Cooking an engine!

[trekjock]

I recently took my Surf to the local garage after a brief loss of power followed by a knocking noise in what sounded like the top of the engine. I was told by the garage that I had cooked the engine and that it needed re-boaring, skimming, new shims, etc. 8 WEEKS LATER I finaly got the car back, however 173km down the road the same problem occured and I've been told that I've cooked it again.
I think I'm beig taken for a ride (but not in my car!) as there was no signs of overheating and the day of the second occurance, I had only driven 5-6 miles.

Has anyone else had a simular problem and if so how did you sort it. So far I'm £1938.75 out of pocket and the problem is still the same, and I still have no car...

[marky]

What have they done to repair it?

[trekjock]

[QUOTE=marky]What have they done to repair it?[/QUO

They re-bored they cylinders because there was 20,000th ground off, skimmed the head, replaced the pistons etc, replaced the temp sensor (which although they say had melted, seemed to be working ok up until it was taken in!) pressure blasted and tested the radiator and tested the water pump. Once all was working, they gave it back. Then, without even stressing the engine or overheating it, I'm supposed to have cooked it again!! It's currently residing back in the garage while both the and the engine shop argue about who hasn't done their job right....

[stevo]

cooked engine

Get them to check the head's not cracked, if it's been as hot as they say, it will more than likely be cracked ( probably cracked in the first place )
Cheers, Steve.

[trekjock]

Get them to check the head's not cracked, if it's been as hot as they say, it will more than likely be cracked ( probably cracked in the first place )
Cheers, Steve.

It's supposed to have been checked and passed! the thing is, it never got that hot anyway acording to the temp sensor. Now into week 10 and still no resolve......

[trekjock]

Latest Devolopment is, apparently there has been the wrong water (one from a prada?) pump fitted. This has meant that only half the cirulation system was working resulting in two of the pistons blowing..

[marky]

Latest Devolopment is, apparently there has been the wrong water (one from a prada?) pump fitted. This has meant that only half the cirulation system was working resulting in two of the pistons blowing..

So have they accepted RESPONSOBILITY

[trekjock]

So have they accepted RESPONSOBILITY

Hell no. The garage where I took it says that the pump (fitted before I bought the car) is not something that would have been removed in the re-boring process and given that it's a perfectly good pump, wouldn't have been suspected anyway! The outcome is, The garage are supplying the right pump, the labour for fitting and fluids etc free of charge, but the engine workshop in Wallasey where talked down from £400 to £150 to replace the pistols etc again. Still got to wait a week though to get to dam thing back. Maybe Santa will deliver it!

[LuckyBstd]

Sounds very suspect to me!! If they gave the car back to you and the job wasn`t done or remedied to a fit and satisfactory condition they are entirely liable.

You asked for a job to be done after taking their advice as to what the problem was, if they mis-diagnosed the problem thats not your fault.

I would consider taking legal advice or withholding payment if possible. Ask to take it for a test drive before paying and forget to go back and pay!! Eh.. no thats not very law abiding is it? Still it wouldn`t stop me. I wouldn`t pay twice for a job that should have been diagnosed in the first place. The garage know they are at fault and should be paying for all extra costs incurred by you. They are just hoping you won`t put up a fight because you are desperate for your car back.

It`s funny how the car has been going fine up to know with the prada pump. Is you car a 2.4 by the way? I think Stevo`s probably right, the head was cracked and they`ve overlooked it meaning the re-bore etc was for nothing.

Good luck and let us know how things develop.

[trekjock]

I thought it was funny myself, although I haven't been laughing much lately! I couldn't see that much differance between them but then I'm no engineer. It's is a 2.4 ssr-g by the way, do you know if that changes when you get a double re-bore? Anyway I'm looking for a BIG hill to take it up to give it a REAL blasting to test it before (as you say) I pay out the rest. He's kinda got me in some repects though as I won't get a warrenty if I don't pay up!!!! (not that I'll be going back there for much else mind you)

I like your bull bars by the way, where they already fitted and do you know where I can get some?

Let ya know how things pan out.

(Know any good drives he he?)

