Another garage damaged car?

[randomman]

The wife's car has been in for a new catalytic converter under insurance after some scum decided they wanted it.

Had to use an "approved" garage rather than our normal one due to small print, you pays your money I guess.

They have contacted today to advise that they have replaced the cat and a sensor (?lambda, they didn't say but that's my guess) but now it's showing a fault code from the MAF, they've already said it couldn't have been anything they've done, if we want them to fix it they need to get authorisation from the insurance and this will take at least three days.

I assume Toyota error codes are time stamped so they know full well it happened whilst it was in their care. For the sake of a £30 MAF do we just take the car back and get our normal garage to look?

If we take it back with the EML on and it turns out to be something much more sinister have we fudged our chance to get the garage to do their job properly?

We have a young child, two full time professionals and really need this car back ASAP, which is going to influence our decision I guess.

Final thought is cat thieves are scum and should be melted, like Arnie at the end of T2 (spoiler alert)

[mike-v2tmf]

Faulty lambda sensor reading can cause cel light to throw up a faulty maf code

[geeks]

Have they cleared the code and tested it?

[stevemcs]

Clear the code, roadtest it for 10 miles and allow it to adapt to the new cat, also check to make sure no wiring has been damaged, then rescan check for codes and release to customer.

[randomman]

Thread bump.

We took the car from the garage to a trusted garage (that's trusted by us, not the insurance company, who I won't name bu think yellow/blue and you won't be far off) who confirmed it was the MAF and duely replace the MAF with a genuine Toyota part. Unfortunately it's still showing.

So in essence:

Car running fine
Cat stolen
Insurer's garage "fix" the car
New EML fault that won't go away and could be the start of lots of money

The insurance have said they won't fix anything not related to the Cat and they trust their garage. Google does not however, dozens of 1 star reviews with a good few 5 star copy-paste style reviews to pull them up to a 3* average.

Going to raise it with an internal complaint first whilst we work out what to do next but I'm guessing the insurance are going to want to help us as little as possible so do people have any other suggestions?

[geeks]

Has anyone cleared the code yet?

[InitialDave]

What's the fault code?

Did the thieves damage the wiring when removing the cat (e.g. tugging the cat free and creating a break further up the loom)?

[randomman]

Tried clearing the code, no luck, EML comes back on.

I did consider additional damage (would be handy really as this would be part of the original claim) but it does seem rather unlikely.

[geeks]

Either someone has incorrectly identified the MAF as the fault or there is a fault elsewhere, given this issue wasn't there pre cat theft it is very possible the damage was caused by the theft. The actual fault code might help, but in reality someone needs to get underneath with an inspection lamp and start going over everything, how was the cat removed?

ETA - You said they replaced a sensor that you assumed was one of the lambda sensors? Have you had this confirmed? Wouldn't be the first aftermarket lambda that was a bit st. If the garage has diagnostic stuff they should be able to pull the sensor on the car and see what changes the ecu makes (it should fail back to a default value) etc

Edited by geeks on Thursday 12th March 13:18

[randomman]

Cheers for the response.

All I have to hand is that it was a fault with the MAF, which has now been replaced, was worth a punt for £80 if I never have to speak with A**** again.

All Toyota parts, checked and confirmed by our trusted garage.

The insurance don't seem to be accepting that it could have been collateral damage, and if they put their fingers in their ears and just say la la la until we go away it'll save them money.

The phone grunt has given us his opinion that the two can't be connected, which was nice of him. I wanted to assure him that they are very much connect by virtue of being attached to the same fking car.

Edit: Lambda was replaced

[geeks]

The insurance aren't in the business of accepting things like this without proof of some description. Your "trusted" garage need to be looking at more than swapping out parts until they fix it, it needs proper diagnosis, not just diagnostics!

[budgie smuggler]

Get a bluetooth code reader, plug it in the OBD port and install the Torque app on your phone. At least you'll know what code it is then. Somebody might be able to pin the problem down for you.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/obdator-Bluetooth-Scanner...

[randomman]

geeks said:

The insurance aren't in the business of accepting things like this without proof of some description. Your "trusted" garage need to be looking at more than swapping out parts until they fix it, it needs proper diagnosis, not just diagnostics!

My garage only did it because I asked them to swap out the MAF, I thought it was worth a punt as dealing with A**** has been like pulling teeth, whilst on fire. They seem to think threatening to take weeks to get anything done is the best way to make us disappear.

Yes I need a diagnosis for the car, the garage paid by our insurance to do this has not. I have no contract with the garage, I do with my insurance and, as you've rightly said, some may take any tactic possible to avoid a payout.

I am not pulling a "my garage said this" I just want this sorted, ideally as part of the excess I've already paid, I would have probably changed the MAF myself (my old fiat ate them for breakfast; I'm no stranger to them!) But work has kept me pretty busy.

Edited by randomman on Thursday 12th March 15:19

[BertBert]

If you can't make progress with the ins co, you'll just have to commission your garage to find the fault. Only then will you know whether it might have been connected to the theft. If it is then you might have a chance to persuade the ins co to pay.
Bert

[geeks]

BertBert said:

If you can't make progress with the ins co, you'll just have to commission your garage to find the fault. Only then will you know whether it might have been connected to the theft. If it is then you might have a chance to persuade the ins co to pay.
Bert

^this is what I was getting at. You are going to have to take responsibility for getting this diagnosed and sorted and go back to the insurance company