[sandeep.menon]

Often it so happens, that during a car service or repair experience, a 'new issue' crops up. For example, in this experience shared by TrackDay:

Originally Posted by TrackDay

A couple of years ago during routine maintenance, my car was raised and lowered back for removing the tyres to service the brakes at my FNG. This happened in front of me since I was free and wanted to see the work being carried out. When the work was completed, the tyres were fit back and I took the car out for a spin to check it out. The car felt like a basket ball. Apparently one of the rear suspension struts had failed before, but somehow continued to work until the car was raised. Once raised, the piston of the strut wouldn't go back inside. Since I was at the FNG itself the problem was diagnosed and replaced both the struts (rear) since I didn't want one old and one new in the rear.

While in some instances the new issue surfaces during the ongoing service, in others they surface after the service or repair is completed. Broadly, the issue could surface:

1. During the service or repair (as in the above example).
2. Immediately after the service or repair. (for example, discovered on the way home).
3. A few hours after the service or repair.
4. A few days after the service or repair.
5. A few weeks after the service or repair.

This thread is to share specific examples of such new issues, and the eventual resolution that solved the issue.

So, here's the first one!

Issue: Air Bag warning lamp glowing after wheel alignment.
If you notice that your Air Bag warning lamp is glowing, and you had got Wheel Alignment done right before that, there's a good chance the two are related.

One of the reasons this occurs, is that some technicians remove the steering wheel to 'center' it before starting the WA process. If they have not been careful when doing this, there is a good chance that the clock spring, which carries the airbag, steering mounted control, and horn signals, is damaged during the removal and refitting process. And consequently, you would have the Air Bag warning lamp glow after wheel alignment.

Here's how the clock spring looks:


In this particular example, the resolution was that the clock spring had to be replaced, and the error code reset, to fix the problem.

Looking forward to more such experiences, and resolutions that solved the problem.

Mods, I looked for an existing thread that is meant to share specific examples of new issues, and the resolutions that eventually solved the problem. I was not able to find one, and hence this new thread. In case there is one already, please merge this message to the right thread .

[GTO]

Good thread .

One of the issues I have faced is poor alignment from the authorized dealers just waiting to pad up their bill. Car goes in just fine, but it comes back pulling to one side which annoys the hell out of me .

Learned my lesson the hard way. Some tasks are best left to specialist shops outside (alignment & balancing, detailing etc.).

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by sandeep.menon

One of the reasons this occurs, is that some technicians remove the steering wheel to 'center' it before starting the WA process. If they have not been careful when doing this, there is a good chance that the clock spring, which carries the airbag, steering mounted control, and horn signals, is damaged during the removal and refitting process. And consequently, you would have the Air Bag warning lamp glow after wheel alignment.

For this reason alone, I do not allow technicians at any of those wheel alignment shops to remove or fiddle with the steering. Unless you have done a complete suspension overhaul and the toe values are very much off the mark, which affects the steering centring, there is no need to remove the steering. The sole reason why the steering tie rods come with threads on both the ends is to adjust the toe values. Guess, certain old habits die hard.

[Raghu M]

I had my fair share too. When I owned my Estilo, I once gave it to my trusted FNG for the annual service. The job was done well as always, he delivered the car to me and all was fine. I brought it back home and locked the car. The next morning, the car wouldn't unlock. No matter how hard I tried, the remote wasn't working. After some time it magically opened after a few clicks. Then when I am driving, it doesn't lock automatically. I took it back to him and he checked it but couldn't diagnose. He calls in the electrical expert. The expert takes a thorough look and says the Nippon central board has failed and it would cost me 6K to replace and he can do it in 1 hour. I was in no way going to spend 6K for central locking failure and that too when am looking to upgrade. I was closely observing the technician, he didn't look convincing. He was not sure about the work. I took it to another shop at night that day. Guess what, the guy there asked me to open the bonnet and he took a look. After exactly 15 seconds (yes seconds), he asked me to try to lock and unlock and lo, it worked just like magic. Saved me 6K too, I asked him how much for the service. He mentioned, I did not even check anything, I can't take any money!

[dailydriver]

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that in my 20 years of owning two and four wheelers, never have my vehicles returned from their service without picking up a problem that they went in without!

I am yet to come across a workshop/garage that has strict post-service QC.

