Has this garage damaged my car and wrongly passed my MOT?

carnoob

So let me start this by making clear my mechanic knowledge is limited, I’m starting to do more and more work on my own car (especially now) but there’s still a lot I don’t know and almost certainly things I think I know that I don’t.

So last week I sent my car in to have the front brake discs and pads replaced (something I now regret not doing myself) and followed up with an MOT. The MOT failed on the brakes and emissions, though seemingly only on the brakes because they did the MOT first? Seemed weird but doesn’t really effect anything so no biggie really. In order to resolve the emissions though they suggested a full service and when that failed replacing the catalytic convertor. As you can imagine, it all added up. However, it was done and I received a call saying my car was ready and had passed but the check engine light had come on related to the O2 sensor but “should go off once everything has settled down and the engine management system gets used to the new cat”. Embarrassingly obviously !!!!!!!! now I look back on it, but I was just keen to have my car back at this point with no extra expense and my own research suggested that a dodgy O2 sensor wouldn’t be the end of the world and it would probably be something I could fix myself anyway. I since got myself a diagnostic tool and a new O2 sensor and have now replaced the sensor and cleared the light and all is good in that regard. That unfortunately was the lesser of my two problems though.

A couple of days later I started a long trip but about 10 miles in I started to hear a bit of an odd noise that started to get worse and worse and a while later we decided the best courses of action was to pull over. A little research and noting the fact the car stopped making the noise when we turned left led us to believe it was an issue with a wheel bearing on the front drivers side. Anyway the next day (thanks RAC but that’s a story for another time) our suspicions were confirmed and the wheel bearing was completely shot. According the RAC mechanic however it was likely only shot because it appeared an incorrectly sized driveshaft nut had been used, see the attached pictures:

I'm not allowed to post links so they're in an imgur album a/YVzL2Ry

Now I know there is no need to remove this nut when doing the brakes but if this nut is indeed the wrong size then it was clearly from the work done last week as even in my limited knowledge I’d be pretty confident something would have gone wrong before now since the last work on my car was 13 months and 6,500 miles ago. So would you agree with the assessment that for whatever reason the garage replaced the driveshaft nut with an incorrectly sized one causing it to ruin the wheel bearing based on those photos? Obviously the broken wheel is the one where the nut has worked its way to the end of the thread.

So have they damaged my car, also putting my life in danger? If so what action should I be looking to take? I spoke to one of the guys yesterday afternoon and he was ridiculously defensive about it even though I felt I was being pretty reasonable. Also should I be looking to report them for incorrectly passing my MOT with the check engine light on?

foxy-stoat

I cannot see the photo, but the driveshaft nut would not have to be touched when changing front brake pads, or even discs. No way that any mechanic would even think about removing the drive shaft for simple pad and disc change, unless the had to remove the whole suspension leg if a caliper bolt was snapped or rounded, maybe.

No one is going to die from a failed wheel bearing. Action would be - fix the problem.

If you want to report them for passing the car with the engine check light then don't drive it anymore, pay for it to be recovered to another MOT station and get them to re-test it.

carnoob

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I cannot see the photo, but the driveshaft nut would not have to be touched when changing front brake pads, or even discs. No way that any mechanic would even think about removing the drive shaft for simple pad and disc change, unless the had to remove the whole suspension leg if a caliper bolt was snapped or rounded, maybe.

No one is going to die from a failed wheel bearing. Action would be - fix the problem.

If you want to report them for passing the car with the engine check light then don't drive it anymore, pay for it to be recovered to another MOT station and get them to re-test it.

I know they wouldn't have any reason to touch it ordinarily but I'm sure there are scenarios where there could have been. I just checked the images should be viewable at imgur /a/YVzL2Ry.

As for the MOT I've fixed the car myself but to me it just seems they damaged the O2 sensor and rather than say anything, feed me some rubbish and falsely pass the MOT before handing back the car.

Norman_Castle

How much is the o2 sensor you claimed they damaged? Why would they remove the nut and replace it with an incorrect one?

carnoob

Norman_Castle wrote: »

How much is the o2 sensor you claimed they damaged? Why would they remove the nut and replace it with an incorrect one?

I got a replacement for £18 and it took me 30 minutes to replace it, though quotes for that work were £120+. Also it's not really just a "claim", when I handed them the car it was fine, no check engine light. When I got it back the check engine light was on for a circuit error with the heating circuit for the O2 sensor, an error fixed by replacing the part.

As for why they'd replace the nut, I really don't know. As I said I'm not a mechanic but working on the brake discs which are cm's away from it, it doesn't seem inconceivable a mechanic could have say, accidentally damaged the nut and then mistakenly replaced it with the incorrect nut, especially since they're not tightened by hand.

foxy-stoat

carnoob wrote: »

I got a replacement for £18 and it took me 30 minutes to replace it, though quotes for that work were £120+. Also it's not really just a "claim", when I handed them the car it was fine, no check engine light. When I got it back the check engine light was on for a circuit error with the heating circuit for the O2 sensor, an error fixed by replacing the part.

As for why they'd replace the nut, I really don't know. As I said I'm not a mechanic but working on the brake discs which are cm's away from it, it doesn't seem inconceivable a mechanic could have say, accidentally damaged the nut and then mistakenly replaced it with the incorrect nut, especially since they're not tightened by hand.

I you have replaced the part for £18 then there is not much you can claim for so win for sorting out the problem. Weather it needed a new cat convertor - no one will ever know now but at least you have a new one fitted on the car now.

Not sure that you can assume they removed the nut and replaced it with one a different size just because they replaced the brakes. You would need to prove that and it would be very difficult.

foxy-stoat

carnoob wrote: »

I know they wouldn't have any reason to touch it ordinarily but I'm sure there are scenarios where there could have been. I just checked the images should be viewable at imgur /a/YVzL2Ry.

Post up the link and I cannot see any photos by typing in that reference.

Kingsd316

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Post up the link and I cannot see any photos by typing in that reference.

https://imgur.com/a/YVzL2Ry

foxy-stoat

Did you take a photo of the before and after the car went into the garage for the brake pad change?

Aylesbury_Duck

carnoob wrote: »

So have they damaged my car, also putting my life in danger? If so what action should I be looking to take?

Get a sense of perspective, perhaps?

I'm not surprised the mechanic was defensive about it if you were as accusatory and dramatic as you have been on here. You're now suggesting reporting them for incorrectly passing the MOT even though you were happy to accept the car and the certificate knowing about it.

If you have evidence that they have damaged your car, put it together properly and write to them stating what you would like them to do to rectify the situation. Drop the drama and see if they will work with you.

a.turner

Doesn't look new.