Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone may know what the problem is with my car. A few months ago an error appeared on my dash it said contact dealer and I noticed my Petrol fuel guage is no longer working.
As my car was due for a pink slip in August I waited until now and told the mechanic about the problem.
He said the problem would be the sender unit attached to the fuel pump, I left the car with him to fix the guage and do a service and the pink slip.
I collected the car and was then advised they can no longer do inspections on gas cars as their gas man has left but they did the service and n I now owe them $280, I paid and left.
I found another mechanic who does gas cars and I told him about the problem and I booked in to have the pump changed, and also replace the spark plugs as the car just hit 240,000km's, and do the pink slip while he has the car.
I just picked up the car and its running well with its new fuel pump and new spark plugs but the fuel guage is not working still after paying out close to $900 today to have it all done.
Apparentl,y when they use their fancy Snap-On Tools computer the thing is saying the instrument cluster does not beong to this car, which is wrong!
I have owned the car since 2015 and the instrument cluster has not been changed and before I bought it, it was a company car that was very well serviced and it had 195,000 km on the dash. So it is not as if someone changed the dash so they could sell the car saying it has low km's. I have owned it all these years and never had any error codes before except for when stating it's due for a normal service.
One of the guys says he know a guy who can hack the cars computer and can get into it much deeper thna the mechanics canbut he costs about $300 to get to come over and have a look.
When they force it to reset suddenly the guage works again but then stops a few minutes later saying the fuel tank sender signal is High, and also reports the cluster has been changed when it hasn't.
Also if you guys paid for this to be repaired and two differently mechanical repairers were saying its the fuel pump sender then you paid one of them to change it and you got the car back with the same issue would you expect to have to pay for the full repair?
I spoke briefly with Fair Trading, I could have a case but am not sure if I should complain or not as I don't believe they are trying to rob me, I believe they were just wrong with their diagnosis.
I don't feel it is fair that I should have to pay the full price when in fact they have fixed nothing, your opinions on this would be appreciated.
The two mechanics are now suspicious the main computer has a problem such as a crack in the board which is causing this intermittant problem, if you guys can help with any advice it would be much appreicated.
THe first mechananic doens something similar to me 2 years ago as well, there is a rattle in my duel fuel car each morning on the first start, he suggested it was my timing chain or belt I cant recall which this has, I said ok lets fix it and I paid him $1900 when I got the car back the same issue was still there. I researched the issue online and found out there is a small o-righ or something that is supposed to hold the oil pressure in the top part of the motor and more than likely that is the culprit and is the reason why the car is rattling on the first start as the top of the engine is not holinding the oil until morning, Fair trading says i may also have a case with this matter, once agian I'm unsure what to do and any advice would be appreciated, all I know is that I'm a disabled pensioner and I dont have a lot of saving and I cant afford tradesmen to be wrong and I need my car to be working properly.