All now finally fixed! Ended up getting a new control box from Alex (Floppy) and fitted myself last night, so saved a wad over what the dealer was proposing to charge.

I discovered that some lugs had already been broken off the dash lower panel, almost certainly I think by the dealer when they were having a look last time - I wonder whether they realised this and factored in a new panel into their quote? There is only one dealer in the Island and the previousl owner of the S was a lady of more advanced years, so I expect that they are the only ones to have ever popped it off.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.

Cheers for the advice, and to Dan and Alex for looking for a supplying parts.

jm

 

Glad to hear. You've saved yourself alot of money!

 

Glad you got it sorted

 

I couldn't resist calling the garage to get a breakdown of the previous quote I'd received. Apparently the part was c.£205 which left £130 in labour as part of the quote.

As expensive as the part is that is simply the result of inflated OEM car parts and nothing to do with my dealer (assuming there is no great mark up on that). £130 is difficult to reconcile with the c.8 minutes it took me (a most-unqualified mechanic!) to do the job however. It was suggested that there might be a need to carry out some sort of analysis or plug in the thingy-mabobby machine to help the new part identify the position of the roof or something. Either way, I'm very pleased I bothered to do this myself and it all seems to work perfectly.

I will probably let it go and not raise it with them however - they are the only dealer around here so I need to go to them for dealer servicing every year. I just know better for next time something goes wrong.

 

Some dealers just aren't satisfied with getting reasonable work, if they'd quoted a decent price you might have had it done without any quibble, still their loss is your gain, it just puts you on your toes when next they see your car.