Sorry for posting this here wasnt sure where else to ask in the pub.
Does anyone (Gilbertd) know of a reputable garage in Lyon or someone able to collect my Mrs car from Lyon and bring it to Dijon.
It has a burnt out clutch and is currently at a garage in Lyon where she broke down but as usual they are now trying to rip us off so I'd rather get it back to Dijon.
I cant use my P38 at the moment otherwise I would of course.
Cheers.
There's a guy called Florent who is heavily into his P38 and making off road bits for them. He organised a French P38 rally last year and from the photos that I saw posted somewhere, some of them were taken outside the Land Rover dealers alongside the A6 just north of Lyon. Not seen him around for a while and his profile on Rangerovers.net shows his location as Paris. His username on there is 996TURBO (so I suspect he's doing quite well out of making bits for off road P38s....). He's on facebook, or at least his company is, https://www.facebook.com/rrevolution.evolution/ and his website is http://rr-evolution.com/. Although he may be in Paris, he may be able to put you in touch with someone in Lyon or Dijon that can drag the car back for you (he may even know someone that can change a clutch for a sensible price too). He speaks reasonable English too, or he's found a computer translator that doesn't convert a language into something that may contain all the right words but in completely the wrong order....
Thanks. I will give him a try.
Cheers for the PM to and the anecdotes :)
Originally the garage quoted €650 for the clutch so we asked for invoice with parts list and it rose to €920 then when we said go ahead & all of a sudden the starter motor and the battery needs replacing. Well, I changed the battery last year and the car always started fine before. Total now €1500 although other garages were trying to charge €1500 just to do the clutch.
Another garage tried to rip my mrs off last year. The handbrake totally went when she was out and she took it to a garage who quotes a reasonable amount but again after saying ok they tried to say that the brake calipers needed replacing to a tune of €600 despite they did a free brake check the day before.Obviously we refused & I tested the calipers , they were perfectly fine and somehow the hand brake cable came loose from the lever.
So I have no trust over here with garages. Cars are a ridiculous price. No wonder people drive around in knackered old cars when they cant get the people to do the jobs.
I know all about the prices of cars over there. My mate runs an old Discovery that he wouldn't part with for any money and currently also has a Peugeot 406 Coupe while his wife has a Toyota Rav4 and his son a Porsche Boxster. All RHD, UK registered and bought in the UK. What can be picked up for a grand over here would cost you almost 3 times that over there. He paid £1200 for a Saab 9-3 convertible last year that I picked up for him from a local trader and his intention was to keep that and sell the Peugeot. Then someone offered him 3000 Euros for the Saab so he kept the Peugeot. I had a car to bring back last summer so we looked around for something to use as a trailer filler for the way down. I paid £600 for a Ford StreetKa (the convertible Ka) which sold on Anglo Info for 2500 Euros despite it needing a new clutch. It's bonkers it really is.
Mrs paid €3000 for a heap of crap Citroen Xsara Picasso 2005 1.6 HDI. It really was a state but that was the cheapest thing at the time. WE just moved here when she bought it . She came over in her other heap from the UK a Citroen Xsara which had also just died so she was desperate.
I couldnt believe though that you have to pay tax every time you register a car for a new owner, she paid the same I did for my P38.
Get this. A mechanic in Lyon offered to do the labour for €350 cash in hand, sounds good so far but then he comes back and says he wants €650 for parts. I am PMSL at these people, not really I am bloody angry.
Looks like we will have to Pay €400 to get the car transported back but at least I can deal with it better back home.
Tell him he can do the job for €350 cash but you'll supply the parts. Eurocarparts over here want £75 for a complete clutch kit. It's only £105 for a genuine Valeo! Even with postage it isn't going to come to €650.......
Yeah , Ive just lost all trust in them so wouldnt rely on them to fit it.
Annoyingly its too bigger job for me to do at the side of a road.
