Rogue washer.

Author
Discussion

Ralphypants

Original Poster:

13 posts

69 months

Friday 24th July 2020
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Ok, bottom line. My mechanic removed and replaced the carbs to check and clean, no washers missing, absolutely no doubt about that 100%. Car still ran poorly on idle. If a washer had been in the manifold the engine would have gone bang within seconds, as Gaza says. It’s impossible to drive for 43 minutes with revs up to 4000 without causing damage if there had been a washer in the cylinder. Everyone I’ve asked totally agrees. However the new mechanic also drove when I delivered it to him and said it just needs adjustment. He then removed and replaced the carbs, jetting and so on, fires it up and blows the engine. He is blaming me for the dropped washer in the manifold . Basically, he’s trying to blag his way out of it so he doesn’t loose hundreds of pounds. Hopefully this is clearer now. He is in no doubt, responsible for this.

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

242 months

Friday 24th July 2020
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It really is silly season at the moment, why didn't you just tell the full tale in your first post?

stevieturbo

17,229 posts

246 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
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Evoluzione said:
It really is silly season at the moment, why didn't you just tell the full tale in your first post?
Everyone always drip feeds vague information for some reason.

I wouldnt say the long time before damage is impossible...but it is extremely extremely unlikely.

And I guess they never got to the bottom of the poor running at the very start ? Were there air filters on it ?

Clearly nobody did a compression test early on ? Which would have been helpful given the scenario.

Ralphypants

Original Poster:

13 posts

69 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
quotequote all
Sorry if some thought I was being vague, i was looking for confirmation of something I already knew. I just gave a scenario that I wanted people here to draw their own conclusion to. All I really wanted to hear was a simple.........
1. “ the engine would be destroyed, you wouldn’t drive a100 meters without knowing it”. Or.
2. “ yeah you could have driven for 50 minutes or so with several stop and starts before it blew”
1 being the case and 2 being Euro lottery odds.
If the mechanic doesn’t confess to his obvious mistake and cover repair costs I will be taking the him to court.

stevieturbo

17,229 posts

246 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
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So where has the washer actually come from ?

Dont like rolls

3,798 posts

53 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
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"However the new mechanic also drove when I delivered it to him"

How did you deliver it ?

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
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You won’t get any sense out the OP.

I support the garage.

stevieturbo

17,229 posts

246 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
quotequote all
Ralphypants said:
Sorry if some thought I was being vague, i was looking for confirmation of something I already knew. I just gave a scenario that I wanted people here to draw their own conclusion to. All I really wanted to hear was a simple.........
1. “ the engine would be destroyed, you wouldn’t drive a100 meters without knowing it”. Or.
2. “ yeah you could have driven for 50 minutes or so with several stop and starts before it blew”
1 being the case and 2 being Euro lottery odds.
If the mechanic doesn’t confess to his obvious mistake and cover repair costs I will be taking the him to court.
If the inlet valves were big enough, and enough lift, the washer could pass into the cylinder very very easily.

If the valves are smaller, with less lift....there is the chance it could take longer.

Of course during that time it may also exhibit running problems if a valve was to be held open.

But as there are no details of how it was running, it seems nobody did any diagnosing of a problem, no compression test...etc etc. Either that or the info isnt forthcoming.

But first and foremost I'd want to know where the washer came from, and what is now in it's place ?

As for court...good luck with that without spending a lot of money on various engineers reports.
Not helped by you also having done work on the vehicle, so it will be easy for them to counter blame you. It will be a battle.

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
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stevieturbo said:
As for court...good luck with that without spending a lot of money on various engineers reports.
Not helped by you also having done work on the vehicle, so it will be easy for them to counter blame you. It will be a battle.
This

Possibly spending something in the region of 10 big ones to win one or 2 big ones isn't the way forward

It's a 1/10 shot, too big an odds on shot

Gary C

12,313 posts

178 months

Saturday 25th July 2020
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CoolHands said:
You won’t get any sense out the OP.

.
Why ?

Seems simple,

OP has car problem, mech 1 removes and refits carb, car is run extensively. mech 2 removes and refits carb, shortly after blows up.

Mech 2 blames OP and claims washer has been in intake for at least 40 miles, mech 1 & OP thinks mech 2 has dropped a washer and blown engine.

OP has little chance of proving it.

Is that an accurate summary.