Big Bouquet for Parkside Motors Victoria BC

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b_kims
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:01 pm
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: 91 L300 Chamonix
Location: Calgary

Big Bouquet for Parkside Motors Victoria BC

Post by b_kims »

Wanted to give a shout out to the team at Parkside Motors. After just moving to Victoria and struggling to find a local mechanic to fix what i thought was a leaky rear main seal (read below for more info), Parkside thoughtfully communicated and problem solved with me over a 2 day period and my 91 L300 is running better then ever! The price was very fair and should I need any additional work done in Victoria, I willx go to them. A more elaborate explanation of my experience is below.

The bottom of my Delica was covered in oil residue with major drops falling off the flywheel teeth/bell house cover. After searching the forums for a similar problem, my limited mechanical knowledge assumed it was the rear main seal leaking all the oil which then coated the transmission and everything behind it while driving. With this assumption, i purchased the required seal, oil separator, and gasket from fitinpart.sg (my usual supplier for OEM parts if im not in a rush) to complete the job. With my current knowledge and skillset, I did not feel qualified to drop a transmission and replace the seal, so I searched for a local mechanic on the island. While I would have gone to Coombs Country Auto for this job, I did not have the time nor availability to drive 2 hours north, so I was forced to stay local. After scrolling through this section of the Delica.ca forums, I heard mixed reviews of Marigold, mainly positive reviews of Rocky Mountain Imports and Lyall, and one positive review for Parkside. I contacted all four for quotes/shop availability and here were the results.

Lyall quoted 10 hours to drop the tranny and fix the seal, they sadly however did not get back to me with a time they could book me in.

Rocky Mountain never got back to me with a time they could book me in.

Marigold quoted 4.5 hours and could get me into the shop quicker then i anticipated, however they would not accept out of shop parts. The receptionist explained this was a result of past customers buying the wrong parts and the vehicles being stranded on the jacks rendering an entire bay useless waiting on new parts. While I fully sympathize for this reasoning, it was their lack of willingness to cross reference my OEM parts with their suppliers catalogue that drew some red flags for me. This reasoning, along with the variable reviews of their service within our community, was enough to turn me away from their services.

Finally Parkside. They quoted me 5-6 hours over a 1-2 day period that would be scheduled 1 week from when I initially called. Truthfully, Parkside was in a sense my last choice, but with their lack of representation on this site, I was willing to risk it.

The mechanics at parkside motors I soon realized work on a fair bit of L400's (one was in there lot when i arrived, and two were on there jacks when i picked up the van), this made me optimistic. Four hours after dropping it off, they called me and diagnosed the oil leak as the lower dipstick tube seal rather then the rear main seal. The previous owner of my Delica did not have a flywheel cover on it, so i only recently installed a new one. The absence of the cover explained the oil on the flywheel teeth, something after communication over the phone the mechanics and myself were able to conclude on.
After assuming the oil was spewing out of my lower dipstick seal and coating everything behind it, they cleaned off everything and fixed the seal, found my alternator was quite loose and tightened it up (something I'm embarrassed i didn't notice from the abundant clacking sound my engine was making) , and diagnosed a injection pump leak (which I kinda already assumed based off rough starts in weather <5˚C). All the above work was completed by the following morning and they only charged 2.5 shop hours, or $303.

I deeply appreciate my experience with Parkside. I'm typically very skeptical of mechanics as a result of previous wrong doings, however their willingness to further diagnose the oil leak rather then blindly tearing off the transmission and reasonable rates has earned them a lifelong customer. Maybe its the skeptic in me, but I feel that not every mechanic would go the extra mile that Parkside did on my L300, which is why I'd happily recommend them to anyone.
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