'Engine cooked' 2 weeks after starter motor replaced & coolant leaked.

Jayneyrob

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice. I recently took my 2018 Dacia Duster to a local garage as the car wouldn't start. We were invoiced for fitting new starter motor & replacing coolant, I'm presuming they had to drain it to get to the starter motor.

2 weeks later drove to local supermarket, all was fine but on starting car to go home there was a loud rattling from engine. Drove the half mile home, turned engine off and restarted and the noise had gone. Checked under the bonnet & coolant was well below min. No lights on dash, no smoke to indicate overheating etc.

Topped up with water & drove quarter mile to local garage. They have had the car 2.5 days & have called today & said 'we think engine is cooked & we can't do anything here.' Apart from saying no charge & can you come & collect, nothing else was said & I didnt ask anything else as slightly stunned (less than 2 years ago lost 2014 Meriva due to blown headgasket following stone making hole in radiator & no warning until smoke pouring from exhaust & engine failed)

As its driveable I'm going to drive it home but my questions are:

Should I query about coolant leak & culpability of garage as they only replaced coolant 2 weeks ago?

Should I get car taken somewhere else to get it checked out before deciding its not worth getting engine replaced? A friend has suggested calling our RAC homestart to get their opinion but I don't know if that is something they'd do.

Sorry for the long ramble, I wanted to make sure I'd given as much detail as I could.

Any advice, suggestions are really appreciated as I'm a woman with little car knowledge.

MarvinDay

Just my opinion but even if the cause of the damage does turn out to related to the earlier work, I would say that the garage that carried out the starter replacement have every right to deny responsibility for some or all of the damage because of your actions.
You admit that there was a "loud rattling from engine" yet you still drove the car half a mile, something that could have resulted in serious damage to the engine and then after discovering that the coolant was well below the minimum level, you topped it up and drove again without looking into why the coolant level had dropped so suddenly.

Any untoward noises from a car should be looked into before using that car again, especially a loud noise from the engine.

Jayneyrob

Hi, thanks for your opinion. 

I agree that we are at fault for driving with rattling noise but thought it better to drive it the short (less than 1/2 mile) distance home, being non mechanically minded.
The garage asked us to top it up & drive it to them, so we were only following instructions there.
Having now picked it up they say coolant hadn't leaked in time it was with them & they don't have diagnostic equipment to look at problems so theyre basing what they said about cooked engine on our original description. Car hasn't rattled since, at garage or on drive back. 
Going to speak with a garage that's a bit further away, with diagnostic equipment & ask for advice.

531063

For future info you should really check fluid levels every week, more so if the car has been in a garage for work on coolant etc

I'm surprised the garage didn't advise you to keep a eye on the water level

sevenhills

Jayneyrob said:

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice. I recently took my 2018 Dacia Duster to a local garage as the car wouldn't start. We were invoiced for fitting new starter motor & replacing coolant, I'm presuming they had to drain it to get to the starter motor.

The starter motor is in no way connected to the coolant, u need to find out why they changed the coolant.

People really should learn about vehicles, they are very expensive.

My head gasket went on my works vehicle this week, it was blowing smoke and losing power etc, it did that for around 30 minutes, only after 30 minutes the engine management light came on. I am told that they will replace the engine, as its done 100,000 miles.

How many miles has your car done?

SpudGunPaul

sevenhills said:

Jayneyrob said:

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice. I recently took my 2018 Dacia Duster to a local garage as the car wouldn't start. We were invoiced for fitting new starter motor & replacing coolant, I'm presuming they had to drain it to get to the starter motor.

The starter motor is in no way connected to the coolant, u need to find out why they changed the coolant.

People really should learn about vehicles, they are very expensive.

My head gasket went on my works vehicle this week, it was blowing smoke and losing power etc, it did that for around 30 minutes, only after 30 minutes the engine management light came on. I am told that they will replace the engine, as its done 100,000 miles.

How many miles has your car done?

Sounds like you should take your own advice 

SpudGunPaul

Jayneyrob said:

Hi, thanks for your opinion. 

I agree that we are at fault for driving with rattling noise but thought it better to drive it the short (less than 1/2 mile) distance home, being non mechanically minded.
The garage asked us to top it up & drive it to them, so we were only following instructions there.
Having now picked it up they say coolant hadn't leaked in time it was with them & they don't have diagnostic equipment to look at problems so theyre basing what they said about cooked engine on our original description. Car hasn't rattled since, at garage or on drive back. 
Going to speak with a garage that's a bit further away, with diagnostic equipment & ask for advice.

What was that though based on, convenience?

GDB2222

It was a mistake to take it back to the garage, as they will have tightened any loose connections now. 

You should join one of the breakdown services, and call them if there are any unusual noises without driving the car.

This going to be an expensive lesson, I’m afraid.