WE have a friend who was heading south last week and had the water pump on their Class C fail. When they came out of shopping in Kentucky, there was a flood of coolant under the RV. They had it towed to a local garage and there a new water pump was installed. Due to coolant mixed with the oil, the garage had to change the oil and oil filter also.With the pump repaired, they headed south again, only to find that they were losing oil at an alarming rate. When they stopped, the side of the camper was covered with fresh oil. They had it towed to a garage in Tennessee and the engine was pronounced dead. A new engine change would run more than $7000.00, which is more than the camper is worth.I would think that the original garage should bear a good portion of the cost, since it seems that their negligence caused the problem.Any Ideas???Paul

TEO wrote:WE have a friend who was heading south last week and had the water pump on their Class C fail. When they came out of shopping in Kentucky, there was a flood of coolant under the RV. They had it towed to a local garage and there a new water pump was installed. Due to coolant mixed with the oil, the garage had to change the oil and oil filter also.With the pump repaired, they headed south again, only to find that they were losing oil at an alarming rate. When they stopped, the side of the camper was covered with fresh oil. They had it towed to a garage in Tennessee and the engine was pronounced dead. A new engine change would run more than $7000.00, which is more than the camper is worth.I would think that the original garage should bear a good portion of the cost, since it seems that their negligence caused the problem.Any Ideas???Paulone would assume so based on your post however a failed water pump on a gas engine will NEVER result in coolant mixed with the oil so there has to be more to the story somewhere along the line

TEO wrote:WE have a friend who was heading south last week and had the water pump on their Class C fail. When they came out of shopping in Kentucky, there was a flood of coolant under the RV. They had it towed to a local garage and there a new water pump was installed. Due to coolant mixed with the oil, the garage had to change the oil and oil filter also.With the pump repaired, they headed south again, only to find that they were losing oil at an alarming rate. When they stopped, the side of the camper was covered with fresh oil. They had it towed to a garage in Tennessee and the engine was pronounced dead. A new engine change would run more than $7000.00, which is more than the camper is worth.I would think that the original garage should bear a good portion of the cost, since it seems that their negligence caused the problem.Any Ideas???PaulWas does pronounced dead mean? What kind of engine? What is wrong with the engine. My water pump went out on the road and it did not put any coolant in the oil. I sounds to me like he had more issues than a water pump on the first breakdown.

I don't see any obviously liability anywhere. As mentioned, the water pump is not related to any sort of oil handling and simply losing oil would not cause an engine to be DOA. Simply stopping and getting towed to a location where the oil leak could be evaluated would have been all that was necessary.

When you said their was coolant in the oil, that made me think that the engine had a blown head gasket right off the bat. Are you sure they even needed a water pump? Coolant could have been from engine overheat because of a blown gasket. I think their problem was misdiagnosed.

Most of the story is missing. If it is a clunker like you said it was garage is no way at faault. DON'T TRAVEL IN SOMETHING UNRELIABLE IMO

Friend with a major problem | Good Sam Community

FormerBoater
Explorer
Dec 04, 2013
Again, what does this have to do with Class A Motorhomes?
Lantley
Nomad
Dec 04, 2013
Everyone is missing the coolant in the oils issue. If there was coolant in the oil the MH had more problems than just a water pump. The coolant leak needed to be diagnosed in addition to the water pump.
This whole mess is not a legal issue based on this thread. There are too many facts missing to make any bonafide legal claim or judgement. Anyone even mentioning the court system is suit happy in my book.
OhhWell
Explorer
Dec 04, 2013
Bill.Satellite wrote:
OhhWell wrote:
Bill.Satellite wrote:
Yep, there's the "let's sue everyone" response.

Really... Can you point out where I said to sue everybody?

There is a reason we have a court system. If you go through reasonable channels and cannot get resolution and are certain you are correct, you can go to court and a judge will determine who is right.

There would be nothing wrong with filing in civil if a repair facility not only didn't fix your engine right but neglectfully damaged your radiator and overlooked a more serious problem that caused complete engine failure AND refused to take any responsibility.

Now, if one were suggesting to inflate the "lawsuit" for emotional distress etc., then I could understand your comment. I'm sure if this happened to you, you would just let it go right? And there should be no repercussions for a repair shop completely botching a job and causing further damage right?

That would have some teeth if the person had even spoken to the repair folks about what happened and why. Instead, someone said their engine is dead, they want to sue someone and you agree.
I don't!

I agree that the owner needs to contact the repair shop. I have mentioned that.

As to the simplification you posed of the whole thread and my participation in it, they questioned whether the original repair shop should be responsible for some of the damage and I put forth that from what was told they sounded like they were and if they did not step up, a civil suite would probably be in order or at least the only recourse.

But that's alright. Some people will only hear what they want to hear regardless of what is actually said. I include myself in that statement at times.
OhhWell
Explorer
Dec 04, 2013
dad4papa2 wrote:
For sure there is not enough info from the OP for any of you to give him suggestive help. I think what turned alot of these posts into a hateful post is that the op stateded it was a junk heap or something like that and not worth putting that many dollars in.

Well I for one disagree. If it has been well maintained the age doesn't mean anything. If the OP is not the owner then he may be the one stating it is a junk heap. the real owner may be considering it a palace. Lets don't just jump to conclusions before getting all the details.

Well I guess I shouldn't rant here but when people get rude on some of these posts it just gets to me.

I'm out!!!!!

Man, I agree completely. There is a lot of spite and nastiness here. I bet anything their tone would be different if it happened to them. I even have to get some hate for potentially siding with the OP's friend even though I always qualified my posts as based on the situation as I understood it to be based on limited information.

