Cam belt kit - seized engine!

cyclonebri1

vindiesel34 wrote: »

Finally got my Clio back today... UPDATE IS...

Car fixed by a renault specialist (car taken there by RAC as the garage where i had it fitted last year wasnt open the day of breakdown) who fits cambelts for a living.

Once he stripped it down it turned out to be a snapped Belt which was faulty, which in turn seized everything up wrecking the engine!

Had recon head, new valves - all 16 of them! New cambelt with tensioner etc plus new waterpump fitted.
He said he was suprised there wasnt smoke coming off the belt... Thing is, there was when i originally had the CAMBELT kit fitted last august, i stopped immediately and rang the garage who fitted it, he said it may be a bit of oil burning off as he also did a oil change for me.He told me to bring the car back to him next day which i did, he checked it and said all was fine!!!

So a faulty cambelt will be covered by the warranty, but because the garage said it was fine after i took it back, doesnt that mean he should pay back all costs of repair? What course of action can i take?

All in, including labour £685, which i think is very reasonable, comes with a 12 month guarantee.

Thanks everyone for all comments.

Good that the car is now ok, but I'm sorry to say I don't see a chance that you will be able to get the money back.

Please prove me wrong;), and good luck. They will of course dispute what the last garage you used said:A

atrixblue.-MFR-.

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Good that the car is now ok, but I'm sorry to say I don't see a chance that you will be able to get the money back.

Please prove me wrong;), and good luck. They will of course dispute what the last garage you used said:A

why so negative.

the OP's approach should be that the belt failed, lets see what the outcome of the warranty claim is. OP you shouldnt have been such a nicey nicey to your garage after all if the manufacturer of the belt found it snapped due to ill fitting then i'm sorry the garage damaged your car and should have cherged next to nothing to repair.

heres how its going to pan out for you:

garage will send back belt under warranty if found the belt was at fault, the garage will claim what you paid effectivly getting paid twice. made a nice earner off you.

garage tell you its one of those things we did nothing wrong but warranty cant find any fault and say its not ill fitted you get no money back.

heres what you should of done:

stood your ground, someone is at fault either the belt was faulty or garage ill fitted it either way shouldnt have cost you that at all.

come to an agreement they buy the parts inc head and valves you meet half way with labour as a generosity thing on your behalf.

if it were me no way would i have just rolled over and paid that out.
i would want to see proof the belt was faulty i would want to see the report, if it said snapped due to ill fitting too tight slack miss aligned, i'd be asking the garage what their going to do to rectify the damage, if they said were doing nothing you got to pay take to another garage, get fixed see the other garage in court, after all they would have to prove they werent negligant in fitting the belt.

you stand little if no chance in seeing anything unless you go to court and that garage has just made £1000-£1400 off you if it was a faulty belt and believe me they will send it back at the prospect of making double the money out it.

cyclonebri1

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

why so negative.

Because that's life and I know exactly what will be needed to prove the case, (along the lines you mention).

The common problem here is as in many cases when 2nd garage is involved. Everyone blames everyone else.:o

Notice I said prove me wrong to the op, I really would like to hear of someone winning one of these "disputes" :T

birkee

I don't accept the diagnosis of cause.

Had a friend, whose car the RAC diagnosed with a siezed engine. (Rubbish, since it was alright the night before!) I told my friend to look for a jammed starter motor to prevent the engine turning over...... It was.
I can diagnose long range, and the RAC can't diagnose on site?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Because that's life and I know exactly what will be needed to prove the case, (along the lines you mention).

The common problem here is as in many cases when 2nd garage is involved. Everyone blames everyone else.:o

Notice I said prove me wrong to the op, I really would like to hear of someone winning one of these "disputes" :T

its not life its the fact that too many dont know basic garage terms.

anything that is covered by a warranty of manufacturer you have to follow the prescribed routs of course.

belt fitted belt has 12M warranty.

4 months later belt snaps no reason.

you then INSTRUCT a garage on what to do as terms of agreement

not go by their say,

so you instruct to strip down, you instruct to send off belt to manufacturer, and instruct that you will want to see the report.

when report is in you read it it will be in black and white and YOU OWN THAT REPORT not the garage, you paid for the belt kit the report is yours and free to keep it for ref if need be.

if report stipulates belt snapped due to ill fitting (and it wont just say that it will give details at to how tight or slack it was fitted or misaligned with detailed photo shots of key stress or excessive premature wear points) the you turn to you garage and ask what the are going to do to rectify the damage if they refuse to accept the manufacturers report and stipulate they did nothing wrong, you have to take you vehicle away and find another garage to fit it and then take the garage to court for parts, labour, recovery, at court they will have a labour claim against you (in the hopes you lose) but at the end of the day you have a detailed report to produce to a court your evidence against their word.

cyclonebri1

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

its not life its the fact that too many dont know basic garage terms.

produce to a court your evidence against their word.

And that sums it up.
Please don't fill the op with false hope.

The fact is that all garages know the "basic terms" far better than the customer does.

If you want to end up in court with 2 disputed statements and your own account please carry on.


Sorry attrix but the burden of proof and all that lot is dam difficult.

johnnyroper

for a belt to snap after such a small amount of time i would say it is down to the way it has been fitted,unless it was a 50 pence chinese special belt?

I know this from experience working at vauxhall there was one particular person who fitted several belts and all failed within 10k miles.Turned out he was turning tensioner counter clockwise so belt ran a very tight curve from pump to tens causing belt the shread.

In op's case the belt maker will test and find the exact cause of failure as i say i suspect a fitting issue,you will be surprised the info they can gain by examining the failed belt.

vindiesel34

The snapped Belt and tensioner have been given back to the original garage who fitted the kit, they are co-operating ok at the moment, i should have the report back next week. Thats when things will kick off over money.

If the report confirms failure due to ill fitting i gonna fight my corner, though im not expecting it to be easy.
If it confirms faulty parts im not sure if ive got any chance of claiming parts and labour for repair.

Will update next week.

Horizon81

Does anyone have any information on changing the cambelt on a 1.2 16v clio. My friend also has this model car and it's due a change but from ringing round speaking to several garages, it seems to be a particularly complicated job (compared to other makes anyway). Some garage refused the work, others would only let their most senior mechanic work on it!! Does it really need specialist knowledge and experience?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Horizon81 wrote: »

Does anyone have any information on changing the cambelt on a 1.2 16v clio. My friend also has this model car and it's due a change but from ringing round speaking to several garages, it seems to be a particularly complicated job (compared to other makes anyway). Some garage refused the work, others would only let their most senior mechanic work on it!! Does it really need specialist knowledge and experience?

no get a haines manual will take you step by step through it. not a technical thing getting TDC and the cams and crank locked is main thing.