Is my engine knackered???

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fasttdi

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Ive recently had an accident when some blind driver in a crappy daewoo matiz failed to stop on a roundabout resulting in smahing into my car. Fortunately the damage was not too bad, very light bumper, bonnet, wing, lights, grills and radiator.

My insurance took care of everything and sent my car off to a approved garage for repairs.

The problem is as my radiator got bust and lost all its water I told the garage not to start my car as there is no water in the engine. All the okays were given and told not to worry as my car is in safe hands!
The day my car was taken in the garage took photo's to send off to the insurers. One photo clearly shows time and date and a picture of my dash with the car started and coolant lights flashing on dis.
They shouldnt have started my car knowing there is no coolant in the engine but obviously they ignored that fact and now im worried incase any damage to my engine may have resulted due to there ignorance.

What do you guys think any comments or advice is very appreciated

My cars a 1.9 tdi 2004

Thanks guys
 
I wouldnt worry about it because you have proof like you say but that still could be a start of pure hassle between you and them if there is a situation.

I take it you havnt got the car back yet??

If thats the case then you need to make sure its running right whilst on their premises, get the manager/supervisor to go out with you and give it a good run for 15 mins whilst he's with you otherwise soon as you take it away they'll most likely disregard anything you say to them WHEN/IF you do run into problems.

Whilst its in their hands then if the engine is knackered then the next step will be "right then, heres my proof" and you told them and the insurance at the time also!!

basically mate just stand your ground and dont let them bully you into taking the car away IF something doesnt actually sounds right.
You are probably worrying about nothing as there might not be any damage at all to the engine due to it not actually being ran for very long but least you are on the Ball.
 
Bodyshops often have to move cars around workshops/car parks without components such as rads etc. They are often only run for very short periods of time but for sure have a good nose about your engine, express your concerns from what you have seen in photos after you gave instruction not to start the car and don't leave unless satisfied. Bodyshops need to make sure your happy as they rely on work from
insurance companies and must keep all parties happy.
 
Its a good thing I spotted there mistake in the picture. However ive asked for the insurance company's engineer to come out and verify everything is ok. so until tomorrow i wont know for sure if there is any damage, apparently the garage have repaired the car and is ready for me to collect.

What really ticked me off is the fact they promised me they wont start the car and i clearly told them not to start the car until they have atleast replaced the radiator, i even left a handwritten note on the dis.

I'll keep you guys updated after my visit to the garage and gona give them a right mouthfull if they've screwed my engine. Ive maintained my car regardless of cost every 5k miles and some pillock with half a brain goes and screws it all. Not happy
 
You can run a car for a short while with no coolant, so i wouldnt worry at all. Its common to use the cars own power to move it around in these circumstances. We have had no ill effects from similar treatment on our A3
 
Well, you have to consider that they have to get it into the shop somehow. Pushing it is a bit tedious, especially if they have to get it up a ramp. There's just no way. It's very likely that your motor was running for a period of 1-2 minutes at most. I'm very confident that your motor hasn't suffered damage. But please let us know what happens regardless!
 
I can remember when I used to work for Ford and as its been said it very common to move the cars around with no Front end etc so as I said if its only been ran a short period then I agree you should be fine. Aslong as you didnt get the Chavvy Valeter that left your Motor running whilst FaceBook'in on his mobile whilst drinking 40 cups of Hot choc out the machine - you should be Fine!!
Keep us posted :o.k:
 
Although the coolant light was flashing and the radiator had exploded, there still would have been some coolant in the pipes so you'll be OK. If it had been oil then that would be a different story.
 
I picked my car up today and was absolutley gutted to find complete front end alignment out colour mis-match and to top it all smoking engine! took it for a test drive for about half hour, opened the oil filler cap and yes you guessed it mayonaise like liquid. From posts ive read on this forum im quite certain they have blown the head gasket.

Confronted the engineer who swore on his kids life they never started the car before replacing the rad and filling coolant. So i showed him the picture he took to send off to my insurance company and his jaw fell to the ground and then tried to tell me the engine must have been knackered before they took delivery of the car.

I for the right reasons went ballistic and almost floored him, refused to accept the car in this state and condition.
Rang insurance company who were helpful and told them i wont take my car back until its fixed right AND i dont want this garage to work on my car. so within the hour insurance sent out recovery truck and took it to there depo for further investigation. Wont know til monday of what the cause is but its quite obvious that the engine had been started for much longer than just moving around the workshop.

Can't believe this is happening.
 
Ouch, that's not good. Although it doesn't necessarily mean that your head gasket has blown. Was the car overheating at all, was there any smoke coming out of the back?
 
golf said:
Ouch, that's not good. Although it doesn't necessarily mean that your head gasket has blown. Was the car overheating at all, was there any smoke coming out of the back?
Click to expand...


Yes there was smoke out the back. During the test drive i clouded the poor guy behind me. Heaters were intermittent.... hot and cold. also the one thing they admit to was that they forgot to refill the AC.

If its not the head gasket what else could it be? ....Oil cooler??
 
I was going to suggest oil cooler, but from your last post it definitely sounds like it could be the head gasket. Unless by some freak occurence your water pump and turbo have died, causing the smoke and intermittent hot and cold air.

I'd be on the phone to the insurance company first thing in the morning. This could prove to be a bit more expensive for them than planned, but that's what they're there for.
 
Just push push push to get what you want. Another few grand to an insurance company is nothing, although they could argue that many cars have been through the bodyshop with rad damage and had no issues.

Hammer the b*stards!!
 
TorqueTerrorist said:
Hammer the b*stards!!
Click to expand...

Lol! I feel like going back to the garage and beatin the that guy black and blue but i think i need to carry my sensible head around and beat them with evidence.
They have actually dug themselves there own grave, they took that picture and then had the cheek to send it off to the insurance! How daft is that? someone's going to get a good smacking!:asskicking:
Well i wont be given up regardless. If it is the head gasket thats leaked or blown would they just replace the gasket?
The smoke out back is huge but turbo spools up fine, cam belt and w/pump has been changed recently approx 10k miles ago. Used the stronger water pump by gsf with the metal propeller so it very unlikely its the w/pump. The turbo and egr valve have been both treated by using 'innotec' products at the same time as cambelt change.

I cant really tell what kind of smoke it throwing ouy due to it getting dark quite early. May be blackish/grey or greyish white!
 
oh *****, thats not good news!
well you got the evidence so stick to your guns mate,literally!!ha
They havnt really got a leg to stand on if they sent the insurance their own pic then in the next breath they say "we promise, we didnt run it". Only thing I can think of is they left it running too long didnt they...

Dont go in flappin around (yet) because it wont do you any favours, play the calm one...then if they dont wanna play, F**kin go for it, burn the place down with them all in it.;)
 
J7uss ya c wat i mean u get ppl into trouble!!!! but i'll second that one.... burn them all if ya dont get ur engine back as perfect as it was before!
 
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