Showing posts with label vauxhall astra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vauxhall astra. Show all posts

Monday, 30 July 2012

Mrs S's Astra Anomaly

Hello faithful readers it has been another hectic week at KAM as more and more of you take advantage of our great offers and low prices.


The countdown to the Olympics has begun and aside from the security issues I look forward to the ensuing events especially the opening ceremony next week. I hope everyone who was lucky enough to get tickets enjoys it I know I will be from the comfort of my sofa. It is certainly going to be a fun filled 2 weeks and I for one cannot wait to watch the show. Good luck to all those competing and hopefully it will be a golden summer for England.  

This week we received a visit from Mrs S who called in quite a state after experiencing some problems with her car. “Kev you have to help me. I don’t know what has happened with my car. One minute it is was okay and then I get the trifecta and suddenly my car is overcome with a plethora of problems.” Mrs S seemed to be quite shaken and so I reassured her that whatever the problem we would be able to fix it. She then explained that the problems had started a few days earlier as she had noticed that the steering wheel had become awkward to manoeuvre. Mrs S had not seen this as a threat to her driving and so had momentarily ignored the issue and now she was left with even more problems and was in dire need of our help.

“Kev I went out to my Vauxhall Astra this morning and there is smoke coming from the engine as well as a really bad noise, which I am guessing is not a good thing.” Mrs S was worried that her car was beyond repair and was far too scared to drive it. “Please say you can help Kev.” As an added conundrum Mrs S was on her way to work at a new job and was now stranded at home eager to get her car fixed and not to miss out on her first day of work.

With Mrs S being in desperate need of the KAM teams help we quickly loaded up the ‘twuck wid da fwashin lights’ to go and rescue Mrs S. A short while later Benjamin Button had arrived back at the Sawley depot with Mrs S and her smoky, lifeless car in tow. While the boys unloaded the car, we let Mrs S take comfort in our waiting room with a nice hot coffee. By this time she was less worried and was very thankful to the KAM team for coming so quickly to pick her up. “Wow Kev I can’t believe how great your service is. I might even make it to work on time.” We assured Mrs S that the KAM team would return her car back to its best and that she could have full access to one of our state of the art courtesy cars. After all the details were given Mrs S drove away in the courtesy car and we promised to keep her updated on all the car’s developments.

It was then time for this week’s mechanic to stand forward and so it fell to Benjamin Button to take on this week’s gremlins. He started out with some visual observations and then got to work on testing various areas of the car. It was not long till the infamous words rang out “I’ve got it Kev.” It so transpired that the air conditioning compressor had siezed and so this had been the reason that the steering wheel was acting erratically and the awful noises. This had also been why the smoke had been billowing and all that remained was to find the cheapest solution and Mrs S would have her car back as good as new.

Now there was one small problem, it was in fact a Sunday and our fantastic suppliers would not be able to drop off promptly a new air conditioning compressor. It would take at least 4 days for the part to arrive, as it is a very particular and rarely replaced part. It was then time for the team to revert back to some old style mechanics and see whether the existing compressor could be salvaged. 

Ben stripped back the compressor to take a closer look and found that the reason for the siezing was faulty bearings and pulleys. It would be much cheaper to replace these smaller parts than the whole compressor so he got straight to work. Once the pulleys and bearing were replaced Ben then re-gassed the air conditioning system. The moment of truth had arrived and it was time to see whether using some old school mechanics had paid off or whether we would need to disappoint Mrs S with bad news.

Ben took the car out on a road test and arrived back at the depot with a large grin adorning his face. 
“We did it Kev, this car is back on the fast track.” Thankfully this time all that was needed was some smaller parts and we managed to save Mrs S hundreds of pounds, where other garages would just have replaced it and left her with a large bill.

The car was fixed and Mrs S was ecstatic to have her car back and at such low prices. “Wow Kev, next time I have even the slightest problem I will bring it in, you just never know. I’m so glad I came down, nobody does honest and reliable like the KAM team.”

