I took my car into FIAT as it was spluttering, losing power and the EMS light came on. I was told because i didn't have the 1st year low milage service it wasn't under warranty. They said it was knackered spark plugs so all 4 were replaced. Total cost £127 included diag machine labour and 4 plugs.

A week later and its started again so i have taken it in. this time they are saying its the coils as cylinder 4 isnt firing. Surprisingly, the mechanic ranfg me and said he will replace the coil under warranty (the same one i voided btw). Seems like they have cocked up the first repair and are keeping me sweet by doing it free.

My question is this. did i need the 4 plugs replacing in the first place and have i been scammed paying £127?

Unfortunately if you dont have the services when scheduled it will void your warranty and then they have you over a barrel i'm afraid if anything goes wrong. It probably didn't need plugs but you will never know.

funny though, how they said warranty void pay £127 for 4 spark plugs but now they are fitting a new coil tomorrow on the 'warranty i voided'.

seems to me they have fooked up and are back tracking?

The first service includes a plug change........(even at low mileage ((or at least mine did))

is that not pretty irrelevent though? what im saying is the spark plugs didn't need changing, it was the coil all along and they screwed up by saying its the plugs?!?!?!? dont plugs last longer than 15000 miles?

why are they choosing when my warranty is void and when it isnt though?

their behaviour is strange. i think they changed the plugs as trial and error.

My plugs didnt. At the end of the day if you had just serviced it like you are meant to you wouldnt of paid 127 for spark plugs and diagnostics.

spark plugs are a servicable item so they can (technically) charge you, coil pack is not so therefore warranty.

thanks guys but no-ne seems to be answering the main point, were the spark plugs even faulty to begin with if the same problem happened after they were changed and now they are saying its the coil?

am i also right in saying that if all 4 spark plugs were 'shot' as they said, the car would barely start?

T14086 said:

spark plugs are a servicable item so they can (technically) charge you, coil pack is not so therefore warranty.

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so i should have been charged for the plugs and labour then, not the diagnostic, no?

No they have charged you right accept it. If you had of had it serviced on time then the diagnostics would of been free if you had had the same problem occur.

so i dont have it serviced and my warranty is void, fine. I have to pay for the diag and repairs, fine. But then they decide my warranty isnt void and replace the coil f.o.c. somethings not quite right.

seems to me they are trying to keep me sweet for cocking up the original 'repair' that didn't repair it.

again i ask, 4 'shot' spark plugs resulting in only a jutter and low power? im no expert by any means but i find that hard to beleive and after speaking to an independant mechanic, 4 'shot' spark plugs equals more than just a splutter.

Well go and challenge them then if you arent happy. At the end of the day they could charge you for coils if they really wanted to but tbh it sounds like they are being generous in still letting your warrenty cover these items so i would stop moaning.

i see what you mean mate. im not one for storming in shouting the odds. i've just raised the questions to you guys because it strikes me as odd.

having dealt with this dealer on numerous occasions and having received an appalling service, i dont trust them really.

i will inquire about what has gone on and if they give me what i think is a valid explanation then i will accept it, no problem. TBH i just want my car to be sorted so i can enjoy it again. but at the same time i dont want to waste money i could now use to prevent things like this happening again.

as i said from my other threads, i know my mistakes and have learnt from them now. thanks for the replies and we will see what happens when i collect it tonight.

cheers.

You will of probably needed the plugs replacing anyway so you would of had to pay for this anyway. The Diagnostics charge would of been fair at the time as obviously this is what the computer told them was wrong so with you technically invalidating your warrenty they did the right thing. You would of been more pissed off if they had told you it was coils first and made to pay for those then the problem not being solved by having those. I would take it as a good will gesture from them as they charged you for what they thought was wrong but that obviously wasnt the main cause of the problem so they are letting you off paying for this one.

i think the main point is that the plugs failed because they weren't replaced when they should have been first year warranty, but if the coils gone it would have gone had you had the 1st service or not, you have not voided your warranty completly, what if the axle just fell off or the door!! and you just hadn't had your 1st year service, this isn't the cause of the door falling off so it would still be covered, but if you miss a service and something doesn't get done when it should i.e. spark plugs, then this thing causes a problem it won't be covered

hope this makes sense

1zer0 said:

thanks guys but no-ne seems to be answering the main point, were the spark plugs even faulty to begin with if the same problem happened after they were changed and now they are saying its the coil?

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faulty plug could bring down the coil pack

1zer0 said:

so i dont have it serviced and my warranty is void, fine. I have to pay for the diag and repairs, fine. But then they decide my warranty isnt void and replace the coil f.o.c. somethings not quite right.

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I told you this already, coil pack is NOT a serviceable item, in other words its not checked at service interval but spark plugs are (changed) so as you didn't service your car within manufactures guidelines plugs are not covered but coil pack is.

They actually told me - 'You're warranty is now void because you didn't have a service'. So how can i now have a warranty and have replaced items FOC?

Anyway, its sorted now and seems to be all good. But I thought that a week ago after the first 'repair'. :bang: We'll see.

1zer0 said:

They actually told me - 'You're warranty is now void because you didn't have a service'. So how can i now have a warranty and have replaced items FOC?

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read the advice given i've explained exactly why plugs not covered but why coil would be, T and matt have also made this quite clear

you don't just void a warranty out right, as i said if your door falls off you'd still expect it under warranty even if you didn't get it serviced at the service interval

the question is did the fact that you didn't service it cause the faliure, or would it have happened anyway?