Mechanic broke water cooling pipe and housing changing clutch

textbook

My usual mechanic didn't want to change my clutch due to the height of my van so I went somewhere else.  Didn't know the place before.  When I called them up the guy claimed when changing the clutch the pipe which contains the water to cool the engine was so corroded that it easily broke and is leaking water.  He blamed it on additives put into it and the water was black.  The housing is also broken and the he said he doesn't know what he's gonna do either to weld the crack on housing or replace completely from the main Peugeot dealer which will be expensive.  He'll think on Monday What to do he said now he's not sure he sounded nervous.

Should i refuse to pay for broken pipe and housing (just pay for clutch)and offer to go to court and call the police if they don't hand over my key?   Ask for evidence if corroded pipe?

Pay it all?

Call my regular mechanic and get him to finish it off as I'm not sure I trust this place and get his opinion as well?

caprikid1

How old is the Van ?

cymruchris

When things on cars and vans get fixed - sometimes other problems develop while trying to complete the repair.

The question would be, if it is corroded, would it be likely that another mechanic might also have damaged it trying to get the clutch done? It's not like the mechanic has taken your car on a joy ride and kerbed three alloys and dented your front wing.

If it was badly corroded as claimed - then likely it could have broken, and I'd say that's down to you to pay for. What I would be asking though if it's replaced is a photo of the new one and old one together, so you can see that A. the part has been replaced rather than bodged, and that B. the corrosion was pretty bad. 

Calling the Police isn't going to win you any friends, and as it's a civil matter, they won't do anything anyway. 

If garages paid for every part that snapped because of rust/old age/damage/perished rubber - they'd all have gone out of business years ago. 

textbook

caprikid1 said:

How old is the Van ?

2013 so eleven years old

Mildly_Miffed

If you trust him so little that you immediately assume he's incompetent and lying, why did you use him?

Pop round. Talk to him. Look at the issue and the parts in person. Treat him like a competent adult...

On older vehicles, bits do fail when disturbed. Coolant passages and pipes DO corrode, especially where poorly-protected steel pipes are exposed to road muck, or where coolant changes have been neglected.

If this is a Puma-engined Boxer, there is a coolant pipe that's very vulnerable and does often fail. The failure under these circumstances probably saved you a breakdown on the road, and perhaps a cooked engine.

textbook

Mildly_Miffed said:

If you trust him so little that you immediately assume he's incompetent and lying, why did you use him?

Pop round. Talk to him. Look at the issue and the parts in person. Treat him like a competent adult...

On older vehicles, bits do fail when disturbed. Coolant passages and pipes DO corrode, especially where poorly-protected steel pipes are exposed to road muck, or where coolant changes have been neglected.

If this is a Puma-engined Boxer, there is a coolant pipe that's very vulnerable and does often fail. The failure under these circumstances probably saved you a breakdown on the road, and perhaps a cooked engine.

What's the bit about adding too much anti freeze or whatever causing the corrosion?  Someone said that sounded ridiculous 

Goudy

This sounds like a familiar issue.

The common way to get the gearbox out of a front wheel drive vehicle is to tilt the engine and gearbox down on one end so the gearbox is down low enough it clears the bodywork and it comes out underneath but to the side of the vehicle, basically through the wheel arch.

This means disconnecting the suspension, drive shafts and front subframe, supporting the engine and gearbox, undoing the engine and gearbox mounts, then lowering the gearbox end of the engine and gearbox.

Quite often things get left in place like coolant pipes to save some labour on the job and these can give out if stretched too far.
Heater control valves/pipes are pretty notorious on some cars when the gearbox has to come out, slightest tug on them will cause them to snap as they are made from plastic that has gone brittle over the years.

A weak rusty coolant pipe might also give way if it's put under some strain by lowering the engine with it still attached.

Ganga

How much is the replacement part ? find that out before making a fuss possibly over nothing.

droopsnoot

textbook said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

If you trust him so little that you immediately assume he's incompetent and lying, why did you use him?

Pop round. Talk to him. Look at the issue and the parts in person. Treat him like a competent adult...

On older vehicles, bits do fail when disturbed. Coolant passages and pipes DO corrode, especially where poorly-protected steel pipes are exposed to road muck, or where coolant changes have been neglected.

If this is a Puma-engined Boxer, there is a coolant pipe that's very vulnerable and does often fail. The failure under these circumstances probably saved you a breakdown on the road, and perhaps a cooked engine.

What's the bit about adding too much anti freeze or whatever causing the corrosion?  Someone said that sounded ridiculous 

There are different types of anti-freeze, I have read that putting in the wrong type can cause problems, as can mixing the two main different ones. I expect it depends on what material the pipe is made from as to how much damage it can cause. 

textbook

Ringed the hairline crack they said water leaking from.   They said to monitor the water level and as it's so dark can't see if it's has gone below the min level.  It had dropped since last night so the young mechanic put more anti freeze in.   Just keep monitoring it and keep bottle of anti freeze I guess.   They think someone had added something like leak stop 

Clutch feels nice though.

FlorayG

Stuff happens on older vehicles (mine is 21 years old) and if those parts that broke are original I wouldn't be arguing about it. Sometimes they look fine until you stress them then they disintegrate. I would assume he has kept the damaged parts to show you