Rep Power: 0

Hey all,

I have a '99 Civic with 200k miles on it. I replaced the timing belt on it when I first purchased the car (at 106k miles), so I figured it was time to replace it again. I took the car into the dealership to have the work done. After they finished, I drove away from the lot, and within 5 minutes my car overheated.

I got out of my car and immediately discovered that all the coolant had leaked out of my car and was running like a river underneath it. After having the car towed back to the dealership, they told me that the heater bypass hose had developed a hole in it, allowing coolant to leak out.

What's worse, is that apparently this incident - my car overheating - caused my head gasket to blow. I'm now faced with $2000 in repairs.

My question is this: When the mechanic was replacing my timing belt and water pump, he also did a multipoint inspection of the car. They gave me a list of recommended maintenance items, but nowhere on that list was anything to do with hoses in bad condition. Their recommended repairs were a leaky oil pump housing and oil pan gasket, and distributor housing leaking.

They gave me a list of things that they looked at during their inspection, and in the list they claim that all the external drive belts and radiator hoses looked to be in good condition.

In all of this, would the mechanic have inspected the heater bypass hose? Where is it in relation to all of the work being done during a timing belt and water pump replacement? I feel as if the heater bypass hose were in such bad condition, it would have been noticed and commented on by the mechanic, or it would have easily failed at any other time, but the fact that it failed 5 minutes after driving off of the lot is very suspicious.

Thanks for any comments or advice!

 
Rep Power: 518

I can't defend the tech or the inspection.
I personally HATE doing the checklist on older cars, because what you experienced is much more likely to happen on older cars...then WE get the blame, like we caused it to happen or something.

It's tough to find all possible problems. Damn near impossible....

Yeah, that sucks. **** happens.
We have no way to predict the future.



Right.




The inspection is supposed to be a visual check only, no tools involved.
Nobody would pressure test the cooling system to see if hoses swell or leak under pressure (unless they have already left visual evidence, or something was noticed during the timing belt job).
And if a pressure test was done, you should be charged accordingly. Not free.


Was the hose oil soaked?
Was the hose dry rotted?


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Ok, you got me. I was the one that poked a pinhole in that hose so it would leak.



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Rep Power: 518

Actually, the hose that usually goes first is the heater hose under the distributor, because it's usually soaked in oil from the distributor leaking.