10 days ago my engine expired, cracked cylinder block was suspected, further investigation has shown a blown head gasket caused by sticking piston? I am not a mechanic so the description may not be the best.
Now this could happen at any time, but last November an oil leak was traced to the head gasket and it was recommended that the cylinder head be skimmed, all valves be cut, lapped and shimmed as a preventative measure against failure, which I had done. The garage say that the sticking piston could not have been detected/predicted during the November work, but an ex-mechanic colleague thinks that they should have picked up signs of problems with the piston.
I have a good relationship with garage and have had all work done with them over the last 3 or 4 years, they have agreed a reduced charge as a goodwill gesture. It is now a question of how much £££ goodwill I should ask for? The original November work was £1500 and now estimated about £2500-3000.
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What were the symtoms of the engine 'expiring' any funny noises? in what situation was it being used etc....?
The first head gasket failure sounds plausible enough, but this later problem 10 days ago is harder to fathom, pistons don't stick, it's not really an explantion for a problem I would expect a garage to give.
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Marc
I'm with Ashok on this; a "sticking piston" is a brake fault, not an engine one. I also raised a Spock-like eyebrow at the diagnosis on your previous post; cracks in cylinder blocks that allow water into the exhaust can be plainly seen. Has this diagnosis now been revised?
You mention "extensive work" has been done on this engine. Does that include increasing the boost pressure or re-mapping the fuelling? If you've melted a piston, them that would have been impossible to predict.
It sounds as though the garage made a thorough job of replacing the head gasket; re-shimming these engines is not a quick or easy job. You really need to establish the accurate cause of the failure before any informed comment on the garage's possible liability can be assessed.
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Ashok - The symptoms where a loss of power, engine sounding very rough, water temperature off the scale followed by plume of white smoke out of the exhaust, dead engine all quite quickly, a few minutes! 70 mph running, engine still warming up, slowing to 40 before expiry. Sticking piston may not be quite accurate, maybe that's my interpretation of what the mechanic said, but certainly piston overheating was mentioned, I thought by piston sticking.
Screwloose - The cracked cylinder block was one initial thought from the garage, it has now been pressure tested and I believe x-rayed, there is no cracking of the block. The actual failure was of the head gasket between the 3rd and 4th cylinders caused by overheating of the 4th cylinder piston? That is my understanding.
The engine is/was standard, that is now likely to change as the engine will be re-bored and I am considering forged pistons as replacements along with 1.2mm steel head gasket.
I don't think liability really comes into it, it would be uneconomical if not impossible to determine liability if indeed there were any, but the garage have offered a reduced charge as a goodwill gesture and that will be negotiated once they have final parts prices.
Blame really doesn't come into it, now it is a case of what amount of reduction in cost should I seek? The garage have already agreed to replace the power steering pump which was leaking, the water pump and fix the leak in the aircon system for no charge.
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Marc
I think your, very through and professional-sounding, garage will need to look a little deeper into the root cause of this failure. Simultaneous failure of a piston and the head gasket on that same cylinder suggests something traumatic was occurring inside #4 combustion chamber.
This could be anything from detonation due to over-compression... to pre-ignition from hot-spots.... through weak running from an injector/fuelling fault.... to ignition timing... or many other causes. It may not even be specifically a #4 issue; it may be that #4 was just the first to thermally "run-away" - one of the cylinders usually goes first in such failures.
Really; I don't see any obvious negligence by your garage is suggested by the facts as stated. They appear to feel slightly morally responsible - and maybe a little bemused - as to what went wrong. This is not uncommon; many exemplary mechanics are not that well versed in diagnostics - it's a very different discipline.
As said; going on the facts to hand, whatever discount that is offered is more than fair. You seem to have a good garage there; work with them to make sure that all the possible causes of this failure are explored.
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