Garage Issues

sikersh

Hi everyone,

My car developed a fault in November last year. I noticed the coolant level was dropping and the car was overheating. The car itself ran perfect no misfires or anything, it was only due to the coolant loss and temp gauge that I knew there was an issue.

I decided to get it checked out with a local garage to see what the issue was and they said it was 90% headgasket failure due to exhaust gasses leaking in the coolant tank. I kind of knew it was that, as all the symptoms were there.

I decided to shop around and see how much it would cost, and many garages including the one who tested were over £1300 as it was a 2.5 V6. I contacted my brother who mentioned a friend of his who has a garage, and they said they would charge £600 labour and £90 head skim, but I would need to supply the headgasket kit etc myself, which I did for £500.

I left the car with the garage for over 2 weeks, and picked it up at the end of November. The car ran fine and I took it really easy, as I know it was kind of like having a new engine.

Around 2 days later (78 miles) the car started to misfire slightly on the way home from work, jerking and not running right at all. It got worse when I got home. I turned the ignition off and tried to re-start and it just wouldn't start at all, it sounded awful! The entire engine shook when trying to be started so I decided to leave it and get in contact with my brother the day after.

In the morning the car had a pool of oil under it and the coolant level had dropped quite considerably. I feared the worse that it could be the headgasket again!

My brother rang his friends garage and they said that I would need to get the car to them myself, which I wasn't happy about, but I needed it back asap, so I had to pay £50 for a low-loader to take it to the garage.

I work around 25 miles from home and I can't get public transport, so my retired dad had to run me for the few weeks up until Xmas. My dad was getting fed up (with the traffic!) so I had to lend my fiances car the few days before finishing for the Xmas break.

I heard nothing at all from when I dropped it off until Xmas, only that they will 'probably' start dismantling again in the New Year. I kept my patience as I knew it was my brothers friend and I knew they had tried to help fix my car initially, so gave them the benefit of the doubt.

In the New Year, my fiance needed her car back and my dad was unable to take me to work, so I looked into getting a New car on finance. I ended up putting a deposit down and getting another car as I didn't know when I would get my old car back. I NEEDED a car, otherwise I couldn't go to work. I was that desperate.

I've now had an update today (nearly 2 months since getting it taken back) from my brother, that my old car has a faulty piston, so will need replacing at a cost to me of £250+vat. My brother has said it wasn't upto the garage to check what went wrong initially.

Obviously I am furious, as I've waited patiently and also had to fork out for a New car, and now have to pay another £250+!!

I have told my brother that I want it fixed foc, or a refund for the £600 I paid them. I believe they should have determined the issue with it the first time. I paid them to fix it and 2 days later it broke down.

Maybe if they would have said back when it broke again that I would need to pay the £250, I would have paid it, but since its taken 2 months to get an update, I've had to fork out for a New car.

Can anyone give any advice as I will be speaking direct with the Manager of the garage tomorrow.

Any help much appreciated

Simon

TradePro

What model of car is it Simon? And approximately how much is it worth?

sikersh

It's a 2000 Alfa 156 2.5 V6. Cost £900.

Thanks

TradePro

Hmmm, it's a difficult one mate.

As you know, Alfa's are not the most reliable cars out there (cool though), and to be fair to the garage, they may have done a great job on your head gasket, and there could be no connection at all with your piston problem, just something else failing on an elderly Alfa...

They may have caused the problem, but it's very difficult to prove in my opinion.

What I most certainly wouldn't do is spend any more money, your just gonna go deeper into a hole.

I think if it was me I would sell the car with the fault on eBay, no reserve, to the highest bidder. Let's say it fetches £500 (which it may, they are quite an enthusiasts car remember with the V6 in), you could then ask the garage if they would contribute to your £400 'loss'.

Hope that might help.

vaio

They are telling lies....no way can they swap out a piston for £250 especially as just the gasket set cost you twice that and thats before you consider the oil leak & water loss. My guess is they messed up the head gasket and are now trying to get more money out of you to finance the next stage of their learning curve

I think you really have two choices.....

write car & cash off

recover car, get independent report & sue them

Which is best depends on how angry you are and how much you value the car.

Pragmatic solution might be to threaten the inspection in the hope that it frightens them into a refund

Splott

sikersh wrote: »

I have told my brother that I want it fixed foc, or a refund for the £600 I paid them. I believe they should have determined the issue with it the first time. I paid them to fix it and 2 days later it broke down.

Can anyone give any advice as I will be speaking direct with the Manager of the garage tomorrow.

Any help much appreciated

Simon

You've not got a leg to stand on when you supply the parts yourself. Absolutely none at all unless you can prove beyond doubt that they did the job wrong and you provided the proper part and it was of good quality and that is going to mean taking the engine to get it inspected by a qualified engineer and getting them to write a report at £60+ per hour.

I've now had an update today (nearly 2 months since getting it taken back) from my brother, that my old car has a faulty piston, so will need replacing at a cost to me of £250+vat. My brother has said it wasn't upto the garage to check what went wrong initially.

He kind of has a point. You paid them to fit a part you supplied and they did that. If you wanted a more in depth diagnosis you should've gone for the job that cost a mere £200 more that would've saved you a lot of money.

At the end of the day £900 is banger money and a £900 12 year old Alfa 156 is a banger. Your problem is you forgot the golden rule of bangernomics - drive it until it goes wrong then scrap it. You don't go spending £1100 on a headgasket replacement - you fit a £100 second hand engine.

Westmead_Fan

I decided to get it checked out with a local garage to see what the issue was and they said it was 90% headgasket failure due to exhaust gasses leaking in the coolant tank. I kind of knew it was that, as all the symptoms were there.

what if your local garage made a wrong diagnosis???

I decided to shop around and see how much it would cost, and many garages including the one who tested were over £1300 as it was a 2.5 V6. I contacted my brother who mentioned a friend of his who has a garage, and they said they would charge £600 labour and £90 head skim, but I would need to supply the headgasket kit etc myself, which I did for £500.

did at any stage you say to the garage who repaired it to carry out a diagnosis, or did you tell them to just fix it???

Splott

Westmead_Fan wrote: »

what if your local garage made a wrong diagnosis???

This. A crack in the bore wall could result in exhaust gases being present in the cooling system.

colino

If the first garage did a sniff test and confirmed hgf, that really should have written your car off. Sorry but a 12/13 year old Alfa is lovely when it's OK, but with major engine work required, it's ebay only.
The second garage have taken the wee. Even the most pedantic tech. wouldn't ignore other issues stripping down and rebuilding an engine. However they billed you for a skim and that should have sorted the fault. However supplying the parts scuppers this as you would now have to pay an independent expert to strip down and analyse their work and the failed components.
In reality, you will be throwing good money after bad and it's time to move on.

richard734

I'm with Splott, its a banger, however much you love it, its still a banger and not worth throwing money at.

Ok, my budget is a little higher, PX + £1500 every year, but as soon as you have to pay for something other than brakes and tyres, get rid and move on.

2nd rule of Bangernomics is to do as much as you can yourself (oil, water, plugs, filter services etc)

boabster

are you sure the problem was not the water pump a very well known problem with those cars , ,i would have had a compression test done on the car ,i would also have had the cam belt changed ,but too tell you the truth i would have sold the car for spares or repair if it were the head gasket,as for the piston too be done for 250 pounds,far too cheap ,my opinion is i think the belt has not been put back on properly ,it costs 250 pounds for a proper cambelt kit ,,you could have bought a car with no probs with all the money you have spent ,,and all parts for that type off car are very expensive , ps find yourself a good mechanic ,your brotheres mate is not very good at all ,,