Advice Needed re Car Repairs

JayB

Hi people,

Id like a bit of advice please from you guys.

I have a W reg Clio which I purchased in September. I took it into my local MOT centre last Tuesday (5th) and the garage called me to say it had failed with the following:

2 new tyres
Emissions test - they couldnt/wouldnt test this because they say there was water leaking and a rattling noice coming from the water pump area. They said that if this goes this could cause the cam belt to go then big trouble knacker the engine.

So I went down in the afternoon and said ok change the water pump (around 4 hours work). Now they didnt have time to do this that day so they let me take it away and asked me to bring it in in the morning.

I took it in Wednesday morning and the car was running fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I called them lunchtime and said its not ready but come down about 5 and it should be ready then. Went down at 5 and still not ready so they let me take away one of their own cars to drive (my car was up on the ramp).

Thursday lunchtime I called and they said....we have a bit of a problem the head gasket has gone. They said it mustve of gone when I drove it home on Tuesday night.....

They originally thought that a 2nd hand engine would be the cheapest option as they didnt know wether the pistons had gone aswell. A week has gone by and they couldnt find an engine locally so they took the head out, the gasket had a slight split in it, and they said they would probably have to re-ring the pistons.

Now what I would like to know from you guys is should I have to pay the full bill? (they are still working this out) or should they come up with some?

I am still driving the garage car 8 days later!

Should they have let me drive the car away in the first place?

Thanks for reading all of this, any advice is greatly appriciated.

LandyAndy

I'm surprised you hadn't noticed it was losing water when you checked the levels. You do check the levels regularly don't you?:cool:

Perhaps the garage should have advised you that there was possibility of further damage if you drove it again but I don't think that they were under any obligation to do so. At least they didn't do the emission tests anyway.

The head gasket could well have gone before you took it in for the MoT.

My bottom line is that you have an old car that has suffered an expensive failure possibly because you did not carry out regular checks and the costs are down to you.

hartcjhart

yes I agree with Landy,they did the right thing not doing the emissions test as they noticed a poss fault with the water pump.

I cannot really see why the pistons would need new rings as I have never come accross a problem like that due to headgasket failure,

at least they are lending you a car

goldspanners

possible scenario here.
they have replaced the water pump and timing belt,not locked the engine up properly and the timing was out when they tried to start the engine,rattled the valves and are trying to cover up thier mistake so they can charge you instead of them having to pay for it.
this happened on my ford focus,the crankshaft is a floating pulley (type c zetec) so the guy that replaced my belt didnt realise this,he tried to start it but the timing was out and rattled the valves so the head had to come off it to repair the damage,he was honest with me about it though.

not saying this has happened but its worth a thought.