Major problem with 11,000 mile nearly 2 year old Ka UPDATE POST 71

Flyboy152

Strider590 wrote: »

I don't know what everyone else is going on about, but it sounds to me like it was overfilled with oil..... This can do enormous damage of the type you have described!

And don't let that garage buy the car from you, they'll make a really nice profit on that.

Which is the point of selling cars.

jase1

Absolutely bigjl, you'll get no argument from me on that one, but still, 2 years to failure on a modern engine? Come off it. This isn't normal.

It is a self-inflicted wound but there is definitely a rabbit out somewhere. Engines don't just fail like that.

thescouselander

Flyboy152 wrote: »

However, if the service identified any potential problems, like excessive oil burn, or an oil leak, this could have been resolved much cheaper than a complete engine rebuild or replacement. Hence the reason why the manufacturer insists on keeping t the schedule and denying any claims on that basis. That said, contrary to popular belief, the warranty could still be valid on non-mileage critical parts.

True but would the service have included any diagnostic tests that would have highlighted such problems? I dont know about Ford but when my Audi has its first service the level of testing beyond what is already recorded by the cars ECU was non existant.

jase1

This is why the 500-mile freebie service (changing the starter oil etc) you used to get on cars was such a good idea. Any significant defects could be quietly resolved before they became a big problem.

I know Hyundai still did this in 2001; does any manufacturer bother any more?

Flyboy152

thescouselander wrote: »

True but would the service have included any diagnostic tests that would have highlighted such problems? I dont know about Ford but when my Audi has its first service the level of testing beyond what is already recorded by the cars ECU was non existant.

Doesn't matter, a visual check could be all that was needed. As there was no opportunity to do so, the claim was disallowed. But, as I have already said, that may not necessarily be the end of it. There are many arguments that could be applied to this that might help the OP, at least to get a contribution from Ford. Also, the possibility of the engine being over-filled is an important factor to consider. Any skilled technician should be able to identify that one.

bigjl

I have every sympathy for the cars owner, I don't want to see her lose money, but she did hat she did and now has to pay for it.

As far as diagnostics checks at the first service or any minor service, yes they may not do them, but hey validate the warranty so who cares how much checking they do, they tick the box that says the warranty is valid, simples, good enough for me.

Main dealer servicing is only done by me to keep up the warranty, as soon as the warranty is out, then bye, bye main dealer.

bigjl

jase1 wrote: »

This is why the 500-mile freebie service (changing the starter oil etc) you used to get on cars was such a good idea. Any significant defects could be quietly resolved before they became a big problem.

I know Hyundai still did this in 2001; does any manufacturer bother any more?

As far as I know Subaru still do this.

Or at least they did when I bought my WRX at the end of 2003 and when I bought my Legacy in 2004.

Lets not forget which manufacturer has a reputaion for longevity!

Even on the WRX major mechanical issues are rare.

On the non-turbo cars they are nigh on indestructable.

Tiexen

bigjl wrote: »

If it is a durateq then is that a completely new design or is it based on an older Ford engine such as the old Fiesta engines like the 1.25 or similar?

No its the Fiat 1.2 "Fire" engine out of the Panda/500

thescouselander

At the end of the day Ford have a legal responsibility to provide a warranty to the OP. Ford may claim the actions of the OP have invalidated the warranty but if the OP was to take Ford to court Ford would have to demonstrate this was actually the case.

I belive that the OP could potentially demonstrate (on the balance of probability) that the fault was not caused by missing the 12 month service and it might be possible to demonstrate that Ford would not have identified the problem during the 12 month service.

Of course proving all this may be irrelevant if the problem was caused by overfilling the oil.

Perhaps the best soultion is the get the engine repaired by a third garage and get an experts report as to the cause of the failure. The OP could then decide whether to pursue the party responsible in the small claims court.

jd82

If it is the petrol then it will be the FIAT FIRE engine and I am not aware of a single case of piston ring failure on that engine from the FIAT forums.

The engine has been around since the early 80's and is well proven. The cause of the piston ring failure is old oil especialy if its had a lot of stop start journeys.