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hi there ,
i have bought a wagon nissan elgrand 2002 about 6 months ago and bought through car dealer. two months after within 2500kms catalyic convertor was problem . i took to nissan dealer they found rear cat convertor was block and melted. vehicle was coverd by mechanical warrenty but warranty company refuse too pay saying we donot cover. so i fix it from my pocket. after month later another was causing same problem so i took to pit stop people . they said other side rear is blocked and we replace it and then they said cat failure caused by bad engine if your engine is blowing back or engine oil label is going down it will stuff the cat convertor . so i took to my machanic for advise . he said same thing he pull the spark plug out and found engine oil on tips. so he ask me to take it for compression test and we found very low compresssion. so i rang wrannty company and they ask me to take the vehicle to authorise repairer , so i took the vehicle to same dealers workshop and they strip the motor and said the head bores are demaged and refer to warrenty company but now they are refuse to pay the claim saying debris from cat convertor cause demage to engine. and dealer i bought the vehicle from also refuse to accept the responsibilty . i had policy through dealer but now both are runing away. i pay 17000 to dealer for this vehicle now they are asking for another 8800 for secondhand motor plus fiitting and extra 2000 for strip the engine. so my question is that what is your opinion about this. can catalyic convertor cause demage to engine specially rear cat because this vehicle has four catalyic convertors . two front and two rear . i have spoken to pit stop and another two experience mechanic they said this is not true. bad engine cause failure of catalyic convertor not cat cause engine to fail.and in this situation what is best legal advice and what can be done legally .should i go to consumer court or private lawyer .because my car is in million of pieces in their workshop from last two month but i have tried everthing but warrenty company refuse to pay. please tell me who provide this sort of legal advise.
kind regards
balkar
There are many reasons for a catalytic converter to fail and one of them is a worn engine. If you bought the vehicle from a registered dealer (not an auction or private sale) you will be covered by the consumer guarantees act (CGA). The CGA covers you for a reasonable amount of time. In this case you should go to the disputes tribunal (department of the courts), if the selling dealer does not wish to assist. I believe the selling dealer should have assisted from the beginning with the catalytic converters but this would depend if you approached them, gave them the opportunity to fix it, before you had it repaired. Contact the disputes tribunal on 0800 367 6838. You should hold off with any further work on the vehicle until the matter is resolved.
thank you sir,