Car damaged during service - what to do???

h.cowell

Help, please ....

We recently took our car (10 yr old Ford Focus, about 100,000 miles) to a local garage we've used before, for an MOT and service. The timing belt needed changing so this was included in a quote of around £300.

Day 1 - the belt was changed and car taken for a test drive and seemed ok. But, apparently, when the car was later restarted back in the garage the engine developed a problem and according to the mechanic the 'crankshaft slipped', whatever that means. He told us he would get an engineer in the next day to assess the damage (on insurance???) but seemed to accept liability.

Day 2 (today) - the mechanic took a look in the engine and found bits of metal. One of the pistons is damaged. Not good. Now the mechanic says that the car will be taken to another garage tomorrow for the assessment. Presumably this is work he's not able to do. My husband's going to go to the garage in person this evening to find out where the car's going. It's worrying because the mechanic is now hinting that the damage may have been accidental and unrelated to work he carried out.

So.... what would be our best course of action? Should we get an independent car inspection (near £200)? Or is it too early for that? Is there anyway we can recover our expenses in all of this? We have had to hire a car so my husband can get to work and back, but can't do this indefinitely for obvious reasons! Finances are tight and this is a huge blow for us.

BTW, the car was running ok before we took it in for the service. But it's complicated by the fact the engine warning light had came on about a week ago. We rang the main Ford garage and they said it shouldn't be a serious problem (based on the car's performance) but it would be wise to have the car serviced soon....which we did. It's been regularly serviced before, too.

Thanks for reading,
Helena

Jonesya

Well I'm not a mechanic but it sounds like it was due to work they did on the timing belt - the engine warning light seems bit of a red herring.

Have a look at the animation of the engine half way down this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_combustion_engine

As I understand it the timing belt links the crankshaft (bottom shaft with the pistons attached) and the cam shaft (top two shafts driving the valves) keeping the movement of the pistons synchronised to movement of the valves, so the valves only open when the piston is out of the way. If the belt breaks/slips/shifts then they are no longer synchronised so worst case the piston could hit the valves.

anewman

At worst your car will need a new engine, or an engine rebuild by the sounds of it and this will cost lots. That is only worst case scenario though.

I would be thinking about small claims court action, giving the garage reasonable time and opportunity to provide recompense before it gets to court. Chances are they will wriggle out of it just so they can keep some sort of no claim discount on their insurance policy, but will possibly go to the trouble of sorting it out and getting you the money (including hire car and other expenses) without it going to court and them having to pay your fees on top.

Regards the £200 independent inspection fee this should be recouped in costs when claiming from them or in court action, assuming any claim is sucessful.

h.cowell

Thanks to both of you

Since my last post, we've found out that the car has been moved to a specialist garage, who deal with engine problems of this kind. We should have a better idea of the scope of the problem tomorrow. The mechanic admitted tonight that he's 80% sure he caused the problem - again, we'll get the verdict on that when the engine has been examined. I don't see how he couldn't have caused the problem, unless it was some kind of freak incident...

Still, at least the garage is being reasonable with us at the moment which we're grateful for.

Will keep what you've both said in mind - it occurred to me earlier that we might end up in the small claim court. I hope it doesn't come to that!

Helena

Dave_Brooker

h.cowell wrote: »

Help, please ....

We recently took our car (10 yr old Ford Focus, about 100,000 miles) to a local garage we've used before, for an MOT and service. The timing belt needed changing so this was included in a quote of around £300.

Day 1 - the belt was changed and car taken for a test drive and seemed ok. But, apparently, when the car was later restarted back in the garage the engine developed a problem and according to the mechanic the 'crankshaft slipped', whatever that means. He told us he would get an engineer in the next day to assess the damage (on insurance???) but seemed to accept liability.

Day 2 (today) - the mechanic took a look in the engine and found bits of metal. One of the pistons is damaged. Not good. Now the mechanic says that the car will be taken to another garage tomorrow for the assessment. Presumably this is work he's not able to do. My husband's going to go to the garage in person this evening to find out where the car's going. It's worrying because the mechanic is now hinting that the damage may have been accidental and unrelated to work he carried out.

So.... what would be our best course of action? Should we get an independent car inspection (near £200)? Or is it too early for that? Is there anyway we can recover our expenses in all of this? We have had to hire a car so my husband can get to work and back, but can't do this indefinitely for obvious reasons! Finances are tight and this is a huge blow for us.

BTW, the car was running ok before we took it in for the service. But it's complicated by the fact the engine warning light had came on about a week ago. We rang the main Ford garage and they said it shouldn't be a serious problem (based on the car's performance) but it would be wise to have the car serviced soon....which we did. It's been regularly serviced before, too.

Thanks for reading,
Helena

It sounds like they've already accepted responsibility, so don't worry to much.

Do they have a loan car you can use while they repair yours?

h.cowell

Hi,

Unfortunately they don't have a car we can loan off them. But as you say, they have been very decent and pretty much accepted responsibility. So hopefully we'll be able to recover costs somehow.

Thanks for your support!

Helena

h.cowell

Quick update: the garage that has inspected the engine is saying that it 'hydraulic'd' (technical term?!). Apparently the coolant leaked and somehow this led to something ceasing that caused the piston to shatter....(sorry, I'm not too technically minded when it comes to engines). This seems odd, considering the most obvious cause of the fault would be the timing belt that was changed, wouldn't it???

So, the car's in pieces. The engine needs replacing. The original garage is offering to wave all expenses if WE pay for a replacement engine/fitting (!). We're not happy with the diagnosis. And we're still incurring costs.

We're thinking we should stop all work right now and have the car + bits brought back to our house (the AA can do this for us). Then we can have an independent inspection carried out and go from there. What do you think?

It just seems so messy at the moment

Thanks,
Helena

PS we were quoted £350 + labour for the replacement engine, so I'm guessing this isn't even a reconditioned one?

manda1205

sounds like hes either not locked the cams propperly when changing the belt, not tensioned up the belt propperly so its slipped round the pulleys or loosened the bottom pulley (very bad if its a zetec se, im not sure on a zetec e but i think its silmilar) the bottom pulley on most engines has a keyway so it wont slip but these engines dont, so you never undo it unless you want to go to a fair bit of trouble to make sure the cycle is correct again

as for hydraulic'd i guess hes saying the coolant leaked into the cylinder and when the engine turned over the fluid doesnt compact like air so the engine stops dead, this would be dramatic but impossible if its running then done it, where did this mystery fluid come from? only place is headgasket (barely a few drips from that possible) spark plug hole?- he'd have to pour it down there unlikerly unless hes insane otherwise the fluid cant really get in to do the damage hes saying


the big picture is the belt makes the cams (top of engine) run with the crank (bottom of engine) to avoid the pistons hitting the valves, if the belts not right it all gets mangled and you need valves, maybe pistons deffo some pricy machining and labour rebuilding the engine
i'd expect to pay £200 for an engine from the usual breaker types, maybe less if you shop about

i wouldnt accept any costs, all they had to do was swap a belt of a good working engine as for an independent check, i dunno, garages know each other and i wouldnt know who to see otherwise

they broke it they must fix it IMO

h.cowell

Thanks for the explanation - you've helped a lot. And the hydraulic excuse is looking more and more unlikely.

The AA can carry out an inspection for us, but it'll be a few days before it happens. In the meantime we'll get the car back here, because we've lost confidence in the garage(s) now....which is a pity, because we know things can go wrong sometimes. I just wish they would be more honest with us.

Thanks again,
Helena