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I have recently had an issue where a belt snapped within the engine bay causing fragments of rubber to jump into the cam belt and sieZe engine. Root cause appears to be a fuel leak coming from a particular place and the fuel eating away at the rubber belt.
Now the car was recently services and in paying the bill my good wife mentioned she had smelt fuel, mechanic said there was a leak and thought he must have nicked the fuel filter seal while fitting, so replaced it for free and sent her in her way.
Turns out the fuel wasn't coming from filter but the part above, and here lies the issue. Is anyone at fault or is it just bad luck?
Going back to discuss payment for 7 days of labour rebuilding engine. Worth saying that I always use this guy and he has been brilliant with us in he past, I just can't decide if anyone is at fault here.
Thoughts?
Hard to say. You'd need to prove that he wasn't acting with reasonable competence. So is it reasonable to 'assume' that the fuel filter seal was improperly fitted?
Sounds like you are asking if you mechanic is at fault for not noticing the fuel leak when the car was serviced, as your wife mentioned the smell when paying. Unfortunately I can't see it being his fault. Had you booked it in specifically to hunt down the source of the fuel smell I think you would have a leg to stand on.
Sounds like bad luck and one of those crap times when a car ends up costing a lot of money.
As you say, he has been brilliant in the past, he fixed the fuel filter seal he thought he damaged for free too.
Was my feeling as well seavers but wife is seething and isn't seeing it the same way. Not sure what got expect when we catch up to discuss this week but last time a cam belt went it cost me £1500 🙁
Is there any evidence at all that the mechanic has damaged anything? If not, don't see how you can blame him.
Ouch. Sounds like 7 days rebuild is going to cost about the same. I would want to know the exact time spent on the car. Was it 7 days 8 hrs a day? Or a few hours a day as he has other work in. Ask for a detailed invoice and go from there.
How recent was the service? If you've been driving it around with the smell of fuel remaining for any length of time you can't really complain- you knew the issue wasn't resolved.
I'm not clear, did the smell of fuel exist before the service?
Is it a VW/Audi TDI by any chance?
Northwind - noticed a strange smell after the service but thought it may just be oil from the change, went back a week later to pay which is when the leak was discovered but the location of the leak was wrongly identified.
Tbh you have all pretty much backed up what I was thinking, total bad luck on our part and we will just have to see what the bill comes in at and deal with it.
Thanks for the comments, it will be an interesting conversation with my wife now 🙂
Monkey- what makes you ask that?
johnj2000 - MemberThanks for the comments, it will be an interesting conversation with my wife now
"Sorry dear, but my internet cult says no luck"
On the VAG 2.0 TDI engine it's a known issue after servicing and changing the fuel filter. Think it was the filter seal that leaked causing carnage - one of our Techs found out the hard way......the AA man who recovered the car back in happily told the customer there was a technical bulletin about it!
It's the 1.9TDI engine, same issue Monkey?
Yes Northwind, but I won't mention the Internet or the cult, maybe suggest it was a conversation at work
[url= http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=100039 ]just found this on the interweb[/url]
Sounds like a reasonably common issue and an expensive one if you don't get lucky