Help I Dont Know What To Do! 2001 Vauxhall Astra 1.7dti

lottielee

The heaters on My 2001 Vauxhall Astra 1.7dti 1 day last week started to blow cold air instead of hot, i thought it would be fine but the next day on my way to work the temperature went to 100 (still a quarter away from the red) and i managed to get into work (car still driving ok) but with steam coming from the engine bay, i got it recovered and the guy looked in the water bottle and said he thought it was the head gasket because it had oil in it, so i got it collected the next day and taken to a garage to have it fixed, they said they didnt think it was the head gasket, and thought it might be the water pump.... it was not the water pump and said it was the oil cooler so i told them to do that and give it a service because it was overdue, i even had the cambelt changed... they said they flushed the 'system' 10 times but oil was still getting into the water, now they have done that and the car still has oil coming into the water bottle and now they think its the head gasket... but now want paying £420 for the work they have already done.... i aint happy 1 bit and i want my car back but they wont let me collect it until i pay up for work that did not need doing! (i want it back to get a second opinion or to scrap it!)... i could have just scrapped it and be £150 up rather than £420 down!

BlueC

Tough one that, not sure what your rights are as you asked them to do the work, but OTOH they mis-diagnosed the problem. Even to me when I read the first line of your post I knew it was a HGF and i'm no mechanic! Also HGF is pretty easy to diagnose by pressure testing the coolant system and/or the cylinders, or running a fairly simple exhaust gas check. Any mechanic should know this and given the symptoms it should reasonably have been the first thing they did.

The car is probably worth less than £420 now so maybe just let them keep it?!

hartcjhart

lottielee wrote: »

The heaters on My 2001 Vauxhall Astra 1.7dti 1 day last week started to blow cold air instead of hot, i thought it would be fine but the next day on my way to work the temperature went to 100 (still a quarter away from the red) and i managed to get into work (car still driving ok) but with steam coming from the engine bay, i got it recovered and the guy looked in the water bottle and said he thought it was the head gasket because it had oil in it, so i got it collected the next day and taken to a garage to have it fixed, they said they didnt think it was the head gasket, and thought it might be the water pump.... it was not the water pump and said it was the oil cooler so i told them to do that and give it a service because it was overdue, i even had the cambelt changed... they said they flushed the 'system' 10 times but oil was still getting into the water, now they have done that and the car still has oil coming into the water bottle and now they think its the head gasket... but now want paying £420 for the work they have already done.... i aint happy 1 bit and i want my car back but they wont let me collect it until i pay up for work that did not need doing! (i want it back to get a second opinion or to scrap it!)... i could have just scrapped it and be £150 up rather than £420 down!

this is the relevant part as far as I can see

they THOUGHT it was X and you said to do it,then they said Y and you said to do it,so sadly you have to pay,

as Bluec said they really should have tested the gasket first,SO, you may be able to argue that as they didnt that they should do the gasket for free or at a reduced rate

lottielee

BlueC wrote: »

Tough one that, not sure what your rights are as you asked them to do the work, but OTOH they mis-diagnosed the problem. Even to me when I read the first line of your post I knew it was a HGF and i'm no mechanic! Also HGF is pretty easy to diagnose by pressure testing the coolant system and/or the cylinders, or running a fairly simple exhaust gas check. Any mechanic should know this and given the symptoms it should reasonably have been the first thing they did.

The car is probably worth less than £420 now so maybe just let them keep it?!

a guy there told me they could not check to find out if the head gasket had failed??

not sure what to do

hartcjhart

lottielee wrote: »

a guy there told me they could not check to find out if the head gasket had failed??

not sure what to do

what sort of garage are they??

Gordon_Hose

lol, they sound like right cowboys!

lottielee

hartcjhart wrote: »

this is the relevant part as far as I can see

they THOUGHT it was X and you said to do it,then they said Y and you said to do it,so sadly you have to pay,

as Bluec said they really should have tested the gasket first,SO, you may be able to argue that as they didnt that they should do the gasket for free or at a reduced rate

they said it WAS the oil cooler so i said fix it

lottielee

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

lol, they sound like right cowboys!

thats what i am thinking!

hartcjhart

lottielee wrote: »

they said it WAS the oil cooler so i said fix it

sorry, you said 'thought' in your OP and thats what I was going by

lottielee

hartcjhart wrote: »

sorry, you said 'thought' in your OP and thats what I was going by

its ok, i was confident that they would fix the car before doing the service and cam belt, but they did all that on a car that could still be knackered! idiots!