GT4
Nordschleife
- Joined
- 8 Nov 2008
- Messages
- 30,181
Went along to the free 111 point check last Saturday (7th November).
[the "findings" are listed at the end]
Now alarm bells should have rung when on calling up to book, before we even confirmed a time slot, all they wanted to know was if my car was due a service and if it was under warranty.
Anyway a 9am slot was booked.
Then "wagonface" was kind enough to warm me, via the forum, about the RMS killing roads around Chiswick :wink: .
On arrival there were some nice pastries, however, after an hour and a half (10:30am) waiting for my "while you wait" check, they hadn't even bothered to take my car out of the car park.
Bored with the papers and looking at the unattractive and unsafe cabling in the waiting area (see attached) I asked if I could pop back, after doing some shopping. They said the service shuts at 1:00pm, but someone would be there to hand over cars until 4:00pm.
I asked if someone would call when it was done with a summary of any issues or work that needed doing.
So I set off to West Kensington. Having met up with some friends, I failed to note the time until about 1:10pm. No call had been missed by OPC, so I called them. Only to be rudely told by the receptionist that I "should have phoned 10 minutes ago" and everyone had gone home.
I rushed to collect it within 30 mins. On collection I was given a photocopied, hand-scrawled work sheet.
The member of staff who gave it to me could hardly read it, so I wondered how I would guess what the "report" contained?
Amusingly (sort of), I had a receptionist call me on Tuesday as a follow-up to see if I wanted to spend some money. Incredulous at her appallingly non-technical attempts to guess the words on another copy of the report, I said I wasn't getting the "sell" if neither of us knew what she was selling! Needless to say, her offer to "fix" my car was declined.
As mentioned, OPC Cambridge had my car in for annual service and condensors. Requested they check all of these Chiswick findings and only the condensors were relevant.
I was so concerned that the scavenger pump was after market after, that OPC Cambridge took pictures and sent them to Porsche Technical, who confirmed it as the X51 dual chamber pump.
Lucky I didn't take up this Chiswick offer to swap for a standard "Porsche" one (not least as the additional X51 lubrication return pipe would have nowhere to go, and on starting the engine would simply decant the sump's entire contents at 5 bar!)
Just be careful out there, if you have a 911 TT you might just get an advisory to remove the two odd "turbiney" things contaminating the purity of the engine bay!
[the "findings" are listed at the end]
Now alarm bells should have rung when on calling up to book, before we even confirmed a time slot, all they wanted to know was if my car was due a service and if it was under warranty.
Anyway a 9am slot was booked.
Then "wagonface" was kind enough to warm me, via the forum, about the RMS killing roads around Chiswick :wink: .
On arrival there were some nice pastries, however, after an hour and a half (10:30am) waiting for my "while you wait" check, they hadn't even bothered to take my car out of the car park.
Bored with the papers and looking at the unattractive and unsafe cabling in the waiting area (see attached) I asked if I could pop back, after doing some shopping. They said the service shuts at 1:00pm, but someone would be there to hand over cars until 4:00pm.
I asked if someone would call when it was done with a summary of any issues or work that needed doing.
So I set off to West Kensington. Having met up with some friends, I failed to note the time until about 1:10pm. No call had been missed by OPC, so I called them. Only to be rudely told by the receptionist that I "should have phoned 10 minutes ago" and everyone had gone home.
I rushed to collect it within 30 mins. On collection I was given a photocopied, hand-scrawled work sheet.
The member of staff who gave it to me could hardly read it, so I wondered how I would guess what the "report" contained?
THE USELESS REPORT:
996 C2 Coupe (good start, only two driven wheels down)
1 Cigar Lighter Not Working [this was a blown fuse in the fuse box]
2 None Porsche Battery [a nice new Bosch S5 010 85 Ah 880 CCA]
3 None Porsche wiper blades [?]
4 A/C panel faulty [my fault, I had left it in "diagnostics mode" to show the digital coolant temp etc, although simply pressing "AUTO" returns it to normal, all the "random" numbers confused them]
5 After market scavenger pump system [this is a cracker, as it is the Porsche Factory Fit X51 dual chamber oil pump!]
6 Rear lower arm bushes coming away [apparently not]
7 Clutch low and rear main etc minor leak [odd as the clutch is only 4k miles old and not hard, soft, low or high. No drips from my "leaking" RMS!]
8 After market intake system fitted [that would be the subtle red drain-pipe thing!]
9 N/S A/C condensor breaking up [this was spot on - and both were changed today and regassed by OPC Cambridge, but this was noted and booked 6 weeks ago, so no extra points to them]
Amusingly (sort of), I had a receptionist call me on Tuesday as a follow-up to see if I wanted to spend some money. Incredulous at her appallingly non-technical attempts to guess the words on another copy of the report, I said I wasn't getting the "sell" if neither of us knew what she was selling! Needless to say, her offer to "fix" my car was declined.
As mentioned, OPC Cambridge had my car in for annual service and condensors. Requested they check all of these Chiswick findings and only the condensors were relevant.
I was so concerned that the scavenger pump was after market after, that OPC Cambridge took pictures and sent them to Porsche Technical, who confirmed it as the X51 dual chamber pump.
Lucky I didn't take up this Chiswick offer to swap for a standard "Porsche" one (not least as the additional X51 lubrication return pipe would have nowhere to go, and on starting the engine would simply decant the sump's entire contents at 5 bar!)
Just be careful out there, if you have a 911 TT you might just get an advisory to remove the two odd "turbiney" things contaminating the purity of the engine bay!