Ask an expert

I have had a rather unpleasant experience with my Mitsubishi Challenger which I have had serviced regularly for the last 4 years.

Recently the vehicle stopped suddenly in the middle of an intersection only 950km after one of those services. An investigation into the fault revealed that a timing chain guide had broke and basically destroyed the engine.

My garage organised a replacement engine and the repair price was quoted at between $4,500 and $5,000.

When I got my car back 4 weeks later the bill came to $6,500 which I can't say I was terribly impressed with. After further investigation I discovered the garage concerned had never serviced the timing chain and surrounding components.

They also said it was very unusual for the chain to break.

The Challenger at the time of the breakdown had only driven 211,000km's which I don't believe is very high for a Diesel. When I questioned how it was possible for something to break that apparently never breaks, they told me that after 211,000km's anything could happen.

Only 5,000km later the car stopped again, this time they said it was the injector pump. It was suggested by the garage that the supplier of the engine should be paying for this and was told to "leave it with them".

When I dropped the vehicle off there was no mention of any issues in getting the engine supplier to pay for this problem. The vehicle was returned to me a week later and then a bill arrived for $1,600.

Apparently, they had the injector pump overhauled and also replaced a cam plate that was worn out. The replacement engine was only supposed to have driven 140,000km's.

I objected to paying for this and asked what happened to the engine supplier and was told that they had refused to accept any responsibility.

Sonja

While I feel sorry for you in regards to the costs you have incurred on this vehicle, I have to give some support to the garage as well.

Timing chains and guides are not checked or inspected on any regular servicing schedule programme on any vehicle that I am aware of. The chain guide for example on your vehicle is impossible to inspect without considerable dismantling of the engine. Unless there is an uncharacteristic chain noise then it is impossible to predict the life of the chain or the guides etc. At over 200,000kms it can simply boil down to bad luck.

I'm sure there are owners of similar vehicles with higher km's than yours but once again it's the luck of the draw sometimes with these failures.

Regular servicing reduces the risk of major engine failure but will never guarantee it won't happen.

If the original injector pump was reused on the rebuilt then once again it can simply be bad luck. Or, if the pump was part of the replacement engine, it is possible there were no guarantees on its condition.

A replacement engine which has travelled 140,000kms is in itself a big risk. Who would really know how well has it been serviced in the past?

It sounds like the communication could have been a lot better between you and the garage and the difference in the price estimated compared to the finished job initially, is disappointing to read.

From a technical point of view however, I don't believe they have done much wrong