Boredworkers.com

My poor Tiara is in the shop. Left it overnight at the workshop after towing it there. I went out this morning to get the mechanics to take a look. Two of them tinkered under the hood for a bit and then under the car to see what was wrong. A third guy lazed around in the car (lazy bugger). After half an hour, my greatest fear was realised.

A recount of yesterday’s events. The car was driving perfectly fine until I stopped at the traffic lights in front of UM’s PJ entrance. The gears were working just fine up to that point. Then I freed the gears and waited for the lights to turn green. Shifting into first, I released the clutch and nothing. Nothing happened, no jerk, no catch, no resistance of the gears slipping into place, no sounds, nothing. The engine kept running but the car wasn’t going anywhere.

Fast forward back to this morning. The mechanics came back to me with the verdict that my gearbox and possibly the clutch plate needed changing. Why is it that everytime I go to the workshop with a problem, they wind up telling me that some part needs to be replaced? Can they not do something to fix or repair it instead of suggesting a replacement? Are they incompetant and don’t know how to fix it or are they too lazy to do it and instead opt for the easier and more profitable option?

This question has been hanging over my head for a long time now. Since I started driving the Tiara, its been into the workshop several times for major repairs. And everytime, its been the same story, this or that part needs to be replaced. So far I’ve changed the drive shafts twice, the brake pumps thrice, and the air conditioner compressor once. And now this.

The last incident was the aircond compressor. They replaced it with a reconditioned part. That kind of gets me wondering. If they can get reconditioned parts, then what’s stopping them from reconditioning my broken gearbox? Why the heck am I paying so much for a reconditioned part? What do I get out of my broken parts? I’m sure the reconds need to come from somewhere. The obvious answer is from the broken parts that are swapped out. So some gearbox specialist buys up the parts for cheap from the workshops, fix it and sells it back to them for a bundle? Or do they split the profits?

A recond gearbox for a Proton Saga costs around RM700.00+. I am expecting the Tiara gearbox to cost a little more since its not a very common part. But I’ll just have to wait for them to get back to me on the price. In the mean time, I’m trying to find some alternatives. Anyone has any ideas or knows anyone who is willing to take a look and maybe fix the gearbox for me?