Sold Faulty Part - Please Help

[moneydragon]

Hi

 

I am trying to help my friends' son out here so would appreciate any adfvice guidance.

 

In Dec 12 he purchase off a shop on ebay a turbo which came with a 12 month guarantee. Once the part arrived he arranged for a respectable local garage to fit the new part and at the same time using genuine Renault parts as needed.

 

Four months later the car was back in the garage turbo totally gone and to put the car back on the road it is going to cost £900. He went back to who sold him the turbo but they just use excuses to say it is not the turbo that is the problem. He tried to say it must be the garage at fault as they could not of used the correct parts, but I as the garage only used genuine parts.The garage that fitted it have given him a written report on what caused the damage .

 

Would my next step be to send the company who sold him the turbo an LBA for the repair costs?

 

The lad is in the army and travelling back up north via train is costing him a fortune.All he wants is his car back on the road how can I help him achieve this?

 

md

[raydetinu]

To be fair it will not be easy, First you will need an expert independent report from an automotive engineer, covering the turbo and its installation at failure. The garages report that fitted it would not be sufficient as they are interested party.

If this highlights that there was in fact a fault with the turbo then you could take the supplier to court and he might win!

Then you have to get the money of them from any judgement which is not always straight forward.

If you are going the court route then yes an LBA is the first thing to do.

[Kiki1]

Was it a new turbo or a refurbished one ?

 

What caused the failure of the original unit ?

 

900 pounds to get a turbocharged car back on the road is actually quite cheap, you should see some of the bills VW are printing out for their 1.9 TDIs.

[moneydragon]

Thanks you for your replies.

 

The part was new and came with a 12 month guarantee, it was only 4 months old when it failed. The sellers are not even prepared to refund or replace the turbo which I thought was against sale of goods act. The cost of £900 is to replace the part and fitting.

 

The garage have given him a written report on damage.

 

md

[Conniff]

During the first six months after purchase, if something goes wrong, the fault is assumed to have been there at purchase and it is up to the seller to prove it wasn't. SOGA

[heliosuk]

True as Conniff points out but many turbo fail repeat repairs are because the problem wasn't diagnosed correctly in the first place. Invariably it's bearing failure due to lack of lubrication. This happens because in most cases it's just the turbo that is changed when it also needs new feed pipes which are not. Especially common on diesels. Other failures are not heeding instructions to let engine idle before shutting off so temperatures stabalise. Failure to do this causes the oil to burn and carbonise on the bearings which leads to a premature failure as does an insufficient oil supply as the feed pipes are coked up.

[raydetinu]

Agree with Helio, adequate cooling down and oil feed problems are often the main causes of failure.

What exactly did the report say!

Was it a branded new turbo, original equipment? or a refurbished one?

Often better to get a 2nd hand turbo that are cheap, than get refurbs!

I replaced a few on my Subaru, only cost £30 each off the Subaru site; but took three before I got one that was good. ( got money back by the way )

[scaniaman]

Whilst what heliosuk says is spot on, there are some engines that require a specific kind of oil to be used to prolong turbo life. Some makes that are known to give turbo trouble are now recommending that an engine flush be done at oil changes in order to cleanse any debris from the engine.

As well as the "cooling down" time, it used to be good practice to allow engines a short time at tickover from cold to ensure turbo was well lubricated before working at higher revs. The modern way of thinking is that new oils reduce the need for this??????????????

[moneydragon]

Thank you all for your replies. Now we are getting technical - too much for me!

 

I do know that when the turbo was being fitted all pipes etc where replaced by genuine Renault parts the turbo however new was not a genuine Renault part.

 

md