Monday 5 October 2015

The end of the road?

A little over a month ago, the car was returned from having it's third gearbox seal and service. I've used the car three times since then, and after the Snetterton track day I thought there was a little bit of gearbox fluid on my garage floor, putting it down to paranoia I ignored it.  Now a week after my Rockingham track day the gearbox is leaking again for a FOURTH TIME! 

The fourth gearbox leak
The fourth gearbox leak
Not only that, after lunch at Rockingham I turned the 12v power switch on and some white smoke exuded from my bonnet... Thinking the car had caught fire (which I guess it had), I switched the power off, hastily removed the bonnet to see the white smoke coming from the coil cover. I quickly prised the cover off and could see that a part of the HT lead wiring had somehow shorted on the inside of the coil cover and was melting it, causing the white smoke.  As the coil cover is made from Carbon it made some serious looking white smoke, but nothing was actually damaged.

With the coil cover removed, I tie wrapped the dubious HT lead in place.

The shorted HT lead
The shorted HT lead
I think it's time to call an end to this on going story of hassle, so I've emailed the MD of Caterham requesting a full refund.  I'm sick of this.

The follow on from this post is here:-
http://www.caterhamr500.co.uk/2015/10/what-to-do-next-over-to-you.html

14 comments:

  1. I've been captivated by your blog for ages now. I've always had a desire to get a Lotus now Caterham 7 for last 40 years....
    For last 6 months I've been telling myself 'just do it' and never mind the cost of such an amazingly stupidly impractical car....
    Now I'm back to ground zero....

    Wishing you the very best of good fortune mister...
    I know I'd be utterly fed up and tearing my hair out in the same situation. I still think the Caterham is wonderful but to experience this kind of endless headache is nothing but awful. All fun and pleasure destroyed.

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    1. Without contradicting myself, I think the car is awesome to drive - great fun, and the build process (although painful at times) was a good project. It's inspired me to consider something a little more challenging in terms of build, and I may look at restoring a classic Vee Dub camper of some sort, but bling it up with some great interior tech...

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  2. Hi Daniel, thanks for such a great blog, am sad that you've come to the end of your tether. I hope that you can take a deep breath and forgive the car its problems. We know that there is nothing quite like it to drive. Anyway all the best, here's hoping the blog continues. Martin C (2008 r500)

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    1. Agreed Martin - deep breath taken, and I'll wait to see what happens...

      Hopefully the saga can be over soon, one way or another. Thanks for the positive comments and good luck wishes.

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  3. Maybe this will cheer you up?

    Q. Why don't the British make televisions?
    A. Because if they did, they'd leak oil!

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    Replies
    1. It cheered me up in the sense that I don't get it at all? :-)

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  4. Hi Daniel, like others have said: thanks for the great blog.
    You have been more than patient, I think. Caterham as a company appear hell-bent on self destruction. I am sick of the poor customer service as well as the poor engineering of some aspects of the car and components that never get fixed, generation after generation. Just look at what Ansar Ali has been able to achieve in a very short space of time without the Caterham baggage. This should be a ongoing embarrassment to anyone in a management capacity at Caterham.
    I am now looking at selling mine and I’m already enjoying the process of deciding between an Atom, X-Bow, E10 etc.
    I hope you reach an agreeable settlement with them.

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    1. Yes, I agree with your comments about their desire for self destruction... I'm sure it's very complicated to run a company with so many parts, suppliers and so on, so I do get where they are coming from - hence my patience... As a business owner myself, I'd suggest they looked at their internal processes, as there are some great fully customisable CRM systems out there that would improve the communication process and have a full BoM for a car including paint colours (I know others have struggled to find out what paint code they have). It'd be complicated for them to setup, but in this day and age, I think it's something they need to update.

      I was originally looking at a KTM X-Bow as I like the space age look of them, and was never really sold on the older look of the Caterhams (before owning one) now I have built it, it feels like it looks right, the driving is amazing (when it's not back at CC) and I feel I have a connection with it...

      That being said, enough is enough and this problem needs resolving one way or another.

      Is it the end? Who knows, but I certainly felt like it was on Sunday when I saw the fourth 'leak'

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    2. They do need to modernise in many ways, and fast. The online shop is a joke (no link to actual stock). The manual is... don't get me started. Missing parts and the ‘process’ of just sending out extra parts because some are 'missing’, has got to be costing them money (I'm sure there are many cases of "I didn't look hard enough" or even "I could do with a spare one of those"). QC is and consistency are very poor. Call-backs never happen in my experience. Product development is basically non-existent (I don't think swapping engines really satisfied as development). Unresolved engineering problems and the ‘Heath Robinson’ solutions to them are frustrating (E.G. why is the ‘retaining channel’ to enable swap-out of the windscreen and aeroscreen not an integrated part of every chassis?). I won’t go on…

      But agreed. The fun that can be had when a Caterham is doing its thing properly is the only reason they still exist. How much crap people put up with from them as a company attests to this. It is truly grin inducing; no question there.

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  5. It's such a sad read. I have been following your blog for a while now and still have an R500 manual on my radar. Having owned a Caterham before it irks me that they (Caterham) think that being stuck in a time warp in regards to customer service will not shine through the thinly painted veneer on the showroom and website. They really need to get a grip, it is not the 80's anymore and people investing £40/50K in a car really shouldn't expect to have to deal with under engineering or Caterham style quirkiness, they'll just disappear as a manufacturer. I love the R500 and 620R but I just don't see the engineering moving at a great rate of knots, perhaps that appeals to some but not at the entry price! I cannot fathom how a seal, if it is properly aligned, rated for the temperature and duty etc would repeatedly fail? I really hope they get this sorted out once and for all for you. Good luck!

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    1. Hi Creighton,
      Thanks for your comment - one thing that has really surprised me is the amount of readers of this blog and the positive comments I've received to keep pushing, not give up and get it sorted...
      There'll be a post coming up shortly about what the next step will be...
      Thanks and all the best,
      Daniel.

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  6. I think you will fall in love with your car again if you build a relationship with a local specialist. There are so many great companies out there who really care Daniel. I live near Loughborough and McMillan Motorsport is one of those- near Hinckley. Use the people of BlatChat to help you ID a company that cares. Caterham themselves are not the solution for your ongoing needs and happiness.

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