11k merc with poss 10K repair bill

[MBDA]

Hello all just subscribed to the forum this morning trying to find out any rights i may have with a faulty car i bought.

well here goes with the story,

i bought a Merc-benz c200 53 reg for 11.5K with 34K on the clock from an independant dealer. Last week i had it into merc-benz for its annual service and ever since then i've had major problems with starting the car so i decided to take it back in for them to look over it. On the way down the M1! the car started to cut out so i limped into merc absolutely gutted.

Basically the cars now in bits and they dont know whats wrong with it but deny that it has anything to do with their service. Now they are telling me it will cost anything from 2K to 10K to repair because it may need a new engine and they will put £192 towards as good will??????

i'm a little in a daze at the moment and dont really know what to do.

Do i have a leg to stand on at all or do i have to except its for the scrap heap?

[Bookworm]

Too little information to say. Unless you know what exactly is wrong with the engine, no-one can advise.

For example, and it is just that, an example, say that you forgot to top up the oil and the engine seized = your fault, you have no comeback. OTOH, if the car had just been serviced and when they did the oil change, they forgot the oil, car seizes within miles of you leaving the garage = their fault.

It could be the car is just slowly dying the death, as some cars do. It could be that your driving has accelerated the process. Or someone sabotaged the car. Or God hates you.

Do you see what I mean? You need to ascertain what is the problem first, otherwise you're just fumbling in the dark.

[MBDA]

mmmm, i've more or less accepted that i'm pretty screwed, they did tell me that the timing chain had jumped and this may have caused all sorts of problems mounting to the thousands that they are quoting. But they cant be sure exactly what has gone wrong so it will be a trial and error scheme each trial around 2k. What they did state is that they went nowhere near the the area that has failed so it could'nt possibly be of their doing.

it's just too much of a coincidence that this problem occured the day after the service when i've had fault free driving for nearly 6 months, it makes me wonder if it was something they missed would they own up to it?

But like you said im just fumbling in the dark - cheers anyway

[Bookworm]

No, they probably wouldn't. Then again, it could be sod's law. Odds are you'll never know for sure, unless you throw more and more money to find out (from a different garage, obviously!) and even then, if you wanted to recoup your losses, you'd have to convince the judge that it was 100% the garage's fault, and as you say, if it was something they missed as opposed to something they messed up, well, you'd have to prove that they should have spotted the problem, and we all know that with cars, unless it's a wear and tear problem, things can and do happen suddenly.

Sorry I can't be more positive on this one.

[MBDA]

i guess thats it then - thanks anyway - think i'll buy a push bike

[jampot]

When exactly did you buy it? If its within 6 months of now, then consider a claim with the garage who sold it to you, on the basis that your rights under the SOGA still exist for 2nd hand cars. It should be of merchantable quality, and be 'durable'. For the purposes of ascertaining what the fault is, within 6 months of purchase, it would be up to the GARAGE to prove that the fault developed after you drove it away, and was not inherent when purchased. After 6 months, the onus is on you to prove the fault existed.

This burden of proof could be very useful in determining exactly what the problem is - since if the garage disputes your claim, they would have to get the engine inspected to show the real cause - so it could end up costing you less to put back together again, even if they aren't found to be responsible.

If outside the 6 months, I would still get an independent report as to what caused the problem. Granted the car is outside of its MB factory warranty, but at that sort of mileage, you shouldn't be expecting anything major to go bang unless someone has been negligent with servicing etc.

For the cost of replacement, versus the possible cost to determine blame, I wouldn't be dropping this if I were in your shoes.

[Alex_DeLarge]

Originally Posted by MBDA

mmmm, i've more or less accepted that i'm pretty screwed, they did tell me that the timing chain had jumped and this may have caused all sorts of problems mounting to the thousands that they are quoting. But they cant be sure exactly what has gone wrong so it will be a trial and error scheme each trial around 2k. What they did state is that they went nowhere near the the area that has failed so it could'nt possibly be of their doing.

They can't be sure what has gone wrong but they did not go near the area that has failed??? If they dont know what has gone wrong how do they know they did not go near it, I find it hard to believe a timing chain has jumped as this is pretty much impossible, maybe a belt but not a chain, the fact the car still runs is a good sign.

They are talking out of their backsides I am afraid. You need to get the car looked at by a specialist and not a main dealer. Any decent mechanic would be able to diagnose a problem with an engine without having to trial and error.

To sum it up they are lying to you, get it to an independant specialist, good luck.

[Hammy1962]

Despite what Alex says, timing chaims do jump, just look at the Ford Transit...............

Anyway, my advice would be. Are you a member of the AA or RAC, if so they can provide an independant report.

Hammy

[LancerQRL]

hammy is correct- just seen one on a tranny - very messy

[Nickolarge]

Originally Posted by Hammy1962

Despite what Alex says, timing chaims do jump, just look at the Ford Transit...............

Anyway, my advice would be. Are you a member of the AA or RAC, if so they can provide an independant report.

Hammy

I don't know what the fault is with Transits but I have examined cars with belts/chains two teeth out and no lasting damage done. They all ran very sluggishly though until the timing was reset.

Cam chains will jump teeth on some cars if the engine is turned backwards. This only happens if the car is pushed backwards while in gear or if someone puts a spanner on the crank and turns it. This may have happened during the service although there is no obvious reason for turning the engine in this way.

[tam9933]

hi there , get your car to a decent mechanic main dealers will milk this dry, you as well , i did a head job on a c200 las week it no big deal , timing chain was on last legs on this one as well , but it is easy to fit , not like old mercs , good luck

[scousegeezer]

Surely if the timing chain had jumped - it would have been loose first. In which case the garage should have noticed the timing was out when they plugged it into the diagnostic computer. I understand that all main dealers now have these computers for their cars and should plug your car in when servicing it - just to see if something major is starting. THAT should have picked up any problem with the timing being out. In my opinion if they did not plug your car in they have failed in their duty and if they did plug it in and didnt notice a timing problem or there wasnt one, then they are just conning you. Anyway , a timing chain on a Merc should not go in 34k miles, should last about 60 - 70 k . Good luck

[patdavies]

Surely the diagnostics wouldn't show that teh timings was out until it had 'jumped'

It would have to be a very clever computer indeed to detect wear in the timing chain.

[scousegeezer]

Because the timing chain would have been slack, then the computer should have picked up that the timing was "out" drawing attention to that area. The garage should have then checked the timing chain as it can be tensioned, to get the timing back into alignment.

[Surfer01]

Don't these garages now have it all logged onto computers and it is kept there for the life of the car as it takes up so little space. May be worth a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) on their computer files for mlore info.

[LancerQRL]

timing chains have auto tensioners, other things can cause it to jump, seized water pump for instance.