I Havee Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 Semi-Auto.

[ramesh046]

In jan 2013 water was being lost, engine heating upfound lots of yellow gunk where you put i oil and it looked oil and water mixture. A couple of garages said I have the Head Gasket problem which is a major cost. I finally took it to a garage and they diagonised as Timing chain Gasket problem and not HG . Who am I to argue against an expert. I was quoted £840 which included radiator, water pump and other bits. I did suggest suggest to them that I and others suspect Head Gasket problem. Was given 1 year warranty.
Anyway last month ie 6 months in tthe warranty period, SAME symptoms exactly appeared. I took it back to them. Now they say, it is the HEAD GASKET PROBLEM and is unservicable and NOT what they did in the first place!!!
They dont want to know anything more. ITs a 2002 car. I told the verbally that I will have no choice but to take the to court. I know i have to put this in writing my intensions etc.

Any advice please??

[Hopkirk]

Hang on, if it was OK for six months after they did the work, then that suggests they did cure the problem.

If the same fault has recurred then you have a warranty claim, but if this is indeed a different fault then surely you can't blame them.

[tonywiltshire]

As has been said if the vehicle was OK for 6 months it would appear the garage dealt with the problem as it then was and provided a 1 year warranty for the work they had done, now with similar symptoms you ask them to carry out a warranty repair presumably at their cost for work they did not do. You may find a trade association may assist, my view would be on the information provided that the Court will not find in your favour.
If you intend to go to court as your remedy using the small claims procedure and consumer protection, you should first write a letter before court action and give the garage a reasonable time to respond, English courts like reasonable behaviour, say 3 weeks. Provide for your Court action all quotations and invoices for work proposed or carried out.
You will find the small claims procedure very relaxed and informal and you can obtain the necessary forms from your local County Court, whose staff should be helpful with non-legal advice.

[ToraToraTora]

Not sure how it worked for 6 months, but gunk in the oil is a classic sign of head gasket failure, ie water and oil mixing. However any other gasket could cause it also, not sure why they had to change the rad/pump etc just to change the timing chain gasket so it does sound like they did initially correct the problem albeit possibly installing unnecessary parts at the time. It now seems that either the head gasket has now gone or the gasket they changed has gone again or indeed some other issue. Your only ammo in legal preceedings is whether or not you needed all the parts just to change the timing chain gasket. Most would accept if something works for 6 months the fix was good. No garage will guarentee work for ever.

[BillyWhizzzz]

You now have two options:
1) Ask them to repair the car but don't turn up to collect the car on the day that they are expecting you to, instead after a couple of days go down at 3AM.
With a spare key, drive away your newly repaired car & let THEM try suing YOU!

Or

2) Get a written report of the current work needed, from three separate garages/ mechanics. If it turns out to be a problem directly related to the work carried out then yes, go to court. Bring your invoices from 6 months ago with you, along with your engineers reports.
Be aware though, magistrates aren't mechanics, it might be worth getting a friendly mechanic to write a statement outlining that "they believe, in their professional opinion, that the problem is directly related to X or Y part"
X or Y part will be on your invoice.

Do not however go to court without evidence. You will look like an idiot.

Also be aware that it will take atleast six weeks for your claim to be heard, you will need to think about repairs in the meantime anyway.

[ramesh046]

First, the warranty was for 1 year. Also they said before work carried that it should last me another 5 years.
'Unservicable' to me means it would be too costly for the work to be carried out.
If they had told me that I would be lucky to get 6 months out of it, I would have scrapped the car! Bad advice certainly. By charging for unnecessary parts installed , they have taken me for a fool. I have today posted a letter for a reply to be given by them in 2 weeks. Lets see what happens