Major Engine Failure Just Out of Warranty - £6000+ bill - EU Law Legal Position?

Takoda

Congratulations!

withabix

MOT passed....got my car back after NINE WEEKS!

Total cost to me: £1330, less £128 Quidco cashback on my car hire and £12 on the excess cover

Value of what Nissan paid for = £8678 approx, comprising:

Engine: £5500 (cost price as previously advised by Nissan)
Fuel Pump :£1842 (retail price)
Car Hire: £1280 (inc 20% discount arranged by me)
Excess Cover: £56
...plus aircon re-gassing, service parts, full showroom valet!

jeannieblue

withabix wrote: »

MOT passed....got my car back after NINE WEEKS!

Total cost to me: £1330, less £128 Quidco cashback on my car hire and £12 on the excess cover

Value of what Nissan paid for = £8678 approx, comprising:

Engine: £5500 (cost price as previously advised by Nissan)
Fuel Pump :£1842 (retail price)
Car Hire: £1280 (inc 20% discount arranged by me)
Excess Cover: £56
...plus aircon re-gassing, service parts, full showroom valet!

Curious. Do you know what caused this problem?

Hearing about various problems with diesel vehicles due to the additives in different brands of diesel being not compatible - clogging up fuel filters, then the pumps, injectors and so on and often ending up needing new engines. Mostly in vehicles with a higher mileage.

withabix

Problem was caused by failure of an injector nozzle, which resulted in excess fuel in cylinder 1.

Photos are here if you want a look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50174646@N08/

Fuel pump wasn't expected to be replaced (Nissan dealers were surprised when the engine they ordered was delivered with one attached!).

My threat of legal action, which resulted in Nissan suddenly falling over themselves to provide a new engine, was based on the fact that the injector nozzles do not appear on any inspection, maintenance or repacement schedule issued by Nissan at any age or mileage, implying that the injector nozzles should be expected to last for the life of the engine (and not destroy it!!).

Add that to the provisions of EU Directive 1999/44/EC (that's the one that can give the consumer rights for up to 6 years on things which should be durable such as an engine) and Nissan presumably realised that my case was bulletproof.

From personal experience and other info on the internet (such as frequncy of engine failures in current Navara), I wouldn't buy another Nissan diesel. They re just TOO unreliable. I rely on my car to get me around the UK in my job. This one just isn't durable enough to tick the box. My last one, a Ford Galaxy GHIA TDI, reached 130,000 miles in 3-4 years before anything expensive went wrong. It was an expensive fault when it occurred (flywheel/clutch/CV joint), but it was at an acceptable mileage. VW reliability under a Ford badge.

Since I bought the X-Trail new on 30th May 2007, it has actually been in the garage for 14 weeks or 10% of it's life!! for a number of repairs, such as intercooler, fuel pump and engine.

All of the serious faults have been to do with it being a diesel engine as far as I can see.

When diesel engines go wrong, they are far more expensive to fix than petrol ones.

The longest my car was in the garage before was for 4 weeks for the replacement of the fuel pump at 12 months/25000 miles. They are so expensive and the failure is so common that Nissan actually take your fuel pump out and send it away for refurbishment rather than replacing with a new one. The fuel pump is positioned such that you have to remove the engine to replace it. Clearly Nissan intended these to last a bit longer than they do...

ArsenalFC

Fantastic, well done. It must have been a nightmare at first. Well done for doing your research and pressing the matter :T

jeannieblue

I don't think that it is just Nissan diesels that are having problems - I think there is an issue with the diesel that we are buying that is b*ggering up the fuel systems... filters, pumps, injectors and so on.

Just wondered if anyone on here knew about this too. May have a google and see if can come up with anything.

Glad you got yours all sorted!

macabc

Doesnt appear to be just Nissan.

Have a look at the following thread re blown engine on my landcruiser due to injector issues. Toyota footing £9.5k repair/replacement cost for a 3.0L d4-d motor.

Clearly some merit in a decent dealer, research and applying relevant pressure, should failure be under such circumstances.

good luck

http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8620&start=15&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

gilbert_and_sullivan

jeannieblue wrote: »

Curious. Do you know what caused this problem?

Hearing about various problems with diesel vehicles due to the additives in different brands of diesel being not compatible - clogging up fuel filters, then the pumps, injectors and so on and often ending up needing new engines. Mostly in vehicles with a higher mileage.

Then how many do we hear running the other sort of additives, Mazola, Sunflower oil, Rapeseed oil etc and then when it starts to go pear shaped which it will quickly sell on.

I wonder just how many tricky Diesel problems are caused by owners experimenting cos old Joe with the bad breath runs his 1980 405D on the muck.

For the rest of us trying to do the right thing i really don't like the fact that BioDiesel is being added to normal forecourt fuel, don't supose this muck is doing any good either.
Having said that HGV's are still covering mammoth mileages with little trouble from their fuel systems, i've recenty driven a 15 year old Mercedes truck for someone for a day that has been round the clock countless times and the enigine and fuel system are as good as new.

TiTheRev

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Then how many do we hear running the other sort of additives, Mazola, Sunflower oil, Rapeseed oil etc and then when it starts to go pear shaped which it will quickly sell on.

I wonder just how many tricky Diesel problems are caused by owners experimenting cos old Joe with the bad breath runs his 1980 405D on the muck.

For the rest of us trying to do the right thing i really don't like the fact that BioDiesel is being added to normal forecourt fuel, don't supose this muck is doing any good either.

We have changed the fuel filter service intervals on all diesels by 1yr or 20k to allow for these BioFuel issues. We've seen a few issues already, but hopefully fuel filter changes will lessen the impact.

gilbert_and_sullivan

TiTheRev wrote: »

We have changed the fuel filter service intervals on all diesels by 1yr or 20k to allow for these BioFuel issues. We've seen a few issues already, but hopefully fuel filter changes will lessen the impact.

My Hilux now coming up to 3 years old doesn't have an official fuel filter service interval which to me is incredible.

I don't like that one bit and have a new filter fitted at annual main dealer service, the mech leaves the old one for me and they come out filthy, how much of this is down to Bio i don't know, it doesn't seem to be gritty dirt or anything just a black colouration, possibly Biogrowth?

Anyway i too will be carrying on with good preventative maintenance, these systems are too expensive to skimp servicing.