Am I entitled to a refund

bimble

Hi folks well long story short, I had the head gasket replaced in my 2001 passat july last year and its looking like its failed again the car has only cover 15k since the work was done and with another garage going over the car now all other possibilities exhausted, I now think I should get my money back 1400 euros of it, the garage that done the work made all sorts of feck ups ie over filling the oil 5 litres instead of 4, also a bolt came loose and shredded the timing belt luckily it didnt snap, they lost all the bolts that hold the skid panels under the car and just this week the new mechanic found that the timing belt tensioner had not been set to tension the belt so 3 times they nearly destroyed the engine so I hope you can understand that I dont want to give them the car to rectify their mess I just want my money back is there any hope any advice appreciated

pred racer

In a word no. (the answer should be yes, but it isnt)

There is no way you will ever get them to accept responsibility for this, I know its a kick in the nuts, but all you can really do is chalk it down to experience and move on. And tell everyone you know not to go near that shower of cowboys again.

bimble

GRRRrrr thats what I thought but I think I will chance it he has more to loose than i do, throw a few F,s and blinds and a mention of small claims court I will let him know how s??te he is at the very least

V Eight

you are entitled to a refund - but, real world sadly you won't get it.
It's a time consuming job to complete but not hard for somebody qualified to do it right. A head gasket replaced by monkeys will always be a problem and they will never admit liability.....just move on and learn from it. This kind of thing has happened to us all at some stage.:(

Stheno

bimble wrote: »

GRRRrrr thats what I thought but I think I will chance it he has more to loose than i do, throw a few F,s and blinds and a mention of small claims court I will let him know how s??te he is at the very least

Would you ever get a grip on reality? You'd work done 15 months ago, and you now have problems with your car and want a refund?

15 months of a timing belt tensioner being set wrong?

bimble

Stheno wrote: »

Would you ever get a grip on reality? You'd work done 15 months ago, and you now have problems with your car and want a refund?

15 months of a timing belt tensioner being set wrong?

All done by the same guy also when you think about it length of time should have nothing to do with it, its to do with mileage, im doing 1k a month had i been doing 2 or 3 times that, then the period would obviously be shorter. I know there little chance of a refund but I should be is the point being made, No reality checks needed here 15K 15 months for me 15k in 6 months would be ok would it is this the reality you speak of with such hostility

bucketybuck

bimble wrote: »

All done by the same guy also when you think about it length of time should have nothing to do with it, its to do with mileage, im doing 1k a month had i been doing 2 or 3 times that, then the period would obviously be shorter. I know there little chance of a refund but I should be is the point being made, No reality checks needed here 15K 15 months for me 15k in 6 months would be ok would it is this the reality you speak of with such hostility

I believe his point was that if the tensioner was not set right you would have had problems quicker than 15 months later. So, that bit of information seeming suspect, what else is suspect?

Stheno

bucketybuck wrote: »

I believe his point was that if the tensioner was not set right you would have had problems quicker than 15 months later. So, that bit of information seeming suspect, what else is suspect?

That's exactly her point, having had a car with a dodgy tensioner it was about eight weeks before I'd serious issues.

George Dalton

I amnot trying to defend the garage who did the head gasket last year. However...nothing you have posted would indicate that the repeat head gasket failure was anything to do with the previous job.

Stheno

Also when I had my issues I was doing less then 200 miles a month when my tensioner went.

paddy147

Small claims court perhaps??

bimble

bucketybuck wrote: »

I believe his point was that if the tensioner was not set right you would have had problems quicker than 15 months later. So, that bit of information seeming suspect, what else is suspect?

The tensioner was set wrong the mechanic could not believe that it had not slipped and destroyed the engine and said a first year mechanic wouldnt have done it. the bracket that sticks out of the side of the tensioner and is suppose to sit on top of the damper a setting tool is used 4mm gap, mine had a 40mm gap the damper was extended, I was stood there when the covers were removed and seen it and after how it should be done why would I Bull???? my thread

Stheno

bimble wrote: »

The tensioner was set wrong the mechanic could not believe that it had not slipped and destroyed the engine and said a first year mechanic wouldnt have done it. the bracket that sticks out of the side of the tensioner and is suppose to sit on top of the damper a setting tool is used 4mm gap, mine had a 40mm gap the damper was extended, I was stood there when the covers were removed and seen it and after how it should be done why would I Bull???? my thread

You don't seem to be getting the point?

