355 in 4 service in perfect condition, now has cracked head!
Discussion
My 355 went in to have the clutch replaced 4 weeks ago and whilst in i thought i'd get serviced, have the wheels refurbed and a stone chip bumper re-spray. I was given prices and told it would be two weeks. After a week and a half i contacted the garage to discover they'd not even started any of the works and it would now be a further week. After much more fing about i was eventually told i could collect the car yesterday (thursday 23rd march). at the last minute i was told there was a problem, that a technician had taken the car for a final test drive and that steam started pouring out of the left cylinder bank but thy didn't know why. This morning, before they actually looked at it, they called to tell me that they've just 'remembered' that when they serviced the car, it had no anti-freeze in it and that the water has probably frozen and cracked the head!!!! How cold would it have had to be for that to happen? I suspect a lot colder than it has been in the south-east lately, especially as the car has supposedly been kept in their workshop the entire time! Any thoughts???
They should provide you with a suitable replacement car whilst they repair the damage FOC, I'd also be pushing for the previous work to be gratis as well, never heard of a specialist putting just water into a Ferrari engine, we mix the antifreeze and any water up before pouring it into the cooling system
>> Edited by AndrewW-G on Friday 24th March 13:37
>> Edited by AndrewW-G on Friday 24th March 13:37
turbobungle said:
They say it now has anti-freeze in it since they serviced it a couple of weeks ago but that Verdi's who serviced it 2500 miles ago must have put plain water in! Doesn't sound very beleivable to me!
If that was the case, surely the problem would have surfaced before now?
This sounds pretty serious.
I would get the garage in question to agree that they are going to put right your car free of charge, and get it in writing. If they are not willing to go this, I would tell Verdi's what has been accused of them for their comment, and tell the garage that Verdi's are going to come and inspect the car in situ, before they lay another finger on it.
I would get the garage in question to agree that they are going to put right your car free of charge, and get it in writing. If they are not willing to go this, I would tell Verdi's what has been accused of them for their comment, and tell the garage that Verdi's are going to come and inspect the car in situ, before they lay another finger on it.
Well, I wrote a letter to Roger of 
saying that i wasn't happy with his explanation and that i wanted my car back in the same condition as when it went in. He contacted me saying he held no responsibility. I siad that if indeed there was only water in the system with no anti-freeze as he claimed, that he should have contacted me two weeks earlier when he serviced it, not suddenlt remember once the head was cracked two weeks later! I then reminded him that since he serviced it and i assume, put anti-freeze in it, he had test driven it with no problems, then taken it to the paint shop for the bumper re-spray with no problems so the head must have been damaged after he serviced it. He then claimed that it could have frozen months earlier and weakened it and that the damage had only just come to light. He then said i could get someone else to look at it but if i did, he would have nothing more to do with the car and i'd have to pay full price for the repair (£10-12,000) instead of his cost price offer! I then spoke to Lancaster's who said that the weather had not been cold enough for this to happen and had it been cold enough, there is a core plug which would've been pushed out before damaging the engine and if that hadn't worked any damage caused would have been noticed on the drive following the freeze! Anyone else had a cracked head on a 355? Please help, my dream is turning into a nightmare after only 600 miles of fun!
saying that i wasn't happy with his explanation and that i wanted my car back in the same condition as when it went in. He contacted me saying he held no responsibility. I siad that if indeed there was only water in the system with no anti-freeze as he claimed, that he should have contacted me two weeks earlier when he serviced it, not suddenlt remember once the head was cracked two weeks later! I then reminded him that since he serviced it and i assume, put anti-freeze in it, he had test driven it with no problems, then taken it to the paint shop for the bumper re-spray with no problems so the head must have been damaged after he serviced it. He then claimed that it could have frozen months earlier and weakened it and that the damage had only just come to light. He then said i could get someone else to look at it but if i did, he would have nothing more to do with the car and i'd have to pay full price for the repair (£10-12,000) instead of his cost price offer! I then spoke to Lancaster's who said that the weather had not been cold enough for this to happen and had it been cold enough, there is a core plug which would've been pushed out before damaging the engine and if that hadn't worked any damage caused would have been noticed on the drive following the freeze! Anyone else had a cracked head on a 355? Please help, my dream is turning into a nightmare after only 600 miles of fun!Alloy heads are really malable (hit a scrap one with a hammer and you'll see what I mean 
), so yes normaly they wont crack but they will distort (warped head's). For steam to come out of the head on a test drive would mean that it is actually cracked, with the crack being between the waterways inside the head and the outside.
