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Again A Stupid Car Parts Supplier Error.

To: mgs@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Again A Stupid Car Parts Supplier Error.
From: Bert Palte <vortex@wxs.nl>
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 21:16:10
Hi fellow MG listers,

Had a difficult time tonight in solving a car related problem.
Thought I had to share this with you.

As I've mentioned before on the list, when I bought my MG about 10 years ago, 
I also bought a second-hand professional car lift (these can be had very
cheaply, when they no longer comply to the most recent safety regulations. 
They are still legal and OK for private, i.e. non-professional use).
  
The car lift is located in a faraway corner of my workshop and is 
therefore used on a regular basis by my colleagues. Sort of fringe benefit... 

Also today, after working hours, one of the guys was working on an Opel
Kadett. (For you outside of Europe: This has been one of the most popular
models 
on the market for many years in succession. A very common sight on the
roads here. BTW also one of the most often stolen car models, for that same
reason).  
The particular car was an 1991 Diesel-engined (1.7 liter) Estate version. 

So, this guy just changed engine oil, air filter, fuel filter, oil filter,
really nothing special. Just regular maintenance.   
And then, the engine wouldn't start any more.... and he called me for help...


We've been checking everything that we could think of.
The car had been running, only an hour before, just fine.
A diesel engine does not have (electric) ignition so the fault had to be
fuel related.
Nevertheless, we checked the voltage on several fuel valves, glow plugs etc.
We tried to bleed the air out of the fuel system. After all, when changing
the fuel filter, air had gotten into the fuel tubing, so this might have
been the cause of the problem. Still nothing.

We towed the car behind a van, trying to get the car started by shifting into
2nd gear. The engine makes more RPMs this way than with the starter motor
and might start easier, that way.
We tried this for several blocks. No way ever was the engine beginning to
run. 
   
Finally, we disconnected the fuel line between the filter and fuel pump and
tried supplying fuel not from the fuel tank but instead from a bucket of
diesel oil.  (Fuel pump and injection pump are combined in one unit, fitted
at the engine). And then, the engine ran again!
So, obviously there must have been something wrong with the fuel filter...
no fuel coming through....

We then refitted the old fuel filter and everything was OK again, the car was
running just like it had done before.
Now this defective filter was brand new, not original Opel/GM as the
removed one but still of a reputable manufacturer (Knecht, Germany), a
correct fit and exactly the same dimensions, even the same colour as the
old Opel/GM one.
(It is quite possible that the Opel/GM one came from the same factory).  
   
So I asked the guy to show me the box that this filter came with.
The box said something about applications for Audi etc. but didn't mention
the Opel Kadett. 
Now that is really strange! The most popular car in this part
of the world is not mentioned! So it MUST be a wrong type of filter!

Obviously the car parts supplier induhvidual has AGAIN supplied a wrong part. 
My guess is that there is a non-return valve in the filter somewhere that was
pointing in the wrong direction. 

This is the same supplier where a few months ago I bought a brake switch
for my 
MG and, after avidly refusing the one they wanted to give me at first
(having only one spade connector, that was an oil pressure switch) they
gave me one for 
Audi/Volkswagen (metric thread, of course, instead of inch-size as in an MG).
Of course, I didn't know that, only after I kept having leaks in the hydraulic
system and after I returned and insisted on seeing their parts list..
I can give more examples about this same supplier....like the time I needed
windshield wiper blades for my MGB and they ended up with MGBGT wiper
blades...
(a B and a BGT have totally different windshields, of course...)

It would be tempting to recommend to stay as far away as you can from this
particular car parts store, De Munt Automaterialen in Soest, Holland.
(Most of you listers will be pretty far away from it anyway....)
Unfortunately, I guess most others won't probably be much better.


The moral of the story is: ALWAYS INSIST on seeing the manufacturers
application 
lists before buying ANYTHING there. Don't trust the MORONS that work there
AT ALL.

I've done so ever since the brake switch incident I mentioned earlier.
But then, the Opel Kadett I mentioned here is not my car. 
My colleague didn't check.... he probably will in the future!


Bert



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