Car broke down three days after repairing and passed MOT

AdrianC

Iceweasel wrote: »

angrycrow wrote:

The engine most likely cut out due to seizing from overheating. It is likely you cooked your engine by keeping on driving.

The above post explains exactly who is responsible for your car now needing extensive expensive repairs - as opposed to replacing a simple belt.

TBF, on a 10yo Focus, the ECU probably simply shut the engine down to protect it from serious damage.

onomatopoeia99

forgotmyname wrote: »

Do you mean serpentine belt or cambelt?

Given the alternator light came on, it's the serpentine belt. Know of no car that drives the alternator from the cam belt, though some drive the water pump from it.

AdrianC

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Given the alternator light came on, it's the serpentine belt. Know of no car that drives the alternator from the cam belt, though some drive the water pump from it.

Not to mention that the OP wouldn't have been able to keep on driving after the light first came on...

System

Just think that all of this could have been avoided by regular servicing which would have highlighted the MOT failure faults before the test allowing you to spread the cost over a longer period and which would have included changing the serpentine belt which should have been changed at 10 years/100,000 miles whichever came first.

My bet is that you never serviced the car properly and the 10 year old serpentine belt which should have been changed at 10 years/100,000 miles failed because you didn't change it when it was due.

The garage is not responsible for your lack of servicing the car properly nor the damage done because you ignored the warning lights and temperature gauge.

macman

OP, what did you think the warning light/temp gauge was telling you? You don't need to be a mechanic to know that a warning light is there for a purpose.

almillar

Honestly I know little about car mechanics

You don't need to. Since you've got a driving licence, you know that RED means STOP!

Any claim that you think you may have had against the garage for shoddy work, you would have had to prove. And now there could be far more damage if YOU have been negligent and cooked your engine.

iltisman

I reckon driving an engine until it stops due to overheating will make repairs uneconomic on a 10 year old car.