[LuckyBstd]

You should put up a fight somewhere along the line. It`s your right as a consumer to complain when something is wrong. The more people that complain the better. The standard of service gets better in time.

Is he a member of the MAA or similar organisation? It`d be worth giving them a ring because their members have to abide by certain rules and adhere to their customer charter. They might even look into for you.

I would kiss the warranty goodbye if it was me. There`re not worth the paper they`re written on. Do you think if something goes wrong with it that he will accept full and unequivocal responsibility? I doubt it, more like he`ll come up with another far fetched excuse why you have to pay again. He`s already proved that.

A rebore will change the cc of an engine slightly depending on how much was taken off. At this rate you`ll end up with 3 litre model instead!!

The bullbars came with the car when I bought it. There`s a few places you can buy them just do a google search and I`m sure you`ll find some somewhere. How about trying here for a start....

http://www.formula4x4.com/traditional_bull_bars.htm

or rough tracks do some too

http://www.toyotahilux.com/index.php?doc=11&cid=216

Don`t forget to keep us updated, if all else fails, the horse`s head on the doorstep trick sometimes helps!!

Good luck

[coolsv650]

[QUOTE=trekjock]

What have they done to repair it?[/QUO

They re-bored they cylinders because there was 20,000th ground off, skimmed the head, replaced the pistons etc, replaced the temp sensor (which although they say had melted, seemed to be working ok up until it was taken in!) pressure blasted and tested the radiator and tested the water pump. Once all was working, they gave it back. Then, without even stressing the engine or overheating it, I'm supposed to have cooked it again!! It's currently residing back in the garage while both the and the engine shop argue about who hasn't done their job right....

Hello. I've just looked at your post's. It's interesting that the claim not to have removed the water pump....... But have also claimed to have tested it?

Call me a bluff old traditionalist but I was taught to always remove the water pump before reboring an engine, partly so that the coolant passageways could be cleaned and partly because is could get damaged!

A mate of mine had a 2.4 surf with an overheating problem, it went to a nondescript garage who replaced the headgasket, claimed to have replaced the head but it still blew water out!

Did they give you any running in info? (for example rev limits, or maximum speed).

As for bullbars, I bought mine from Roughtrax, I winced at the cost but it was well worth it

[LuckyBstd]

Excellent observation Coolsv!!!

I love to hear the garages answer to that one! I`d also like to hear what tests exactly did they perform?
I`d assume tests carried out on a water pump would involve checking for leaks, checking the bearings, checking the pressure of the system, checking the drive mechanism, whether its belt driven or chain etc for wear or tension.

Surely the test concerning you car would`ve involved checking that the system was pressurised and that the pump was working hard enough? Wouldn`t that mean having the engine running?

Correct me if I`m wrong but wasn`t your engine broken?

Well whatever... I think Coolsv has sussed a flaw in their excuse as to it being the water pump (which they checked!)

Did you hear the news today about the clamping down on dodgy garages where customers have spent millions on going to another garage to put right the work carried out by the first? I heard it on Radio 1 and thought about this straight away. Apparently theres a governing body that will look into individual cases and decide if the customer has been wronged. Flash a newspaper clipping under his nose then write him a rubber check and get outta there.....

P.S Any further developments yet Trek?? More importantly have you got ya car back??

[trekjock]

NOOOOOO, still no sign. The pump was only tested to see if it worked correctly and not to check if it was the right one, which would have been really hard to tell just by looking at it as it's so simular. It was only looked at when they ran out of all other options. He told me they don't remove it when re-boring but I thought that sounded a bit fishy (all those metal filings gotta go somewhere!) but what would I know!!!

As far as running in goes, the only thing I was told was to make sure I return it after as close to 500 miles as possible to check the fluids etc..

The last report I had was from the engine shop who said that they had to send of to Germany for the larger sized pistons or rings.. and they wouldn't be in 'til last Friday. Then they'd put it back together and return it to the garage for re-fitting into the car. I've been away for a couple of days so I'm gonna do some calling tomorrow! So we'll see what happens then.!

By the way, I think it would be a great idea if we had somewhere to name and shame places like this so that no-one else falls into the same trap.

[spot]

http://uk.blagger.com/db4/company_id...Parts-Ltd.html