Car troubles

[poppet]

We went on holiday down South the other week and the head gasket went on the car. Our insurance were great, got the car towed to garage, got us hirecar etc. The car wasnt going to be ready for a week so we had to drive home again. We got another hirecar Mon to return the 770kms to the garage, hubby having to take 2 days off work to do the trip. We got our car, paid the 540 euros & were told its all good to go. However, 30 mins later the oil light came on and the engine blew up on a very busy motorway. We were towed again to another garage were we saw a huge crack in the engine with lots of oil pouring out. The insurance wouldnt cover the cost of towing the car home, the cost of a new engine was high along with the 2 days off work again and petrol/tolls to go back down there. Sadly, we scrapped the car.

The original garage are saying they will reimburse us for the cost of the work which I hope is true. Now, other people are saying we should claim for more - loss of earnings, the petrol and tolls (around 300 euros) etc etc. Does this sound feasible? How would I go about it? Is it worth the hassle? Would be easier if the garage were in my village, I might push a bit more.

Any thoughts? And any free cars going? lol

[Théière]

Is there any proof that the block breaking was the fault of the garage that fixed the head gasket, was the damage to the engine caused by the head gasket blowing and overheating the engine and not by the repair garage?

I think the garage's offer is generous in the circumstances.

Out of interest what was the car and how old?

[poppet]

Well, the block wasnt broken before the garage repaired the head gasket. The oil light had been on when the gasket went and they were supposed to fix the whole problem.

The car was a Daewoo, 10 years old.

[Théière]

But the head gasket doesn't affect the block, overheating on the other hand could easily stress the block and poor oil circulation even more. The oil light being on when the gasket went is yet more proof the fault doesn't lie with the garage that repaired it. Even if the garage had changed the oil pump sump strainer etc it does not mean a problem of oil cloging an oil pathway due to overheating (Oil thickens and goes waxy, known as the black death in motoring circles) would be their fault. How many miles did you continue driving with an overheating engine before you noticed the problem? The upshot from my point of view would be garages charging for a total engine rebuild on a 10 year old car rather than the head gasket. The cost of the rebuild would almost certainly be more than the value of a 10 year old Daewoo.

I still believe the garages offer is very generous as they have suffered the costs of parts and labour for something that wasn't actually their fault but was the result of a mechanical problem before they saw the car. In most cases the repair of the head gasket would have been sufficient.

[poppet]

Fair enough, thats what I wanted an opinion on thanks. Having said that, they were the insurance approved garage that towed the car away and were asked to find out the fault to fix it. They said it was the head gasket. Shouldnt they have picked up any other problems too? I thought thats what garages did - fixed cars.

In answer to your question though, the oil light came on, without the temperature gauge going up, and within 2 minutes the engine went bang. This was within 20 minutes of picking the car up as fixed.

Thanks for your reply.

[Chancer]

In the circumstances I agree that it appears that they are being generous, when an oil light comes on one should immediately shut down the engine and investigate the cause, 2 minutes is more than long enough to throw a rod as it sounds like your engine did.

The only caveat being that it failed so soon after leaving the garage, if the oil light was not on initially and the engine failing so catastrophically after 20 minutes makes me suspect a major oil leak, the sump plug or oil filter not correctly tightened.

Proving it is another matter.

[AnOther]

Whilst I do think that the garage is probably culpable proving it is an entirely different matter.

What may have happened is a sudden catastrophic loss of water, from say a split or improperly fitted hose, causing rapid overheating resulting in a thinning of the oil to the point where the light comes on, after which, unless you dump the clutch and kill the engine instantly, what follows is almost inevitable. In that circumstance, depending on it's type and location, even the temperature gauge might not indicate high as with no water left the apparent temperature can stay level or even go down !

Alternatively it may have been that either the head or block was warped or cracked and they didn't attend to that properly, certainly €540 wouldn't have covered that sort of job, either of those could have resulted in a catastrophic water loss.

Either way proving it will be impossible so, as unpalatable as it might be, to cut your losses and run would be my advice.

[Bugsy]

Just a small point on oil-warning lights.

The typical unit is a pressure activated switch set to (typically) 8psi. When that comes on when driving the damage has already been done.

Race cars usually run high pessure switches (30 psi) so that in the event of sudden oil-pressure loss the engine can still be saved.

.

[poppet]

Thanks everyone.

[Théière]

Sorry Poppet,

 

[poppet]

Thanks Théière. I will be happy if I get money back from garage, least I can look for something else then. Was really just looking into what other people thought I should do.

[Théière]

In-laws are having a dispute at the moment with a ride on lawnmower, wish the repairer's were as understanding as your garage. They repaired the gearbox with a new shaft and the mower was delivered back. Whilst being unloaded, the mechanic selected forward and reverse in order to maneuver the mower and the gearbox made a horrendous sound and is now kaput, the repairers want paying for the work done so far and an additional €1200 for a new gearbox including labour to repair it further. I am pretty sure the mechanic either didn't fit a circlip to retain the shaft in position or didn't fit the clip properly which caused the problem. Either way they had the gearbox stripped down and were in a position to see every part of the gearbox and asses whether it was beyond repair at that point, something your garage wasn't able to do.

Good luck with your new car and remember Cam belts need changing every 80,000 miles so check when it was last done on anything you buy [:)]

[AnOther]

[quote user="Théière"]Good luck with your new car and remember Cam belts need changing every 80,000 miles so check when it was last done on anything you buy [:)][/quote]Good advice in principal however not all vehicles are due at 80,000 - some are less, some more - plus there is usually a lifetime aspect regardless of mileage, 4 years in the case of my Skoda, so the check should be for when it's actually due on either score.

Often someone will sell a car which is well under the mileage but close to or even over on the lifetime as they don't want to spend the money having it done on a car they are selling. Again this was the case with my Skoda which had only done 46,000km but was approaching 4 years old and I negotiated a discount to cover the replacement.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, according to many manufacturers, even at the lifetime point if under the stipulated mileage a cam belt change is deemed optional.