Jacques B

Worst repair service - does not take accountability for errors

I sent my car (1998 Toyota Prado J95 KZTE) in for a new radiator at Fit-it Menlyn (deleted RMI fitment/repair center), as the old radiator had an obvious leak. Once the new radiator was fitted, it was about 2 weeks before I really took the car for a drive, before then it was 5km here and there. About an hour and a half into the drive, 150km, the car started running slightly hot. The aircon stopped and about 10km thereafter I pulled over to assess. I found that the radiator cap blew off and very little water was left in the radiator. I filled the radiator with about 1litre of water (it was all we had in the car) and replaced the radiator cap. Stranded next to the road with my family and no extra water, 7km from a service station, I drove very slowly and off course the engine temp was high. At the service station I filled the radiator and the temperature went back to normal operating (or 2mm above normal) temperature for another 200km. At my destination, I checked the water level, and topped it up with a liter or so. I then realized that they did not install a new radiator cap, but the old cap (this cap still had Japanese written on it, so it is most likely the original cap from 1998). I went to buy a new radiator cap. On my way back, I saw that the temperature was constant and only increased slightly when stopping at toll gates. When I stopped at my destination, I saw that overflow was boiling over. Once cooled, I topped up with about a liter of water. The next day, taking my child to school (about 3km from my house), I saw a thick white smoke intermediary exit my exhaust for a few seconds. I then called the repair center immediately. I took my car in, as requested, to assess where the leak might be and the extent of the damage to my vehicle. I told them the sequence of events, as described above, and they agreed that they did not install a new radiator cap. The repair center is now saying that I must pay for the repairs to the vehicle (their assessment concluded a cracked head or head gasket failure) appropriated at more than R30 000, which could have been prevented by the installation of a new cap worth R70. I had a different mechanic look at it, since I was not satisfied with the service from Fit-it Menlyn. The mechanic recommended we look at valve clearance in the head (which was replaced by Fit-it) as it was smoking a lot and had difficulty starting due to the cold. He found that all valve clearance was far out of specification. He also noted that the workmanship was poor as there was wires that was broken off and not insulated, the starter was a bit loose, and there was some bolts missing. I want to report Fit-it Menlyn as I had to spend about R8000 after my vehicle left there shop to sort out problems they could have prevented.