Opinion on well known lotus specialist service

[Chancer]

Bearing should definitely not have been lubed, having seen from the outside that the clutch plate was not worn, having no reports of or witnessed noise from the spigot or release bearing the (in this instance) honest non profiteering garagiste is being criticised for not bumping up the bill and doing additional work.

No way would I have changed a serviceable clutch, with the quality of modern parts there would be good odds that something would fail, clutch would drag or slip from the get go, you read on this forum about this all the time, he would have been seen as the villain of the piece especially if the owner had the old parts and would claim that they were still servicable so on this point alone I disagree with Sandy.

Back in the day when I serviced lots of vehicles and replacement parts were far better quality than today it was commonplace to replace parts like condensors, rotor arms, distributor caps or even clutches when major work was done just in case, the very same parts that these days frequently either dont work at all from new or fail very quickly.

I stopped fitting new condensors when replacing points as there were so many failures soon afterwards, I had a Crypton tuner with an oscilloscope trace so could judge the condition of the existing condensor and make a judgement call, that was back in the day when parts were still at least supposed to be produced to a quality standard rather than just resemble the part needed, just take a look at the rope seals on another thread.

I am glad that i moved on from being a meccano and also that I still work on my cars and dont have to rely on the honesty, experience (or lack of) or competence of anyone else, the best advice given is to work on your own vehicles, the situation will only get worse with time.

[vincereynard]

You will never get an admission of fault Gibbon.

However, as has been stated more eloquently above, bits like clutch bearings and spigot can just fail.
It could be connected with the whole lot being disturbed or even indirectly, such as you giving it a bit more enthusiasm.

I'd just try to accept it, get it done and look for someone else. The best way I know is to join a local old car club and ask around. They don't really need a "specialist". Most jobs are simple. With a few that they probably farm out anyway.

[pereirac]

If you had 'doubts' about your garage, why did you go back to them to get more work done? Elan specialists are few and far between but there are a few around to chose from.
I had a Citroen main dealer replaced the head gasket on my 50,000 mile XM who reused the old timing belt saying it 'looked ok'... Not impressed so never went back there again. There is a great specialist near Newmarket

Carl

[KevJ+2]

There is a great specialist near Newmarket

Agreed, Carl. But they have 400 cars they maintain and have a two to three year waiting list to book in