[fordday]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

After exactly 15 seconds (yes seconds), he asked me to try to lock and unlock and lo, it worked just like magic.

What did he do? Only open the bonnet or did some fiddling anywhere?

[Jeroen]

Happens all the time. And not just in cars. It is a phenomena that you will come across any industry, any device or appliance. It happens to cars, truck, planes, boats, toasters, air conditioning, dishwasher etc.

It happens for a variety of reasons: Somebody might make a mistake, it could be genuine (we are only human after all) or incompetence.

The other thing is that by working on one problem, you might inadvertently cause other problems. Again, sloppy workmanship is more likely to cause this, than somebody who knows what he/she is doing. But it is an engineering fact taking things apart simply created additional opportunity for new problems to arise. To some extend it is related to the quality of the design, the parts/matierails and how it was put together in the first place.

The older cars get, the more likely this will happen. Re-installing, say a door card, or a piece of trim on an older car can be a nightmare. The plastic has become brittle and will just snap.

Same with wirth electrical stuff. When you a replacing something mechanical on a car, you might have to move some wiring out of the way. Maybe even disconnect a few connectors. The older a car gets, the more prone they become to suffer from these sort of problems. I really don’t like to work underneath the dashboard of my Alfa Spider. Very poorly designed, poor quality wiring and connectors. So even when I might be doing a mechanical repair (e.g. replace a bearing of the cabin fan) I will be touching and moving wires. 2 out of 5 times that means after I fixed the fan I will have an electrical problem. It cant be helped.

Finally, there is also random fault. Cars do wear, no matter how well maintained and sometimes as the saying goes, shit happens. People are extremely bad in recognising random events. Our mind can not deal with random events at all. (Spotify had to change their random shuffle, which was 100% random, to less random, because user did not believe it was random and kept seeing patterns)

Statistically, there are random problems that will pop up after a car has been worked on. Difficult to tell, never accepted on any car forum.

I see some comments from members who appear to suffering from problems after just about every workshop visit. That is certainly not random and it also suggest a level of incompetence, rather than inadvertently caused problems.

What really gets me, if I pick up my car and the problem pops up immediately. Which suggest they just overlooked it. Can be small things, I took my company car for a service the other day. Picked it up and as soon as I start it there are some messages on the display. They just forgot to make a couple of settings in the menu. That is just sloppy, nothing else. I will give everybody the benefit of the doubt, but if that happened a second time at the same workshop I would be taking my business somewhere else

Jeroen

[AntPaul]

I have had 3 instances where the engine malfunctioned hours after service. All instances were due to careless handling by service center.

Instance 1: Year 2009, I was driving my cousin's Swift vdi after its first service as A$$. After negotiating a speed breaker with utmost care, the engine suddenly died. Parked the car using its momentum.

Action taken: Instrument cluster showed no sign of life. Opened hood, saw battery -ve terminal was dislodged. Put it back if place with hand and car was good to go again.


Instance 2: Year 2019, I was driving my 13 year old Maruti Esteem back from how with a colleague. Car was just back from service. While going though a narrow and crowded interior road in Bangalore the engine dies all of a sudden after hitting a pot hole at very slow pace. Barely managed to park the car without blocking traffic using its momentum.

Action taken: All electricals in the car was working fine, car would crank, but engine would not turn on. No error in instrument cluster. Opened hood, removed and re-fit high tension lead connecting distributor to ignition coil and car was good to go.


Instance 3: Year 2017, same car as above, but only 11 years old then. While driving to meet few friends over dinner at around 9-10 pm in night in peak Bangalore traffic, I noticed engine rpm shooting to ~3K randomly when I press clutch. Car was back from service just few hours ago.

Action taken: Nothing. I was late for the dinner and I had 4 others with me. Parked the car in restaurant parking and hoped for the best. When we were back after dinner around 11-12pm, the car was alright. Never faced the issue since. I suspect it to be due to the service center folks doing the 'engine wash'..

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by fordday

What did he do? Only open the bonnet or did some fiddling anywhere?

I think he just checked the closure point for any water accumulation I guess. The electricians first check that and then ask us to lock/unlock. That should have been the first diagnosis of the earlier technician but he ignored that.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Happens all the time. And not just in cars. It is a phenomena that you will come across any industry, any device or appliance. It happens to cars, truck, planes, boats, toasters, air conditioning, dishwasher etc.

