Mr G's Astra Attack

Hello faithful readers and welcome to another week of adventures from the KAM team. We have been very busy this week as you continue to heed the call and more and more of your cars are being restored to perfect health. You can leave your comments, questions on our twitter at www.twitter.com/dr_kev.
This week we received a visit from Mr G who as a long time customer here at KAM came straight to our Heanor depot with his mechanical conundrum. As he burst through the door a startled Supreme Sunny was first to ask what problems beseeched Mr G’s Vauxhall Astra. He had been in for a service just 6 months ago, what could be the problem? Had our team failed to notice something? ‘It’s using a lot more fuel recently, much more than usual and I am making the same amount of journeys. I don’t understand’ said Mr G looking puzzled. After further enquiry Mr G also revealed that a roaring noise had also been resonating from the car recently and maybe these two problems could be connected. When all the details were taken we dispatched Mr G off in one of our courtesy cars and got to work.
Tasmanian Trev was on hand to fix this week’s problem and hoisted the car up onto our state of the art ramps and began to take a gander. First the Vauxhall Astra was hooked up to our state of the art diagnostic machines and the mystery started to unravel. This week there was no Diagnostic Dan as he was off on a breakdown call and so we would have to solve this one without him. A short while passed and Tasmanian Trev had a familiar look upon his face as he announced ‘this is easy Kev, the exhaust is blown. I’ll get right to fixing it’. After another look round a look of disbelief adorned Trev’s face, as another car dilemma presented itself. The exhaust catalyst which is held into place by 3 bolts was holding on by a thread with 2 bolts missing. Now I must bestow some cautionary words for all drivers as there has been an increase in exhaust catalyst thefts. This is due to there worth which can be very high and their valuable metal components which can be very lucrative to a wannabe thief. So this is just a warning to be careful about where to park your car and to keep an eye on it if possible. The tell tale signs were there on Mr G’s car and it became obvious that someone had tried to take the catalyst converter, but luckily had been interrupted. Super Shaun got to work first by welding the exhaust to the exhaust catalyst, which was in need of refitting and bolting back up. We did this to save Mr G money as other garages would have simply replaced the components we at KAM think about the customers needs first.
The exhaust catalyst is used to control the emissions that are released from the car and due to a faulty wire leading to the O2 sensor the fuel problem could be explained. As the O2 sensor was faulty and so the ECU was using more fuel than usual. The roaring noise was explained by the loose exhaust catalyst. With all the work done and a clean from Dynamo Dhillan we were ready to see if we had succeeded. As Supreme Sunny turned the key a gentle purring resounded from the engine and the boys look on relieved.
When Mr G came to pick up the car he was thrilled to see the car in good working order and thanked the KAM team for their unflinching dedication to the job. ‘Thanks so much Dr Kev, I’m so glad you fixed it so quickly’. We also explained the threat of thieves and that if he saw anything suspicious then to report it to the police. ‘Wow you really are my heroes’ he laughed and with that he was off.
Remember faithful reader, our team of dedicated and hard working staff at the branches in Sutton and Long Eaton, along with our bodywork shop are open ever day of the week, EXCLUDING Sunday’s, while the lads at our Sawley and Heanor workshops and Sutton car sales are at your service seven days a week, keeping your car where it belongs. ON THE ROAD.