Careless mechs. What a pain!

[Zappo]

I just noticed after a good couple of months since my car came back from its scheduled service that some stupid mech at the authorized service station has damaged a part of the body paint. Pics are attached...




I scraped a part of it and it reveals the painted surface...



The hood once down hides the damage!



Initially I could not understand how it happened. Then I figured it out. Some careless bugger probably dropped the corrosive battery electrolyte while topping it up. Now the hood is such that once its shut down it covers the damaged part very well. Only when I opened the hood to clean the insides did I notice it. Obviously it won't work if I go back now and accuse them.

So, short of getting that part painted is there any other way I can get rid of this mangy look? I scraped a small part (see the 2nd pic) and it seems to be revealing the painted surface albeit shorn of the gloss. I am worried that if I do not do anything will it corrode the sheet metal overtime?

Any ideas?

[rr_zen]

I had a similar experience with my esteem though this was not caused by anyone deliberately. The battery acid had spilled on the areas abutting the battery holder and I could see the paint peel of like a piece of paper. Inititally I thought of taking it to a paint shop but was apprehensive that this might be too small a job to be undertaken by any repair shop. Finally, I decided to fix it myself. I bought the required paint, primer, and emery sheet (sand paper). After scraping whatever was remaining on the affected area (so that the metal inside was visible) I applied two coats of primer and allowed it to dry for a day. After that went on it two coats of paint one after the other. This has solved my problem. Fortunately for me, it happened inside the engine compartment. Do not care for a professional glossy paint finish as the affected area is not visible from oustide. Whichever method you chose to adopt, the bottom line is that you should patch up the damaged area with new paint ASAP to prevent it from spreading to other areas. Get going. Your time starts now !

[tsk1979]

zappo next time you go the service station let them prepare a job card.
They will take not of all scratches etc.,
They won't open the bonnet you see.
When you get the car then just open the bonnet supposedly to inspect engine bay washing, and then tell them "how did that happen".
If they can do it, so can you

[benbsb29]

@tsk : Wont it look kinda old.. the marks i mean.. they would very well wash off their hands saying its the customer's headache.

[tsk1979]

According to the rules, the workshop has to own up any damages to paint or exterior which is not marked in the job card. Atleast Tata has this, so they thoroughly go around the car, but miss the bonnet

[supremeBaleno]

Have the same issue (battery electrolyte spilled onto the plastic battery tray and from there to the painted surface) with my Baleno. It looks so ugly.

Need to mark some time to rectify it like rr_zen did it. Nice DIY spirit there rr_zen.

[pujaari]

Same thing happened with my toyota innova's battery....Without blaming anyone first go to the battery manuf and get the batteries checked...in my case(exide) the guys simply replaced all the battery caps and dis the servicing of the battery.the caps of the battery have small vents to let exxcess smoke/vapours to release and if these get clogged..pressure build up leads to splashing of the acidic battery fluid.

[Bass&Trouble]

:(

Once when I was having the nozzles of my Sierra re-installed after service, the guys used more torque than required, and cracked the engine head, and then used M-seal to pack it up.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Bass&Trouble

Once when I was having the nozzles of my Sierra re-installed after service, the guys used more torque than required, and cracked the engine head, and then used M-seal to pack it up.

You are lucky it was only your engine. One over-enthusiastic mechanic used paint thinner to clean my Astra's dash board and the Alpine HU. Now this Alpine HU was one that did not have any internal power amp. yes that one - only it dont have it's legends anymore.
:-(

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by navin

yes that one - only it dont have it's legends anymore.
:-(

And lost its resale value .

My garage has the dirtiest guys working & they dont care about dirtying the seats or steering. But they do a wonderful job. So, i always put on a set of old seat covers & take off the steering grip everytime i give the car for service. Once they bent my brand new number plate & just bent it back to shape. The hurt is still there & so is the dent.

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Have the same issue (battery electrolyte spilled onto the plastic battery tray and from there to the painted surface) with my Baleno. It looks so ugly.

Need to mark some time to rectify it like rr_zen did it. Nice DIY spirit there rr_zen.

Thanks SupremeBaleno. At least I have friends like you who appreciate what I do with my car. At home I am most unpopular for spending most of my time during weekends with my first love, my car !!

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by pujaari

Same thing happened with my toyota innova's battery....Without blaming anyone first go to the battery manuf and get the batteries checked...in my case(exide) the guys simply replaced all the battery caps and dis the servicing of the battery.the caps of the battery have small vents to let exxcess smoke/vapours to release and if these get clogged..pressure build up leads to splashing of the acidic battery fluid.

I thought of that too, but ticked that possibility off as in that case it would have not spilled over on the top. If you look at it the damage has happened above the battery level and that too at the side which is outside. Uhuh... if it would have happened the way you say the damage would have been inside the bonnet surface.

tsk... thats one heck of an idea... only hitch here i guess is that i find it a bit difficult to dole out a straight-face-lie dekhte hain...

however one thing is that the thing seems to have lost all its strength. do u people think that it may cause any further damage if something is not done immediately? its already been like that at least for the last 2 months... till i noticed it. i was wondering if and when i have some time maybe i will take the car to the body shop for a touch up all over, you know those nicks and scratches in the lower body that all these unruly bikers leave and at that time i will get this mended as well. but only if i am sure that the damage will not spread further.

[vid6639]

it's not a dent right zappo. One thing you can do instead of fighting it out with fools is just get a touch up paint job. most service centres will do this for free.

Touch up hides it noticably as well prevent corrosion.

[Hellraiser]

darn these mechanics ,most of the time they are careless.
the last time i gave my car (ohc) for servicing some careless mech broke/cracked the right side skirt (dont know how) even though i specially told them to be carefull with the car as it has skirts all around on top of that then they refused to pay for the damages or repair it.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by vid6639

it's not a dent right zappo. One thing you can do instead of fighting it out with fools is just get a touch up paint job. most service centres will do this for free.Touch up hides it noticably as well prevent corrosion.

No its not a dent. Its just some greenish sediment formation on top of the painted surface... in fact scratching it lightly even removes the sediments and reveals the painted surface underneath.Touch up I am not sure about. The body shop guy always says that metallic paint is impossible to touch up as it immediately stands out. So the least he will probably insist on is to get the whole stretch of the surface below the windshield painted.