Been told me 2001 Passat needs a rebuild
Discussion
Hi,
I was hoping that I could get a little advice from some of you as I've had some pretty bad news today...
3 weeks ago I got to my car and saw that there was liquids coming from underneath. I popped the bonnet and saw that the coolant resovoir was muddy and that the oil had emulsified under the oil cap. I thought it was the head gasket but not being very mechanically minded I got it to a local (national) garage.
I asked them to diagnose the problem and let me know. A few hours later they rang and said it was the head gasket, I approved the work to be done along with new brakes and cambelt.
A few days later I picked up the car and went to work. When I arrived I noticed a pungent smell and smoke coming from the engine bay. I pulled over to find that oil and water was ALL over the engine. The garage recovered it for me and have had it for the last 2 weeks.
Last week I was told that it was a dodgy head gasket they had put on, which they would replace free of charge.
Today I received a call saying that they have done the work but the same thing has happened and that the block is faulty. I asked why this wasn't checked prior to the gasket being done and was told that they're not able to do this. Apparently they only know the block is faulty through process of elimination. The top end of the block is meant to be fine and 'still pressurised' so it's meant to be the bottom end.
Does this sound right? I'm looking at a very large bill for a new engine/engine rebuild and my only hope is to prove that the block went due to them not seeing what was wrong properly or causing damage when they installed etc...In my eyes I took them a car which was faulty but fixable, only for them to give me one thats buggered whilst releiving me of £850!
Any help on this would be much appreciated. I don't know how much the work needed will cost, but I don't think it would be very cost effective for me to get it done. I'd prob. sell it as a non runnner - any ideas on how much I might get would help also.
BTW my car is a 2001 VW Passat 2.0 petrol.
Thanks for the help in advance.
I was hoping that I could get a little advice from some of you as I've had some pretty bad news today...
3 weeks ago I got to my car and saw that there was liquids coming from underneath. I popped the bonnet and saw that the coolant resovoir was muddy and that the oil had emulsified under the oil cap. I thought it was the head gasket but not being very mechanically minded I got it to a local (national) garage.
I asked them to diagnose the problem and let me know. A few hours later they rang and said it was the head gasket, I approved the work to be done along with new brakes and cambelt.
A few days later I picked up the car and went to work. When I arrived I noticed a pungent smell and smoke coming from the engine bay. I pulled over to find that oil and water was ALL over the engine. The garage recovered it for me and have had it for the last 2 weeks.
Last week I was told that it was a dodgy head gasket they had put on, which they would replace free of charge.
Today I received a call saying that they have done the work but the same thing has happened and that the block is faulty. I asked why this wasn't checked prior to the gasket being done and was told that they're not able to do this. Apparently they only know the block is faulty through process of elimination. The top end of the block is meant to be fine and 'still pressurised' so it's meant to be the bottom end.
Does this sound right? I'm looking at a very large bill for a new engine/engine rebuild and my only hope is to prove that the block went due to them not seeing what was wrong properly or causing damage when they installed etc...In my eyes I took them a car which was faulty but fixable, only for them to give me one thats buggered whilst releiving me of £850!
Any help on this would be much appreciated. I don't know how much the work needed will cost, but I don't think it would be very cost effective for me to get it done. I'd prob. sell it as a non runnner - any ideas on how much I might get would help also.
BTW my car is a 2001 VW Passat 2.0 petrol.
Thanks for the help in advance.
Edited by mr_nice on Tuesday 17th April 23:00
Well, firstly I wouldn't authorise any further work. (Well, unless they will guarantee that it will resolve the problem and deduct cost of any previous unnecessary work from the bill, which is unlikely.)
Secondly, I believe the approved way of resolving disputes such as these is to get an written independent opinion from a qualified motor engineer as to what the problem is, and whether the garage were competent in their original diagnosis.
If the garage proprietor is honest, he shouldn't have a problem with this so say you're not happy, explain what you want to do and go from there.
AdrianR
Secondly, I believe the approved way of resolving disputes such as these is to get an written independent opinion from a qualified motor engineer as to what the problem is, and whether the garage were competent in their original diagnosis.
If the garage proprietor is honest, he shouldn't have a problem with this so say you're not happy, explain what you want to do and go from there.
AdrianR
To be fair to the garage, the symptoms you describe would lead me to suspect a head gasket problem as it's the most common cause of oil/water mixing, so a recommendation to try changing that doesn't seem unreasonable. Ideally when dismantled you'd inspect the gasket to confirm this, along with the condition of the head and block to make sure that was all the problem was so maybe they could have found something earlier but without seeing the engine that's speculation.
I can't think what they mean by the block being faulty though, but then I'm not familiar with the engine. If the block is aluminium then it will have cast iron liners which on some cars can come loose, if it is iron then it would have to be cracked which is very unusual (unless you overheat it and refill immediately with cold water!).
Another solution, rather than selling as-is, would be to source a good used engine and get the garage to swap it over. Might well be cheaper than fixing the original, which you could then get inspected in slow time to confirm whether the original repair was competent.
AdrianR
Edited to add: p.s. Does that engine suffer from the same problem as the 1.8Ts - i.e. water pump impeller falls off the shaft, engine overheats rapidly?
I can't think what they mean by the block being faulty though, but then I'm not familiar with the engine. If the block is aluminium then it will have cast iron liners which on some cars can come loose, if it is iron then it would have to be cracked which is very unusual (unless you overheat it and refill immediately with cold water!).
Another solution, rather than selling as-is, would be to source a good used engine and get the garage to swap it over. Might well be cheaper than fixing the original, which you could then get inspected in slow time to confirm whether the original repair was competent.
AdrianR
Edited to add: p.s. Does that engine suffer from the same problem as the 1.8Ts - i.e. water pump impeller falls off the shaft, engine overheats rapidly?
Edited by adrianr on Thursday 19th April 09:54
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