In the end, the person's RV is a rolling heap of rust ridden junk that hasn't been maintained, the repair shop most likely didn't do anything wrong and I am a litigious person who is part of the problem with this country.

At least that's what I got out of it all.
dad4papa2
Explorer
Dec 04, 2013
For sure there is not enough info from the OP for any of you to give him suggestive help. I think what turned alot of these posts into a hateful post is that the op stateded it was a junk heap or something like that and not worth putting that many dollars in.

Well I for one disagree. If it has been well maintained the age doesn't mean anything. If the OP is not the owner then he may be the one stating it is a junk heap. the real owner may be considering it a palace. Lets don't just jump to conclusions before getting all the details.

Well I guess I shouldn't rant here but when people get rude on some of these posts it just gets to me.

I'm out!!!!!
jeepfreak
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
Really need to know the chassis of the MH. How does one get oil all over the side of the coach? Was it dripping underneath? Just not enough info.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Dec 03, 2013
OhhWell wrote:
Bill.Satellite wrote:
Yep, there's the "let's sue everyone" response.

Really... Can you point out where I said to sue everybody?

There is a reason we have a court system. If you go through reasonable channels and cannot get resolution and are certain you are correct, you can go to court and a judge will determine who is right.

There would be nothing wrong with filing in civil if a repair facility not only didn't fix your engine right but neglectfully damaged your radiator and overlooked a more serious problem that caused complete engine failure AND refused to take any responsibility.

Now, if one were suggesting to inflate the "lawsuit" for emotional distress etc., then I could understand your comment. I'm sure if this happened to you, you would just let it go right? And there should be no repercussions for a repair shop completely botching a job and causing further damage right?

That would have some teeth if the person had even spoken to the repair folks about what happened and why. Instead, someone said their engine is dead, they want to sue someone and you agree.
I don't!
Bird_Freak
Explorer II
Dec 03, 2013
OhhWell wrote:
Bird Freak wrote:
Too many sue happy people. If the radiator was leaking when it was picked up from the shop then yes the repair shop is at fault If it had holes in it. If the neck came loose from a rotted radiator when the hose was removed then no he is not. If the oil came from a loose plug or oil filter then he is responsible. If not then he is not. Nothing like having a judge settle something like this that has no knowledge of engines but you see it all the time. Wonder why shops charge so much? Too many people want to blame a shop for things breaking on old worn out vehicles that have not been maintained. Ever think the radiator may be rotted and the pressure from a new pump may have blown the rust out. NO, just sue them for a new one!

No, I didn't think that because the OP stated that the damage done to the radiator was consistent with impacts from a tool in the area of the water pump.

Why on earth are you so insistent that the owner of the motorhome is at fault here? It sounds like you are a former mechanic with an axe to grind due to bad customers. No one can say for sure but from what has been reported so far, this doesn't SEEM like the case.

For disclosure, I have only ever been in court once and that was when I was at a stoplight in a Kia Spectra and slammed into in the rear at 35mph by a Navigator driven by an illegal immigrant with no license. Even then, it was just to cover my medical bills.
If you read my post you will see that I never laid the blame on anyone. I just stated what I have seen happen on older vehicles and if you check my sig you will see that I do have a lot of experience with old vehicles. People shouldn't be so quick to blame or want to sue anyone until all the facts are in. Kind of like you saying I am insistent on blaming the owner for this when I have not. As you can see its very easy to jump on you wagon without knowing all the facts. I have no axe to grind anywhere.
camper_ron
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
With the information provided I would most likely come to this conclusion. If Rv was heading south may have been coming from cold environment, cracked block, blown head gaskin or other. Any good mechanic would come to this conclusion and not just replace water pump the oil without diagnosing why there was water in the oil. After repairs pressure built up in crankcase casing oil to spert out of filler. This is a lot of guess work considering the information provide.

Just my 2 cents…r0n….:S
OhhWell
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
wny_pat wrote:
JTHarley wrote:

I keep going back to a comment you made earlier……the entire motorhome is NOT WORTH the $7,000 fix of the engine……that being said, does anyone really want to enter into a legal battle that will need to call expert witnesses, depositions, lawyers fees, ect….at $150 per hour doesn't give you much wiggle room before you have already exceeded the cost of the repair costs……the dollar amount puts it above small claims court and I wonder if you are in a state that allows counter suits to pay for legal expenses of the person you are suing if they are found innocent?
That's when you cut you losses, tell the shop that they can salvage it, that you will send them the title, and get in your toad and head home with the rental trailer you filled up with all your rv stuff.

That is the one thing I dislike about traveling. We are at the mercy of the interstate garage hacks who are laying in wait for some sucker to come along. I'll never forget the day I had to show one of them how to set up and replace a air governor. And then the shop charged me the labor for showing their hack how to do something he said could not be done! And my lunch was gone when I got back to the restaurant. Had to pay for that too! They sure know how to take advantage of us. But there are some good ones out there too. They are the ones that I have to have faith that I will put in their mercy when I need help.

Ouch!

Shady repair shops are something that really scares me when far from home.

You don't need a lawyer, expert witness or depositions in civil court, you just need enough proof to make your case more likely than not. I know I am kind of being accused of being "sue-happy" but I would try to stick it to the hacks out of principle if it really was their doing in this case. Writing off an entire motorhome because of incompetence on the part of a professional you hired (if that is the case here) is a tough pill to swallow, especially when a lot of us are not made of money.

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