Rattle noise underneath after Ultratune service

[3phatladies]

HI all. Sorry about the longish message but I'm not too cluey on cars.

Our VX Exec was running smooth as until recently when the Power Steering pipes needed replacing. So i called Ultratune as I've used them elsewhere and they gave good service, and asked them for a quote which the guy said approx $80 fitted. So I took it in the next day for the tech to double check the order and was told $100 fitted.
I said okay and while you're at it can you give it a maintenance service too...no worries.

Got it back 3hrs later the pipes costed me $127? which included the fluid....and the service cost me an extra $30 for a clean air filter and was told my rear brakes were 95% worn...no worries...Paid them and said I'll call next week for the brakes replacement.

Anyway on driving it back every time it goes over a slight bump there's a knocking noise from the back like it's maybe the rear shocks and a jingling noise underneath from somewhere near the front passenger.

So i'm wondering has the tech either left his tools underneath or hasn't tightened something up.

Plus when putting the car from park into drive and vice versa it's not so smooth...

Obviously I'll be taking this back after Anzac weekend and hopefully they fix it up but apart from the P/S pipes the car was running great....now our Anzac wkend has been spoilt as we daren't drive the car.

Would I have been better of taking this to a RACQ service centre (we're members) or do Ultratune usually provide professional services.

[accentstencil]

The loud knocking noise could be due to a broken rubber mount for the exhaust. Give the tail pipe a bit of a shake and see if it knocks. Don't know much about Ultratune but they are all different, some have good mechanics, some not so good.

[vt s]

The sound near the passenger side could possibly be the sway bay link bushes, i say this because they are the most common thing to fail.
When you say when going from park to drive not so smooth, could you describe in a bit more detail? Is there noise or what exactly?

[3phatladies]

Cheers fo rthe replies.
Yeah there's no knocking sound when shaking the exhaust....it's fine on smooth roads but over slight bumps it's there and defo on the passenger side.

When going from park to drive it's a kinda like a clicking noise....probably me being fussy and is nothing, but it's a noise that wasn't there before the servo.

We'll take it in for the boys to look at as I'm sure Ultratune will sort it out but it's kinda crapped out our Anzac weekend as we daren't drive it in case it's something serious...which is bad as we trust these guys to do a servo to keep our cars running.

Thanks again for your input though.

[humanfly]

May sound dumb, but if it's a station wagon, have you checked the jack and jack handle are not rattling about? had the same problem, searched for about 3hrs, then FINALLY found this was all it was. exactly the same as what you are saying you are hearing!!

[3phatladies]

Had taken it back to the mechanics and they hoisted it up and straight away he saw that the washer and nut was loose on the rear shock absorber... The noise came from the loose washer.

So he tightnened them both up and said whoever put them on hadn't tightened them up properly.

Although there was no noise before the car went in for a sevo, if it was loose is it not up to the mechanics who are doing a servo on your car to check these things anyway? When i asked him this he laughed and said i would of been in trouble if that had come totally undone...jeez now I'm not sure if i want my brakes done by this mob....just in case they forget to tighten up the wheel nuts then blame me or someone else for not checking them.

[vt s]

Generally when servicing vehicles most people wont go into as much detail as to checking the tightness of shock bolts which is fair as its not actually part of a service.
However they should of road tested the car before and after the service and picked up on it then.

[3phatladies]

ohh okay fair enough then. i just thought that a maintenance servo checked most things but i guess there has to be a limit.

Re. getting the rear brakes done... i'm not into cars hence trusting mechanics to do a decent job but Ultratune charge around $177 parts and labour whereas another mob charge approx $250-$300 as he says's his pads aren't cheap chinese imports and that it's possible that the rotors might need shaving hence the high price.

$177 sounds okay but a bit wary of UT...is $177 an avg price as $250-$300 seems a bit steep?

Thanks again

[acarmody]

My mechanic charges $40/disc to machine them, and I can supply my own pads or buy theirs, and usually doesn't charge for putting pads in as the calipers are off anyway.

If the $177 is for new discs than that's cheap, but not majorly so.

[11gothevt11]

You souldn't shave the disc's as new ones are only around $120 for the pair

[acarmody]

Nothing wrong with shaving discs as long as they remain above the thickness requirements. I personally will only shave them once. And slotted rotors cost more than $120/pair.

[11gothevt11]

I wasn't talking about slotted.... Ok you can shave for $40 per disc...$80 two disc
Or spend $120 plus around $60 for fitting only extra $100
Just my opinion What i would do

[acarmody]

Yes true, but I find slotted to be a much better disc than standard, especially in the wet. And fair enough, if I was running standard then yes I would just get new ones too.

And I fit my own brakes, so would only be $120 or whatever.

[kazalex]

i never go to ultratune any more as they didn't fix my car properly and they over charge .

[acarmody]

They are franchises, every one is different.

[Hot-Rod]

Ultratune charged me 20 bucks to replace a re tail light bulb, and interior light bulb, that blew 2 days later. I've never been back since.

[ACEMonkey]

I'm finding this post amusing....the prices you guys are posting would have been what I would consider reasonable....they're more like cost of parts, some labour and maybe the cost of courier to get the part to the shop. Before you want to whinge about being overcharged, take your car to a Holden dealer for servicing, then tell me again the likes of Ultratune and other mobs around are overcharging you.

For the record, Holden will charge on average between $600 to $1200 for standard log book service. The $300 they qoute is really just putting your car up on a hoist and they haven't even started changing the oil, parts, water, filters etc.

[vt s]

if its 177 just for pads its a bit steep, this is in relation to what we charged at my old work.
Yes it is cheap compared to holden but im sure if you just do a quick ring around you should be able to find cheaper.
Unless they are undersized or seriously grooved i wouldnt worry about replacing or machine the rear rotors.

[strgas]

Trade slogan for ultra tune " WE GET IT RIGHT EVENTUALLY "

[vtbaby]

i have this same problem right now and its the exhaust mount, my mechanic first told me it was the front struts when i explained the noise then once he had a look he realised what it was, apparently its not a big problem, maybe thats y its taken him almost 3 weeks to book it in to fix it hahaha