Clara Back Home

Having safely returned from Germany and other points east, Clara went to Silchester Garage for the appointment booked whilst we were in Wernigerode to see what was up with her wiper motor and exhaust.

The news was interesting! There are a few possible wiper motors which will fit: the cheapest one (in the UK and available immediately - and if it didn't fit could be returned at no cost) was £170, the most expensive one (in Germany and available in seven days) was £470!

The sensible option was, of course, to see if the cheapest one would fit and go for the most expensive option as the second choice...

Fortunately, the cheaper one fitted!

Next up: the exhaust. I was expecting to have to get at least part of it replaced. Two years ago, an otherwise very reputable local tyre and exhaust supplier (which shall remain nameless!) condemned the exhaust and said that it would need replacing completely. Strangely, when I called them to try to get the quote that I was promised the guy was apparently 'very busy'. Not great customer service when there might be a circa £1000 sale in the offing!

Anyway, rather than the expensive replacement parts that I was expecting, Silchester managed to weld the offending part and fixed the problem for me.

The next day I turned the heater blower on and it sounded as though there was a jackhammer behind the dashboard! Back to Silchester a few days later and we were looking at blower motor prices... Again, there were a couple that would fit - funnily enough, varying in price from £170-odd to nearly £500 again!

Obviously I asked them to do whatever needed to be done and awaited the news...

... which was that it wouldn't be possible to fit a new motor without a huge amount of work. Ouch.

However, it seemed that a large chunk of something had made its way into the mechanism and they had been able to remove it, sorting out the problem. Once again I was spared a large bill and all is good again. Absolutely no blame attached to Silchester here, by the way: I suspect that replacing the wiper motor dislodged something that they couldn't have foreseen.

Not things that I had anticipated having to have done, but now that they are done Clara is lovely again and I can move on to the next jobs in the plan!

Headlamp Wiper Blade Replacement