Before i start i know im fighting a loosing battle but, its december, ive got to pay a large repair bill the 2 things i hate most :-)

So as some may have read before i bought a nice and tidy 1.9tdi octy for 3495 with 52k on the clock 1 owner FSH bla bla bla... i have a little read on the repairs and notice that its had a recon box put on. At 52k that had me worried. My dad decided to get hold of the previous owner and see what happened. He went on to say that they garage wanted to charge £2000 To change the gearbox because it needed sending off and then youve got the clutch and the flywheel too. So the bloke sold the garage the car in a p/x. Now on my service history the repairs are 495 for the gearbox overhaul. 76 for clutch kit. But nothing on DMF!?!?

The car came with 3 months warrenty in which it went back to the garage at least 6 times. A faulty relay. Aircon broke. And then the gears where crunching like nothing else. But the kept palming me away until my warrenty with them ran out and now bang. An early present for christmas. Your DMF has failed sir! That'll be £800 please! :-(

If they knew the DMF was faulty before then yes

Sad truth time mate

The garage sold you the car 6 months ago with 3 month warranty. The flywheel wasn't gone 6 months ago and didn't go within the warranty period. To prove that they knew about it would be difficult and they will argue that it has happened in the 3 months since the warranty ran out. Which is possible

Their dealings with the previous owner has no bearing on you really

You say in your other post...

'When i first got the car the gears where crunching, which i now know to be the gear linkages (sorted that)'

If adjusting the gear linkages 'sorted' the problem, then I assume that the DMF was OK at that point. Were there any noises after the gear linkages were adjusted?

A failing DMF has a very distinctive sound and doesn't usually cause gears to crunch

Mine has been fitted with a solid flywheel and a Valeo clutch. Worth doing this? It drives fine.

Yes, I would avoid the DMF if possible.

Put it this way a solid flywheel will outlast the car by 100 years at the bottom of the sea where as a DMF will come apart after 100k miles ish.

Wow thanks for the response everyone.

@rwbaldwin once the linkages were done there was mainly a but of vibration through the clutch pedal

@frisco ive rang trading standards and they say that i am well within my right to go ahead and pursue this as i took the car back and complained while it was in the warrenty period.

Id also like to add that if a car needs a new gearbox after 50 odd thousand miles its clear that the car has been through a hard 50thousand. Surely its good practice to fully rectify all forseeable problems. As well all know a gearbox generally will withstand more gruntbthan a DMF so to me it seemsmobvious the DMF would be far from perfect

But DMF's are components that are known to wear, along with clutches, and wouldn't be covered by a warranty anyway, as far as I can tell, unless the fault was clearly obvious on the day you bought the car, and you pointed out there and then that you wanted it rectifying. It MAY be worth an attempt at pursuing, but it's not one I'd bother with. You certainly paid a lot for the car though, whatever the condition...

I'd be fitting a standard flywheel and a suitable clutch and reaping the rewards of the improvement personally, despite the fact that I'm flat broke.

Did you complain about the DMF itself or just crunching gears? Crunching gears is not a symptom of DMF failure, usually when the flywheel starts to come apart it jams the starter but you can still get gears fine.

The gearbox could have been knackered for any number of reasons. Maybe the previous owner hit a rock and split the casing and drove around with no oil in it, I've seen all sorts of idiotic stuff done by people.

Chase it if you want but I wouldn't, they will make a good argument that it wasn't gone when you bought it and it didn't go within the warranty period. Going by your first post you didn't go back and complain about DMF issues you went back about crunching gears.

Did you complain about the DMF itself or just crunching gears? Crunching gears is not a symptom of DMF failure, usually when the flywheel starts to come apart it jams the starter but you can still get gears fine.

The gearbox could have been knackered for any number of reasons. Maybe the previous owner hit a rock and split the casing and drove around with no oil in it, I've seen all sorts of idiotic stuff done by people.

Chase it if you want but I wouldn't, they will make a good argument that it wasn't gone when you bought it and it didn't go within the warranty period. Going by your first post you didn't go back and complain about DMF issues you went back about crunching gears.

+1

I would just add that I am not convinced that you have a DMF failure. If you can, get a second opinion. If the car is already in bits, this may be difficult. In this case I'd ask them to show you the DMF. Take a photo of it.