alexincornwall
Well-Known Member
Long story short, we had a major coolant leak on our engine, suspected fresh water pump seal failure. Ordered new part from well-known and regarded parts supplier. Not original equipment but looked to be very high quality.
Suspecting that this would be beyond my capabilities to replace, I called in my usual highly experienced engineer who very kindly agreed to help at short notice. He concurred that it would be a pig to fit; the access is extremely tight and the pump sits behind the timing belt arrangement. He wasn’t wrong, I spend the day with him and it was indeed an absolute nightmare to even remove the old part, let alone fit the new. End result being that the labour costs were six times the price of the part.
All looked good on the first run but sadly it let us down on a proper sea trial (150nm) and our drip has returned, albeit no where near as as disastrous as it had been. It’s not out of the question that there was an error in installation, but it seems far more likely that the new pump is defective. I have a lot of respect for the engineer that fitted the part and he has advised that if there was a fitting error, they’ll reinstall for free. Understandably, if the pump is defective they’re going to have to charge me again.
The pump supplier has agreed to replace a defective pump free of charge, but made no comment where secondary labour charges were concerned (probably because I didn’t ask at the time). So where do I stand on this? If the pump is defective then is the supplier liable to “help” with secondary labour charges or am I going to have to suck this up and pay twice? The first bill was tricky to swallow, a second will be positively nauseating!
Suspecting that this would be beyond my capabilities to replace, I called in my usual highly experienced engineer who very kindly agreed to help at short notice. He concurred that it would be a pig to fit; the access is extremely tight and the pump sits behind the timing belt arrangement. He wasn’t wrong, I spend the day with him and it was indeed an absolute nightmare to even remove the old part, let alone fit the new. End result being that the labour costs were six times the price of the part.
All looked good on the first run but sadly it let us down on a proper sea trial (150nm) and our drip has returned, albeit no where near as as disastrous as it had been. It’s not out of the question that there was an error in installation, but it seems far more likely that the new pump is defective. I have a lot of respect for the engineer that fitted the part and he has advised that if there was a fitting error, they’ll reinstall for free. Understandably, if the pump is defective they’re going to have to charge me again.
The pump supplier has agreed to replace a defective pump free of charge, but made no comment where secondary labour charges were concerned (probably because I didn’t ask at the time). So where do I stand on this? If the pump is defective then is the supplier liable to “help” with secondary labour charges or am I going to have to suck this up and pay twice? The first bill was tricky to swallow, a second will be positively nauseating!
