Hey All
New here...so apologies if this has been covered.

We had the LR dealership replace the timing chain & all the other assorted parts in our LR4 in 2020 when the truck had 92kmiles. In November of 2022 we had it in for a suspension issue when the dealership sent a message saying the TC failed inspection & sent an estimate of $11.5k to repair it. My husband (recently deceased) responded & reminded them that they had just replaced it 2 years (& 25k miles) earlier. He then asked about a warranty. The next text from the dealership said "your vehicle has passed inspection come pick it up"...no response whatsoever about the recent repair or the question of warranty. I was unaware of this interaction at the time & only stumbled over it because I decided to check his old texts from the dealership...

Fast forward to May 2023 & (shockingly) I'm now stuck w/ a truck w/ a blown timing chain and the dealership has basically said too bad...warranty is 1 year or 12kmiles.

Anyone else think this seems a bit off? The way I see it if the TC was, in fact, a problem then they sent us out onto the roads w/ a potential hazard. And, if there wasn't a TC issue then were they just going to take our $11.5k rip apart the engine & replace a perfectly good TC? This seems really fishy doesn't it?

Also, the truck has had every service on time & at a dealership its entire existence. And, just as an aside, part of the original work is going to be reimbursed by the class action suit LR lost in re to the original TC's.

I'd really appreciate some other perspectives here if anyone cares to jump in.

 

Sadly, I feel your best bet is to contact a lawyer.

 

Wow, that is messed up. Backup/copy/save all communications and I second a lawyer. Sadly if the warranty was 1 year, 12k then the text about it failing inspection would put it passed warranty anyway. And there is the possibility that your husband had called after the last text to get and understanding of the issue and they may have come to some sorta resolution or the service department saying "well, it is not toooooo bad", or "we were wrong, it is fine"... we dont know, but that could explain the later text says that all is well, come get it. Need to know if phone calls were made after that text maybe.

The short of it is, though, that there is no way it should have only lasted that long. I would suspect two things - the original work was never actually done or it was simply bandaged together and the shady dealer pockets all the warranty cash and hopes you sell the truck before you notice. Or the work was done, but not done correctly or not with updated parts. I myself would be furious in either case and I would be contacting Land Rover North America or whichever LR main office is in your country.

 

Thanks...Just don't know if I want to go down that road...I may just lodge a complaint w/ the WA state AG & see where that goes...such a bummer

 

Thank you so much for the thoughts!
I've gone through the call logs at this point & there were no calls to or from the dealership & since texts are time stamped I can also tell that very little time passed in between my husband's comments & the responses from the dealership. Ugh...this is so nuts...what am I a private detective???
I hadn't thought about the chance of them not having done the original work. I suppose anything is possible. I can't even begin to tell you how many times we had to take it back for the suspension...between defective parts & poorly done work I think it took about 3 months to finally sort out.
Reality is the truck isn't worth much at this point & since Land Rover doesn't seem to want to be helpful in any way I may just take up a different dealership's (nope...not LR) offer to give me $4k for trade in value...This sucks

 

By they way, I did find this from 2022. The warranty for repair was extended to 8 years, 100k. So how many miles are on it and what model year is it? Random thought, but even if it has been repaired but still within the warranty period... maybe it should be covered? I mean it is the same failure. I really feel the dealer messed up the original repair.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...09987-0001.pdf

 

Thanks Dakota
Ive spoken w/ the legal group who handled the suit &, essentially, it doesn't qualify. They did say that it could fall under the "lemon law" but I'd need to find an attorney who wanted to handle it...I'm giving LR North America another day or 2 to make it right & then I'm going to file a complaint w the Washington state AG. I've pretty much come to terms w/ the fact that I'm not going to have any luck w/ LR on my own but I don't want them doing this to other people.

Ya know what really sucks? I used to love the brand...We've had 3...I wish I'd gotten rid of this '12 LR4 & kept my '09 LR3...I'd decided to keep the 4 because it was newer, had fewer miles & had just had major work done (suspension was rebuilt...that was a total nightmare too...in & out of the dealership multiple times to resolve the issue.) My old 3 on the other hand...no problems...general wear & tear stuff that we always kept up w/...160k miles & still runs like a champ...sold her to a friend.

 

One option is to hire a specialist to inspect the blown motor and determine if the timing chain and guides were replaced when as the repair shop claimed. Then move forward based on their findings.