Thanks for the wake up call, Mum...

[Golf Loon]

Sounds like he left it outside ith the light out and the door open whichhas buggered the c/l pump and battery.
I`d get a new battery and stick a c/l pump in and go from there.
I probably would ring him up and tell him to bite me for his $700 too.

[Preen59]

Looks good Mickey.

Just remember that things like this can be hard to quote on sometimes and he may have run into unforeseen problems during the repair. Not everyone is dodgy because they've had to charge you more than they quoted. I'm not saying you should cough up the money and take it like a bitch.. But don't jump straight on the negative "he's ripping me off" band wagon. These poor bastards get reamed by insurance companies stating what they will pay for a repair to get done all the time.


Normal lead acid car batteries are designed to work being constantly charged or topped up (within reason).

Leave them for a while and they discharge. This, combined with the cold weather can really take it's toll on a battery. If a battery is on its way out anyway, just one cold night can really stick the knife in the side for the last time..

[gldgti]

Looks good Mickey.

Just remember that things like this can be hard to quote on sometimes and he may have run into unforeseen problems during the repair. Not everyone is dodgy because they've had to charge you more than they quoted. I'm not saying you should cough up the money and take it like a bitch.. But don't jump straight on the negative "he's ripping me off" band wagon. These poor bastards get reamed by insurance companies stating what they will pay for a repair to get done all the time.


Normal lead acid car batteries are designed to work being constantly charged or topped up (within reason).

Leave them for a while and they discharge. This, combined with the cold weather can really take it's toll on a battery. If a battery is on its way out anyway, just one cold night can really stick the knife in the side for the last time..

+ 1 on all that, and what Loon said. sure as heck is probable the battery dies of its own accord under the circumstances, and given the central locking pump is right where the accident damage was, it's not unlikely that it got wet sometime. now im definately not pointing the finger at anyone - but an electrical part that gets wet doesnt necesarily break straight away - if it got wet anytime from the crash to now, it could have taken a while (and a lot of time doing nothing) for connections in it to corrode.

[Mrk_Mickey]

I've fixed my central locking

there was evidence (which I photographed) of ''paint water'' in the circuit-board of the central locking motor. We know this because my mate showed me the same water he used for wetsanding after painting a new panel and it was identical, even in texture so that makes it the panelbeater's fault.

Battery is very, very dead. Need a new one. My mate reckons I should just get a normal one from a servo or something for 100-something bucks, would anyone advise against this? I drive it once a day and only use the sound system when the car is off when I vacuum the inside.

Thanks for all the pointers guys...at the end of the day, he did do a good repair. He told me it cost extra for the boot line-up (cos...the chassis was actually bent ) but at the same time he only did four days work on it in 6 weeks, with only 2 cars in between. He has given me no evidence for quote or labour/parts costs (receipt) and he also left all those horrible buffing marks all over my car. SO: New battery, ''new'' motor, fix the buff marks, and that adds up to 700 even if i install it myself. Looks like I'm keeping that from him...

[Preen59]

SO: New battery, ''new'' motor, fix the buff marks, and that adds up to 700 even if i install it myself. Looks like I'm keeping that from him...

Well you do what you like.. But you still got out cheap. I would advise against withholding the money from him because it's just not cricket.

Maybe go and talk to him about it rather than just gyp him for 700 bucks? If i was in his situation i'd be really pissed if you did that to me...


Any normal battery should be fine dude. But buy a mid range one atleast. The cheap ones are usually crap.

[Mrk_Mickey]

I'm going to ring him and explain my problem tomorrow. I'm hoping he's going to be the sort of guy he is and understand it...but if he doesn't, then I'm going to use the excuse of lack of paperwork and cash-only job to say that I'm not going to pay any more cos I've gotta keep fixing what should have been protected to start with.

I'm not gonna knock him out without taking a few jab shots first

[DubSteve]

I don't know what the fuss is for the battery, if the car doesn't get started of course the battery will die.

Same thing happened to me and they told me to charge your battery. I didn't create a fuss over the battery I don't think you should either! Charge it and see how you go.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Does the alternator not charge the battery while the car's running? I was always under that impression.

[Manaz]

Does the alternator not charge the battery while the car's running? I was always under that impression.

That's the theory - an alternator should produce just over 14v, which is enough to charge a 12v battery.

I'd point out the fact that there was paint-water on the circuit board, and see what he has to say about that.

If you're reasonably happy with the rest of the job (will PM you my mate's number), withholding the whole $700 would be pretty slack - if fixing the central locking cost you anything, tell him you want that covered out of the $700, and see what he has to say about that - doing the job cash on the side has probably helped you out considerably, and as long as the workmanship is reasonable, the timing (unless he promised it sooner) and battery are just unfortunate.

There's little point in trying to charge the battery - at 10.x volts, it's almost certainly dropped a cell (discharge without a dropped cell will result in lower amps but you'll still get 12v), and any success you have in reviving the dead cell will almost certainly be short lived and just end up leaving you stranded later on (potentially in a less-than-ideal situation).

[Mrk_Mickey]

Yeah I understand what you're saying mate, but here's my problem. He gave me excuses about parts, after absolutely demanding that I buy new. He said the job would be quicker that way. He gave me a time of 2 to MAYBE 3 weeks, and then proceeded to tell me he had court twice a week or so every week and subsequently couldn't work on my car.

I don't mean to be rude or shallow minded, but that ain't my problem. 2 or 3 weeks isn't 6. And it sure as hell isn't +$700 because he quoted less work. If I didn't have my mate and sister to borrow cars off I'd have lost my job cos I would have been completely unreliable. That's putting me out bigtime so I don't think I should have to pay extra for a longer waiting period.