Has the dealer bust the car and fobbed us off??!

[blackspaven]

Recently, SWMBO's '04 Leon had a problem with the clutch not engaging. Turns out it was the fifth gear hub unit, which was replaced at an authorised SEAT service centre. All that is fine now but on calling them to check the cars status so we could pick it back up, they said that first gear was now a bit notchy and second kept popping out of gear every now and then.

Now, it didn't do any of this before it went in: does anyone know if the work they carried out to succesfully cure the first problem might have caused this new issue? What they wrote was:

'Removed gearbox end cover & replaced faulty fifth gear hub unit, refitted removed parts and roadtested vehicle. On roadtest the technician reported fault with second gear, the gearbox will need to be removed and stripped to identify fault.'

I'm betting it's the synchromesh as it affects 1st AND second although it might just be the gear itself, but I'm curious as to whether something was... moved, or jarred when they were working on the other end, but I don't know enough about the gearbox & linkage to know if that's possible.

Needless to say, the wife is a bit p*ssed off, but we don't know where to go with this.

It's beyond my knowledge, so does anyone have any ideas??

 

[JamesL]

no idea on the fault but if it wasn't like it when it went in then you shouldn't be paying for anything extra IMO

 

[blackspaven]

Yeah, fair enough but how can I force a garage to do something if they do end up refusing to admit liability? We all know how much they won't admit to things even when it's obvious they've done something detremental. How to prove it and win the argument?

If someone on here can say that by them fixing what they did with the 5th gear hub, it's definately possible for them to have caused whatever it is that's wrong with it now then i'd have some ammo for the wife to take to them.

 

[Markyboyt]

I'm not really sure what the 5th gear hub unit is if im honest, but it has been a few years since i did gearbox internals so my memories poor, only thing i thought was the syncromesh unit or the selector fork.

Basically they have been inside your gearbox and now theres a new fault in there, a fault that they didnt report on their road test before hand, surely they have to hold their hands up to it and get it back out and sorted.

 

[blackspaven]

Sort of. The 5th gear hub bit is just bolted onto the other end of the gearbox, away from the flywheel end so they didn't have to take the box off/out at all. It's where the release bearing sits basically. Problem is just that really: they haven't taken the gearbox off the engine but I was wondering if the work they've done can be linked to something going internally. I don't know what they undid to change the hub, but I know they didn't have the box off in it's entirity. I know the actuator rod runs right through the centre of the bit they changed but I don't know if that may have caused anything to change?

You can see why it's a bit of a sticky wicket and a pain in the a*se!

What's the selector fork and what does it do, if that's not a stupid question?