Car part warranty issue.

EdFrost

Hello, my car's engine decided to die back in March so I took it to a garage to get it replaced. They ordered one in and over a period of a couple of weeks (time was no real issue) they installed it. Whilst this was going on they damaged the reconditioned gearbox so the garage forked out to get it fixed by the specialist garage that had originally installed that.

So I get the car back and in early May I start having overheating issues and the car going into limp mode. Take it back to the garage and they fit a new radiator water pump and hose. When the issue persists they tell me they are all out of ideas and that I should take it to somewhere that specialises in cooling systems to see if they can diagnose what exactly is wrong as if it was the engine, it was still under warranty.

Now sadly the next day I started class 2 tramping for a company half hours drive away so I ended up getting a rental car to get me to and from work. I should also add that I leave home about 3am Monday and return around 5/6pm the Friday and the place I was recommended by a few garages couldn't look at it for 2/3 weeks. I had a friend take it down there eventually and they couldn't diagnose and suggested another place that dealt with engines. Luckily I was able to finish early on Friday and get it down there (friend was on holiday so couldn't help.) After testing they told me the head gasket on the engine had gone and I should go back to the garage that fitted it. Popped round there to tell them it was 100% head gasket and they called the supplier of the engine who said it was a month past their warranty and wanted nothing to do with it.

What are my options? The garage has been supplied an engine with a faulty component. It took till outside the warranty period of 3 months to nail down the actual source of the issue but the car had the problem before it was up. Do I have a leg to stand on with the supplier or should I go against the garage. Would be happy with just the head gasket being replaced if that is all it takes to get the car working again but not 100% on how to "negotiate" the repairs.

I have spent literal thousands on significant repairs because it is a car I want as opposed to just running any old banger into the ground and replacing. Any help would be appreciated.
Thankyou.

AdrianC

There's quite a few questions before there's any certainty over come-back with the supplier.

Was the head gasket failure the cause of the problems? Or was it caused by them? You've had overheating issues, with various external components being replaced - so it's entirely likely that they've caused the HG to go. What does the suppliers warranty say about work on the cooling system at the time of installation? Often they require things like the rad to be replaced at the same time. Are there temperature tell-tales on the engine? If so, have they "cooked"? Was the water pump new at the time of installation, did it come on the engine, or was it swapped from the old block?

Was this engine used or reconditioned? If "reconditioned", was it just a pressure-wash-and-blowover "recon", or was it actually dismantled and fettled internally to some degree or other? Are the supplier an actual specialist engineering place, or one of the various incarnations of disreputable tarted-scrap merchants?

You might be "only a month" outside a warranty, but was it really a three month warranty? If so, that's a substantial margin past.