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Rip Off Mechanic?
I’m looking for advice re whether a car repair has been done properly please, as I’m struggling to know what to do next!
Around a fortnight ago the traction control and engine warning lights came on in my 2011 VW Polo. The car drove fine for a couple of days (driven very short journeys while waiting for a mechanic I know to have a look at it) but then started to lag especially when changing gear, as if it wasn’t powering properly. I started the car one morning and the engine was noticeably louder and I could hear it ‘dipping’ in and out. My mechanic friend came and had a look and said he thought it was the timing chain, a common fault on this make and model.
A family member recommended a garage he uses a lot, so I booked in with them and arranged for the car to be recovered to them rather than driving it and risk causing more damage if it was the timing chain. Over the phone I was told they would check it out to make sure it was the chain, and given a rough quote for replacing the timing chain kit. I didn’t hear from the garage until it was ready to be picked up a day and a half later, and was told that the car had run fine during the test drive so the timing chain replacement seemed to have fixed the problem, at a cost of £450.
From the garage I had a 20 mile drive home on the motorway, so was doing around 70mph for most of the journey. The car drove fine. As I took the exit and came to a stop at the junction though, the car started jumping violently while I was stationary and both the engine and traction control warning lights came back on. I drove to a safe place to pull up and ring the garage, and the car was driving as it had before the repair, struggling when changing gear. I rang the garage who told me to come back in, I asked if it was safe to drive and they said yes it was fine. So I turned round to get back on the motorway and (luckily before I got back on) the car started really struggling, barely making 5mph. Again I drove to a safe place, but the power seemed to be dipping in and out, it would drive ok for a few seconds and then struggle again so I had to crawl along with my hazards on. I had the car recovered back to the garage, who initially said that it was a bent valve, but are now telling me that there is a leaking valve, which means taking the head off etc at a cost of around £600.
My personal opinion is that when the warning lights came back on, the car was running exactly as it had been prior to the repair, so I’m wondering whether the repair wasn’t done properly and so the timing chain went again after driving around 20mph. How likely is it that this fault is completely unrelated to the original repair? I spoke to the mechanic today and asked why the valve issue hadn’t shown up during the diagnostics and he replied that the car ‘came in diagnosed’ so they hadn’t run any tests before replacing the timing chain. I explained that I had asked for the diagnostics to be carried out first as we had pretty much just used google to self diagnose, and if I had known the repairs would end up costing over £1000 I probably wouldn’t have bothered having them done as the car isn’t worth much more than that. His response was that the car had been diagnosed and that our conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
I also asked why the car ran fine for most of the journey, and he said that the issue would only become apparent when the engine warmed up. But surely the engine ‘warmed up’ long before it actually failed?
Short of putting it down to bad luck / dodgy mechanic and paying the £600 on top of the £450 + £50 recovery I’ve already paid, is there anywhere I can go with this? I feel that I’m now paying for the mechanics mistake, firstly because he didn’t properly diagnose like I asked and secondly because my gut instinct is that this is the result of the initial repair not being carried out properly.
P.S. my family member has unsurprisingly stated he won’t be taking his car there again after all this!
Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.
Around a fortnight ago the traction control and engine warning lights came on in my 2011 VW Polo. The car drove fine for a couple of days (driven very short journeys while waiting for a mechanic I know to have a look at it) but then started to lag especially when changing gear, as if it wasn’t powering properly. I started the car one morning and the engine was noticeably louder and I could hear it ‘dipping’ in and out. My mechanic friend came and had a look and said he thought it was the timing chain, a common fault on this make and model.
A family member recommended a garage he uses a lot, so I booked in with them and arranged for the car to be recovered to them rather than driving it and risk causing more damage if it was the timing chain. Over the phone I was told they would check it out to make sure it was the chain, and given a rough quote for replacing the timing chain kit. I didn’t hear from the garage until it was ready to be picked up a day and a half later, and was told that the car had run fine during the test drive so the timing chain replacement seemed to have fixed the problem, at a cost of £450.
From the garage I had a 20 mile drive home on the motorway, so was doing around 70mph for most of the journey. The car drove fine. As I took the exit and came to a stop at the junction though, the car started jumping violently while I was stationary and both the engine and traction control warning lights came back on. I drove to a safe place to pull up and ring the garage, and the car was driving as it had before the repair, struggling when changing gear. I rang the garage who told me to come back in, I asked if it was safe to drive and they said yes it was fine. So I turned round to get back on the motorway and (luckily before I got back on) the car started really struggling, barely making 5mph. Again I drove to a safe place, but the power seemed to be dipping in and out, it would drive ok for a few seconds and then struggle again so I had to crawl along with my hazards on. I had the car recovered back to the garage, who initially said that it was a bent valve, but are now telling me that there is a leaking valve, which means taking the head off etc at a cost of around £600.
My personal opinion is that when the warning lights came back on, the car was running exactly as it had been prior to the repair, so I’m wondering whether the repair wasn’t done properly and so the timing chain went again after driving around 20mph. How likely is it that this fault is completely unrelated to the original repair? I spoke to the mechanic today and asked why the valve issue hadn’t shown up during the diagnostics and he replied that the car ‘came in diagnosed’ so they hadn’t run any tests before replacing the timing chain. I explained that I had asked for the diagnostics to be carried out first as we had pretty much just used google to self diagnose, and if I had known the repairs would end up costing over £1000 I probably wouldn’t have bothered having them done as the car isn’t worth much more than that. His response was that the car had been diagnosed and that our conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
I also asked why the car ran fine for most of the journey, and he said that the issue would only become apparent when the engine warmed up. But surely the engine ‘warmed up’ long before it actually failed?
Short of putting it down to bad luck / dodgy mechanic and paying the £600 on top of the £450 + £50 recovery I’ve already paid, is there anywhere I can go with this? I feel that I’m now paying for the mechanics mistake, firstly because he didn’t properly diagnose like I asked and secondly because my gut instinct is that this is the result of the initial repair not being carried out properly.
P.S. my family member has unsurprisingly stated he won’t be taking his car there again after all this!
Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.
0
Comments
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What has a bent or leaking valve got to do with traction control?Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...0
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forgotmyname wrote: »What has a bent or leaking valve got to do with traction control?
It is a VW. They are known for the craziest electrical faults.
Take a look at the VW forums. People have "fixed" this EML & TC light + limp mode issue by
resetting the steering angle sensor
changing the brake pedal switch
Renewing the ABS rotors
changing the MAF sensor
Polos are also well known for burning out valves, this generally causes a shaky idle and the EML to came on and flag a missfire. You'd have thought any garage working on a Polo with the EML on would have checked for burned valves before changing the timing chain though.I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science
)0
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