Harry’s World

A little while ago the clutch in the car started to make some nasty, expensive sounding, noises. So, once I was sure that funds allowed me to fix it, I booked it into the garage to be done. This was going to be done at a garage near where I work - minimising the hassle of having to take any time off work.

The Saturday before this was due to be fixed it completely gave up. Luckily I do have breakdown cover and so called them up and got it towed to a local garage. They, unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to fix it for 10 days due to being fully booked.

Typically, they didn’t actually order the parts that were required until the day they were to fix it… so it wasn’t ready until the day after. I got a couple of days peace though - we were supposed to be going up to visit my parents that week so I sent up my wife and child as per the plan and stayed at home to wait for the car to be fixed.

Upon collecting the car I discover:

• The clutch is fixed!
• The exhaust is blowing
• The “Check Engine” light is permanently on

They re-hanged the exhaust straight-away so that’s good but they didn’t have a diagnostic machine that worked with the car and didn’t have the time (neither did I to be honest) to investigate fully.

Unfortunately, given the current fuel prices, the symptoms are increased fuel consumption. I am currently getting a very scary 22mpg rather than a slightly annoying 32mpg.

I hope they fix the problem today.