Advice on problem caused by garage.

[tonywilliams]

Hi guys,

I could do with some advice ASAP on the problem and more importantly what I should do about it.

My Cerb went for it's MOT yesterday morning, I had walked away from the MOT garage to the garage opposite which my friend owns, I got back to the MOT garage just in time to see my Cerb overheating. When I got back I had to shout for them to switch my Cerb's engine off as they hadn't noticed all the steam.

They admit the cooling fans were working when I deliveered the car to them (we had heard them running at the begining of the MOT) but while on MOT the temprature swith failed and the cooling fans failed to come on allowing the car to overheat. The guy in the drivers seat hadn't noticed the temprature gauge go up.

At the time of the overheating the car was being held at about 5000 RPM, something to do with trying to get it to pass on emmissions.

After a chat with Dan at Taylor TVR he told me to unplug the switch and the fans would run, so we did this. Once the car had cooled down it gave trouble to start but started with a bit of black smoke and ran a bit rough so I drove it 3 miles home. This morning the car wouldn't start so the AA were called, we got it started but there seems to be more water then usual coming out the exhaust and the coolant level has dropped so the AA guy and myself suspect the head gasket has been damaged.

What are your thoughts on this?

[spongy]

If i know garages you will have a battle on your hands.lets hope you have a good garage there,kinda been here myself and the garage simply denied my claims even though i know all my cars inside out......what can you do.I think the garage will say its down to the car,not the mot inspector.Hope this has a good outcome sir i know how you feel

[ridds]

Unfortunately it's up to you to make sure the car is in good order before being presented for the MoT test. Lots of people with old cam belts suffered problems when thier diesel was thrashed for the smoke test and the belt let go.

Shame they didn't notice the steam and yes it sounds like a HG failure. Engines get very hot very quick when being reved, to 5k, even with working fans.

[Allandwf]

Mine did this once, when in for an MOT. Was, thankfully in my case, just the little pipe at the Y piece at the back of the expansion bottle that had split. They , at least, had an air line blowing through the radiator at the time.

[Gazzab]

Are you asking for liability advice or technical input?
It does sound like HG failure. So this I am afraid could get pricey to fix. I wouldn't start it until properly investigated.
Engine out and HG x 2 could be a £3k bill and could get higher depending on clutch, water pipes, chassis rails etc.
I imagine the heads will need a skim. I suspect you will find the HGs are likely to be in a very rotten state anyway. So if you combine the likely state of HGs, the failure of your switch and the need to rev it for not then you will have a battle. But saying that you did leave it in their care and they didn't monitor the car properly whilst in their care.
MOT garages are not awash with cash though....
Optimax sniffer had his HGs done recently for a bargain price, look for his thread..?

[neiljohnson]

No need to rev a car to 5000rpm during an mot test the emissions is done at 2.5k-3.5k whatever idiot was in the drivers seat doing this & not watching the temp gauge is responsible.

Unfortunatly i doubt you will get anywhere with the garage so this is gonna cost you

[pulsarboby]

hi tony
im the guy with the pulsar gtir's and cerb, up the road from you (not been on the site for a while)
i just spoke to joe this morning at airport garage and he told me what had happened to your cerb!
gutted for you fella.
if you want any help or want me to stick a chemical test on it to make sure its deffo the hg then il help you out, not looking for paying just good to help a fellow owner out if i can, you can get my number off joe if you want it or nip down to my unit on temple farm ind estate

who mot'd it?
very difficult to prove whether it was the garage at fault or not unless you have proof that they were holding it at 5k rpm which as said is totally unnecessary for an emissions test

still that aside 4.5k to replace the head gaskets seems a crazy price to me....even with pulling the lump out and getting heads skimmed/checked that seems like an immense amount to pay!

Edited by pulsarboby on Wednesday 15th February 16:51

[justyr]

Tony, sorry to hear about these problems. My understanding is that MOT-ers deliberately heat the cats via high engine rpm in order to induce the required chemical/element reaction, in turn to force the emissions under the limit.
My fix for this is to not use any garage that performs this practice. In other words, 'TVR friendly'. IMO this is a futile practice because after another 20 miles of normal rumblage the cat will be sooted up again anyway.
I know this doesn't help your situation at all, sorry about that. Folks might want to scope out which garages are 'understanding' in their areas. I use one in NE England.
JR

[neiljohnson]

I have no issues getting tvr's or any other performance car through the test (im quite popular with the hsv & monaro forum as they can also have trouble with emissions) all I do is advise the owner to take the car for a "spirited" drive just before bringing the car to me & I do the emissions test first this will heat the cats up far better than just revving the bollacks out of it & is much better for the engine as better cooling when driving, it also protects me as if it pops while the customer is driving it's not my fault while sometimes st happens I'd much rather the customers pride & joy is not under my care when it occurs.