Car trouble

[Harrison]

I'm having a bit of a nightmare at the moment with my car.

I've got a Peugeot 508 SW. Until now it's been brilliant. I mainly do motorway driving and it returns 60mpg and I get nearly 1000 miles from a single tank of diesel.

Anyway the Friday before last it broke down. The engine management light came on and then it went into limp home mode. Always fun trying to drive a car like that, limited to 2000 rpm. The engine was running very rough and sounded like it was misfiring. I connected the bluetooth ECU error code reader I have to the car and the error said injector 3 was faulty. My normal garage was fully booked up until the following Thursday, but after much ringing round I found a local garage that had time the following Monday to take a look, and if used them before.

I managed to drive the car to the garage and drop it off, and they gave me a lift home. They rang my late afternoon to say they had managed to get a new injector the same day and had replaced it and it was ready to collect. I couldn't until the following day.

On getting the car it ran perfectly and drove nicely but really smelt of diesel both inside and when stood near by. I queried this before driving off and they said was just because they had been working on the fuel system and it would disappear.

I drove to work that day and it worked prefectly. But it still smelt of diesel and it wasn't going away. I decided if the smell hasn't gone by the following day to ring the garage. But on my way home Wednesday suddenly the engine management light came on, then it went into limp home mode, then threw up a warning to turn the engine off immediately, and a few servings later it cut the engine and I had to coast to a stop in a quite dangerous place at a crossroads.

It wouldn't start and so I called the AA. The police turned up because it was in a dangerous position and they directed traffic and the car. 1.5 hours later the AA turned up with a flatbed to take the car home. But the driver said he couldn't give me a lift because of covid. So I had to ring the AA back to arrange a taxi home. The journey was about 35 miles. So my car went off without me at about 10:30pm and arrived back home at midnight. And because it was raining heavily the police gave me a lift to a local supermarket where I rang the AA and has to wait for a taxi. I eventually got home at 1:30am.

The next morning I scanned the car and it asked a fault for a major fuel leak. Instant guess was they hadn't fitted the new injector properly and that also explained the smell of diesel as it was leaking. I rang the garage and they came and collected the car that afternoon.

The following day the garage tried to say there was nothing wrong with the car and I'd run out of fuel. I know that wasn't true because I'd only put half a tank of diesel in the day before and it was showing over 1/4 tank when it broke down. They said they had to put some duesel in it to get it started and it was showing empty. Yes, fuel leak! I said running out of fuel wouldn't explain the strong smell of diesel, the AA saying there was a fuel leak, or the error log and the car going into limp home mode then sitting down. They had to agree with that and said they would text drive it. Rang back later and said they couldn't find anything wrong and to drive it to work and see if it happened again. Sorry, but not going to do that.

So as far as I'm concerned it still has to fuel leak. I rang my normal garage and he was still fully booked up but I explained the situation and he said to drop it off anyway and he would find the time this week to take a look. So I left it there Monday and now just need to wait to hear from him.

Really annoyed. Had they fitted it correctly that first day everything would be fine. Won't be going back to that garage again. So I've been having to use my wife's Volvo V60 to get to work every day.

[J T]

Car trouble is such a pain in the bum, and we are so reliant on them. Good job your wife had one too.

[Harrison]

Indeed. You take them for granted until they go wrong.

My local garage was fully booked up this week but he still found time to fully check the car and test the fuel system. He couldn't find any more fuel leaks but said the fuel rail catch tray was full of diesel, so suspects it was leaking and the other garage replacing the o-ring seal they mentioned when they had the car back did fix the leak. But it's nice to know its had a second opinion by a mechanic I trust and I feel more confident driving it again. He wanted to give it a final longer test drive this morning to fully test it was ok before handing it back so I should finally get it back this afternoon. He also said he replaced the cabin air filter because it stank of diesel and ran an air cleaner through the air system to get rid of the smell. He went above and beyond when he really didn't have the time this week. Great guy.

[Kin Hell]

It sounds like your experience here was a....

"Ted in Shed" ....kinda job....

[Harrison]

Dave at my local garage knew the other garage owner and said they are normally ok, so he wondered if they were just rushed off their feet or had a bad day, but equally that's still no excuse because you don't expect to break down after it's repaired.

Anyway I'm happier now my usual garage, and a mechanic I trust, has completely checked the fuel rail and system for leaks and issues. No more diesel smell and drives well. Will find out for sure next week when I drive to work on longer runs.