Help required - Piston may have gone!!!!

Happy13

I booked my Chrysler grand voyager for a service and m.o.t at my local independent garage, I phoned at 5pm to check if the car was ready and if I could pick it up. The manager explained it wasn't ready and it was on the ramp. I explained I needed it, as I was leaving for work early the following morning. He said he would get it off the ramp and I could take it back the following week.
My work is approx 30 miles away and when reaching my destination there was a loud knocking sound from the engine. I immediately stopped and phoned the AA, they never had a mechanic at hand and my car just got towed back to the same garage as asked for by the owner of the garage. I checked the oil levels at the time and they seemed fine!
Since then they tell me a piston may have gone resulting in a new engine, they're waiting on a camera to diagnose the problem once the injectors are out.
I am by know means a mechanic, but my car was perfect when it went into the garage and I'm unsure whether it is just ill faited or could this be caused by them?
They are obviously saying it's nothing to do with the service and I'm guessing as they had it for 2 days any mistake on their behalf would have been now covered up.
Could someone please tell me where I stand as I don't won't to blame them if it's not their fault, but if it is I don't want to pay 10 times as much as I initially anticipated to rectify my car.
Is it ill faited or a fault of the garage and if so what can I do about it?

colino

What work was the car in for two days for and they still hadn't time to do an MOT? It certainly wasn't just a service.

forgotmyname

Without an inspection nobody can say what happened.

Garage may have run it without oil. It may have been bad luck.

Many years ago i came off holiday and a neighbour said he wanted to buy my car, Offered me a good price for it.
He went off on his holidays and on the way home he pulled off the motorway because the gearbox sounded noisy.
Couldnt get it out of gear, Gearbox had partially seized.

I had covered over 1000 miles in 2 weeks and he did over 700 before it went. Just bad luck and poor timing.

SunReader

Happy13 wrote: »

I booked my Chrysler grand voyager for a service and m.o.t at my local independent garage, I phoned at 5pm to check if the car was ready and if I could pick it up. The manager explained it wasn't ready and it was on the ramp. I explained I needed it, as I was leaving for work early the following morning. He said he would get it off the ramp and I could take it back the following week.
My work is approx 30 miles away...

Service and MOT... 1/2 a day maybe, unless it is a long fail sheet and waiting for parts.

Customer phones in needing car urgently, worst case scenario - sorry sir, mot done but not finished the service, car is ready to go but bring it back next week and we will finish the service.

Sounds like either an amazing coincidence or something they are not being straight with you about.

Wear in pistons and bearings takes thousands of miles, often 100 000's ... it would sound clanky a long time before it goes bang.
Cambelts going will trash an engine in seconds,bu wear takes a long time. Most cars get driven into the scrapper these days.

sorry you can't have it today, callback next week take a bus to work Ramp says no! !!!!!!?

Is it a diesel? what year? mileage?

Any EFI gurus here tell me, would a fault code be stored if it was run without oil or over revved during mot?

arcon5

Unless it's shot an oil leak and contaminated the timing belt.
One of many many scenarios that could cause engine damage, besides wear and tear.

You need to know what exactly is wrong with it first.

Cars can go at any time, it's just the way they are. They may have caused damage, they may not

attila_

If this happened to me I would go down to the garage and ask them to show me the damage through the camera.

You could also ask for a second dignoses by another engine specialist that you choose?

The way in which pistons fail can help work out the cause. Unfortunately it usually needs the piston to be removed from the car but looking at the cylinder walls helps

http://www.boosttown.com/engine/piston_damage.pdf

If you are not mechanically minded I would def pay for an expert to go along with you.

Happy13

Thank you so much for all your replies, I will take all your comments on board and make a decision as to what to do next.

Thanks again ��

Strider590

The only realistic way the piston is going to go (suddenly) is:
-Running with no oil
-If the timing is off
-If somebody dropped something into the combustion chamber, either through the spark plug hole or via the air inlet manifold.
-If somebody was adjusting the valve clearances and didn't tighten everything back up.

You said it was bad once you got to your destination, did it drive any differently up until that point?
It could of course just be a loose/damaged spark plug lead (rather than the piston), which would cause rough running.

SunReader

I'd want to see the bore scope myself. I'm guessing compression down on one pot so assuming a piston problem. Don't let them strip it before and I'd seriously think of getting an independent inspector in. Proving they were at fault may be difficult.

Stored fault codes might be interesting if they don't get erased, no engine management warning lights or other noticeable faults before it started knocking?

Diesel MOT's have been known to damage engines when over revved, but blame VOSA not the garage for that.

Are you saying you needed it next day for work, and they said have it next week? if so that is highly suspicious.

Keep us posted, always good to know what the diagnosis is.

AdrianC

If it's been run with no oil, the piston won't be the first thing to go. A big end bearing would almost certainly be - and it'd just be a gentle noise for a LONG while before it got drastic.

Most likely cause for a piston dying through garage incompetence would be something dropped into the manifold, finding it's way past a valve and ricocheting about. Through a borescope, that'd be incredibly obvious. It's also damn near impossible on a turbodiesel without removing the turbo first.

The most likely damage through revving (it shouldn't be able to "over-rev", because the limiter should hold it to a safe speed) is the cambelt letting go, and that only if it's been long neglected.

Strider590

To be honest I think they've used the word "piston" either because they assume you won't understand if they told you what the real problem was, or because they have no idea themselves and they needed something to tell you.

If you didn't speak to an actual mechanic, rather to customer service rep or sales person, or manager or anyone in business attire, then they wouldn't have a clue what they were talking about anyway.

If it were me, i'd want to be there and take a look myself, so I can only echo what others have been saying, which is to get an independent to take a look.