Hi,

Im hoping that somone can shed some light on the disastor im having with my 2003 JCW Mini.

6 weeks ago my coolant dropped out my engine due to a cracked expansion tank which lead to my engine overheating and the head gasket needing replacing.

This work was carried out by a mini specialist and the work included sending the warped head off to an external company to be skimmed and it was also crack tested. The total bill came to approx £1300

Four days after getting my car back my heater matrix was screwed. A year previously they had replaced my my heater matrix and said it was under warrenty as it was obtained from direct from BMW, so I took the car to BMW and it was fixed for free.

However, 3 weeks later my coolant dropped out again and water was mixing with the oil and was the same symptoms as with my original head gasket issue.

The mini specialist said they would only know what was wrong with the car if they took my head apart but at the moment it seems they will not do this free or charge which I think is totally wrong because I had already been charged £1300.

Should the garage take full responsibilty for any labour or parts required to fix whatever the issue is whether it would be head gasket, a new head or even the block? If not what do you think they should do?

They said if it was the head then that would cost £1000 +VAT for a complete second hand JCW head.

Alternatively they said that the BMW garage would look at it and if its the head gasket it would be replaced under warrenty however if its something different I could potentially be hit with a massive labour bill and my car still not being fixed.

Any idea of where I stand legally on this? Any help would be much appreciated. I have no car, its stuck at the mini specialist and ill be speaking to them tomorrow.

Thanks in advance for your help.....