Anyway i got hold of a tensioner from a nice bloke in wolverhampton and picked it up while visiting the outlaws. was assured that the bearing was good but this make a racket when installed so swapped my bearing onto it, to be fair it was silky smooth spinning on your finger so appeared ok but it wasn't a big problem as i had my new one to fit to it, i fitted it and just manually judged the torque on the bolt.It runs quiet as a mouse now ( how quiet does a mouse run exactly ? )
I also replaced the v-belt with a Contitech belt from ECParts as TPS wanted a fortune in comparison and cotinental make the genuine belts anyway.
So on with the pump and coolant pipe etc, i had ordered all the thermostat parts , housings , o'rings, bolts and pipe from TPS wanting to go genuine as they weren't ridiculously expensive but after being told on the phone they had arrived i made the 8 mile each way trip to their halifax / bradford site i was informed that an accountant had refused the order as my mates account that i use to order TPS parts is with the Leeds branch and even though they are the same company he/she wasn't happy with that arrangement . God i love accountants, they know the cost of everything and the value of f**k all !
So i said, no problem invoice me the bits with no discount and i'll pay cash, OK he says ,what did you order ?
The accountant had cancelled the order leaving no trace of it and as it is done over the phone with me referring to Etka for the part numbers i couldn't possibly remember all the details just like that
I went home and ordered a Topran kit off t'internet and saved about £20 as well ( i had taken the genuine thermostat though from TPS )
They had also not got in my top rad flange bolts so this took another visit to be told that they had got them in but then promptly lost one of them. This was the point at which i gave up on them, after reading all the impressive company mission statements adorning the walls in reception i would have expected more from them but how many times can you deal with them when they've let you down and no-one at their end seemed bothered / embarrassed.
So i go next door to Halifax VW who get me the bolt for the following morning and also offer for me to go thru their obsolete stock bin following their stock-take they were just finishing.A nicer pair of blokes you couldn't hope to meet and they told they regularly got people in with stories similar to mine re TPS.
The following day i went back and picked out a new radiator temp sensor, oil filter housing,a litre of gear oil and several bags of torx and hex bolts & screws from their old stock pile which they refused any payment for, top guys who will get my business in future, especially as they said they would do deals on any parts i wanted with the % depending on the margin.
By
toledo7175 at 2011-06-26