Ask an expert

Hello, I have had some trouble with my Mazda Atenza 2008. Basically, I would love some expert advice on the following:

I had my radiator replaced as my car overheated, but straight after the repair, I noticed gurging (I had never heard this before) so I took the car back and was advised that it was nothing to worry about. No tests were done at that time. Then 3 months later my car blew a head gasket. I have spoken with the mechanic who did the head gasket repair and he has told me that the water jacket/junction was faulty potentially tampered with and was leaking which he thinks caused the head gasket to blow. I have photos of this water jacket. I went back and looked at the invoice from the radiator repair and they actually mention that they noticed that this water jacket was leaking and replaced a seal. But this part failed only 3 months later.

I have since gone back to the radiator repair mechanic with all of the above and they say that if the water jacket was faulty the car would not have travelled 4000km. Which the car did (slightly under) in the 3 months between the radiator replacement and head gasket failure. So they say they are at no fault and will not talk to me further.

I am not an expert but I feel that they have some responsibility since they touched the part that failed and that I also took the car back to them twice after the repair with concerns. How can they say the faulty water housing wouldn't last 4000km. The head gasket mechanic disputes this saying that it would be impossible to know when the part would fail, only that it would fail.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
Amy

I think you will need to take the vehicle to an independent to garage for an assessment along will all the invoices you have as its difficult to determine what has happened without viewing the vehicle and its affected parts.
You can then share what is found with the repairer if they are deemed responsible, offer them a chance to resolve the issue and if they dispute the findings you would need to take the issue to the disputes tribunal.

Hi Ian, thank you for the reply. Sadly I have asked many places for an independent assessment - even Mazda! and I cannot find anyone willing to comment as they don't want to get involved. Very frustrating as I don't fully understand why. That's what lead me to ask here.