Mechanic charged, work not done.

Tlg1991

A year and half a go around my head gasket went on my car, i took it to the mechanics i have taken it to for a while and never seemed to have a problem. recently my car was overheating again i got someone recommended to come and look at it and he said it was the head gasket, he is currently taking it apart and text me yesterday saying its never had a new head gasket at all. the bolt are corroded and all the inside is. he has sent me pictures of the part and you don't need to be a mechanic to see the issue.

Since i had my head gasket done 1-2 years ago i can't find the paper work, he obviously hasn't done it but charged me for a full HG changed. is there anything I can do, I know chances of me getting anything back are practically zero though.

colino

How did your car keep going for 18 months then? What did he do in the mind of your new, rival mechanic?

warehouse

Put up the pictures he sent you.

Tlg1991

colino wrote: »

How did your car keep going for 18 months then? What did he do in the mind of your new, rival mechanic?

The guy looking at my car now said that on these engines (corsa D 1.2) they had a problem with the head bolts not being tight enough which caused head gasket problems and he said all they did at vauxhall was torque the bolts up tighter. he thinks that's all he has done. my old mechanic was a vauxhall specialist i should mention so he probably would know that trick as well.

the mechanic looking at it now said it looks like its had a timing chain but its hard to tell how old it is really.

Tlg1991

warehouse wrote: »

Put up the pictures he sent you.

http://s1157.photobucket.com/user/TLG1991/library/Engine

BeenThroughItAll

Tlg1991 wrote: »

http://s1157.photobucket.com/user/TLG1991/library/Engine

Nothing in that album that I would say was 'conclusive', by any means.

droopsnoot

How much did it cost for the first head gasket replacement? And what mileage have you done since then? I'd suggest mileage is more significant than time when you're trying to assess whether the job was done or not. Still, it doesn't matter really, as you said - there's little chance of getting anything back now. What made you get this new mechanic to look at it, rather than taking it back to the same place you thought had already worked on the problem?


Also worth noting that if indeed he did swap the head gasket originally, if there is a problem with the head (very slightly warped for example) that wasn't also fixed at the time, it's not surprising that the repair would fail after a time.

Tlg1991

droopsnoot wrote: »

How much did it cost for the first head gasket replacement? And what mileage have you done since then? I'd suggest mileage is more significant than time when you're trying to assess whether the job was done or not. Still, it doesn't matter really, as you said - there's little chance of getting anything back now. What made you get this new mechanic to look at it, rather than taking it back to the same place you thought had already worked on the problem?


Also worth noting that if indeed he did swap the head gasket originally, if there is a problem with the head (very slightly warped for example) that wasn't also fixed at the time, it's not surprising that the repair would fail after a time.

Its cost around £450 - £500 if i remember correctly. since then i have done less that 10k miles. the current mechanic knows this he say he is 100% certain its never been changed. he was originally asking if it was skimmed the first time like you mentioned about the warping.

I know i wont get anything back im more interested in making sure other people don't use this guy if he is providing dodgy jobs.

I took it to the mechanic i have now as it is a friend of my brothers who is well into cars not just as a job. I am much happier with this guy as he is keeping me informed at every stage of the repair and any update i need to know about.

At the end of the day i am not the mechanic i am repeating what is being told to me, i could be getting ripped off my this new guy but i very much doubt it as it is a friend of a few people i know and he is providing all old parts back to me along with images and whatever else.

Life lesson.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Big difference between suggesting that the repair had not been done (criminal fraud) and a job that has not been done well.

Nothing there that jumps out as impossible to occur over 10k miles. Unless he is giving evidence such as "You only get these gaskets on the original motor, never as a spare to repair." then I would be reluctant to accuse someone.

I repair mechanical stuff, and although I get some shocking stuff in for repair that apparently was done badly by someone else, when there is a year intervening I am well aware of people's conviction that a repair was "just recently done" and it turns out that it has lasted the expected life of the proper repair.

The ones that jump out are where entirely the wrong part has been used, things the equivalent of "I can't get 6th gear in my BMW 330i, that's because the car only has a 5 speed gear box - now."

salubrious

I see the new mechanic is working on the side of road. You might want to put some cardboard over the drain. I wouldn't want him dropping any nuts or bolts down it.:D

Tlg1991

The mechanic has just got to me, he's told me hes dropped the head off at the engine place to be skimmed, the engine guy said it has been skimmed before but can't tell when, but he did say that it should have had a thicker head gasket on though and that's probably why its failed again. so yes you lot are probably right, he has done a poor job and not not done the job.