This is over 15 months

You've far too much time between the work you claim caused the damage and when it occured.

When did you discover the oil was over filled?

bimble

Stheno wrote: »

You don't seem to be getting the point?

This is over 15 months

You've far too much time between the work you claim caused the damage and when it occured.

When did you discover the oil was over filled?

When the work was done last year mechanic had the car for around 2 weeks, I got the car back on a friday but seemed underpowered the following day had a root around checked the oil way too high on the dipstick, told mechanic on the monday, then on the friday could hear grinding and the smell of burning rubber which was coming from the t belt housing, the t belt had a groove 1/4" wide cut through it and was basically 2 belts a week after i got the car back

Stheno

bimble wrote: »

When the work was done last year mechanic had the car for around 2 weeks, I got the car back on a friday but seemed underpowered the following day had a root around checked the oil way too high on the dipstick, told mechanic on the monday, then on the friday could hear grinding and the smell of burning rubber which was coming from the t belt housing, the t belt had a groove 1/4" wide cut through it and was basically 2 belts a week after i got the car back

So why didn't you deal with it immediately after, get the excess oil drained, get the tbelt issues resolved?

The mechanic can legitimately claim now that wear and tear could have caused the tbelt issues?

You've left this way too late in my opinion.

Light Switch

If i had work done to my Morris Minor back in 1987 and the engine gave trouble now say 15k miles later is that garage/mechanic responsible?

Your best bet is go talk to the garage and see what they've to say, if they tell you **** Off, try small claims court/newspapers etc....

Chalk it to experience and move on.

bimble

George Dalton wrote: »

I amnot trying to defend the garage who did the head gasket last year. However...nothing you have posted would indicate that the repeat head gasket failure was anything to do with the previous job.

I would add that i was topping up coolant about a 1/4 inch a week thought nothing of it, but in the last week im topping up half inch every day, the fact is that you should get in the region of 100k + from a headgasket my car has not overheated what other reason can there be. Its service every 6k the wife says i look after the car better than her

Stheno

bimble wrote: »

I would add that i was topping up coolant about a 1/4 inch a week thought nothing of it, but in the last week im topping up half inch every day, the fact is that you should get in the region of 100k + from a headgasket my car has not overheated what other reason can there be. Its service every 6k the wife says i look after the car better than her

Here you go again, you were topping up coolant to a level and now more recently you are topping it up more.

Get over what was done 15 months ago and fix what is wrong with your car now.

It's like saying my car passed the NCT a year ago and now the steering rack has failed

Where are you getting 100k from a gasket figures from? I've had two cars suffer head gasket failure with less mileage than that.

Wheelnut

I've read the first post again and as I understand it your demand for a refund arises because the head gasket is failing again. The only question then is whether you're entitled to a refund for that. The other matters are not relevant no matter what you think of them. The (alleged) tensioner might have caused harm but it didn't so you've no claim. The (alleged) wrong amount of oil might have caused harm but it didn't so you've no claim. That leaves the gasket which has given 15 months service and done 15k miles, how can you expect a refund after that amount of service?

bimble

Stheno wrote: »

So why didn't you deal with it immediately after, get the excess oil drained, get the tbelt issues resolved?

The mechanic can legitimately claim now that wear and tear could have caused the tbelt issues?

You've left this way too late in my opinion.

the excess oil was drained straight away, he had the car for another 3 or 4 days with the timing belt issue this is when the replacement was not set to the right tension, you cannot see the T belt in a passat its covered in the top cover comes off but you can only see the top to get a good look the front of the car has to be pulled forward (service position) when i got it back I thought all was good. untill now

Stheno

Wheelnut wrote: »

I've read the first post again and as I understand it your demand for a refund arises because the head gasket is failing again. The only question then is whether you're entitled to a refund for that. The other matters are not relevant no matter what you think of them. The (alleged) tensioner might have caused harm but it didn't so you've no claim. The (alleged) wrong amount of oil might have caused harm but it didn't so you've no claim. That leaves the gasket which has given 15 months service and done 15k miles, how can you expect a refund after that amount of service?

Too much oil (though I'm dubious about when that was measured) can damage the seals etc on the head

On the whole I agree with you?

bimble

Stheno wrote: »

Too much oil (though I'm dubious about when that was measured) can damage the seals etc on the head

On the whole I agree with you?

why are you dubious about everything iv said the car didnt feel right i checked the oil and drained it to the right level. Once more log into Ukpassats.co.uk and read my posts from when this was going on.