Garage snapped a bolt

Skywalker

Skywalker

Skywalker

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Joined
3 Dec 2003
Posts
2,486
Location
brighton
As title says above really , I had my clutch changed and the mechanic snapped a bolt on the turbo elbow . I know this stuff happens but the issue I have is they never called me to tell me about it at the time and made a dodgy repair on it re drilling it at an angle to get a spring loaded bolt through.

No comes time to fit a new exhaust for a bit more noise and power and this is then uncovered , They are telling me the only options I have is to pay them to get an engineer to sort the elbow or buy a new one and pay them to fit it .

I have left them at the moment to talk to the boss and I have said I am happy to provide the elbow as I managed to get one second hand and for them to fit it which I don't want to pay for as if they told me at the time I would have provided an elbow which would have been removed for clutch fitment but the mechanic thought it easier to do it without removing it and still managed to change clutch .

What are my options here guys in regards to them snapping it etc and getting them to fix it ?

Thanks in advance - Luke
 
Skywalker said:
As title says above really , I had my clutch changed and the mechanic snapped a bolt on the turbo elbow . I know this stuff happens but the issue I have is they never called me to tell me about it at the time and made a dodgy repair on it re drilling it at an angle to get a spring loaded bolt through.

No comes time to fit a new exhaust for a bit more noise and power and this is then uncovered , They are telling me the only options I have is to pay them to get an engineer to sort the elbow or buy a new one and pay them to fit it .

I have left them at the moment to talk to the boss and I have said I am happy to provide the elbow as I managed to get one second hand and for them to fit it which I don't want to pay for as if they told me at the time I would have provided an elbow which would have been removed for clutch fitment but the mechanic thought it easier to do it without removing it and still managed to change clutch .

What are my options here guys in regards to them snapping it etc and getting them to fix it ?

Thanks in advance - Luke
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Don't want to sound like an ***, but for the love of god! Please re-write the op with some punctuation!

If you can prove they snapped it, then i'd want it sorting for free.
 
Think I'd be trying to be reasonable with them & say I'll supply the part you fit it when you do the next job & we'll forget about it, **** happens.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Don't want to sound like an ***, but for the love of god! Please re-write the op with some punctuation!

If you can prove they snapped it, then i'd want it sorting for free.
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Well its just an internet forum not an exam so you sound like an *** :p

They have admitted they snapped the bolt to me and repaired it , So in my eyes they should repair it or replace the broken part . They have said that because I changed the exhaust its down to me as the old system fitted as they gave it back to me .

4T5 said:
Think I'd be trying to be reasonable with them & say I'll supply the part you fit it when you do the next job & we'll forget about it, **** happens.
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I suggested to them that if I supply the part that they fit it and move on . This was to the point the manager said he would talk to the boss but doesn't think he will agree to it .
 
Please don't tell me that this is BM again.

I'd expect a garage to tell me if they damaged anything regardless of whether they repaired it or not. In fact they always have in the past. I'd expect to be asked BEFORE they undertook a repair.
 
No buddy this was after BM , it was a local round the road . I would have expected a phone call etc and I would have got a new elbow and told them to put that on because they should have removed the elbow to do the clutch change . With that it shouldn't have cost any more labour on a priced job if they where removing the elbow rather than a short cut .
 
I don't think the iussue here is so much the snapped bolt but the fact that it has been bodged afterwards.

It's an exhaust, things get seized and bolts snap sometimes, that's the way it is and the customer would be paying for the replacement stud / bolt / nut..
As a mechanic you can't miracle things undone, no matter how hard you try.

However what you appear to be saying is that they cannot now do an exhaust change because of this "repair"

Why?
 
They re drilled the new whole at a stupid angle and then got an extra long bolt and with a spring and about 10 washers and then a nut on the other end to get the exhaust to fit
 
I am afraid I would have some sort of "goodwill" in my mind, depending on what they charged you tbh.

Exhausts are not a good thing to be taking apart, while you say the techie snapped the bolt, it is more than likely the bolt was seized and impossible to undo. The garage was then caught, fix it to the best they can for as cheap as they can (at their cost) or ring you to tell you its ballsed and you need a new downpipe at such and such a cost.

How old was the car?
 
4 year old evo X .

Clutch change is a 10.4 hour job so not cheap and this would have been one of the first things they undone , It should have also been the downpipe off not at the bottom of the elbow.

If they called me I could have purchased a second hand one like I have this week for £40.
 
So why can't they fit the new exhaust with the same bolt, all be it at a stupid angle and with the washers? That's the bit I don't understand.
If it was they who put that bolt in there in the first place then surely they would just redo it, but with the new exhaust?

Why have they suddenly mentioned it now?
 
Come to think of it, now you've mentioned the car, that bolt is supposed to have a spring on it, it's a flexible joint with a cone fire ring.

and yes they do snap. :D Been there.
 
The new exhaust was put on at an evo specialist and clutch done by a local garage , The specialist noticed the angle of the drilled hole and showed me the nut and bolt with 10 washers on it and advised about the poor repair and likely hood of it coming off as it just litrially pinched in
 
Ahh now we are getting to the bottom of it..

So it's actually nothing to do with this specialist that fitted the exhaust, that's how they found it and rightly so they are informing you that it's not in the best condition.

Are you expecting them to foot some free labour to put it right?
 
Yes , sorry if I am not 100% explaining myself I find it hard to do so after the stroke and brain surgery lol .

Yes the specialist found the problem when fitting the C-tec system and the garage that done the clutch before hand snapped the bolt are the ones I am having trouble with getting them to put it right .
 
Skywalker said:
Yes , sorry if I am not 100% explaining myself I find it hard to do so after the stroke and brain surgery lol .

Yes the specialist found the problem when fitting the C-tec system and the garage that done the clutch before hand snapped the bolt are the ones I am having trouble with getting them to put it right .
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Sounds like the garage who botched the bolt need to sort it, they should have drilled the bolt out and refitted it properly instead of basically 'nailing it back together'.

The fact you've offered to supply the replacement part makes them sound like utter cowboys.

Have they admitted re routing the bolt?
 
Yes they openly said they snapped it and done the repair .

All I need to know is what rights I have to demand they fix it . I have offered to supply the new part which I have here now I just need to know how to word it
 
I can't see you getting anywhere with it personally.
If it wasn't blowing they did effect a repair (although not a good one it seems)
How long ago was it that they did the clutch change?
 
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