Thread: repair to car failed - fitter blames parts supplier and vice versa - any advice?

Hi all,
I had my car's cylinder head and head gasket replaced 9 months and only 4000 miles ago. The car has just broken down again with a failed cylinder head gasket and I am having difficulties getting a warranty refund/repair.

For various reasons I ended up buying the replacement parts from an aftermarket parts supplier, and paid for a local garage (a specialist in my make of car) to fit the parts.

The parts have a 12 month warranty from the parts supplier, and the labour has a 12 month warranty from the garage.

The garage also did work on the car to fix the cause of the first cylinder head failure 9 months ago

Now it has gone wrong, the parts suppliers say it broke down because it was fitted incorrectly, and the garage doing the work say it was fitted fine and it is a fault with the part that caused it to fail!

The parts supplier has since taken the cylinder head back and tested it and found no fault (no warping or cracks, but evidence of high temperature), but haven't tested the gasket (tricky to test for manufacturing defects I assume in its now damaged state).

Neither the parts supplier or the fitter will give me the time of day when it comes to refunds or repair work to be done under warranty.

What can I do? How can I get one of them to take responsibility and pay for the repair?

If it is that the part has failed (the gasket) will I only ever get the cost of that back? It's around 30 quid for this part, but the labour bill to fit it is around £700!
Can I claim against the parts suppliers for consequential damage (they give the usual warranty disclaimer on the back of the receipt)?
Can I get the garage to fit it for free, stating that it was their job to judge the suitability of the part to perform the job give that they would warranty their work for 12 months? (the garage buys parts from the same supplier just not on this occasion).

If the parts supplier and the garage then collude by saying that the fault is with something else on the car causing it to fail, where do I stand in
terms of blaming the garage for not identifying the underlying problem with my car when they fixed it originally 9 months ago? (the garage DID do work on the car 9 months ago to repair the underlying cause of the first cylinder head failure).

I am annoyed with myself that I didn't just get the garage to supply their own part and install it - as then it would be a straightforward claim. I wasn't made aware at the time that supplying the parts to the garage to fit would mean I couldn't claim on the warranty, and indeed I was encouraged to provide my own part to speed up the original repair and keep costs down.

Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

Yours

carDIYman

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I would not have thought it would be the parts that would have failed, gasket, bolts etc.
What part in particular is said to have failed?
A gasket is a gasket and if it had a fault then it would have been obvious and should not have been fitted. now tension bolts for the head is different, they do have to be installed and torqued up in order and then checked again after engine is fired up and run for a bit! if one of these had failed in service, again it should be easy to see.
Who checked the head the head for cracks, warping etc. normally specialsit operation. Head gasket would go again if fault not corrected with head.

Thanks all for your replies.
I got the parts (a cylinder head, gasket set and bolts) new from a specialist parts supplier for my make of car - not original manufacturers.

The cylinder head and gasket were sent back to the parts suppliers, who then sent it off for an independent engineers report (done by a specialist vehicle engineer report company of their choice, so as independent as you take it). They reported on the cylinder head but not the gasket as the gasket was damaged when removed - the engineers report said it had to be scraped off to inspect the cylinder head.

The report shows no damage to the cylinder head ( no cracks or warping). There was a thermal 'tag' fitted to the head that records the max temperature the head reaches. It shows it reached higher than normal temperatures at some point, but that could have happened after the engine lost all its coolant through the cylinders when the gasket failed.

I think I will have the rest of the car's cooling system looked at by an independent garage (radiator, coolant pump, hoses, engine block channels etc all replaced or cleaned at time of failure 9 months ago by same garage) and if there is no fault with the rest of the car, then it has to be either a fault with either the gasket, the bolts, or the fitting. None of which are my fault - and none of which they want to warranty!

I want to avoid the parts supplier just giving me £20 for a replacement head gasket, as I will still have to fork out many £100's for the fitting.
What are my options for persuing a consequential losses claim (if such a thing exists) against either the fitters or the parts supplier? No doubt they will just fall back on their parts supply terms and conditions which limit claims to the cost of the parts.

Thanks for all your input