wrong fuel

[mIck j]

hi

ive got a 320d 2011    owned for 2 months and under in house warranty

broken down,no drama just stopped at a red light woudlnt start and engine warning light came on so i rang the garage the came and got the car  after 6 weeks they come back to me saying id put petrol in a diesel    i deny this    few facts  i filled up 17 days before failure drove 100s of miles and 60 plus on the day i broke down

my question is   can a garage fake this? is there any way to prove it? or does anyone have history with fighting it legally?

[Greydog]

Morning Mick

First look at the other side of the equation, why would a garage fake the problem? A mechanical issue would be covered under warranty so the garage would be paid an issue such as wrong fuel wouldn't be covered obviously. Petrol in a diesel car is potentially damaging particularly to the low pressure and high pressure fuel pumps and in extreme cases accelerated engine wear this is because diesel has a lubricating effect. So assuming this was a one off occurrence, and not a complete tank used you may be lucky with a fuel drain, new fuel filter a flush to clean the lines and refill with Diesel.

That's difficult particularly as you had filled up 17 days before? A receipt or Credit card statement proving that you put the correct fuel in would help. The next question has anyone else driven the car and could have put fuel in? The only thing left is the possibility of contaminated fuel at the filling station if that is the case you would expect more cases locally. There gave been a number of contaminated fuel cases in the last couple of years.

Sorry if this raises more questions than answers 

Dave

[mIck j]

it was an inhouse warranty  that they farmed out to another garage which apparently has since sold and closed so the people ive bought from are stuck with 1700 quids worth of repairs thats probably why they are faking it

the receipt was produced but as it was so long before they said it was not proof  (£85.71)  so definately a full tank,  no one else drives the car     im just venting my frustrations as ive asked my insurance for advice (useless) and there doesnt seem to be any avenue to follow apart from small claims ,which im led to believe fail more times than not in these, he says she says, cases

[Greydog]

£1700 for what? 

Bosch high pressure pump around £600 (new) £50 to £100 (recycled) Fuel filter £20 (new) Bosch Tank pump £100 (new) £20 to £50 (recycled) which seems to point to around £1000 in labour plus VAT that's close to Main Dealer price

As the whole thing could be a bit of a legal mire,  I would first ask "what you paid for as the Warranty is not available" My personal route would be (DIY) but if you can't do that take the car to an Independent garage get the fuel Changed and fuel filter changed and test the fuel pressure at the fuel rail. If it is OK the car should run fine. If the tank pump doesn't run (check and change) worst news would be the high pressure pump as well 

Best of luck getting it sorted

Dave

 

[mIck j]

they are saying new pump ,4 x injectors fuel pump in tank,pre supply pump,filter    is out of my skill set and the car is only worth 4k   so its a bad situation all round   

thanks for replying though

[Greydog]

Sounds like a BMW Main Dealer second opinion needed I think

Dave