faulty cam belt damaged engine
Discussion
A mat in work had the cam belt, tensioners and water pump replaced in his Seat Toledo 3 weeks ago. He did a couple of hundred miles and broke down. He left the car into a different mechanic to find out what went wrong as he lost faith in the first mechanic. Mechanic number 2 advised there was nothing wrong with the way it was fitted and the timing belt itself was faulty.
The belt was a proper VW part.
He has to strip the head down to establish how much damage has been done but he's suggested the cost will be a minimum £300 but possibly £7-800.
Can my mate claim the total cost off VW or will they point at him and laugh, maybe offer to replace the faulty belt? Does he have to go back to the first mechanic and take it up with him and let him sort the bill out with VW?
The belt was a proper VW part.
He has to strip the head down to establish how much damage has been done but he's suggested the cost will be a minimum £300 but possibly £7-800.
Can my mate claim the total cost off VW or will they point at him and laugh, maybe offer to replace the faulty belt? Does he have to go back to the first mechanic and take it up with him and let him sort the bill out with VW?
Not a hope in hell of getting VW to pay. Any evidence of fitting error has now gone and as someone who sells thousands of timing belt kits and belts I can honestly say if I can remeber 5 that have failed due to a fault in the belt that is all. Usually this results in a recall.
Your mate has done everything wrong to try to claim anything
Your mate has done everything wrong to try to claim anything
POORCARDEALER said:
You need an independent mechanical engineer with lots of letters behind his name to do a report saying why the failure occurred, if he says its a faulty belt then go from there....
TBH that's going to cost a shed load of money (maybe more than the repair) and most workshops would say "who cares what your paid 'expert' says."I'd imagine that a report would cost somewhere in the region of £100 and .anyone in the car business knows that the word of an independant engineer carries a lot of weight in court,so usually settles before then if the report is in your favour.
I once had an engine go in an under warranty golf sdi.vw tried to claim it was because I had driven through puddles! but the engineer disagreed and said the fault was a dropped valve.
The engine was replaced with a brand new one at no cost to me.
I once had an engine go in an under warranty golf sdi.vw tried to claim it was because I had driven through puddles! but the engineer disagreed and said the fault was a dropped valve.
The engine was replaced with a brand new one at no cost to me.
Rich_W said:
POORCARDEALER said:
You need an independent mechanical engineer with lots of letters behind his name to do a report saying why the failure occurred, if he says its a faulty belt then go from there....
TBH that's going to cost a shed load of money (maybe more than the repair) and most workshops would say "who cares what your paid 'expert' says."POORCARDEALER said:
Rich_W said:
POORCARDEALER said:
You need an independent mechanical engineer with lots of letters behind his name to do a report saying why the failure occurred, if he says its a faulty belt then go from there....
TBH that's going to cost a shed load of money (maybe more than the repair) and most workshops would say "who cares what your paid 'expert' says."In 99.9% of cases there has been fitting error and after a belt is broken the evidence is sometimes not there. The old days of tensioning a belt with a twist of the fingers has gone. Some recomend a tool, Gates have a variety some which use the vibration of the belt against a machine that compares the harmonics.
Many mechanics do not know the correct way to fit a belt and once broken could certainly not be able to comment on if it was fitted correctly, all they could say was the pulleys were in the right place.
You will be surprised at what errors are done in fitting.
oniznorb said:
spaximus said:
as someone who sells thousands of timing belt kits and belts I can honestly say if I can remeber 5 that have failed due to a fault in the belt that is all.
Sounds like a worryingly high failure rate to me... ooo000ooo said:
So basically he's stuffed? He can ask for money off the belt manufacturer but unlikely he's going to get it.
Just had a look on our extranet for you. In your case, it would be reffered to an AR (Dealer)
Electrical Part over £50 or a Major Mechanical Major Unit
Confirmed as warranty- Electrical part over £50 or a major unit**
•Customer to return vehicle intact to appropriate Brand Authorised Repairer with the original parts purchase invoice
•Authorised Repairer carries out diagnosis on vehicles and makes the decision on warranty
•If a warranty claim then the AR replaces part under warranty and claims parts and labour via normal warranty process
•If Not Warranty- (incorrect fitting or incorrect 3rd party diagnosis) Customer must pay Authorised repairer labour costs incurred during diagnosis.
- Major Units Definition
Hope this helps.
Edited by The Riddler on Monday 9th August 13:13
Edited by The Riddler on Monday 9th August 13:14
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