Jeroen

OT:
Happens when I fix (or try to fix) things too!

Just the other day I opened up a quartz alarm clock, got it working, started to close up, realized I had not removed the battery and that made it jam again. The whole mechanism had to be reassembled. From then on it was one thing after another breaking (all disposable plastic) and finally the fine copper wire in the coil broke and I had to give up.

[rkv_2401]

I took our Vento TSi in for it's 4th year service, and it came back with a failed ABS sensor. Rendered it undriveable at one point of time, because the gearbox was conking out, and the worst part is they didn't even have stock available. Soon after, a second ABS sensor failed too, so this was just bad luck and timing.

Took the Elantra in for an annual service, and it came back with failed front suspension + wouldn't stop on time. It went in just fine, and came back undriveable. When one side of the suspension was replaced, the other side magically developed the same problem. After spending 60k on a new set of brakes and flushing out the braking system or something, they had the gall to tell me that this is what an Elantra's braking is normally like, thinking I wouldn't recognize what the brakes are like on the car I'd learnt how to drive in. Eventually they broke through and did something that made it driveable again, it wasn't as good as before, plus I was down more than one lakh by this point. Vowed never to go to the Hyundai ASS again.

So summing up, yeah. In my experience, most of the time service center visits have gone perfectly fine, but when something's gone wrong, it's gone horribly wrong, and the car is undriveable.
It never rains, but it pours.

[techn0l0gist]

I ran into this myself over and over again ! There have been times where the service centres have forgotten to tighten drain plugs, forgotten to put back clips/screws/ties/"covers"

to combat this:

Donot send the car for a "general service" (unless in warranty - the service centre usually doesn't do anything since they don't get paid so you are generally safe !)

Ask the service centre to fix only whats broken.

Make sure they dont do any alignment and balancing if the car is going straight and or working "fine".

For simple things likes oil changes and/or brake jobs i stick to my friendly neighborhood mechanic where i can get it dont in front of me in an hour or so and be on my way !

And most importantly avoid fixing anything major the day or evening before a long outstation drive !

[gkveda]

Its a routine for me to revisit workshop after a service. But, being Toyota, most of them were pretty small issues. And could resolve most of these issues with out any escalations.

The service advisor himself resolves the issues when I call him from home after returning from service.

Below are some issues that I have faced after returning from service center. (Not in one instance, but many instances)

1. Missing wheel covers on one of the wheels
2. Car mats gone missing (specifically 3rd row)
3. Brakes becoming very hard
4. Horns to be retuned
5. Sub woofer missing
6. Rear view mirror becoming very lose
7. Alignment gone completely haywired

And few times, I could get the resolution over phone with out taking the car back to service station. When I call him and state the issue, the SA would say he will check and get back to me. With in 30 mins he calls me and give a solution like,

A. He will send a mechanic to home to rectify the issue if the issue is small.
B. He will send the missing part through one of his team members.

Only two instances which I escalated to toyota was the brakes becoming very hard. They had to bleed it. But driving to home and driving back to service station was very scary. Hence I escalated to toyota very strongly.

Second instance was, mis-alignment of wheels. I had alignment bill from Madhus which was done just a week back. I showed them and escalated to toyota stating service center had misaligned it deliberately.

They rectified it free of cost. One assurance that I have from Toyota is, if I go to them with a note of dissatisfaction, they will ensure it gets resolved.

[Samba]

Few common issues I faced across majority of the service centers-

Rattles! Specially when parts like dashboard or door pads are opened.

Not changing the rubber seal while changing a certain part. It ultimately leads to oil leakage or any other kind of niggle. Old rubber seal with a new part never goes well.

Steering remains off-center after wheel alignment.

On close inspection, I have noticed a screw missing or a broken clip from a certain part which has been opened.

Damaging the interior trim (scratches) while trying to open something by callous usage of tools.

Not aligning the parts perfectly. Have noticed panel gaps. Had to get them rectified.

Using spares with wrong part number! Every car's part number needs to be verified from its vin.

[lapis_lazuli]

I must say I have been lucky, touchwood. But I never leave the car unattended. I will avoid garages that wouldn't let me be near the car. Further, I get done only the bare minimum and insist on old filters, gaskets, drain plugs to be shown to me before "discarding". Like someone said, fix only what is broken. Rattles and all....I try to fix it myself.