I have a car.
It's a Fiat.
It was due for its timing belt change at 64k, so I thought I'd take it to the Fiat garage seeing as they should know what they're doing right?
Well you'd have thought so anyway.
This was on Friday.
Saturday morning I start the engine to set off on a 60 odd mile trip to my housemate's from uni for his 21st - strange whining noise comming from the engine. Stamping the accelerator a couple of times seems to fix it.
Sunday, just after lunchtime, I start up again to come home and the noise is back. This time it doesn't go, but I'm 60 miles from home and don't really have much choice in the matter. About halfway home I start getting a rather acrid smell coming through the vents into the passenger compartment - my first thought is that the engine was overheating (it was that kind of "hot mechanical stuff" sort of smell) but the temperature meter isn't even halfway. Get home ok, wait a few hours for everything to cool down, and check the obvious (oil, coolant) despite the fact I did that before I set off on saturday. They're still fine. It's sunday so there's nothing I can do regarding getting it looked at.
TODAY:
I'm driving to work, it's 7:30am, its foggy outside and BLOODY cold. The noise is still there and not long after I start, the funny smell is back despite the fact the engine temp meter is resting on minimum still. Halfway to work there's a sort of soft "pop" noise from the engine compartment and the whining noise stops. Just as I'm thinking whatever it was has fixed itself, a warning buzzer starts going off somewhere and the "battery undervolt" light on the dash comes on.
This is not good. I'm still 15 minutes from work, and it's VERY foggy so I've got full headlights and front and rear foglights on which is drawing a hell of a lot of battery. I kill everything inside the car that I can (stereo, heater, mobile phone hands free kit) and pray the damn thing gets to work without seizing up.
The engine seems to be working ok still, although the temperate meter is climbing slightly. This seems to be an electrical fault only. I get to work.
I phone Fiat and explain they've fked something up and would they please look at it as soon as I'm finished work, assuming I make it that far.
Get in the car after work and start it. Battery light is still on. Get to Fiat. Service techy takes it off somewhere to look at it.
10 minutes later he's back. Whichever muppet changed the timing belt had only gone and put the fan belt back so it was nicely rubbing along a peice of the engine. The acrid smell I'd been getting was the fan belt being melted by the friction, and the whining noise was it rubbing along the engine. The pop was as it snapped, and (as i figured as soon as he'd said it was the fan belt) the electrical problems were fairly obviously due to there being no power to the alternator (the fan belt drives the alternator).
To be fair, they were very apologetic and fixed it right then and there for free as you'd expect, but really you'd have thought something as simple as that might be CHECKED before handing the car back in the first place.