Coolant woes

[xkjagnz]

I took my car in for a service and as part of it they topped up the coolant, unfortunately the halfwit that did the job put an incompatible coolant in (I had green, he used red) resulting in the mess below and an overheated engine. Fortunately I had water in the car so I didn't end up with omghgf or any damage (although I did get a bit messy when I removed the radiator cap) this also managed to blast quite a bit of the gunk out. The heater was also pretty pathetic post clogsville (was like an asthmatic ant blowing through a straw after eating a polo mint)

Took back to the garage and got a full flush and replacement of coolant, although took a bit of internet persuasion to the desk idiot to prove that the coolants were incompatible.

Mind you he also tried to say that the fan wasn't working and as we were stood in front of the car it cut in, then he tried the old "well that's at the high end of its temperature range"

Twat!!!

[paulplom]

Is it fixed now then?

[xkjagnz]

yup, just went and checked it (nice green coolant) after about the 100k drive home

 

[Mally]

That's a fair test!

[Wingz123]

Where did you have this done?

Name and shame the twats

[Anthony]

5 hours ago, Wingz123 said:

Where did you have this done?

Name and shame the twats

 

Bit harsh - mistakes happen, but it sounds like the garage has put it right at no cost and without putting up too much of a fight.

[SiC]

Also I believe the OP lives in New Zealand, so don't a massive help to the majority of people on this forum!

[Shirley Knott]

I feel your pain.

I had the timing belt and waterpump done on the Golf a couple of years back at my *trusted garage, when I picked the car up out of curiosity I casually asked what antifreeze they'd used (It should meet G12 spec) They shrugged and gestured over to a 25l drum in the corner, it had 'Dex-Cool' written on it.

Anyone who's ever googled Dex Cool will understand....

TBF to them they're a decent bunch of lads, the VW coolant is red as is the dex stuff so easy to see how it could happen. I didn't want to kick up a stink,  I  just drove straight home and proceeded to flush and drain the coolant system to within an inch of it's life.

[xkjagnz]

It was Takapuna car clinic (Auckland's North shore) mistakes happen just glad I didn't ruin the little cube as touch wood she isn't a bad car --- stop laughing!!

 

[STUNO]

Can't see for sure but it looks like it did a pretty good job of stirring up all the rusty shit in the cooling system and actually did you a favour .

[New POD]

11 hours ago, xkjagnz said:

It was Takapuna car clinic (Auckland's North shore) mistakes happen just glad I didn't ruin the little cube as touch wood she isn't a bad car --- stop laughing!!

 

Well I won't be going there in a hurry.  Just as you won't use Kirklake Garages of Formby on the Northwest coast if England in a hurry either. 

[Shirley Knott]

It's this kind of stuff that was the catalyst for me to start working on my own cars about 10 years ago, I'm sure lots of other people here are the same. Paying someone £40 an hour to break stuff and speak to you like you're stupid gets old pretty quickly and is probably the main thing that puts regular folk off running older cars and forces people into hire purchase arrangements.

The only stuff I don't do myself these days are jobs that I'm absolutely convinced I'd struggle with (Complex timing belts etc) I have a trusted garage but even they seem capable of getting things spectacularly wrong as per the 'Dex Cool' anecdote posted earlier.