok, it didn't have much to start with !), and the auto box has a real dislike for changing out of 1st gear. If I lift off the throttle, the box will drop into 2nd and you can achieve a max of 30mph. There's no smoke, no overheating, no loss of oil or coolant - and no visible leaks around the 'box................any ideas ???

The AA came out and had a poke about - he reckons its a sensor on the gearbox, but can't say which one, but did offer to follow me home if I chose to drive home  :shock: - I thought the better of it, and asked for a recovery truck which they duly sorted, and 3 hours later I'm home.

Any suggestions as to where to start looking, or does it need a stealer ?

Jim

PS - no warning/dash lights showing either  :?

[hobbit]

My first thought would be a quick dip on the gearbox oil and see what colour/state it is

[Xtremeteam]

doesnt have a dipstick


it could be the selector switch,had 1 in last week that wouldnt go into park or reverse,change the switch & all sorted

[Jimbo]

My first thought was the gearbox, but it's fixed now - and the cause was not what you would expect..............

After having a large mug of tea (can't have beer, as I'm on call), it dawned on me that when the ignition was on, I couldn't remember hearing the fuel pump running - and you certainly can hear it on Td5's. Went outside and checked, and sure enough, the pump was silent. Checked and swapped the fuse and relay under the bonnet - no difference. But guess what I had 'in stock' in the garage - yep, a second hand D2 tank, complete with pump.

20 mins later - boot emptied, carpet up, old pump out, new one in and it's fixed.............what a result (also saved myself about £200 on the cost of the new pump  :lol:

So, does that make me a better technician/mechanic than the AA man ?

Jim

[BrumLee]

So, does that make me a better technician/mechanic than the AA man ?

The days of the roadside assistance have gone now as there has been too many patrolmen injured or killed. Quick look to see whether you need recovering and then off scene is the order of the day.

I think they also work on a bonus and if the job is not cleared in time they loose money. So once they pass over to recovery their time clocked on the job ends and the recovery drivers clock starts.

[Jimbo]

The tech/mechanic did seem a bit rushed - but he did check for known problems on his on-board laptop (nice mounting system, but he wasn't up for letting me look at it  :? ). I found it a little strange that he asked me to try driving up the road to 'see if it was any better' after he'd taken the lid of the air filter box (as if that was going to make any difference.......??)

The recovery driver however, was a whole different bloke - chatty, liked a laugh, a really nice geezer.

If it wasn't for the actual recovery part of my AA membership, I'd probably not renew it.

Jim

[BrumLee]

The recovery driver however, was a whole different bloke - chatty, liked a laugh, a really nice geezer.

I'd be laughing to on the money they're on now. I couldn't believe how well they're paid and they don't have to do any diagnostics  :roll:

[Jimbo]

The recovery guy is doing the tech course so that he can do the roadside assistance stuff rather than the recovery !

[BrumLee]

Was he AA recovery or ndependant?

AA guy that pick me up the other month was on £30,000 pa for just recovery. Independants get a lot less if they have no technical skill  

[Jimbo]

He was an AA guy, in an AA truck.

Didn't like dogs either, and refuses to have them in the truck with him - so lucky I'd not got Muttley with me !

[Range Rover Blues]

What p***ed me off last time we called them out is Julie told them exactly what was wrong (well if a bloke rings up you stay at the back of the queue) and it was overheating, loss of coolant, possible head gasket, needs recovering as it's an auto.

"Right, we'll send a recovery truck"

Little van turns up, couldn't pull a RRC even if we'd let him try.  He explained the politics of it all.
If the call centre sends out a recovery, out of hours (therefore a sub-contractor) then their call centre gets the cost allocated to them, so they send out a patrol (who is on the payroll) and let him have to call in a recovery and the cost goes against the patrolman, not the callcentre.

All well and good for them to p*ss about playing games, we get to wait another hour in the b***dy cold.  I could have gone home for the trailer in the time they took :roll:

[MOTORSPORT_SAFETY]

You really dont want to be on there pay.

One of the reasons there pay is so good is they buy overtime off you up front not a bad thing you would think try booking a week off work.

I know a couple of guys who work for them and the AA will let you book the week then rosta you on mid week you ring up hey im on holiday tuff you still owe us X no of hours for the pleasure

There not so much on bonus there on a target system yes hit target they do get some sort of bonus but the target is something stupid like 4.2 jobs a shift if no one breaks down how can you do the target.   There other trick is they will send you a job 30 miles away you ring up hey im 30 miles away no chance, your the closest so of they go there 2 miles from job and told to stand down patrol closer has gone clear and will be there before them.

They also have a thing were if you dont hit target for x no of months then you automaticaly go on a constructive dismissal procedure were you have to improve to come off it,  ever since they were taken over cant remeber who by name evades me they have been right gits I have a mate who is ex AA best thing he ever did was leave nearly put him in a grave a few times.

All the big companys are going that way now and its true what they say about the control room they can cost it out against a patrol so can bounce them for nocking jobs over to recovery, what they dont understand is with alot of the more modern cars you cant A bar them properly and some of them wont straight tow eg 4x4 and they cant remove the prop shaft to tow it as there not allowed.  The guys at the sharp end that you see arnt allowed to be what they use to be and so are too busy trying not to have a nevouse breakdown by the time we see them they are well over the line of caring anymore.  

Paul

[muddyjames]

 ever since they were taken over cant remeber who by name evades me they have been right gits I have a mate who is ex AA best thing he ever did was leave nearly put him in a grave a few times.

Paul

Was it Centrica by any chance?

My Dad used to be the security guy for all the pc's for the AA in the UK and was highly paid but yes he had his first nervous breakdown whilst at the AA.

He had another 7 in his life after leaving there.

I have thought about being a RAC recovery truck driver but I dont have the right driving license for it.

[MOTORSPORT_SAFETY]

Thats the blighters centrica

The AA team my arse did an online quote with them £250 more than the next highest quote so dont know who they were getting a quote from I never read past the price.

Yeah all the licencesare a bit wacky now for doing that type of the thing but to be honest its getting that way across the board for national recovery companys even the private garages are being pushed and pushed and pushed not a job id want to do anymore.

All the best
Paul