Advice needed - Do I have any comeback here?

golfman

Hi guys,

Hoping a few of you may know where I stand with this situation.....

Last week, I jumped in my girlfriends 01 Celica T-Sport (70k miles on clock, just serviced in May). Drove the car less than 2 miles and it started overheating. I took the car to my local garage where I had got it serviced and told them it had a overheating problem. They said it needed a new thermostat. They fitted a new thermostat, drove it around to test it and said it was fine and handed it back after charging €150!

1 week later, girlfriend is driving along M1. I get a call saying "car is overheating again and is making a funny noise". I told her to pull over and let the car cool down. She did and it never started again. AA had to tow car back. He said its the head gasket. I got in touch with a friend of a friend who is a Toyota mechanic, he says in all his time he's never seen a head gasket or a thermostat go on a Celica. He comes round, does a compression test and a bit of an examination and tells me the rings have gone and we need a new engine @ €3800! I get the "garage in question" to take a look at it and they come back with the same verdict - needs a new engine!

Now here's where I need the advice. He said to me that if we'd originally taken the car to a Toyota dealer they would have to take that car in and sort us out, as we originally brought the car in with an overheating problem and they sent it back out having not properly fixed the car. This action resulted in the current engine problem.

What are my "rights" in this scenario with an independent car garage? Do I have any at all? So far they are trying to distance themselves from any responsibility whatsoever. All I know is that according to the Toyota guy, this could have been avoided and now its going to cost €3800 which isn't even worth doing as if we were to sell it we'd be lucky to get €6000.

Any advice much appreciated.

Run_to_da_hills

Sounds more like the head gasket. if the rings were gone it would be burning blue lingering smoke and would be loosing oil levels.

Wibbs

Yea but the compression test is gonna show up the state of the bores and pistons(and rings). It could well be both of course. Milky looking oil would be a dead giveaway if its the gasket.

As for comeback. Hard one. I'd be getting onto a solicitor to see what your options are. It may be hard to prove that the problem didnt start since you got the car back from the garage. Plus your GF drove the car for a week without it overheating. Hard one and I feel for you. Get a solicitor I think is the best advice.

*EDIT* the main issue I have with the thermostat fault as a cause is that they're supposed to fail fully open(Ive never seen one that didnt), so the engine not getting up to temp, not overheating is the usual symptom. Maybe thats an avenue you could look further into?

kildare.17hmr

I personally think your toyota man is very opiniated and is in no position to say this was avoidable having not seen the car before it failed.

I have seen the very odd thermostat go in that model but i would add that i agree with him it is rare. The garage in question diagnosed the problem at the time and after another week of driving the head gasket went, which could have been caused by the car originally overheating and not been apparent at the time of the thermostat being replaced.

EDIT, I do feel for ya in this situation but i think you will have little or no comeback. You will get an engine alot cheaper than 3800 by the way, i take it that price is new from toyota? no point in putting a new engine in a 9 yr old car thats done 70k. must be a few good 2nd hands available. try IVI engines

golfman

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've been making a few enquiries about engines and the 190 bhp Celica engine is a bit of a rarity! That price was for a new one but so far I haven't managed to find a price for a 2nd hand one.

kildare.17hmr

start a wanted thread for one and put wanted adds on donedeal and gumtree. and try www.partfinder.ie

knifey_spoonie

You will find it hard to get yourself a VVTLi engine, im on the hunt for one for my MR2, there is a lad in tullamore who has them he is on donedeal, but your looking at 900 for a second hand engine from him.

Here's a link