Whilst its going to be an expensive repair not matter who you get to do it, Personaly I'd have the car taken to Verdi's and let a solicitor sort it out with The offending dealer.
>> Edited by AndrewW-G on Monday 27th March 12:52
), so yes normaly they wont crack but they will distort (warped head's). For steam to come out of the head on a test drive would mean that it is actually cracked, with the crack being between the waterways inside the head and the outside. Whilst its going to be an expensive repair not matter who you get to do it, Personaly I'd have the car taken to Verdi's and let a solicitor sort it out with The offending dealer.
>> Edited by AndrewW-G on Monday 27th March 12:52
turbobungle said:
They said the crack is in the exhaust port of cylinder no.6, would that stack up?
Yes depending on what caused the damage in the first place, but I'm not convinced at the "frozen" theory, it would be interesting to know where the steam was actualy coming out of for them to notice?
They said their technician was on his final test drive and two miles into it, steam was pouring out of the engine cover and he saw it in the rear view mirror so he turned around and went back to the workshop. They said it was running fine with all temperatures ok but steam was pouring from the left bank!
One thing to think about is if you have only had the car for 600 miles, is there a possibility that the damage may have been done before you bought it, and/or it had been bodged over to get the car sold?
The other point is if you bought it from a dealer, I would have though the car would be under warranty.
Because of the costs involved, I would certainly be speaking to a solicitor. It is obvious that the garage have seen this as a possibility, otherwise, if they are 100% certain they are not to blame and 100% certain someone else is, why would they be looking to fill their garage and manhours to do work at 'cost price'!?
There is all kinds of reasons why it could have just happened at the garage. We have all heard stories of 'garage X' who did an oil change, and forgot to actually replace the oil thus killing an engine in seconds. God knows that if something similar happened with the coolant the engineer and/or the garage would possibly be trying to 'cover up' a £10k bill for the damage caused.
To me, something sounds very fishy that the garage is advocating that the damage happened some week ago, but the car worked perfectly until they had the fluids etc in and out and had a test drive...
The other point is if you bought it from a dealer, I would have though the car would be under warranty.
Because of the costs involved, I would certainly be speaking to a solicitor. It is obvious that the garage have seen this as a possibility, otherwise, if they are 100% certain they are not to blame and 100% certain someone else is, why would they be looking to fill their garage and manhours to do work at 'cost price'!?
There is all kinds of reasons why it could have just happened at the garage. We have all heard stories of 'garage X' who did an oil change, and forgot to actually replace the oil thus killing an engine in seconds. God knows that if something similar happened with the coolant the engineer and/or the garage would possibly be trying to 'cover up' a £10k bill for the damage caused.
To me, something sounds very fishy that the garage is advocating that the damage happened some week ago, but the car worked perfectly until they had the fluids etc in and out and had a test drive...
Getting solicitors involved is never a wise solution- it just gets all parties involved in a lenghty process and ultimately you will have no fixed car and even less money with which to fix it.
Im not standing up for any dealer here but have a good reputation- it could just be one of those things. You have only had the car for 600 miles and who knows what lurks from a previous owner. It would seem the responsibility lies with the dealer who sold the car and some warranty?? you have to be very financially aware if you bought the car without one, and, regretable though it is ,the bill could be a LOT worse. Collapsed tensioner ectect. F1 gearbox problems ectect!
Actually from your point of view I dont think its very good posting your grievances on here at such an early stage, far better to meet the guy face to face and see what can be done to resolve it in an amicable way- its going to cost, but whatever you do it will cost now; as to what were the true facts you will probably never know.
Im not standing up for any dealer here but
have a good reputation- it could just be one of those things. You have only had the car for 600 miles and who knows what lurks from a previous owner. It would seem the responsibility lies with the dealer who sold the car and some warranty?? you have to be very financially aware if you bought the car without one, and, regretable though it is ,the bill could be a LOT worse. Collapsed tensioner ectect. F1 gearbox problems ectect! Actually from your point of view I dont think its very good posting your grievances on here at such an early stage, far better to meet the guy face to face and see what can be done to resolve it in an amicable way- its going to cost, but whatever you do it will cost now; as to what were the true facts you will probably never know.
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