Yet another timing chain issue - worth pursuing?

sidepipe

Yet another timing chain issue... my wife's has skipped apparently ( not broken ) and the dealer has confirmed that there are at least three stuck valves. Dealer recommends a new engine ( they would ) at about 3500 quid. The car has only done about 53000 miles, and regularly dealer serviced and owned by us from new, so this really shouldn't happen. Impossible to get Vauxhall/Opel to confirm that the engine is in the "affected range", but its a Jan 2001 car and so it almost certainly is. We've complained about rattling ( didn't even think that it could be the timing chain - actually, didn't even know that it was a chain ) on startup on at least one of the services and was told "that's just how they sound", but have no proof of that of course.

Now for the complications:
1) The chain has skipped rather than snapped. Whilst I would imagine that this would be caused by the infamous issue, getting anyone to admit that may be difficult.
2) It was bought in Holland and is therefor an Opel. Spoke to Opel who said that my dealer should be able to speak to Vauxhall without issue, though my dealer says Vauxhall don't want to know.

I'm sort of conflicted over this. On the one hand, it is definitely GM's fault - the chain should not have problems at this low a mileage, and they KNEW that there was a design fault but hoped that nobody would notice until it was too late. They shouldn't be able to get away with that. On the other hand, I know that I can get it fixed for about 600 quid, and while I shouldn't have to it isn't the end of the world. Plus, it seems that people have had enough trouble dealing with Vauxhall when it is a UK car - the problems in getting an imported car fixed would be magnified.

So... I guess what I'm asking is does anyone know of someone getting anything out of Vauxhall/Opel under these circumstances? Any advice? ( I know that most people would say "just forget it and take the hit" - and to be honest I am 80% that way myself... but I thought I'd ask!!! ) Is there any mileage in tying the "not fit for purpose" route in the small claims court - and would this even work given that it is a Dutch car?

baldie87

theres a few things to say to vaxu if you look in the cam chain section but you can get a reconditioned head over here for £280 no way a new engine is needed

Jamee

they are just trying to make some money out of you mate it sounds.

sidepipe

There is no way that I will be putting in a new engine... like I said, I can get it fixed for 500 quid or so.

Interestingly, I spoke to trading standards. The woman that I spoke to said that in law you only have 6 years to make a claim... so GM could design the car to fall apart in 6 years and 1 month, and there would be nothing that you can do. I am guessing that is why the bulletin that they issued mentions 31/12/07 ( 6 years after the year in which the last engines were produced with this particular fault. ) If true, then it sort of proves that they don't care about their customers at all... though I guess that nobody would be surprised at that 🙁 ( and same goes most other companies I would imagine! )

I'm also annoyed at the dealer. After they had charged me 160 quid to diagnose the fault, they just said "it needs a new engine." When pressed, they said "in most cases like this, a new engine is required." When I asked them if they could actually tell if it needed a new engine, they said "Well, we could take the cylinder head off, but that will cost you 360 quid to have a look." I wonder how many people who have this happen simply don't know how easy most of them are to fix, and just pay for the new engine anyhow? I also wonder how many dealers deliberately don't tell people with affected engines just in case they get to fit a new engine because of it.....

Cynical? Me? Nah!

baldie87

lol sounds like they dont know what there doing and after lots of money

bigbloke

Well I managed to get Vauxhall to pay 60% of the cost of my repair. I went direct Vaux head office and ignored the posturing by the local dealer. Basically they said get it fixed and we'll contribute towards it. By writing strong but polite emails they eventually coughed up 60% even though I did not have a full Vaux service history and the car was over 6.5yrs old. I did stress the long time happy customer, and used the dealer since getting the car elements. Which it sounds like you can play on too.

You can confirm your engine is in the range by getting the engine number off your V5 (or whatever the log book is called) and comparing on the range in Field Remedy 1532 which is in one of the stickies in this Cam Chain forum. I presented them with this info and they coughed up.

My dealer swapped the head on an exchange basis as this is quicker than rebuilding the old fashioned way. Cost me £550 after Vaux coughed up 60% and that is warranted for 1 year as well. Feels like a new car.

Got to be worth a few emails.......perseverence does pay off. Main thing is have your facts, and stay polite but firm.

Good luck mate.

Cheers,
Bigbloke

baldie87

nice one fella

sidepipe

Thanks for the info Bigbloke - news like that will hopefully encourage others to pressure them. However, in my case I think that I'm just going to get it fixed - even after Vauxhall paid towards yours it still cost my max estimate for replacing the bent valves and guides. The fact that mine's an Opel just makes it less likely that I'll get anything back and I really could do without the time and effort involved!

The ironic thing is that we'd decided to sell the car literally a week before it broke, and that was the first trouble of any kind that we'd had with it. Was going to buy an Astra convertible but really can't bring myself to give them any more money after this - will go for a 1 series BM instead....