You can leave your comments, questions and queries at www.twitter.com/kamservicing and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kamservicing. For your nearest depot go to www.kamservicing.com     

Remember faithful reader, our team of dedicated and hard working staff at the branches in Sutton, Long Eaton, Bulwell, Beeston and Belper along with our bodywork shop are open every day of the week, EXCLUDING Sunday’s, while the lads at our Sawley and Heanor workshops are at your service seven days a week, keeping your car where it belongs. ON THE ROAD.
So until next week faithful reader, drive safely and keep it shiny side up.
Dr.Kev.
    

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Miss C's Cat-Astra-phe


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 and queries at www.twitter.com/dr_kev
I would just like to pay my respects to Nigel Doughty, he was a great leader of Nottingham Forest and his family is in our prayers. As a long time Nottingham Forest supporter and having met the great man himself, I am very sad to hear the news and send my condolences to all the people he touched.
This week we received a visit from Miss C, who was a new customer here at KAM and she was in a way after hearing about us from a neighbour. But Miss C was not on her way in the traditional form as her car was currently out of service and she was at that very moment, in the tow truck in need of a quick rescue. “Kev the recovery service were really helpful in picking me up fast but now I need my car fixed. I need to get back to school.” It so transpired that Miss C was a teacher had found her car in a state this morning and was too scared to drive it. “Kev I don’t know what happened. I went out to my car this morning and there was a horrible noise resonating from the car.” Miss C had been so startled by the noise that she then called up the AA who were on their way to our Tamworth Road depot. A short while later the AA turned up onto our forecourt in their own ‘twuck wid da fwashin lights’ and Miss C’s Vauxhall Astra was lagging behind. While the car was unloaded Miss C entered our warm KAM offices and we greeted her with a hot coffee to ward off the icy weather outside.
“Miss C then regaled us with the details of her car and was in some what of a hurry to get her car back in working order. “Kev with it being Valentines Day tomorrow, I was hoping to have my car. I have organized a very romantic day for my boyfriend tomorrow and I am so upset that this has happened at totally the wrong time. Miss C was upset and needed the KAM team’s help. Moreover as she was a teacher she was currently missing work because of her car. “Kev this car is just causing me too many inconveniences please say you can help.” Miss C was desperate and we wanted to make her Valentine’s Day a special one so we got straight to work. Here at KAM we are quite the romantics and we wanted to ensure that Miss C’s plans for the big day were not ruined. We took all of Miss C’s details and dispatched her off in one of our courtesy cars so that she could get to work. Diagnostic Dan was this week’s mystery solver and he was straight to work perusing the AA report. “Mmmm well they seem to think it is a burst water pump. We will have to do our own diagnostic tests to determine the cause.” He got to work first undertaking some preliminary observations to see if there were any visible faults within the car. Unfortunately it would not be that easy and so Dan would need to dig a little deeper. He then undertook a pressure test, to check the rest of the car. After some rigorous testing the results were ready and the fault became clear. The pressure test showed that there was water leaking from the cam belt covers and so he would need to take them off to discover where the fault lay. He took the cam belt covers off with all the skill and precision that you can expect from our KAM engineers. It was not long till the infamous words rang “I’ve got it Kev.” It so transpired that the water pump was in fact collapsed and this had been the reason for the worrying noises and the water leaking. We called up our fantastic suppliers and they arrived promptly. Dan then replaced the cam belt and tensioner kit as well as the water pump due to slight damage and anti-freeze contamination to the belt as you can’t be too careful. The pressures were returned to normal and we also topped up all the levels in the engine bay and checked the tyre pressures.
We did our road test and the car roared back to life with no sign of the previous noises. Miss C arrived later and was ecstatic to have her car back to its previous vigour. “Wow Kev, thanks so much. You are my very own St Valentines.
Remember faithful reader, our team of dedicated and hard working staff at the branches in Sutton, Long Eaton, Bullwell and Belper along with our bodywork shop are open every day of the week, EXCLUDING Sunday’s, while the lads at our Sawley and Heanor workshops are at your service seven days a week, keeping your car where it belongs. ON THE ROAD.
So until next week faithful reader, drive safely and keep it shiny side up.
Dr.Kev.