Who is responsible for engine rebuild issues?

robrymond

Hi, I'm after some advice. I had an engine rebuild earlier in the Summer as below:

I noticed that oil consumption was still fairly high and I've got through about 5 litres since it was done. Originally I could see smoke coming from the oil cap, so was told to replace this and this solved the issue of smoke escaping.

The MOT last week passed and then on Tuesday, as I did my daily commute on the M6, the engine completely died. There was little indication it was going to fail, no lights, no specific warning (a slight whirr from the engine but its a Diesel, it normally makes a rattle). Oil level was fine as I'm checking it weekly.

I've had a technician out to diagnose and he took the oil filter off and rather than gushing out with oil, not much was there. There are metal particles on the filter and he says the engine has seized.

I'm now in contact with the original person who did the works, I've done around 5000 miles since it was repaired. In my opinion the engine rebuild has contributed to this and so did the technician but as I'd expect, the garage who did the repairs are saying that it is probably something else wrong with the engine.

The issue I have now is having to get it recovered to the specialist (100 miles away) and then them having to strip down the engine which comes at a cost if its unrelated. I also don't have thousands to spend on more repairs if it was related to the rebuild that happened back in the Summer. Is it not reasonable to expect if its a fault that has occurred off the back of the rebuild for them to be responsible? It is a bit of a 'he says, she says' situation but I just need a functioning vehicle!

Any advice appreciated.

DullGreyGuy

What car?
How long had you owned it before the rebuild?
Why did it need a rebuild?

Seen many stories on here where people hide key facts like they'd had the engine tuned or such... anything else you havent mentioned?

Flight3287462

Looks like a Cooper.

robrymond

DullGreyGuy said:

What car?
How long had you owned it before the rebuild?
Why did it need a rebuild?

Seen many stories on here where people hide key facts like they'd had the engine tuned or such... anything else you havent mentioned?

Mini Paceman, 14 plate. Was on 63K when done, I've done 68K now. Irony is it passed the MOT week before this happened. No engine modifications or anything. Rebuild was oil starvation which meant metal had passed into various components. 

Ganga

Has it had an oil change ie a service since the re-build ?

robrymond

Ganga said:

Has it had an oil change ie a service since the re-build ?

No it hasn't. I've kept it topped up with oil but no service. Service was due this month.

Grey_Critic

Years ago new vehicles had a first service at 1,000 miles or 6 weeks, originally they also had an oil change at that time but it was later dropped.Many people did continue with the oil change.

If it had a rebuild I would have thought it reasonable to have done an oil change a few weeks a few weeks after

k3lvc

Was there any warranty given on the work (I've previously seem 30 days/1000 miles offered)

At 5000 miles/a few months you're probably in the realms of paying for investigation an, if proved to be caused by the previous rebuild, making a case to the previous mechanic for refund/repair etc

I've not done car rebuilds, only bikes but seems strange to only replace a single conrod

robrymond

k3lvc said:

Was there any warranty given on the work (I've previously seem 30 days/1000 miles offered)

At 5000 miles/a few months you're probably in the realms of paying for investigation an, if proved to be caused by the previous rebuild, making a case to the previous mechanic for refund/repair etc

I've not done car rebuilds, only bikes but seems strange to only replace a single conrod

12 month warranty was offered. Garage is offering to do work with no charge if its a faulty component from the original works. its difficult because no engine should just seize straight up after a few months of having work done, but I've also been driving it.

Its just frustrating because stripping the engine = man hours and cost to them to even get to diagnose the issue. 

Car_54

robrymond said:

Ganga said:

Has it had an oil change ie a service since the re-build ?

No it hasn't. I've kept it topped up with oil but no service. Service was due this month.

I'm no mechanic, but I wouldn't expect a modern BMW engine to need topping up. How much oil are we talking about?

robrymond

[Deleted User] said:

robrymond said:

Ganga said:

Has it had an oil change ie a service since the re-build ?

No it hasn't. I've kept it topped up with oil but no service. Service was due this month.

I'm no mechanic, but I wouldn't expect a modern BMW engine to need topping up. How much oil are we talking about?

I used about 5 litres since June which means it was burning excess oil. There are no oil leaks.