We will get the car back and try find a reputable garage here.
It would be great if we could get "Flo" to join this site. I remember him from RR.net. He is very knowledgeable and his English is good.
Very helpful guy. Only thing is he has his own forum (in French).
Maybe send an invite ?
Sent Florent messages but didnt receive any reply.
The car is back home now at a cost of €400.
I charged the battery and all cells are fine so that was bullshit as suspected plus the car was still in gear from when my mrs left it so I can only imagine the complete tool at the garage suspected a starter because the car would jump forward when trying to start it. I managed to pull the clutch pedal back up and put it in neutral and it starts fine.
What a bunch of you know whats.
Luckily the mrs has spoken to people at work who has a mechanic friend that will do the clutch including parts for €500 though he doesn't have a garage and is going to do it behind the supermarket. LOL.
I feel another story coming.
Am I missing something.
The garage in Lyon tried to say it also need a new battery and starter motor of which I thought was absolute bull as I replaced the battery last year and the car always started fine.
After getting the car back I put the battery on an optimate and it charged without fault showing green so I knew that was definately bull.
The car was stuck in gear and obviously wouldnt start but I managed to get it out of gear and it started fine.
The car started when the mechanic picked it up.
He has called today to say that the starter motor needs replacing because its damaged when the clutch went. How is a starter related to the clutch going? This mechanic is a friend of a friend so unlike others I have more trust in him.
Also I am looking at replacement on Eurocarparts just incase and apart from price I cant see the difference although the product code is different. from the top starter than the bottom starter.
Its a Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6 hdi 109bhp 2005:
Clutch is bolted to the flywheel and the starter engages with the ring gear on the outside of the flywheel. I suppose if the clutch cover let go then bits of it could have damaged the starter but if it was mine and it was still working I wouldn't bother replacing it, I'd just bear it in mind in case it started making any funny noises.
You got Eurocarparts in France???? I thought you were stuck with being ripped off by Norauto?
Cheers for that, its quite possible I suppose as there was a lot of rattling going on.
Eurocarparts online and I totally stay clear of Norauto.
Thats the end of that car.
After fitting a new clutch and starter as the casing had basically broke apart with an exploding clutch there is apparently a big leak in the gear box so enough is enough, time to get rid for spares/repairs.
By the sounds of it the mrs was driving the car with a dodgy clutch though she says she couldnt tell until it finally exploded.
The mechanic showed me the evidence and photos and its basically shrapnel .
Annoyingly we were in Italy a month back and got hit up the rear of which the repairs had only been fixed a few weeks back.
That's a bit of a bugger, especially knowing how much cars cost over there even for an old dog. So much cheaper here, 4 weeks ago I bought a 2002 Honda HR-V VTech with 12 months MoT for £500 and last week I picked up a 2004 Mercedes C180 Kompressor Coupe with only 63,000 on the clock for £1450. These were both for other people but both of them were very tidy and needed minimal fiddling to get near perfect. I doubt you'll find anything over there for under a grand.
Mrs wants a newer car meaning a loan.Groooooooooan & sigh. Just been looking today and even a 2009 are around €10k.We can forget getting anything around €5k as they are still old bangers. Annoyingly she wont drive a R/H car the same as I wont drive a L/H so I cant argue that point with her.
To think I paid £3k for the p38 and have had it 7 years, so glad I brought it with us despite the hassle of getting its French plates.
You could have done what most ex-Pats do and left it on UK plates. As long as you bring it back once a year for an MoT and have it registered at a UK address, then it's a temporary import (or in the case of most ex-Pats I know, leave it on UK plates at a UK address, SORN it and don't bother with an MoT).
Unfortunately That would cost me a about £500 plus return in petrol , tolls & crossing.
I dont think it would be plain sailing in the event of an accident either and would probably be investigated by the insurance company with suspicion, especially if you chose not to MOT it.
Sainsburys do clutches, what ever next,, 😂