hey, some of you will remember me posting up a while ago with coolant problems.. well got my car back from mechanic this week (thanks to all who advised him and myself)

 

drove car home 4 miles wonderfull not a single problem.. tho wouldnt have got up to temp i know i know.. anyways take the car out next day to wash and clean etc.. got 15 miles.. temp rocketed up to way over the top of gauge.. and lost all power and a god awfull ticking sound started.. coast to a stop.. car had overheated cronichally.. umm so yeah aa come out and tow trailor me back home.. head gasket has gone.. now i am under the belief that because my car went in to have the cooling problems fixed .. and they clearly where not that i am entitled to pay nothing for the repairs.. my mechanic however will not take liability for it.. but will fix the head or replace engine.. at my cost.. haha.. no. i have squat all money left as i spanked £700 getting it "fixed" already.. only to have 15 miles of motoring..

 

this is what he did.

 

"found water pump leaking, remove timing belt covers and auxillary drive belts etc. remove old water pump and thermostat. fit new water pump and thermostat and replace 2 x 38mm water hoses. bleed cooling system, found more water leeks under inlet manifol. remove coils, hoses, fuel rails + inlet manifold. fit new hoses, refit manifold and auxillary belts etc. replace leaking fuel pressure reg, bleed cooling system and check. replace worn alternator belt. repair broken wires on det sensor."

 

parts.

 

alternator belt

water pump

fuel pressure reg

8mm heater hose

manifold gasket

2x heat hoses

4 x link hoses

6 x hose clips

anti freeze

38mm water hose

 

all this cost £713.98

 

.. so what do i do? im really stuck here guys .. the car is worth squat with a blown head and i just dont have any money to pay out.. do i strip it? do i keep it and take it apart n fix myself over the next few months.. what would any of you guys do?

 

cheers :mad:

You need to find out what the car overheated in the first place. If you can pin point where the leak was or whatever it was that caused it to overheat then blown a head gasket then you have a leg to stand on.

 

Sorry, sounds like you've not had the greatest experience. :(

problem is .. my mechanic isnt and idiot and he is also a nice bloke who i truely belive did his best.. but if he, and he did, believed he fixed everything that was wrong with it .. what chance do i have of finding the problem.. not only that but the car wont start now so i cant even get the water flowing :-(

If your mechanic is not too far away from you could get the car to him , he does have some responsibility to at least try to identify the problem for you. Your local trading Standards office will have som constructive advice on a way forward. Good luck.

It is a difficult one, if he is a nice bloke and you believe he did genuine work then do you really want to alienate him?

 

Why not try talking to him and seeing if he will meet you haflway and get some of your costs back, it sounds like he never did a head gasket check before he did the work?

I agree with the last. Its a terrible story and I'm with you I spent 1100 having the car checked over and problems fixed only for theengine to lunch itself 100 miles later. I took that one on the chin and found a new garage but like you say if the guy is genuine then give them the chance to fix it but agree up front who has responsibility for what costs etc.

thanks for all the responses guys, as i said he is a genuine bloke.. he is going to take a look at it for free and just sort of sus out what the best thing to do would be. which is nice.. someone told me i should at least try sticking in some head gasket seal stuff.. and at only £30 for the bottle i think i might however i have very low expectations and cant REALLY imagine it will work.. but if it does at least it means i will have a car for the moment until i can find a half decent car (thinking pulsar gtir) .. then the zed can get tucked up and i will slowly strip it down.. thinking of replacing engine and using it as a track toy ;)

thanks for all the responses guys, as i said he is a genuine bloke.. he is going to take a look at it for free and just sort of sus out what the best thing to do would be. which is nice.. someone told me i should at least try sticking in some head gasket seal stuff.. and at only £30 for the bottle i think i might however i have very low expectations and cant REALLY imagine it will work.. but if it does at least it means i will have a car for the moment until i can find a half decent car (thinking pulsar gtir) .. then the zed can get tucked up and i will slowly strip it down.. thinking of replacing engine and using it as a track toy ;)

 

Pulsar !! You are a glutton for punishment bud.The pulsar is just as bad as a zed for reliability.The parts are just as expensive when you can get them.The last person i knew that had one spent a fortune on it but broke it in the end with despair.It was very much like a zed in that it was great when it was going but when it wrong it went wrong.

Don't put that headgasket seal stuff in, all it does is gum up and restrict the flow of coolant in an engine that already struggles to stay cool. I think your mechanic, good guy or not, should at least diagnose the problem. I run a small workshop in my spare time and recently took in a BMW with running problems, my diagnostic equipment gave me a number of codes and I ended up changing water temp and coils, it ran better but did not put Mil light out. I could not find the problem and could not spend anymore time on it so I took to BMW. :rant::rant:I only charged the guy for the parts, how could I charge him labour when I never cured the problem! I think you should try and negotiate with him.:headvswal

If that fails tell him you are the son of a mafia boss who is not happy with his little boy being had over and is as you speak tucking ahorses head into his bed!:rofl::rofl::rofl:

I second Jimmer on the Pulsar. When I worked for Nissan these were as bad as Zeds for costing afortune to maintain. I remeber a guy buying one from auction and thought he'd got a bargain brought in for a service and check over £3K later it was reasonable.

You can't polish a Turd!!!