I had this happen in Africa. When you lose your coolant the temp gauge is effectively measuring the air temperature - not a great solution. However the check coolant warning should trigger first (if you are lucky). Running a V8 at 2000rpm with no coolant will not end well....

The boiling oil is indicative of an engine running without coolant for more than 60 seconds. Land Rover Addict
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Hi guys,

So after many months of wrangling we’re still no nearer to sorting the situation out! We have now had a second engineer’s report who has concluded that the head gasket failure was brought about by failure to maintain the correct coolant mix over an extended period of time. He has concluded there was no clear rupture in either cylinder head gasket, but clear indications of coolant seepage between the water galleries and cylinder bores – this was historical rather than recent due to the condition and deposits on the cylinder head, there was also evidence of combustion gas leakage between the cylinder bores. He found no evidence to support the ‘damage by driving on’ statement of the previous engineer. The engineer concludes the engine was bought by head gasket seepage over an extended period of time brought about by lack of proper maintenance prior to us buying the vehicle.

So, we’re going after the dealer again, there is evidence prior to the vehicle being sold to us the car went into a LR main dealer to investigate coolant loss but no obvious leak was found, further evidence was a week coolant mixture detected when we had the car subject to LR specialist health check.

I’ve decided to repair the car as I need it and rejecting the vehicle is likely to be a long, drawn out process. So I’m moving up to a specialist guy in Shropshire who just rebuilds LR engines and fits them on an exchange basis. I’d prefer a LR rebuilt engine but LR have none in stock and say they don’t anticipate supply until end Jan 2014 at the earliest!

The problem is the car is stuck in a garage local to the dealer and they want 3K in storage!! As we never instructed them to do any work; their relationship is with dealer and we never asked to have the engine stripped and removed from the car, the dealer did this in collusion with the RAC Warranty, our solicitor has advised the garage have no right to keep the car! I.e. no lien on it as we have no contract with them. Anybody got any advice or found themselves in a similar position??

Many thanks

If you can get it fixed then do that. Then small claims for damages, same timeframe as rejection but less inconvenient /risk

hmm just reread that and didn't answer your question regarding the £3k storage. H'mmm not sure on that...

XJR, glad to hear that the independent engineer report found you had no blame in the engine failure.

So have you or your solicitor approached the dealer and explained the findings of your engineers report? I would imagine you will have to give them the opportunity to fix the problem before taking small claims action against them. If this avenue has already been tried then inform them of your intention to proceed with your claim.

If your solicitor has advised you the garage have no right to keep the car in the garage then I would talk with the solicitor further as they should be able to assist or put you in contact with someone who can. Then arrange to have the car collected asap and shipped to your preferred garage for repair.

One option I guess would be to pay the charge with the intention of claiming it back, but not sure if you would then go over the £10k small claims limit. Other than that I have no idea how you deal with the situation of the £3k in storage fees that they are claiming are owed.

Hopefully someone else wiser in this sort of thing may comment?

Best of luck XJR, I really do hope this gets resolved for you in a satisfactory way.

You could possibly negotiate repair of your RR with the garage in question & ask them in return to wave storage then claim against warranty/dealer for cost of repair. To me that would be easier & far less stressful. maybe even offer to supply a good used unit/new/reconditioned. Any business would rather come to a conclusion that everyone walks away happy than risk of court action etc. Worse things happen at sea! Well thats what swmbo said when WRENS came to sea!!!

3 grand storage?????
WTF
That's more than 30 quid a day!!!
Where has it been stored? Heathrow short stay with a wash and valet every week! They are trying to have your pants down mate?

Hi XJR,

I can't offer much advice but I just wanted to say I am sorry to hear about your problems and just be sure to not let it get to your health.

My dad had a similar situation as you regarding his VX frontera, countless engine rebuilds, poured all his money into it and drained him more than he cares to remember. I could see the toll it took on him.

Its troublesome, simply put I feel the warranty company should cover you and if you read up on the internet a lot of the time their first reaction usually is not to pay out until you fight for it.

Fight for it! Send them a letter every 3 days, advise them you are looking to do to court, you have an independant report to say you were not at fault, the fault existed, you were sold it in good faith and purchased in good faith.

When the warranty was taken out, generally an engineer comes out to examine the car, if this was not done, it is their issue not yours; if the dealer was meant to examine the car before selling then its the dealers issue.

One thing is for sure, its was not your fault. Stick in their - get the car fixed, take a step back and try and not let it get to you too much.

Its easy to say but its just money and I am sure everyone at some point in their life has had a car which has given them a lot of problems and cost them thousands and thousands of pounds.

Good Luck with everything. You do have rights! Just let people know you have them too!

@xjr264:

Quote - "The problem is the car is stuck in a garage local to the dealer and they want 3K in storage!! As we never instructed them to do any work; their relationship is with dealer and we never asked to have the engine stripped and removed from the car, the dealer did this in collusion with the RAC Warranty, our solicitor has advised the garage have no right to keep the car! I.e. no lien on it as we have no contract with them. Anybody got any advice or found themselves in a similar position??"

1. What do you mean 'stuck in a garage local to the dealer' - Do you mean that as part of the initial diagnosis and assessment as to what to do next to repair the car, the selling dealer advised you to take the car to this particular garage because it is affiliated to and/ or is a garge the selling dealer uses (in short, how did the car end up at this particular garage)?

2. '3k in storage' - At what point did you become aware that any storage charges would apply and is there a written record to prove that you were aware of storage charges, the date you became aware of storage charges and the rate of storage charges?

This reference to '3k' storage, dispute over repair liability or not - and as evident by some forum reaction - is not what most people would expect in these circumstances. Trying to assert that £3k storage is now owed (a large amount of money in a relatively short period of time) on the face of it, could easily be interpreted as a 'bully boy', disingenuous and underhand tactic designed to pressure you into paying for what they claim is the repair cost in exchange for them waving the 'storage charge'.