Blown headgasket after 17,000 on a reconditionned engine !

redsclubbedup

Hi all

I made the mistake of buying a 2nd hanrd freelander

It was sat on my drive for 8 weeks having enough work done to get it safe to drive (looks like it had a dodgy MOT)

I bought the car in question as I knew about the headgasket issues - and this one was sold with a fully reconditioned engine, with multilayered headgasket with only 17,000 on it.

This work was carried out by the previous owners garage in October 09 - and I have the bill for £800

My question is - do I have any legal standing here, to go down the small claims route - or even to contact them and ask for the work to be carried out again ???

I can see no guarantee in the paperwork - just a receipt but surely a fully reconned engine, with only 17,000 on teh clock should not suffer headgasket failure if the job had been done properlt - I have heard of them going as early as 40K, but that was the old style, not the new mulitlayered one

any advice is much appreciated

thanks

ian

Mcfi5dhc

I am not new to the world of HGF (MG owner!)

You get a Head Gasket Failure when you lose coolant - this is usually due to radiator leaking, hose splitting etc, then the engine gets hot and thats it, damage done.

Can you provide more details as to what caused the HGF?

Also, I am not sure I read your post right. Have you bought it with the HG gone already, or have you had it for a bit and its gone?

Thanks

pulliptears

you may be better over on the motoring forums with this one

OlliesDad

Any rights you have will be against the person you bought it from. If this is a private sale, you are out of luck as it is a case of buyer beware.

4743hudsonj

As above HGF is only an effect, you need to know the cause to get anywhere......

DCodd

I think you will find that a head gasket comes under "perishable items" as it is a protective joint and as such not warranteed at all.

redsclubbedup

yes unfortuantley it was a private sale BUT he did sell it telling me that a new reconditionned engine had been fitted (Oct 09), and it only had 17,000 miles on it (with the new multi layer style gasket)

I also have the bill for £800 from the garage stating they fitted a reconditioned engine, and also the mileage at the time so I can prove it has only done 17,000

since buying it it has been sat on my driveway for 2 months as my mechanic could not believe it had passed the MOT - I have aready thrown a hell of alot of money at it, and now this !

When i collected the car its coolant was to the max level - i drove it 240miles home (from newcastle!) and checked all the levels then = fine

since then my mechanic has done 30 miles taking it places for diagnostics etc... i collected it last saturday and have done 200miles on it - i heard the fan come on yesterday when i got to work - thought it odd, so checked under the bonnet, and sure enough, coolant had all drained ! put 2 litres back into the system, and the checked oil and it had a whitish foam on it, which i believe normally means hgf !

Brooker_Dave

redsclubbedup wrote: »

I also have the bill for £800 from the garage stating they fitted a reconditioned engine, and also the mileage at the time so I can prove it has only done 17,000

None of that matters, the garage who did the work did it for somebody else, you have no recourse.

Just get the HG done again and hopefully look forward to years of happy motoring.

peachyprice

Have you actually phoned the garage who did the work?

When I had my HG done it was guaranteed for a year (I love my Freelander really;))

sp1987

You bought the car privately and you say it was sold as having a recon'd engine 17k ago. There is no accusation that the seller mislead you as to the works done on the vehicle.

The engine work was done by the previous owner via a contract between themselves and a third party garage.

No recourse.

Small claims would laugh you out (though that isn't to say I'm not sympathetic to your problem).