Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action

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Fri 24 Mar 2017 11:20
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - cascas

I have a car that suddenly decided not to start. I contacted my local mechanic, who came and towed the car back to his workshop (around 0.5mile away).

He was unable initially unable to identify the problem and recommended that the head be taken off to get a diagnosis. This was agreed to.

He then informed me that there was a problem with the head that was causing the issue and wanted to sent it to someone else for reconditioning and quoted a price of £500 to get the car working again.

Despite chasing, time passed on and nearly 4 months later he gives me a date for getting the car back. A couple of days after this date, he calls and says that he has put it all back together, and that it still does not start, and suggests not to spend any more on it.

He is still looking for payment despite his diagnosis being wrong, and any work being done failing to resolve the issue.

Where should we go from here?

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Fri 24 Mar 2017 11:46
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - Gibbo_Wirral

Tricky one. I'd be interested to know his reasoning to going straight to a head removal. Were any advanced diagnostics done first?

On the one hand, its not unreasonable to be expected to be paid for work done, but if he's been incompetent and come to the wrong conclusion and spent time and money pursuing that route and come to a dead end, you shouldn't be liable.

I've helped people out in a similar situation before where a garage has said that the high pressure pump needed replacing. They replaced it, problem was still there, but shrugged their shoulders and asked the customer to pay for the pump and work and that they couldn't do more.

My diagnostics showed that the problem was the lift pump in the tank. Once that was replaced the car sprung into life. The customer then used my report as defence against paying.

So, I'd get a second opinion, then use this against the original mechanic if his guesswork was way off. No small claims court will award in his favour for incompetence.

Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 24/03/2017 at 11:47

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Fri 24 Mar 2017 12:20
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - JEREMYH

He was way off

The customer took the car to the garage to repair the fault the fault has not been repaired

No court would award in his favor

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Fri 24 Mar 2017 20:56
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - John F

I have a car that suddenly decided not to start. I contacted my local mechanic.......He was unable initially unable to identify the problem and recommended that the head be taken off to get a diagnosis. This was agreed to.

This sounds odd. Nowadays, a diagnosis should be obtainable without such drastic intervention. If the engine was working OK just before it was last switched off it suggests an electrical rather than a mechanical fault. Much more info needed.

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Sat 25 Mar 2017 00:05
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - cascas

This sounds odd. Nowadays, a diagnosis should be obtainable without such drastic intervention. If the engine was working OK just before it was last switched off it suggests an electrical rather than a mechanical fault. Much more info needed.

I did read the error codes myself (coil pack codes- P0351 etc) and my own feeling was that it was likely to be ECU related - i.e as it was a sudden failure rather than any thing happening over a period of time, but then I am by no means a mechanic and before therefore rather than starting pulling bits of the car, refered for professional help from a mechanic.

The mechanic, said that he had recently spent a significant sum on diagnostic equipment, and after having the car a while dismissed the idea of an ECU issue, saying that he would need to get the head off to find out more. After he removed this, he stated that the problem was caused by the valve, and he quoted a price to repair the car.

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Sat 25 Mar 2017 07:43
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - John F

The 'valve' ??? In the modern day hen's teeth likelihood of valve failure I would have thought the engine would still have started lumpily. It would be interesting to know the precise diagnosis.

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Sat 25 Mar 2017 07:57
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - elekie&a/c doctor

More info would be useful.Car make,model ,year,engine size ,mileage.A catastrophic failure of say,the timing belt or chain could possibly require removal of the head for investigation.

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Sat 25 Mar 2017 09:05
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - RaineMan

This sounds odd. Nowadays, a diagnosis should be obtainable without such drastic intervention. If the engine was working OK just before it was last switched off it suggests an electrical rather than a mechanical fault. Much more info needed.

I did read the error codes myself (coil pack codes- P0351 etc) and my own feeling was that it was likely to be ECU related - i.e as it was a sudden failure rather than any thing happening over a period of time, but then I am by no means a mechanic and before therefore rather than starting pulling bits of the car, refered for professional help from a mechanic.

The mechanic, said that he had recently spent a significant sum on diagnostic equipment, and after having the car a while dismissed the idea of an ECU issue, saying that he would need to get the head off to find out more. After he removed this, he stated that the problem was caused by the valve, and he quoted a price to repair the car.

Some years ago a garage that makes claims about its state of the art diagnostic equipment?told me I needed a new ECU as it was unreadable. I was not convinced and went elsewhere to find that with the official Vauxhall kit there was no issues and cleared the codes (a sensor having been changed). His view was that their state of the art was evilBay software on an old laptop. If it wasn't cambelt failure did the guy do a compression test?

Edited by RaineMan on 25/03/2017 at 09:06

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Sat 25 Mar 2017 17:04
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - gordonbennet

Similarly i had a 2.0 litre Sierra Ghia which suffered from hesitancy when feathering the throttle.

Mechanic who i shouldn't have gone anywhere near claimed the computer had no memory so new ecu required, sounded like a load of cobblers to me so ignored that, i had a short stay in hospital a week or so later and just happened to be in the next bed to a foreman mechanic from the Ford garage, i mentioned the problem to him, he diagnosed (from his hopital bed) the throttle valve rheostat, sure enough swapped that and the car ran perfectly.

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Sat 25 Mar 2017 20:48
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - corax

i had a short stay in hospital a week or so later and just happened to be in the next bed to a foreman mechanic from the Ford garage, i mentioned the problem to him, he diagnosed (from his hopital bed) the throttle valve rheostat, sure enough swapped that and the car ran perfectly.

You couldn't make this up. Must have made your stay in hospital much more bearable.

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Mon 27 Mar 2017 14:03
Mechanic failed/unable to repair car? Next Action - Gibbo_Wirral

The mechanic, said that he had recently spent a significant sum on diagnostic equipment, and after having the car a while dismissed the idea of an ECU issue, saying that he would need to get the head off to find out more. After he removed this, he stated that the problem was caused by the valve, and he quoted a price to repair the car.

He sounds totally out of his depth. Spending "significant" money on diagnostic equipment is only good if you know how to use it.

Probably one to stay away from in future, unless its the most basic of mechanical work needed.

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