VW Golf - Engine Fell Out!

Hi I have a 1999 VW Golf 1.9 TDi and on Saturday the engine literally fell out of the bottom of the car as the 3 bolts holding it in had snapped off (turns out I had been driving with it held in by 1 for over

Doesn't sound too bad to me if all the parts replaced are new. If s/h (nothing wrong with that) I reckon he'll do quite well out of it. Certainly doesn't sound like it needs a new engine. Mike.

At rest or at speed?

Quite so! We need to know how extensive is the damage. The OP should post a detail inventory from the garage. Without this all assessment is guesswork. Also helpful is a few photos. The 3 engine mounting brackets have snapped through being rusted through presumably. How could this have happened in 2 years and no one had noticed?! When was the last MOT? Where did the OP get the magic 2 from? Does the inventory include welding back some sound brackets? The 'damage' of the cam belt is ominous. Could that go with not so obvious damage to the pulleys? We need to know more.

Car was only doing aout 10-15 mph when it happened so not too bad

Not sure how or why no-one had noticed but I've been told it'sd something to do with someone undoing bolts and not doing them back up properly, hence the one remaining bolt had to do all of the work and eventually sheared off. No photos unfortunately as it is already in the garage. The last MOT was in January and I am wondering whether this should have been spotted then and/or whther it is an MOT failure, if this is the case am I entitled to go back to the person who did the MOT and claim against them for the cost of repairing the damage?? The damage to the cam belt was caused when the engine slipped over to one side, it's not catastrophic I'm told but better to replace it noww than it cause further damage when the car is back on the road (it's also

All parts are new, I knbow this because he ordered them whilst we were there! I didn't think it needed a new engine ( and apparently the garage that quoted me that has no work to do this week so they obviuosly just wanted something to do, a training exercise)....

Or just possibly they are really busy, didn't want the work unless it was a good earner....

Chris

No it's not an MOT failure. It could be argued that the tester should've spotted it but he's no real reason to be inspecting engine mounts that carefully.

John

Sue the people who removed the engine to change the clutch etc. If you're *sure* it's not been touched from new have a go at VW and involve trading standards etc. This shouldn't have happened at any age on any car.

Was this a professional someone? If it was me, I'd be speaking to trading standards. If the engine had fallen out when you were doing 80, things could have been a good deal more fatal.

It was a professional mechanic but I don't know who, don't think it would be too hard to find out who it was though. Although he claims (though a third party) that as this was 40,000 miles ago it's nothing to do with him. Still worth pursuing?

I'm only glad that we weren't doing 80 mph (as we had been 5 minutes previously) as I don't think I'd be sat here typing this, hence why I think someone should be to blame for it, and that whoever that is they shouldn't be allowed to carry on 'fixing' cars!

If it was when the car was not owned by you, and you don't know who actually performed the work, then it's probably really hard to make a complaint to anyone.

That's exactly what I thought, it was actually work done by the owner who sold the car to the bloke I bought it off, if that makes sense... Looks like I'll just have to pay up and put up with it. But hey it could have been worse...

Work done by the owner - even if they were a professional mechanic - is not unfortunately (in this case) the same as work done by the same mechanic in the course of their trade. There are no warranties, and not such a responsibility to carry out the work in an safe manner. The first owner after the mechanic may have had a claim against him, but unless anything was done with malice, or intent to kill/wound, then that would probably be limited to the purchase price. Your claim would (AIUI) be solely against the second owner after the mechanic, for selling you an unsafe car, and again, would be limited to the purchase price.

It would however be a lot weaker, as he/she/it would presumably have no good reason to suspect that the car was significantly faulty.

Alas, I don't think you've got any legal recourse at all, even if you were to throw huge sums of money at it.

We need regulation, so that anyone who works on their own car has to pass a course run by the car dealer, and carry public liability insurance. (which'd be the only way to fix this, but in practice, would do vastly more harm than good)

Would that be so they can charge for work not carried out or invented and learn how to skimp everything while charging the earth?

It would be absolutely no way to stop bodging. Just look at the regs about gas and electricity installations. It may be illegal to do this work for profit unless registered, but has done nothing to stop the cowboy traders. And the garage trade is *far* worse than either of these ever has been.

I resent most strongly any sugestion that I must pass a course before working on my car, especially one run by my car's manufacturers. This is typical of the nanny state crap that stops me doing half the DIY on my house electrics.

Last time my car went to the local main dealers ( for a cam belt ) it came back with spare bits under the bonnet ( bolts ) broken bits ( air cleaner ) loose bits ( intake ducting - whistle alerted me to investigate ) and jobs missed that I asked them to do.( change accesory belt whilst your'e at it )

I have spent the last 21 years as an aircraft engineer in the RAF - if I let any of those PG Tips rejects near a jet, God only knows what would happen.

Hacked off rigger!

Yup. Every time my car goes to a main dealer they f**k something up or charge for something they haven't done. And are never apologetic for it so this must be the norm. It's a national disgrace.

I'd be ashamed to put out the standard of work that seems the norm with main dealers.

I understand your sentiment, but you are not prevented from DIYing your own electrics. You just need to notify your local authority's Building Control department to get them to assess the work before it starts, then inspect for compliance when finished.

Chris