Beware of road assistance (ANWB)

Sorry but my Dutch is too bad to write so I write in English - I agree they are not a mobile workshop, and things can go wrong, but when I asked them just to put back all the parts which they inadvertently let fall out of the clutch cylinder, they somehow did not take this into account, and it lasted way too long and without the real dialogue, and everything was leading in direction of one unnecessary and expensive repair.
It is still not finished - my and their dealing with this case, as I filed a complaint as otherwise it was not possible to move forward as they considered their intervention finished. When I have more development, I will post.
For now my trust in their technical knowledge is very much shaken - yes they are not a mobile workshop, but then do not attempt repairs, and if the things go wrong, show more incentive to help. They simply look as if not willing to take my arguments on board (and those were provided in writing, and in good faith, without a trace of anger or accusation, just facts and expectation to deal further in the best manner. Now I am a driving a car that will not pass next APK because the hydraulic hose is visibly damaged thanks to stupid manner of stopping the AT fluid from dripping, and they were annoyed when I sent the link with my photos to them after their technical expert insisted I communicate with him in Dutch language. Before that, the communication was very fine, and accepted, in the English language, at all levels. And for both mechanics I can only find the best words when it comes to their relation and communication with me on the spot. But we are not paying the membership for that only.

Thanks to this explanation. It explains a lot.

It is not ATF oll which is dripping out. It is brake liquid coming from the brakereservoir via a side line mounted quit high on the reservoir. Therefore the reservoir has to be on a highlevel. If you take out the filter under the filling cap you can see the entrance of the chose to the clutch cylinder.
Fill the reservoir, remove the air from the line at the clutch cylinder.
If this does not help replace the hose. Simple job.

Sorry, you cann't blame the ANWB for not gathering all the parts from a broken clutchcylinder in case of a job on the street.

We are here for solutions not for problems, they simple do not exist.

(Met dank aan Google Translate): De tekst is er, maar niet gemakkelijk te ontdekken - niet dankzij mij maar dankzij Flickr website (die in mijn ogen nog steeds het beste voor foto-opslag)

Thanks for the post and good remarks - I just automatically used AT as where I come from "AT fluid" (not ATF) is stil the synonim for the brake and in this case clutch fluid (I guess this from the times when it was the German Ate company one of the major brake parts supplier).

The thing is - the parts went on the floor in the ANWB workshop in Leiden, not on the road, when they attempted to free the clutch by releasing the slave clutch cylinder from its place while the car was on the workshop bridge, and when the cylinder got free, it moved backwards relatively fast, and its inner parts fell out on the floor. It could have been put back immediately and in a single minute more or less, and I could have driven home from there, or car inspected further.

What they did then wrong was: first they made an immediate conclusion that the slave cylinder is broken in terms that it is the cause of the problem, and it needs to be replaced. They even offered free replacement, which looked very nice and attractive offer to me at first moment, if I could provide the replacement cylinder. I was not sure if the slave cylinder's reaction to the change of position was just normal (I thought the parts could not go out just like that on a complete and good cylinder, but that is just normal).

Then the other, and very bad moment, came immediately after this conclusion (and without the slave clutch assembled), when they wanted to check if in fact the clutch was ok, and they did the checkup by starting the car with wheels off the ground, and the gearbox (most likely) in the first gear: they managed to start the car in gear, and as the wheels were off the ground and gear ratio high, the complete system of gearbox - driveshaft - differential - rear halfshafts - was extremely affected and stressed by the mass of the rear wheels, and length of shafts, and everything started to shake and produce loud impact noises from gears and bearings that were under immense impact stress. I thought at that moment that something must have been broken earlier, at the end, and that had caused the malfunction on the highway. I think not many other cars would have survived such test without some damage (and bear in mind it is a 25 year old car). But the mechanic switched off the engine after some 4-5 seconds and admitted he made a mistake, put the gearbox in 5th gear and started it again, when the stresses was less, but still there, before the system stabilised and wheels were turning normally and without shaking...

Such test is very tricky, and unnecessary, the coupling between engine and gearbox in a situation with disconnected clutch could have been tested by hand, and clutch inspected without starting the engine. Maybe on front wheel drive cars with lighter transaxle it is a different case.

The offer for replacement of the slave cylinder - was made with the best of intention, but after that test and after giving it a few minutes of thinking still there, it was I who mentioned to the mechanic that I think that when we just replace the slave cylinder, we may end up with the same situation, as we should have investigated more along the side of why the push rod of the slave cylinder went out to far, to seize the piston on its return. What if the clutch fork is damaged, or bent, or the clutch bearing in some kind of problem, that created more movement of the fork? The mechanic immediately caught up on that and said - well, you see, we are back on our first mechanic's finding: this problem can not be repaired in the workshop. I basically agreed, still thinking that the slave is in problem. But on my way home from there I already called them again and I wanted to talk with the mechanic again. They told me he refused to speak to me. I asked them not to move the car before assembling the slave cylinder. The operater told me my request was recorded and they will not move the car. But they moved it, and then it started to become a real problem for me.

This was all happening on one Friday, the move of the car was planned for Monday, and I was told on Saturday they will not move the car on Monday before this is cleared out. I do not understand why they just did not assemble something that they disassembled.

