Has my mechanic caused more damage to my car?

lizpr18

I was experiencing some odd noises upon cold starting the BMW 5 series very recently plus an occasion whirring noise. A mechanic drive it around the block and assumed gear / flywheel / clutch problems so I took it to the BMW garage. They suggested £3500 for a new new clutch / flywheel! I drove it straight over to a specialist clutch garage after they did a slip test / high revs while stationary in 5th gear they suggested the problem was the timing chain. Immediately new problems occurred. The whole car suddenly started shaking beyond belief and the exhaust smokes really badly. They suggested I drive it back to BMW to complain that they didn’t diagnose it. However I couldn’t even get out of the forecourt as it stalled, smoked and was un-drivable. 
Is it possibly that he caused some further damage to the car by the high revs? I saw it almost hit the red zone!

They claim it was pure coincidence that it has failed at their garage and I was lucky it didn’t happen on the motorway! 

Considering I’d been able to drive 20 mins from one garage to the next perfectly safely, I’m convinced they’ve caused more damage. 

Can anyone help?! I assume BMW should have picked this and I don’t want to pay for damage they caused! 

m0bov

Sounds like a blown turbo or it’s jumped the timing chain and totalled the engine. Never heard of a slip test by ragging the engine. I’d get it towed to bmw and then claim off the other garage. They should be insured.

sevenhills

How high is high? My Crafter won't rev high because its limited by an emissions regulator, 2,500 is the highest it will rev.

If it was 5/6,000 and into the red, but you can prove nothing, they needed to test it.

AdrianC

lizpr18 said:

Is it possibly that he caused some further damage to the car by the high revs? I saw it almost hit the red zone!

No, it is not.

Everything below the red is perfectly permissible revs. Red shows the bit you shouldn't get into. If it can't rev to the red line, it's broken.

The MOT test HAS to take it to the red line to check for smoke emissions, if it's a diesel.

lizpr18

Thank you.. It just seems strange to be running pretty fine to suddenly being dangerous. So it’s quite possible that testing it did blow either the turbo (my first thought) or the chain. If it’s the turbo - their fault (wasn’t faulty) if chain, just bad luck as it may have been on its way out anyway!? They are reluctant to send me all the faults on the reader. Can I insist I have them?? 

tacpot12

I think you can insist that the fault codes are shared with you as you have paid for the diagnostics test. However, they may still decline to do so, which leaves you with only one option if you want to see them; sue them for the  cost of the repairs and ask for the codes as part of the  disclosure of evidence you require. 

If you sue them for the cost of the repairs, I think a judge will infer from them NOT sharing the codes that they knew the engine was faulty before they tested the engine. If the codes indicate a timing problem, then running engine was always going to be dangerous - I disagree with those that say reving the engine could not cause further damage. If the timing chain or gears are worn then running the engine at all could cause it to fault catastrophically. There are certain fault code that mean the car should only be delivered to the garage that is going to dismantle the engine using a low-loader or tow truck and not driven again.  

Jumblebumble

lizpr18 said:

I was experiencing some odd noises upon cold starting the BMW 5 series very recently plus an occasion whirring noise. A mechanic drive it around the block and assumed gear / flywheel / clutch problems so I took it to the BMW garage. They suggested £3500 for a new new clutch / flywheel! I drove it straight over to a specialist clutch garage after they did a slip test / high revs while stationary in 5th gear they suggested the problem was the timing chain. Immediately new problems occurred. The whole car suddenly started shaking beyond belief and the exhaust smokes really badly. They suggested I drive it back to BMW to complain that they didn’t diagnose it. However I couldn’t even get out of the forecourt as it stalled, smoked and was un-drivable. 
Is it possibly that he caused some further damage to the car by the high revs? I saw it almost hit the red zone!

They claim it was pure coincidence that it has failed at their garage and I was lucky it didn’t happen on the motorway! 

Considering I’d been able to drive 20 mins from one garage to the next perfectly safely, I’m convinced they’ve caused more damage. 

Can anyone help?! I assume BMW should have picked this and I don’t want to pay for damage they caused! 

The only ray of hope is that BMW are concealing the fault code results as this indicates they probably have something to hide.. Depends on what they reveal 

You are unfortunately on a bit of a sticky wicket because you declined to let the BMW dealer fix the car and they will just say that there were no obvious signs of imminent failure  when they checked it and that the final failure must have started to occur after it left their premises and that the other garage might well have over revved it.

The clutch garage are going to say they did the same  slip test that they have done hundreds of times before without any issue and they will agree with BMW that the car started to go faulty on the way to them as it is unlikely that BMW would not have noticed during their test drive

Looking objectively assuming the fault codes are not relevant do you think that a district judge will believe that
A BMW  specialist  who works on BMWs all the time cannot diagnose a faulty timing chain  ?
A clutch specialist  who tests clutches all the time over revs engines while doing slip tests ?

Something went silently wrong on the 20 minute journey between the garages but unfortunately  you told the second garage that BMW had checked the car and had diagnosed the clutch as the only problem.with the car which was correct at the time they told you?