Bad work at garage

inapickle4_2

We had out car fixed at our local garage a new clutch with flywheel which cost a fortune but it had to be done. 2 months at the most down the line and the engine mount has failed we are livid and feel the garage are to blame for this but not sure how to handle it- we had to have car towed to the garage and they are going to look at it soon as they can but I am really not happy as it really could of had a more dangerous outcome I have 4 children and I cant imagine what might of happened if we had of been travelling at speed but I thank my stars nothing like that happened, the car has been looked at by the man from the breakdown company and the first thing he said was have you had a new clutch-any advice on this please?

mattyprice4004

First of all, you can have a blowout at any speed which could kill everyone in the car - laying it on thick with 'this could have happened' won't go down well with the garage.

Make a list of the facts leaving out all emotion, and present it to the garage. The mount is likely to have failed due to their work, however you'll need to prove it.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Why would a failed engine mount mean your car is dangerous to drive? The engine wont fall out if one fails. What car is it, age and mileage?

The mounts dont last forever and may of been its time to go, maybe it had something to do with the garages work, maybe not....your not going to be able to prove it 100% either way.

You shouldnt of needed to have it toed to the garage though as normally theres 3 or 4 engine/gearbox mounts.

inapickle4_2

it was worked on 2 months ago and surely they would of noticed if the bolts were old and replaced then, im no mechanic thats what I pay them to sort out. The engine was on a slant and I wasnt going to risk any further damage until it was all checked out

atrixblue.-MFR-.

wich engine mount, gearbox side or engine side or rear mount.

some engines have upto 4 engine mounts.

one failure of an engine mount wont see it throw through the bonnet and kill the world and its sun.

put into perspective here, how old is the car? what make car is it, and an engine mount will give you sign of wear they dont just give out unexpectedly if it is a mount bolt that has snapped on the gearbox side rather than the mount rubber itself, then you could put down to being over tightened or not tightened enough and could be the result of a one mans heavy handedness when refitting.

Joe_Horner

If it's the mount itself (rather than the bolts holding it) that failed then the chance of it being something they did is very small - they're very tough rubber and you can attack them with a knife without causing any serious harm to them.

Failure is usually down to the bond between the rubber and the metal end plates failing, which would probably (but may not) have been visible when they did the clutch. If it was visibly separating then it would be reasonable for them to have let you know, but certainly not their "fault".

As for the possible consequences, the engine isn't going to fall out or cause any real problems with a failed mount on any car I've ever seen. In fact, they only became an MOT fail in March this year because for the 50 odd years of MOTs before then they weren't considered dangerous if they failed - you can usually safely continue once you've tied it up to stop any nasty noises (that's what the top of suspension turrets are for btw)

Richard53

inapickle4 wrote: »

it was worked on 2 months ago and surely they would of noticed if the bolts were old and replaced then, im no mechanic thats what I pay them to sort out.

You asked them to replace the clutch and flywheel, which they did. It is reasonable to assume that if they saw anything while doing the work that was potentially dangerous they would tell you. But if you are saying the bolts looked old ... well, after a certain age, all bolts on the underside of a car look old. You can't expect them to check every one they see, just in case. If you had asked them to do this, fair enough, but I assume you didn't.

almillar

The question is did the engine have to come out or be moved to change the flywheel. This may be what the recovery man was at. If the garage never touched the engine mount, then how can they be responsible for it? Did you ask (and pay) them to check the entire car, or just fix the problem you knew about?

Retrogamer

The only way the garage could be deemed responsible is if when they changed the clutch, they let the engine hang on the mount itself without any additional support.
Was it the mount opposite the side that the gearbox is on? (usually the driver side)

I can't see how you could prove the garage was at fault though, even if it was true. There's the possibility the mount was fine when they done the work, they never damaged it but then it failed on it's own.

There's the possibility that they damaged it by not supporting the engine properly when changing the clutch.

And there's the possibility that they noticed it was worn, but since you never mentioned that to them to check or replace anything else they've ignored it and only done as requested.

How would you go about proving which scenario has played out though?