Unfortunate damage on engine, but glad it happened in Portugal

[Andyk]

I had my 2.0 DTH Insignia tourer (64,000 miles on a 14 plate) on holiday touring Spain and Portugal. 3 weeks in to the holiday the wife noticed a burning smell when we were stationary. When I opened the bonnet everything was covered in engine oil and the dipstick was dry. Luckily I had good breakdown cover and we were recovered to the nearest Opel main dealer. On inspection they found a hole in the rocker cover aluminium next to injector 1. They asked if I had had the injector replaced recently but I hadn't. They ordered a complete camshaft housing with shafts, gears and seals along with timing belt kit and serpentine belt. 4 days later the car was ready to collect all cleaned up and new parts fitted. 1500 Euros lighter in the wallet though. They showed me a big lump of steel that broke off one of the camshafts and knocked a hole in the cover. They have never seen this before.

What impressed me was how quickly they dealt with me and did the repair. Also what shocked me was the labour rates in the quote. It totaled 6 hours at 39 Euros per hour. That is around £35.00 per hour. So if an Opel main dealer in Portugal can work for At £35.00 per hour, it shows how much we are getting ripped off by the Main Sealers in the UK. Car is running fine now. I also looked up the main part used (camshaft housing assembly), they charged 680 Euros. Looking on line for a new unit lowest new I could find was around 850 Euros. So more than happy I got a good deal all round.

Pity the ferry is so expensive to Spain, it may have been worth going to Portugal at those rates for any work and had a bit of a holiday in the sunshine.

Andy

[minisprint4230]

Almost a 3rd world country, bound to be cheaper Labour.

[sriray]

I had my 2.0 DTH Insignia tourer (64,000 miles on a 14 plate) on holiday touring Spain and Portugal. 3 weeks in to the holiday the wife noticed a burning smell when we were stationary. When I opened the bonnet everything was covered in engine oil and the dipstick was dry. Luckily I had good breakdown cover and we were recovered to the nearest Opel main dealer. On inspection they found a hole in the rocker cover aluminium next to injector 1. They asked if I had had the injector replaced recently but I hadn't. They ordered a complete camshaft housing with shafts, gears and seals along with timing belt kit and serpentine belt. 4 days later the car was ready to collect all cleaned up and new parts fitted. 1500 Euros lighter in the wallet though. They showed me a big lump of steel that broke off one of the camshafts and knocked a hole in the cover. They have never seen this before.

What impressed me was how quickly they dealt with me and did the repair. Also what shocked me was the labour rates in the quote. It totaled 6 hours at 39 Euros per hour. That is around £35.00 per hour. So if an Opel main dealer in Portugal can work for At £35.00 per hour, it shows how much we are getting ripped off by the Main Sealers in the UK. Car is running fine now. I also looked up the main part used (camshaft housing assembly), they charged 680 Euros. Looking on line for a new unit lowest new I could find was around 850 Euros. So more than happy I got a good deal all round.

Pity the ferry is so expensive to Spain, it may have been worth going to Portugal at those rates for any work and had a bit of a holiday in the sunshine.

Andy

Glad its sorted Andy.
Does make you wonder how much more we pay over here.

There is a program called

[aitkenaj]

Not 3rd world service though.

Great result. Expensive, but still a result.

[Andyk]

Almost a 3rd world country, bound to be cheaper Labour.

Cheap car repairs and cheap wine, sounds like it is worth putting up with all that sunshine for.