Help

Crow36

Hi

I am after some advice if possible.

Basically I am getting some work done by a garage and in the course if doing the work they have cracked a part of my engine which is causing a water leak.

They said to me yesterday that they were trying to silicone seal it and if that didn't work it would need a replacement engine.

I don't really know where I stand. If they tell me the silicone has worked and i take the car is that me accepting it is fine? Do i have a come back if the silicone fails and it starts to leak water?

The car didn't have any leaks before it went in, it went in for a thermostat change, glow plugs and drive belt. They said they had to remove the vacuum pump to get to the thermostat and they said they would never know how or why the damage happened, whether it was undoing or tightening the bolt. It's on the engine side of where the vacuum pump joins engine

DoaM

Where is it leaking from? What part has cracked?

I'm no mechanic but my gut instinct is that the pressures involved with an engine means that silicone sealing is like putting an Elastoplast over a severed limb.

Crow36

It's hard to explain.
The top part of the engine.

That's what I'm worried about. If I take it is it only going to end up leaking in couple months then what come back do I have to the garage? Will they just turn around and say well you took the car

wgl2014

Difficult, was the damage caused by the garage being negligent or was the damage already done and they just found it? I would suggest it's pretty much impossible to say for most people.

(If the garage intend to fix with silicone sealant it may point to a level of ineptitude!)

Depending on the value of the car it may be worth considering an independent inspection followed by legal action if the garage are at fault and won't sort.

Crow36

It definitely wasn't leaking before It went in, I have had the car for nearly a year and never had to top any fluids up. But that was also my concern would they say it might have been there before, then I guess it's my word against there's.

Tbf to the garage I have just spoken to them and the manager said they didn't know if it was there already but then said it was there responsibility to sort. But then said they were waiting on area manager to decide next steps.

The other issue I have is that I start work at 5am, no buses run until gone 6am. I have been able to get the rest of this week off as emergency holiday, but if it's not done this week I will be in a spot of bother. I work about 7 or 8 miles from where I live and can't afford taxis

foxy-stoat

What car and engine is it? If its a common fault and has happened a few times before then there may be fixes that dont require a new engine.

Crow36

It's a Zafira 1.9cdti.

Looked around a lot online and doesn't seem to be a common fault. It looks like it may need a new Cylinder block, that's the part it is leaking from.

They are arranging a hire car for me so they are being helpful

DoaM

OK - that's certainly a high pressure part of the engine. Silicone sealing will do nothing but patch it for a few miles before it all blows again.

Check the hire car paperwork ... just in case they try and transfer the costs to you to pay.

Inner_Zone

Ryan82 wrote: »

It definitely was leaking before It went in, I have had the car for nearly a year and never had to top any fluids up. But that was also my concern would they say it might have been there before, then I guess it's my word against there's.

Tbf to the garage I have just spoken to them and the manager said they didn't know if it was there already but then said it was there responsibility to sort. But then said they were waiting on area manager to decide next steps.

The other issue I have is that I start work at 5am, no buses run until gone 6am. I have been able to get the rest of this week off as emergency holiday, but if it's not done this week I will be in a spot of bother. I work about 7 or 8 miles from where I live and can't afford taxis

Confused was it leaking or not before it went in?

Crow36

Sorry definately wasn't leaking

foxy-stoat

Ryan82 wrote: »

It's a Zafira 1.9cdti.

Looked around a lot online and doesn't seem to be a common fault. It looks like it may need a new Cylinder block, that's the part it is leaking from.

They are arranging a hire car for me so they are being helpful

You mean cylinder head - block is the lower part of the engine.

If they have stripped one of the threads by over tightening where the thermostat is bolted on then they should be able to recut them or fit a helicoil. If a part of the mounting plate has snapped off then it probably wasnt the garages' fault as it may of been suspect to start with, unless they tried to remove the part by a big hammer.

Any chance of a photo? It could be alloy welded.