Who should repair my modified diesel Nissan Navara?
QUESTION
Good afternoon John,
My daughter purchased a 2015 Nissan Navara D23 second-hand around August 2020, and within a few months we had a diesel mechanic install a high performance catch can and replaced the intake hose after oil had begun dripping on the manifold and creating smoke.
Three months later she reported her aircon wasn’t very cold. As she was a student at the time, and not very cashed up, she said she would wait until next summer rolled around to have it looked at, so last week as we had a small heatwave she went off to an auto electrician/air con man to find out the issue.
It didn’t take him long to determine she had no gas and the culprit was the AC liquid line. This AC line had the catch can assembly basically mounted over it and the line had rubbed against the catch can and eventually punctured.
Returned to the diesel mechanic who installed the catch can who proceeded to blame everyone but himself.
After dodging my calls for a couple of days, he finally calls and says the manufacturer will contact me to sort it out, and adds, "It’s not my fault, but as an act of goodwill I’ll re-gas it for you when you get it fixed." A day passes and I call High Performance Diesel in South Australia.
Their representative informs me their kit is not at fault and they have sold hundreds of these kits with no issues. I ask him if this is just a badly installed job or if the catch can/bracket is not fit-for-purpose? He answers that he believes the aircon pipe should have been “bent or moved out of the way as shown in the picture that accompanied the kit." Although, I might add the instructions that came with the kit make no mention of this.
HPD said the installer should have been aware and made sure the pipes were well clear. He also tried to suggest we should have the or heard the pipe rattling against the catch can and had it checked - he even used the analogy that if he taps his pen against his ruler he can hear it. I asked him if he could hear his pen rubbing against his ruler. No, he replied.
But he declined to put any of this in writing, of course.
At the end of the day the repair quote is around $950 ($450 for the new line + $300 labour + $200 for re-gas), which is a lot of money for my daughter.
Do I have any recourse with Dept. of Fair Trading or MTA? I really believe this is just plain and simple bad workmanship, combined with poor instructions from the catch can manufacturer.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Brendan
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ANSWER
Brendan,
The best cure for a leaking pipe/hose is simply to replace the pipe/hose.
I fail to see why a catch can is even necessary. Modern engines are designed to drink PCV vapours. (Make sure she gets the oil changed on time, or twice as often as the schedule states if she’s mainly driving locally on short trips. This reduces oil dilution.)
The options are: Go see your solicitor for 30 minutes and ask about the viability of recovering the repair cost from the diesel mechanic, who, it seems to me, might have botched the installation and allowed the catch can and the A/C hose to rub against each other. The catch can itself appears not to be defective based on your comments, so the manufacturer of it is hardly liable for the repair.
$450 for a piece of hose/pipe is absurd. There have to be other options (such as find one at a wrecker or get a piece of pipe made by some specialist hydraulics/hose-fitting operation.)
This seems very expensive to me - if you’re getting it done by a Nissan dealer there are probably several cheaper independent alternatives. Try Scott Fleming (The Rev Doctor) who I understand is a good bloke and does quality work.
You know how I always say, ‘Don’t modify the vehicle’? This is essentially why.
Sincerely,
JC
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