Hi All

Help Please!

My wife has a 2001 1.8 freelander with 28k miles, full service history (all LR except one) which we have owned since March this year. 2 weeks ago the inevitable happend - overheated as lost all coolant, lots of steam out the exhaust i.e. head gasket. The car is under a non LR warranty so of it went to the local LR dealer to be investigated and a claim for the repairs made to the warranty company.
The dealer diagnosed HG failure with some scoring to the big end bearing shells and a delaminated cam cover gasket and stated that according to LRs guidelines this equaled replacement engine. The warranty company didn;t buy this and so sent an indpendant engineer to look at the car. He concluded that the failure was primarily due to a "loss of clamping pressure between head and block occuring over a period of time". The warranty company are refusing to pay for even the head gasket replacement on the basis that we have driven the car to destruction as we would have known that the clamping pressure was being lost! Even their independant engineer stated that this could happen without our knowledge and is common in these engines. To make it even worse the car was serviced by LR two weeks before the failure and they didn't note anything.

I don't know how to fight this - all I can think is that I need an expert to back me up - particuarly on whether we would have noticed this loss of clamping pressure. Can anyone help or provide a contact of an expert in this?

Thanks for you help

you could try the good ole AA or RAC failing that most car clubs have some kinda lawyer on standby... if that don't work get a few big mates to go and talk nice to the man just be sure you have receipts for the starting handles you would just have bought.. this is just another case of them bastards trying to rip us bastards off and in my experience if you shout loud enough so that other potential costomers can hear, you usually win. you may have to visit every day for a week or so but if you do it at the busy times like saturday afternoon, once they see there bussiness walking out the door they soon come to an agreement.
above all don't be afraid to shout and use words like lying, bastards,took, my ,money , great,piece,of , ****,and the best one of all.....i'm going to the papers. this last one HAS to be done and not just used as a threat.
shortly after i bought me jag the head gasket went it took a call from the local paper to get me head sorted out( i know some say my head is far from sorted) what it boils down to is..them that is prepared to persue the matter will win if you just give and go away they win. they relie on people giving up or not wanting the hassel but you have to apply pressure and as i said earlier the best way is to take matter to them at their busy time, and don't be getting dragged into no sound proof office keep it out on the showroom floor.
power to the landy owners!!!!

Thanks Slob - I see your point. My problem is that it's not a LR warranty so shouting at the dealer won't do a lot! I need to find a way of pushing the warranty company to honour my valid claim. I think I will approach the RAC or AA and see if they can help.

I am sure there must be someone who specialises in the K series that could lend weight to my argument?

Cheers

Jonathan

ophs sorry i misunderstood, i thought you had bought from a dealer. was this an independant sale, you bought through a small add or the like. either way if you can get your hands on an AA report and send a copy to the warranty peeps( not the original one) better still get a lawyer to send it to them. that should do the trick.
if they try the old ' as a show of good faith were willing to pay half ' trick then pick up you papers and leave with your lawyer and without saying a word. then get stuck in to them legally

of course if all else fail find the M.D car and go round one night with a cordless drill and a few cans of expanding foam. perch yerself on the roof of his merc/porchse/ or whatever. then take the drill and put one hole at the rear of the roof and one at the front. you then shake the cans of foam and shoosh one in front hole and one in back hole.
(THIS LAST PARAGRAPH IS A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION AND IN NO WAY SHOULD BE TAKEN AS A MEANS TO GET EVEN WITH THEIVEING BAS'TIDS. any simalary between said paragraph and things i do are pure coincidence{i prefer a couple of galleon of pig pee instead of the cans of foam])

Also TopGear is a popular TV.program and ONLY watched by carowners and/or car enthusiastics who can always be or become interested in warranty issues.

Furthermore a good question should be to that "independant engineer" how one can notice the loss of clamping pressure before smoke etc. starts to show up. If one is that keen in automechanics I don't think he needs a warranty at all as in that case one would be perfectly capable of handling whatever issue on a car.

Good luck anyway.

If one is that keen in automechanics I don't think he needs a warranty at all as in that case one would be perfectly capable of handling whatever issue on a car
it may that one can do the issue that crops up but what if said issue costs one a right bundle?? a warranty that atleast covers parts would be damm handy to one, me thinks.

after reading all the silly remarks, heres some that might help.
my freind got a 110 county and had same problems, heres what he did and it works. first contact trading standards, then get reports from all partys that delt with your car befor you start shouting the odds, then stop paying for it,
contact the finnance company and explain whats going on and tell them your not paying for a duff motor, sit back, and watch the lumps of sh*t hit the fan.

and what silly remarks are you refering to??

your silly remarks

this guy is in real trouble and your making silly comment about " turning up mob handed " and
" drilling holes in car roofs " i mean, whats all
that about ?
we,,,, should be offering any and all help poss, not taking the ****..

in case you didn't notice the first thing i said was to go to the AA or RAC, then to go armed with any and all papers you may have before proceeding down the legal path, the serious answer.... the bits about starting handles,drills and expanding foam is called humour. i sure most people here can deduce which is which. but you need it i'll put a little )) next to it just so you know.
one last thing is you gat anything to say say it out so we can all see it

Citizens Advice Beurau.

That is a good free place to start.

My HG went the other week and it just went, no signs. I can't make any suggestions but hammer the warranty company, a letter from a solicitor my do the job.