Timing chain & RAC platinum warranty

Karl1982

i bought a discovery sport from a dealer in England 4months ago with 61000 miles . It's now told that I need the timing chain replaced. I called the dealer who didn't want to know and said to ring the warranty company , washing their hands of me already. 

I have a platinum RAC warranty on the car , for 12months. The car as mentioned is only 4 months from when I purchased ant the dealer  and has had 3000 miles on it - so it's sitting with 64000 miles only. It's really stressed me out.

I was wanting to get the warranty company to cover it but I am suspecting that they will say it's wear and tear and wrangle their way out - the thing that doesn't sit with me is that I have only had the car a number of months and gave a lot of money to the dealer and they just don't care.

does anyone have any advice on this and best way to go about getting help ?

thanks
 

Clive_Woody

I'd be surprised if a warranty covered ongoing servicing and maintenance, check what your paperwork says.

The time to challenge the dealer would have been when discussing the sale and ask them to do the change then...but now it's sold I can't see them being interested.

jimjames

Karl1982 said:

does anyone have any advice on this and best way to go about getting help ?

thanks
 

When/if it fails then they might pay a portion of the cost but seems unlikely if it's a routine maintenance item before then. (and they probably wouldn't pay for failure if it hadn't been done when scheduled)

tacpot12

Why does the timing chain need to be replaced? If it is a maintanance item and the vehicle has hit the point at which it is recommended to be changed, then you can't get any help with this.

facade

Premature timing chain wear on Discovery Sport is well known (at around 45-65,000 miles). (google it)

The chain is not supposed to be a service item.

Popular opinion is that it is a similar problem to Ford's notorious "wet belt failure" and caused by oil dilution from failed DPF regens

Replacement and sorting out the engine damage from metal particles (the rattling is the chain chewing away the engine) is thousands of pounds.

Some owners have got JLR to contribute if there is a full service history.

You can only try the warranty, also join one of the discovery sport forums and get their advice.

daveyjp

Research is very important when buying a used car, especially a Range Rover out of JLR warranty as its one of the most unreliable cars on the road.

This situation is no different to buying a car which needs a new cambelt in 4,000 miles. 

The job is negotiated as part of the sale, it isn't a warranty matter if its routine or preventative maintenance.

stuhse

https://www.discosportforums.co.uk/threads/timing-chain-rattling.12487/

facade

daveyjp said:

Research is very important when buying a used car, especially a Range Rover out of JLR warranty as its one of the most unreliable cars on the road.

Most certainly yes, but unfortunately no help now the OP is stuck with it. (I can't imagine why anyone would buy one without full coverage manufacturer warranty tbh, but they are the single most popular car in the Universe, every drive round here (except mine ) has one standing on it, next to the 1 series BMW (another load of trouble outside warranty)

daveyjp said:

This situation is no different to buying a car which needs a new cambelt in 4,000 miles.

It is different, because although everyone, including JRL, know that the chains fail, it is most definitely not a scheduled service item.

You can argue that this is an existing fault at the time of sale, timing chains do not fail that quickly, and the OP has only had the car for 4 months and 3000 miles.  This means the supplying dealer is required to sort it out or refund the OP*, less usage and wear & tear (take the money if they offer, and don't touch another).

As the dealer is refusing, it is going to need legal action, others will have to advise.

The Good News is that it is a job that any competent mechanic could do at a garage, and the parts are not massively expensive, the engine stays in the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWH06lu7j4U

*or prove that it wasn't an existing fault- the onus is on the dealer to show the fault wasn't there at the time of sale in the first 6 months.

The problem is there is an element of expectation, a 60,000 mile car isn't ever going to be fault free, and a 60,000 mile Discovery Sport is a ticking timebomb as regards camchains

baser999

Not sure how you can say the timing chain is not a service item? Think you’ll find that it’ll appear at some point in the DS service schedule. Think most buyers of such vehicles would discuss this with the dealer at the time of purchase and either get the belt done or negotiate the price to factor in getting the work done. 

To but a car such as a DS you should have done your reading before and know what problems could potentially lie ahead.

facade

baser999 said:

Not sure how you can say the timing chain is not a service item? Think you’ll find that it’ll appear at some point in the DS service schedule. Think most buyers of such vehicles would discuss this with the dealer at the time of purchase and either get the belt done or negotiate the price to factor in getting the work done. 

To but a car such as a DS you should have done your reading before and know what problems could potentially lie ahead.

It is NOT a toothed rubber/fibre belt that requires scheduled replacement, it is a metal chain inside the bowels of the engine.

It takes a special kind of engineer to get a lubricated chain running in a protected ideal environment to fail, BMW, Vauxhall and JLR seem to have employed them!