On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 21:02:35 +0100, Matthew Barnard
wrote:

They have said
that they will provide a complete report by friday - but that it will
involve a great deal of work - and the bill is liable to be thousands!

So what is this huge bill for ?

What are they alleging that you've bust ?

A tankload of petrol is going to run badly, it might even stop it (but
usually doesn't) and it only injures stuff if you either make a habit
of it regularly (injection pumps need proper lubrication) or you
thrash the engine while it's in this mis-firing state.

A mile of gentle driving just isn't going to hurt anything terminal.
Even if you have to pull the injectors out to clean them, that's not
rocket-science, even on a Merc.

The car is a one year old mercedes cdi estate.

Well that's your trouble isn't it. Putting petrol in it (or anything
that's clearly driver error) plays havoc with the star-shaped badges
on it, especially the new ones. You wouldn't believe the price of
fixing them, but you don't have much choice - especially not on a new
car.

Does anyone think they could be right

Of course they're right.

"To repair one-year-old Merc and maintain Full Service History
- mongo moolah"


- or are they likely to be greatly exaggerating?

On my motor (whichever old shed you pick) I'd pump the tank as best I
could, top it off with Jet A-1 or whatever the appropriate fuel was,
replace the fuel filters and then bleed the fuel system from up-front
as best I could. Run it with my fingers in my ears until the nasty
noises went away, then probably replace the filters again.

The tank drainage goes in the tractor, because that's Romanian and
doesn't care what it drinks.