Recon engine blew after 90ml company refusing responibility

[EzyQ]

Right

not disclosing any names here as I'm about seek legal action but this is how the story goes

engine in my van wasn't running right with a water pressure problem, turns out the head gasket was fine just the previous owner misdiagnosed the issues and has been dumping radweld and sealer in the cooling system

any way initially thought water pump and after removing the water pump of which was relatively new lumps of sealer was removed from the engine

so I instruct the garage to remove the motor and I'll get a recon unit delivered to them

recon unit arrives slight differences between the 2 units, the mechanic at my garage says its from the year below my model however it will still be ok just swapping some additional parts over which he did

engine in and running I get a call to say, the engine is leaking water and oil, on further inspection the water pick off pipe in the side of the new block (coreplug) was badly corroded and leaking water, so this had just been painted over by the recon manufacturer
and the oil leak was weeping thru the from of the sump, the sump was removed and was found to have a massive crack in the inside

so the inlet manifold had to be removed to replace the corroded water pipe and the sump had to be repaired

all this time I had spoke with the engine supplier and all they wanted to do was for me to send back the unit along with my old one....... this is where I refused, my van is for my business and its been off the road nearly 2 weeks and I just wanted it back and running again, and based on the recon unit condition that was supplied I was reluctant to send my old engine back.....

so the repairs are carried out and the mechanic gave it an extended road test 45miles and I then collected it, my labour for the whole job was 34hrs when it was initially estimated to be 15hrs this was due to all the problems with the supplied exchange recon engine

I load up my van and set off on Friday morning I drive a further 45miles with it and I come to a hill with a crawler lane, I've driven this route before and usually runs up this hill with ease however on Friday I'm down to 4th gear and its struggling to get up, the van is now down to 40mph and its starting to sound rough
I get to the top and go to change gear when the clutch is pressed all the lights come on in the dash and the engine dies I lift the clutch it comes back in to life and its knocking I get to the parking layby at the top of the crawler lane and shut it off, water is boiling over and when cranking you can hear its lacking compression

the engine is toast

any way its recovered to the garage and I ask them to remove it and remove all my parts from it

I call the engine recon company today, stating I've had a failure after just 90miles and told them of the issues, I've asked them to refund me upon collection of the failed unit
the guy proceeds to tell me that they don't do refunds and they can do a warranty repair unless I give them my old engine and the failed engine back.

I've told them that I no longer want to use their services as they are clearly unprofessional when it comes to recon engines and the guy proceeds to tell me I have no chance of getting a refund and they wont take back the failed unit to carry out an inspection and assessment of the failure unless I give them my old unit back as well

since I need my van to earn my living, I've went straight to the manufacturer and purchased a new unit complete minus starter and alternator which was surprisingly only £1150 more expensive than the recon unit I was supplied by these cowboys

surely I have consumer rights here and as I said I am about to seek legal action and the only thing I can think of is small claims court

based on what I have stated above do you think there is grounds for a claim ?

[guitarcarfanatic]

Send a letter before action outlining your concerns and request full refund of engine upon collection.

Are you seeking damages as well? If so, explain why and include in the letter.

If they don't progress or engage in dialogue, head to the small claims request.

[EzyQ]

looking to return the failed unit and get a refund minus the delivery and collection fees they charged

[IJWS15]

you bought a recon engine

Your garage did work on that engine (more than fitting it)

You now want the supplier to agree that it was their fault.

You are likely to struggle to demonstrate that it was the suppliers fault and not down to your own garage.

I would have returned it as soon as the first issue was found and before it was run.

[220s plenty]

What a mess. When I toasted the motor in my previous vehicle I put the shell on Ebay and a couple of Polish guys took it away - it's still not (legally) on the road 4 months later. Did cross my mind to swap the motor but I foresaw your problem and cut my losses thankfully.

Again I would cut your losses - buy a replacement van and move on.

[InitialDave]

EzyQ said:

surely I have consumer rights here and as I said I am about to seek legal action and the only thing I can think of is small claims court

If you bought this for your business van, I think that might change the metric there?

How did you pay them? Credit card?

I'm afraid that as the poster above says, having already identified it was a bit suspect and proceeding anyway rather than returning it, plus having had the garage to further work on it, my inexpert opinion is leaning towards you may have made things a bit difficult for yourself.

Have the garage identified the root cause of the failure?

[Durzel]

IJWS15 said:

you bought a recon engine

Your garage did work on that engine (more than fitting it)

You now want the supplier to agree that it was their fault.

You are likely to struggle to demonstrate that it was the suppliers fault and not down to your own garage.

I would have returned it as soon as the first issue was found and before it was run.

+1

I'd have thought it would be difficult to prove liability in even fitting it, such is the nature of the part and the work involved (and potential for things to be missed or done improperly), but in a situation where the supplied part has been modified, I think you've got next to no chance outside of trying to get goodwill.

