Some advice about possible garage mistake

g8tecrasher

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Its a long story but bear with me I'll try and describe what happened as best as possible

We have a 61 plate C Max with 36000 miles on it, I was driving to Lincoln for my sisters wedding, all was good until I came to leave the motorway and tried to go from 6th to 3rd, the car went into gear but would not come out again. I stopped at the side of the road and with the engine off the car went into gear, but when started the gar would not go into gear.

If I started the car in gear it would drive in that gear but wouldnt change. We called the RAC out who diagnosed a failed clutch at roadside as the pedal was on the floor. We recovered it to The local ford dealership and came back the next day.

When we arrived the next day we explained what happened, the garage said it didnt sound like the clutch and was more likely hydraulic, if it was hydraulic it would be a warranty job if it was the clutch it wouldn't.

So they ring up a hour later and say it was the master cylinder as they had found a patch of oil under the drivers side footwell, therefore covered under warranty. Brilliant we think, they say it will be ready at 5pm that day. At half 4 we get a phone call saying the master cylinder is fixed and the car was working however when fixing it THEY broke a seal and would fix that overnight and be ready to get the next morning.

I ring up at 8am next morning and we are told it will be ready to pick up at 9am, the morning of my sisters wedding and as I was driving the bridesmaids we needed the car that morning, so we turn at 9am to be told it will 5 minutes. One hour later we are told that it wasnt the master cylinder that broke was more likely a full gearbox failure!!!!!!!!!!! They tell us they need to take the gearbox out and examine and will be in touch

Off we go to the wedding quite angry etc to get a phone call 3 hours later to be told that they have the gearbox out and they are going to fix the problem "under warranty" despite telling us a gearbox would not be covered by warranty.

So the point of all this IS have they broken my car when they broke the seal and trying to cover their own back ? Because of all this I had to hire a car to get home and want to try and make them pay for this as no courtesy car was available

Sorry for the essay!!!!!!!!
 
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Obviously trying to fill in gaps here, but it sounds to me they thought the master cylinder would fix it.
So when they told you it was fixed, they were assuming it would be.
They were then caught out when they were wrong.
I think highly it unlikely their attempts to repair the master cylinder broke the gearbox.
Good news for you is that it's warranty (don't know why they suggested it wouldn't be)
Down to goodwill if they elect to pay for your hire car, can't see you have any legal justification.
This is the second C-Max I've heard of with gearbox failure.
 
You're right

Their exact words were "the car was fixed, however we broke the seal" then it went to gearbox failure. I wondered if they took it out for a test run with the broken seal, which then contributed to the failure. I know there is no way of ever finding out if this is true I don't know if its even possible, the other point that made me wonder was they were adamant that it would not be a warranty job then all of a sudden it was
 
IMO, the mechanic would have to be one ham-fisted beggar to break the gearbox just because the clutch was acting up.
I've successfully driven several cars with clutch failure (usually broken cables in the olden days) over the years, no gearbox damage.
A clutch just makes gearchanges easier, it's not essential to getting a car driving and it's relatively easy, with practice, to change gears on the move with no clutch at all.
 
I would guess that the concentric slave cylinder was probably at fault and not the gearbox.
The gearbox has to be removed to fit a new concentric slave cylinder...a faulty slave cylinder would cause non selection of gears.
My guess is that they broke the cylinder when bleeding the clutch.
Of course this is complete guesswork, but with a certain degree of knowledge on the subject.
 
As I read the OP, the garage never said the gearbox wouldn't be warranty, only the clutch, as the clutch can wear differently depending on driver use.
What they had said was that the pedal linkage (hydraulic in this instance) did not form part of the clutch, so was warranty.
Whether the gearbox failure was the original problem or a result of mechanic intervention, it was not exempt from warranty under the condition by which the clutch is exempt.
 
Cheers

Got the car back last night, it was the clutch pressure plate, apparently it was cracked. All fixed under warranty, I'm still convinced they did something to it when attempting the fix, obviously I have no proof of this but that's just my instinct
 
Cheers

Got the car back last night, it was the clutch pressure plate, apparently it was cracked. All fixed under warranty, I'm still convinced they did something to it when attempting the fix, obviously I have no proof of this but that's just my instinct

What's the problem??

Your car had a problem - the garage tried to fix it, but their first attempt didn't work, so after further investigations and additional repairs (all under warranty) they finally fixed the problem...
 
No problem at all. I'm over the moon it was fixed under warranty. I just have the feeling there is more to it and the only reason I think this is due to their change in body language and attitude to me, I have no proof, and I will never be able to do anything about it, and to be honest I dont care anymore!!!! :)
 
Glad you got it fixed without cost to yourself :D
 

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