Had the same problem, stud all out the cylinder and stuck on the edge.
At a nice spot as well, down under in the Piet Hein Tunnel. A friendly bypasser pulled me out.
At that time it was the fork, which was too much worn out and had to be replaced.

With a lot of tactics it can be replaced from the outside. however it might be easier to lower the gearbox.

In fact this is a nonsence topic because we only read it from the complainer's side. It has no interaction with someone from ANWB.
Personally I find it a very hard topic title, in all the repairs ANWB does, it's normal sometimes they do things wrong and/or have no or a bad solution.
It's not about that they do things wrong (that is a fact), it's about how they act when this happens. But then it takes 2 to tango...

Sure ANWB did one thing wrong, people should not get in their workshop. Whatever what!

I recomment talking to the ANWB but with a different mindset.

Ik ben het met je eens jan, ik begrijp de 'fuzz' ook niet goed, om daar nou een blog over te beginnen..
Ik ben zelf wel erg blij met de ANWB. Ik had een paar weken geleden 's avonds laat pech met mijn 960 en toen ben ik goed geholpen.
Ik hoorde al een tijdje en vreemd geluid wat klonk als een vacuum-lek onder mijn dashboard. Onder het rijden een zachte krak en alle lampjes aan en stuurbekrachtiging viel uit. Ik wist meteen dat het met de multiriem van doen was.
Veilig mijn auto bij een afrit neergezet en concludeerde toen dat een looprol volledig was verdwenen.
Ok, het duurde ruim een uur voordat er iemand kwam en het lukte hem niet om tijdelijk een korte riem met alleen de dynamo ertussen te plaatsen.
Uiteindelijk met extra accu naast mij op de stoel, achter hem aan naar ANWB service station in Den Haag gereden. Daar hebben ze een nieuwe looprol en nieuwe riem geplaatst. Niet te geloven toch dat ze die voor een 960 nog gewoon op voorraad hebben.. Ik betaalde 90 euro in de btw en ik kon weer op pad.

Soms hebben mensen het ook wel eens even nodig om een ervaring van zich af te kunnen schrijven, misschien is dat in dit geval ook zo.

Groeten,
Gerben

Ik ben zelf in ruim 30 jaar 3 keer stil gevallen (valt dus wel mee).
- met de 940 riem 3 tandjes versprongen (door afgebroken stukje van de plastic bekapping van de riem). Conclusie duurde ongeveer een kwartier. Auto netjes bij de garage afgeleverd
- met de 940 brandstofpomp draaide niet (en het zeikte van de regen). Man-met-de-hamer van ANWB gaf er een tik op en ik kon weer rijden. Met uiteraard advise dat ding asap te vervangen. Dat heb ik gedaan en tevens weet ik nu hoe ik in geval van nood ook op LPG kan starten
- met de camper (Mercedes 2017D) koppelingsplaat gebroken. Deze ANWB monteur was minder ter zake kundig dus die heeft nog bijna een uur staan prutsen om het op te lossen wat gewoon niet mogelijk was. Daarna wel netjes bij de garage afgezet (was gelukkig op de thuisreis en bijna thuis)

Dat je een uur moet wachten is vervelend maar toch ook wel logisch of wil je een abo van 500 euro per jaar.
Dat niet elke monteur van elke auto alle ins-en-outs weet is ook niet verwonderlijk
Als je zelf vriendelijk blijft en je normaal gedraagt zal de monteur dat ook doen, als je om wat voor redden zelf in de stress zit ga er dan niet met je neus bovenop staan

it was just an account of what happened during and after one specific - and quite rare - road assistance situation.
I was not angry on ANWB mechanics - not everybody knows everything.
But I was really not happy to get my car back in pieces, especially as it was agreed that they do not return the car to me before they assemble what THEY disassembled. THAT fact had to cost me 500+ EUR to get the car operational again, if I did not put it in one piece by myself.
They decided to move it anyway, and they claim they wanted to assist me further by or through a 3rd party car mechanic, who wanted just to replace all parts that could be replaced in a fast and expensive manner (on my cost).
The conduct and attitude after the initial 2 interventions, after an ANWB Auto Expert was involved to say what needs to be done and who did what, were far from professional - but I agree, it is all very much dependent on "who is on the other side of the line".
ANWB was informed of everything in time and in writing, on the very first day when they moved the car from their own workshop. There was a very extensive exchange of emails with their Teamklacht, which could have prevented this "case" to drag almost 4 weeks now: it has just ended by getting an apology from ANWB, and an offer to reimburse part of my membership. I can say that I am satisfied, although the loss for me is much bigger, but it doesn't matter any more.
There is another, more important message, I think, that comes out of this: and that is that the real car mechanics trade, people who really know how cars work, who know what they are doing and who are WILLING TO HELP - they simply do not exist any more around here: few "specialist" workshops which I consulted just insisted on replacement of everything. None of them really made an impression that they knew how relatively simple mechanism of a hydraulic clutch works and what can be implications on different malfunctions. THEY JUST WANT TO REPLACE PARTS - fast, expensive and not skilled enough.
I have already made over 3.000 km with that same clutch, and I have lost few hundred EUR on fuel when in two weekends I had to use my other more expensive car for very long journeys, and I could have used the Volvo.
Whoever wants to learn more, I am ready to provide the Klachtdossiernr so they could ask ANWB and check if they want to release the file!