Even if you do as they say they're going to receive a different assemblage of components than they supplied to you in the first place.

[EzyQ]

InitialDave said:

If you bought this for your business van, I think that might change the metric there?

How did you pay them? Credit card?

I'm afraid that as the poster above says, having already identified it was a bit suspect and proceeding anyway rather than returning it, plus having had the garage to further work on it, my inexpert opinion is leaning towards you may have made things a bit difficult for yourself.

Have the garage identified the root cause of the failure?

the engine recon company in question request bank transfer as payment no pay by card option given

the work the garage had carried out was the repair to the rotten core plug pipe which was leaking water and the sump that was cracked, the engine was in and running when these issues was discovered !

the recon unit that arrived, I had to swap over all my parts as the supplied unit arrived as a block nicely painted black, the head & the sump, nothing else was on this unit

my vacuum pump housing had to be swapped with the recon one as this was different also discovered that various threads had been drilled & tapped with 9mm helicoils so mini clutch bolts had to be used to bolt on certain items on to the recon engine

[hyphen]

I think the garage working on the engine won't eliminate the court case if you have a garage/independent engineer report saying that one did not lead to the other.

So just depends on if how determined you are to get what you perceive as justice and likelihood of supplier settling.

[HustleRussell]

EzyQ said:

the engine recon company in question request bank transfer as payment no pay by card option given

For future reference, that is a big red flag which says "These people are fraudsters, steer well clear"

[TooMany2cvs]

IJWS15 said:

you bought a recon engine

Your garage did work on that engine (more than fitting it)

You now want the supplier to agree that it was their fault.

You are likely to struggle to demonstrate that it was the suppliers fault and not down to your own garage.

I would have returned it as soon as the first issue was found and before it was run.

Don't forget that he notified the supplier of problems noticed before fitting, then refused to cooperate with their suggested solution...

Also - shedloads of goop in the cooling system of the old engine, yet no mention of replacing the rad or flushing through the heater matrix.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Monday 30th October 12:51

[EzyQ]

TooMany2cvs said:

Don't forget that he notified the supplier of problems noticed before fitting, then refused to cooperate with their suggested solution...

Also - shedloads of goop in the cooling system of the old engine, yet no mention of replacing the rad or flushing through the heater matrix.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Monday 30th October 12:51

the rad was removed as part of the engine installation and was subsequently flushed prior to installation

once running the cooling system was checked and circulating fine with minimal pressure build up

so on the bases of receiving what you believe to be a recon engine and finding serveral problems that the garage advise are no show stopped however the engine supplier wants both units returned ?????

I personally decided not to return my old unit to them unless I had been given a recon engine that was fit for use

[TooMany2cvs]

EzyQ said:

so on the bases of receiving what you believe to be a recon engine and finding serveral problems that the garage advise are no show stopped however the engine supplier wants both units returned ?????

I personally decided not to return my old unit to them unless I had been given a recon engine that was fit for use

I suspect that their plan is to take back the recon they supplied you, and recondition then return your original engine. Given that a part of your complaint relates to differences in specification between the two, this does not seem an unreasonable suggestion.

Did you diagnose the actual problem with your original engine?

[TheTwitcher]

Are these guys named after a well-known London airport?

[EzyQ]

TooMany2cvs said:

I suspect that their plan is to take back the recon they supplied you, and recondition then return your original engine. Given that a part of your complaint relates to differences in specification between the two, this does not seem an unreasonable suggestion.

Did you diagnose the actual problem with your original engine?

I agree however I needed my van on the road ASAP as I was losing revenue by not working, so had my reservations about releasing my old engine to them and then having to remove the recon unit again and not knowing when and what engine I would be receiving

my original engine was ok apart from water pressure which would cause the cap to lift and force the water out as long as I was prepared to top up the water about 3 times a day I could continue to use this engine, so the diagnosis was blocked water galleries due to sealant being deployed by previous owner

[EzyQ]

TheTwitcher said:

Are these guys named after a well-known London airport?

no

[InitialDave]

I get the impression that their "reconditioning" process is "jet wash it and paint it black, charge a grand, run away".

[EzyQ]

InitialDave said:

I get the impression that their "reconditioning" process is "jet wash it and paint it black, charge a grand, run away".

my thoughts exactly

[TooMany2cvs]

InitialDave said:

I get the impression that their "reconditioning" process is "jet wash it and paint it black, charge a grand, run away".

That's pretty much the industry standard, isn't it?

[InitialDave]

TooMany2cvs said:

That's pretty much the industry standard, isn't it?

If you're really lucky, they might run it for a bit with diesel in it to clean up the sludge, which was standard practice at a place someone I know worked at years ago (this does actually work, but it's hardly "reconditioning").