I will never recommend or use Autoworks again.

TLDR – I will never recommend or use Autoworks again.

I sent a detailed email to Autoworks on a Saturday to explain that my Navara required an annual service and additionally, my alternator pulley had broken and I requested that they quote for a replacement alternator, replacement accessory belt, inspection of the air conditioner compressor clutch, inspection of the turbo, and new cabin filters as the AC had a slightly musky smell (I even provided the OEM part number for the filters).

Their first availability was the Wednesday, and I had my Navara towed through to their workshop.

Only on the Friday was I provided a quote to remove and send the turbo and air-con compressor away for refurbishment!! This quote could have been provided on the Monday and the vehicle had already been sitting there for two and half days. They send your parts away to third parties for inspection or work, so rather take your vehicle directly to the specialists and save yourself time and money. So, I opted for the turbo and air-con to stay put, but for the new alternator and belt to be installed.

The new alternator and belt was supp**** on the Monday morning with the commitment to have the vehicle ready for collection Monday afternoon. I received a call around 3pm to say that they were having trouble installing the new alternator and that I would be able to collect on the Tuesday morning.

I collected the vehicle on the Tuesday morning, and after I hit the freeway, noticed excessive smoke coming from the exhaust. When I got to work, I inspected the oil level and found it to be 25-30mm above the high mark, which is off the charts and should have been inspected and picked up after the oil replacement.

The excessive crank case pressure had pushed oil all the way through the turbo, intercooler hot pipe, intercooler, and intercooler cold pipe and into the intake. After draining the oil to the correct level, I had to remove the intercooler and related piping to clean them out, which took a good 5 hours. But luckily this was caught early and there does not seem to be any permanent damage.

After cleaning out the intercooler, I could still pick up the musky smell, and opened the glove box to access the cabin filters, and found that they had broken my left passenger side roof grab handle and just stashed it in the glove box instead of fixing it. Needless to say, my old cabin filters were still in there, and I immediately sent them an email with photo asking if they perhaps missed the cabin filters. A week later I have had ZERO response… It makes me wonder if they even bothered to replace the fuel and oil filters.

On inspecting the replacement of my alternator and belt, I also picked up that they had snapped my belt tensioner bar. I can see that they attempted to rethread the bar, but the tensioner bar has snapped clean. I don’t know how on Earth the belt is still under tension, but I am waiting for a new tensioner pulley assembly to arrive before removing it and installing the new parts. It’s not only an additional cost on a part that they broke, but I am honestly more comfortable installing it myself then asking them to do it.

Overall, a very frustrating and time-consuming experience.