jayne

[rabbitsenior]

I have a ford puma 1.7 R reg.65000 miles.The cam belt went had a new head gasket and valves fitted with a garage and have had nothing but problems since. It was leaking oil and had a noise coming from the engine,thay said it was a variable timing hub and replaced it.The revs on the engine started going up and down and the engine started shaking so I called the rac and the cat was taken back to the garage.1wk later the car was dropped off at my home and the garage refused to fix it.The timing belt the roker cover and some other bitswhere in the boot.After 1 1/5yrs with a solicitor i got fed up and went to another garage and had it done all over again £1100 so total of £2400 spent now.the engine kept cutting out revs kept going up and down sensor lights are on and an oil leak and noise still there took it back again.He said timing hub again.replaced it.picked the car up yesterday £400 later. after 30 miles same noise comes back.The noise is like when you put a lolly stick in your bike when you where a kid.Can someone plesae come up with anything I am desperate and skint

[buggalugs]

Difficult one, I'd say get the garage to sort it, maybe speak to your local trading standards and get advice from them. They might speak to the garage on your behalf.

The other point I'd make is that I think you'd get a full second hand engine supplied and fitted cheaper that what its been costing to keep throwing money at this one.

HTH

[rabbitsenior]

I know it would be cheaper but when the cam first went i was advised from the garage to do the work so i did.All I know about cars is that it has a steering whell and a couple of pedals!!! Tried the trading standards one they are pretty useless.I am sick of being ripped off to be honest I just want the car fixed and you go so far with something it would just like some one to be honest and just fix the damd thing.I hsve just come back from the garage and he said it is the timing tightening thing and something to do with a spring there and is going to replace this in the morning........it just goes on and on and on and on .............

[Pumaracing]

I'm afraid the average garage mechanic is woefully incompetent to do something as complex as rebuild an engine properly. Heck there are plenty of professional engine builders who don't really know what they're doing half the time. The Puma engine is also notoriously difficult to rebuild.

There isn't really much point in anyone here trying to guess what might be wrong. Your options are to find someone who really knows his stuff to rebuild it yet again or the county court for what's been done wrong to date. However it sounds like not just the engine but possibly a range of external sensors are either faulty or not fitted properly and it could be a right nightmare to work through it all. Easiest option might be to cut your losses and get rid.

[rabbitsenior]

you could be right about that as the water and door lights are on all the time the garage said it was nothing to worry about.I have wanted to get rid of the car but thought i would get it fixed first meanwhile back at the ranch...Its that olf fave if I knew then what I know now.I just think there should be something done about what these garages get way with its just not fair.I have my own business ( a restaurant) I could not sleep at night if I treated my customers in such a way it amazes me how they keep in business.O also the car keeps cutting out when you come down in the gears.

[buggalugs]

It could be in a right mess by now having been stripped down and put back so many times by so many people who it sounds like don't know what they're doing

You could ask on the pumapeople forums, they're a kind of owners club for them and they might be able to recommend someone nearby who knows what they're doing. If you can make it to a meet with it you might get lucky and someone experienced might be able to offer an opinion. I'm told they're not all just alcantara freaks

[fatjon]

Cut your losses. It's a £500.00 car, it's not worth the money or the stress.

[Pumaracing]

I admit I hadn't immediately spotted how old the car was. R reg, maybe 1998, worth well under a grand. I see it was a while back when this work first started so it would have been worth more then but there's still little point in throwing more good money after bad.

You might at least consider trying to get the last £400 back via a county court small claim seeing as this work also didn't achieve anything.

I had a mate with a Passat with a VR6 engine fitted which went to a very well known VW specialist for a gearbox job and they trapped the wiring loom between the engine and box when they fitted it back together. They also left the wheel nuts loose which almost caused a nasty crash on the motorway on the way home but that's an aside. It never ran properly again after the broken wires were supposedly fixed and sometimes you get into situations where damage has caused knock on effects on other components and it becomes almost impossible to put things right without starting from scratch which is never cost effective.

Write it off to experience. It's cost you a few hundred a year extra over the last few years to run it which you'd have paid in depreciation on a newer car anyway. I doubt that helps much though.

Oh, and never go to solicitors for amounts you can deal with via a small claim. They are a bigger waste of space than garage mechanics.