Computer says no

MIghtyG

How do people find a reputable car garage for repairs these days?

I have a fairly high millage motor (108K miles) but it has been services every 10K without fail and has been running fine up to now. Now when its cold the engine has a bit of a tick to it which goes when warm - my gut is saying its a hydraulic lifter but who knows.

Took it into a garage to see what they think and how much to fix.

"our diagnostics system isnt showing any faults on it so we dont really know, we would just be guessing at the problem to be honest, will be expensive going down that route. Best to just take it into the main (st)dealer garage"

So thats my weekend sorted, crawling in the driveway to get some oil out so I can top up with a can of Wynns lifter treatment and a prayer

Wish me luck!

zeppelino

Depending on the make there may be an independent specialist near you.

Would the problem have been noticeable to them at the time? Perhaps the engine was warm enough for it not rear its head...

Over by there

Word of mouth. Know someone with the same make? Ask them. Don't trust the find a trade type but the good garage scheme is a starter to look. By no means a guarantee but part of the research.
The Good Garage Scheme: Good Garage Scheme – Car servicing, MOTs and car repairs

Fortunate I have a few good local garages and can do old school repairs as well.

Go and interview the garage. Seriously. Its your car and your money. You need a good mechanic and trustworthy outfit. Talk to them, look at the state of the workshops (though one I used was a tad untidy but top notch work).

MIghtyG

Oh they said they could hear the problem, clear as day "but I'd be guessing as to whats wrong really, would get expensive quickly just replacing parts to try and find the faulty one" you dont say!

seems like they are a decent MOT/Service garage or a garage that just performs replacement work when the computer tells them to, when it comes to actual diagnosis and repair, not a clue.

So, engine stethoscope ordered myself to try and get the root of it, and a can of wynns sitting in my cupholder waiting for the weekend. Fingers crossed its dry at least!

zeppelino

Haynes manual available for it? Hope you can sort it without much spending

Over by there

Never liked additives. Hiding issues though red x used to be a giggle.

Edit. Cracked or holed manifold? They can tick.

car-man

What make of car is it and which engine?
If you have a ticking lifter then do an oil and filter change making sure you use the recommended grade of oil.
It would be silly to put the car on a diagnostic machine for a ticking noise, it certainly isn't going to give you an answer!
To be fair, a noise in the engine needs to be diagnosed properly but a lifter noise wouldn't be easy to find as an individual and may need a set to eliminate the fault and even then the problem may turn out to be something else!
Sometimes you can't win in the garage trade...you try to diagnose a problem without fitting parts and you fit parts when you can't diagnose a fault...the garage is probably correct in not wanting to get involved with this problem, it's definitely a no win situation for them...I've been there many times!

AMc

FWIW - my Golf showed the engine light a while back.  My trusted mechanic put it on the diagnostics and spoke to a TFSI expert.  They both agreed it could be a faulty injector but as it was running OK to try a petrol additive injector cleaner and run a couple of tanks to see if it cleared up - which it has.  Apparently removing the injectors is fiddly and they're easy to damage so taking a look would take a fair bit of time and might result in replacing something that wasn't faulty but got damaged.
It also has a slightly lumpy idle when cold and some misfires on C4 in the logs, my guy checked for faulty coils by switching a good one for the suspect one but it didn't clear up.  He said he can start replacing parts but did I want to do that on my near 100K 10 year old car.  His opinion is its unlikely to fail catastrophically so save my money until it's a easier to find.
IMHO A bad garage would be more than happy to start pulling the car to bits and racking up the chargeable hours.

MIghtyG

Its a 2014 Touareg 3L V6 TDI. Oil & filter changed about 2 weeks ago. Before I took it into the garage I said it has a tick when cold which goes away when warm, they said they would run a diagnostics to find the problem.I mentioned I have an OBD sensor and cant see any fault codes myself and there is no engine management light on, "it'll be in the ECU" they said.......ok.

But to their credit I guess, the said if we dont find a fault no fee and there was no arguments when I picked the car up. So nothing lost my side but some time I guess.

I just begrudge going into a garage I don't know who will charge me £X/hour to fault find, feel like I might as well write a blank cheque and buy a nice big jar of Vaseline.

car-man

As I said, an electronic test wouldn't be any use at all for a fault? like this.
The 3L V6 is a real pain to work on so I'm not surprised at all that the garage passed on it...any garage worth its salt wouldn't charge for not finding a fault.
It will be slightly easier to check a V6 than most other engines as the noise will be on a bank of 3 cylinders, so much easier to listen to just the three of them, but still more than 3 lifters (4 lifters per cylinder.) You should be able to find the correct cylinder, but finding the correct lifter might be tricky.
There will be a lot of labour time involved replacing the lifters plus expensive parts.

My advice would be to leave everything as it is and let the noise either develop, or, as is a possibility, the noise just goes away.
Sometimes giving the engine a good rev at 3000 rpm for a few minutes might help.