206 Engine Trouble

[206driver]

Hi All,

I have a 206 CC 2003 Petrol, the engine has failed and the damage is going to cost about £1000 to fix. The damage, I'm told by a local garage, was caused by a nut not being replaced on the far right of the plastic inlet manifold. He says

"This weak mixture over one cylinder causes the combustion temp. to rocket , and over a period can easily burn out an exhaust valve or even a piston.this l believe is what has happened to yours. (it is also a fairly well documented phenomenon.."

I've always had any engine work and servicing done at the same main Peugeot dealer, and bought the car from new from them and so it must have been left off by them - the part it screws onto is about 2-3 inches long so there's no way it could have worked loose. The last work they did on the car was replacing the heating matrix which they say they would have done coming from the dashboard side of the car and not touching any major parts of the engine. Currently they've rejected any liability on their part and I'm wondering what to do next.

I don't know whether to start legal proceedings yet, or to keep on at them - I have the receipts of pretty much all of the work done on the car.

Thanks for any help.

[danielr]

I'm not trying to drive traffic away from these forums.

but.... if you are planning to take on Peugeot through courts then either go to the pistonheads law side forum, or somewhere like consumeractiongroup who have sections that deal specifically with garages and what to do where to go etc. of of course consider getting a solicitor.

Do you have what you've gotten from the garage written down on paper? (that the fault is a missing bolt/loose part?)

If not then you need to get that done. (get it written down).
you'll need to know how much it'll cost to fix so that you know how much you want to claim from Peugeot, and you'll also need to be aware that it's likely to be a long long time before you can use your car again as pug are going to want to arrange their own independent inspection, the results of which may differ from yours.

but principally, provided that you have engineers reports done that say that this is the case (fault caused by incorrect re-assembly of engine). and that fits in with the time line of the last time they did any work on the car.
The you should issue them with a letter telling them that you would like them to fix your car, because of the fault that they caused, or to have them pay to have your car fixed.
then if they say no. or don't respond, take them to court and fight it out there.

It's not easy, it's not quick, and it's not guaranteed that you'd win in court.
it's probably also going to cost you more than the cost of the repair in time and money to actually get to court.
(professional reports aren't free, it costs to actually file a claim in court...)

you should be able to add your costs to the claim at the end so that the garage pay them (IF you win)

I'm not saying roll over and take it... just saying be careful what you wish for.

[206driver]

Thanks for your response, much appreciated. In your opinion, do you think the damage was caused by the missing nut? Thanks again.

[davidireland]

That sounds like absolute rubbish. Can you post a picture of said area on the engine. I'm sure I can identify.

[206driver]

Hi

Thanks for your response, any help is very much appreciated. Pics attached.

[davidireland]

Originally Posted by 206driver

Attachment 1987

Attachment 1988

Attachment 1989

Hi

Thanks for your response, any help is very much appreciated. Pics attached.

Ok,
Judging from what I can see is that the valve overheated and most likely from a lean mixture.
You would have definitely had running problems as the engine would have been drawing air. The engine managment light may have been on.
I don't see that the stud missing could have caused the problem as there are fairly large o-rings used as gaskets between the manifold and the head.
Althought anything is possible.
What is the top of the piston like?

[206driver]

Many thanks. Believe the piston is fine. Engine light came on stating anti pollution fault, loss of speed. Spark plugs and coil pack replaced to no avail. No fault with bottom half of the engine, cat fine. Sorry to be vague, difficult to understand all this. Can ask the Garage and AA for more info tomorrow, both coming up with nut leading to fault. Confused.

[davidireland]

What were the faults?

[danthevan]

That's more of a break than valve burn.
Are they saying the original nut has been dropped into the inlet which has taken the side of the valve off?

[danielr]

The opinion of people on forums isn't really relevant unless they are a professional engineer who is qualified. And they come to see your car, Not when you're going to court. What I mean is if you're determined to go the court route.

Think about what's said above. There is now a different opinion on how the damage was caused. One that you should have noticed. And gotten fixed before massive failure.

What if Peugeot get an engineers report that says that?

What I said earlier about being prepared for lots of inpependant engineers to do reports...
No garage will happily cough up a load of money.