2006 Vauxhall Astra issue/ small claims costs?

[blinky123]

Don't really know much about all this stuff but just wanted to say that I hope you get a favourable outcome to this as it's horrible. I'm having similar problems at the moment with VW and my much loved polo - hopefully it will be sorted before it gets to court though! I would have said you don't have much chance as it really is your word against theirs, except for the fact that you had a similar problem (perhaps an early occurence of the actual problem) than Vauxhall missed - that would go in your favour if it turns out they missed an opportunity to diagnose and fix the problem?

[JimmySpangle]

Interesting case.

 

No oil in the car. So where did the oil go then? External leak? Internal leak?

 

Was the exhaust very smokey?

 

A number oif interesting points. Most significant is the sporadic oil light problem in 2008. What did the dealer conclude from that?

 

Has the engine had any major work done to it?

 

How many miles since kwik fit did the oil change?

 

Your main problem as I see it is that the car is out of warranty. Vauxhall will of course blame anyone except themselves. You used kwik fit so it must be all their fault.

 

Kwik fit will blame Vauxhall, stating that they did everything correctly.

 

The bottom line is that the damage appears to have been caused by lack of oil, rather than oil pressure. The oil had to go somewhere! Unless there is a significant leak extrernally, then it must have had internal damage which allowed the oil to be combusted. This would be easy to check if the catalytic convertor was examined by a suitably qualified engineer.

 

If it can be proved that the oil was combusted, it would suggest a major internal problem with the engine. However, that does not prove any manufacturing fault. If, for example kwik fit did not replinish the oil, the car engine would not be correctly lubricated and would start to overheat and break down,then it could easily consume the remaining oil.

 

That is the most likely situation in my opinion, however you will not be able to prove that at all.

 

The problem you now face is court. You must show to the judge proof or evidence that the engine was faulty at manufacture or has developed a fault due to poor manufacture. I do not think you can do this and as such the case would be found in Vauxhalls favour, who could ask for reasonable costs.

 

The most significant part of your story is that when you broke down on the motorway initially you say you checked the level and it was half way. How exactly did you check this? Did you clean the dipstick first? Was the ground level? Was there a small of burning oil?