Bloody Polish !

[Adam Evans]

Firstly let me start with a few days back

Driving through Germany my car didn't feel fine

Took it to a garage and they said my hub nut had come loose because someone has cut the hub shorter and now the nut can't lock.

I asked the garage to tighten it up and put 2 little tacks of weld to hold it in place but they said no they cannot as that is dangerous so they tightened up with studlock and made me sign a document to say I understand that my car CANNOT be driven as I could potentially die !!!

Fast forward a few days when I got to Poland and I take it to a garage. They put it on the ramp and say "I don't see what the problem is, pass me that welder now"

And it's all done

I say how much do I owe you and he said that that bit is for free as long as I pay him to fix my y-piece on my car as it has been bandaged up in the past.

I said to go ahead and repair it

Anyway out comes the grinder and out comes the welder and 15 minutes later I have 2 brand new sections in the exhaust. They do not blow at all and he got it right first time unlike every English person I know !!

Oh and it looks really good

When I come to pay him he said it would be 50PLN which is about £10 !!!!!

Absolutley over the moon car is now safe and that hub nut will not come loose and my exhaust is like a brand new one !!

So all this "bloody polish coming here stealing our jobs" I wish he was in England with the professional job he did as it means I won't have to travel so far next time !!!

[Malc]

ermmm ........... I did report on here that my Y piece cost @£30 ( my UK mechanic guy ) to be welded up and it's like new toooooooooo

Malc

[Adam Evans]

Wow three times more expensive

I do suppose that the overheads in England may be a bit more than Poland

I did work out that it took him 15 minutes for £10 so to work on that it would be £40 an hour !!

How long did it take Mr English Man to do it as the chances are that Mr Polish Man was on more money per hour as he didn't hang about !!

He put the kettle on the boil before he started and poured a hot cup of coffee when he had finished !!

[Malc]

OMG .. it was a part of the annual MOT and service ( oil change ) and checks ......... and by my calculation I paid an extra 30 squid for the Y piece to be sorted ..... dare say he had a few cuppas at my expense too ........... pales into insignificance really with the Xmas pressie I give him every year ( a 20 pack of beer ! ) ..... he's good, quality at £30 an hour, no vat, t/o too low )

Does anyone else give their indie a Xmas pressie ? or is this part of my inane marketing upbringing I wonder !

Malc

[Adam Evans]

No harm meant by Mr English man it's just because I was here I had no choice and when you see a grinder come out near your lexus you do fear the worst !!

If you look after your car it will look after you. Same as your mechanic which you clearly do with the Xmas booze :-P

Mr Polish Man said that it looks like it is a common fault as it seems as though the heatshields come loose and rub against it. Not sure how true this is though.

I may look at investing in a full stainless next year. I think the going rate in England is £450 from cat back. I will see what it is here when I am next over.

Just to make crystal clear. I am not knocking Mr English Man but I am just saying how efficient Mr Polish Man is and I was quite surprised !!!

[Adam Evans]

Also Malc, we are the lucky ones to be able to find a mechanic who will weld it up as I have heard plenty of times that members have been told that their y-piece is totally broken and they need a new one to the tune of nearly £600 !!!

What ever happened to make do and mend ??

Maybe because you drop off a 20 pack at Christmas your mechanic is more willing to help you. Just goes to show, it works both ways

[Malc]

Adam, your Ls400 has a stainless steel exhaust system right through APART from that damn Y piece !

You don't, won't EVER need a new system..... unlike the Ls430s :outforcount:

Malc

[black400]

Have to agree , my local garage has two polish guys work for him , they do a great job .

[Adam Evans]

Oh I didn't know that !!

Thanks for letting me know anyway it is fixed now and as the saying goes. If it works don't fix it.

[Bluesman]

We have used out village garage for the best part of 25 years and Ron who took over from his Dad who started the garage over 80 years ago (sadly has now passed away) is always very helpful, will not throw components away if for instance they only need new brushes etc, he will pull it to bits and repair, good as new.

Car is always ready when he says it will be, never any dirty greasy marks on the car or unexplainable damage. You are always greeted with a friendly hello, never does he ever try and do more work than is necessary. Having LPG fitted is never a problem to any of my cars. After all that he will send you an account with 30 days to pay. So where is this garage????? If I told you I would have to kill you.

We do have some great craftsmen (English) in this country sadly they are outweighed by all those that go to work on a horse. Mike

[ambermarine]

Lets get things in order regarding the Exhaust system on the LS400

The whole system is stainless steel apart from the flanges from cat to Y Pipe .

It is these that start to blow as they corrode away being ferrous heat treated steel ,they are very difficult to weld in situ because of the different metals involved and access to the top of the joint.

As well as the stainless and ferrous metal there is the copper gasket that sits between the two components and this gets to cause heat differences when welding takes place as all the metals melt at different tempratures.

The other problem is that the stainless y pipe just after the flange becomes thin with usage and burns during the welding repair and will in time blow through.At best in terms of a repair it is a short term fix,the only reliable method if welding is to take place is to remove the y pipe and replace with stainless flanges but that is a whole new bag of snakes.

[harrylime]

Am I the only one who thought this post was going to be a rant about an unsatisfactory cleaning product? :)

[ambermarine]

No!

[PEPE]

No! Add me to the list!

[Bluesman]

And me. I thought it was brilliantly written. Go to the top of the class. Mike

[bigjap]

could of been more confusing had it been about east european cleaning products ie polish polish

[PEPE]

could of been more confusing had it been about east european cleaning products ie polish polish

How wonderful! This would be totally impossible in Spanish, my native languare. The closest thing would be betún polaco--no contest.

[lordturns]

The Two Ronnies springs to mind - the classic sketch 'four candles'

[Malc]

upper case P registered with me that it wouldn't be in a tin !!

Malc

[harrylime]

I had the same thought Malc, but as a title, capitalisation of each word is grammatically correct also, and many other post titles have been written the same way.

[Ruud]

Capitalisation of every word is done automatically in the topic title. :) We, as members, have no control over this.

[Malc]

ah ha !!!!! my ignorance was ................... " bliss " :outforcount:

Malc

[Adam Evans]

It's ok now. Back in the UK now. Due to the recent floods in the south the Dover to Calais ferry dropped us off in Birmingham !!

Only joking. On a serious note hope nobody was affected as a result of the floods. Only found out about them on the boat on the way home