2009 BMW 318 Pot hole damage

FERGIE5747

MEMBER
2009 BMW 318
2.0L
TURBO
RWD
MANUAL
40,000 MILES

Hi there,

I find myself in a bit of a sticky situation and I'd be really grateful if you could help.

I am looking for some advise and to see what you think with the position I find myself in.

I drive a 59 plate BMW 318d. Very nice car and done just under 40k. She sailed through MOT in January in my local garage.

In March I hit a MASSIVE pot hole on the driver side. I pulled over and checked the wheels and tyres and to my amazement there seemed to be no damage.
It wasn't until I started driving again that I noticed a severe vibration coming through the whole car.

So I took the car back to my local garage to have him diagnose that the car needed a new duel mass fly wheel and clutch kit (£1000) thankfully when this was fitted it cured the vibration and the car is like new again.

I put a claim into the local authority and I have just had a letter back stating that :

A duel mass flywheel is basically a flywheel in two concentric parts or two facing flywheels stuck together with flexible compound to damp down transmitted vibration from Diesel engines, improve gear change quality and protect transmissions from torque reaction at around 2,000rpm, particularly the change from 1st to 2nd. It is not considered likely that this component would be damaged as a result of the incident described in your completed TPCN form.

Do you think that I should take this any further or do you think that I'm fighting a losing battle?

To give you an idea of the pot hole it also damaged both driver side wheels and tyres of my uncles range rover.
I took all the relevant steps in getting a police report number, photos etc.

Would be brilliant to hear what your thoughts were?

You could contact me on this email or on my mobile 07789164255.

I would appreciate your help.

Many thanks

Kevin Ferguson

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

Unless a BMW specialist has a very good reason, I too would find it impossible to believe the flywheel was damaged by a pot hole. The only thing I can think of would be if the transmission or clutch housing hit the road surface, but then there would be obvious damage to those housings. Those flywheels can receive a severe shock if you slip your foot off the clutch pedal and stall the engine suddenly. If that shock could cause damage, we all would know about it. That is a condition that occurs often, and it doesn't cause damage. Hitting a pot hole, if it DID cause a shock to the drive train, would be much less than slipping your foot off the clutch pedal.

I don't like to make accusations when I don't know all the facts, but the first thought that came to mind is something happened to the wheels, the mechanic took care of that which took care of the vibration, then he found additional work that may or may not have been needed. There could be a common failure that he is familiar with and he saw that starting to occur with your flywheel. If that is the case, he may have thought he was doing you a favor by claiming the damage was pot hole-related so you wouldn't have to pay for it, but then how would he explain two different problems, wheels and flywheel, were causing the vibration? The actual fix might have been to replace or balance the wheels, but he charged you only for the flywheel.

The other clue I'm looking at is when you said,

"It wasn't until I started driving again that I noticed a severe vibration coming through the whole car."

The assumption is the vibration was not occurring when the engine was running. It only occurred once the car started moving. The flywheel is spinning anytime the engine is running, so if it was responsible for the vibration, you would have felt it when just standing still with the engine running.

The other problem is most of the time the government does not take responsibility for damage to cars unless it was caused by one of their workers. If a bridge falls on your car, it is up to your insurance company to take care of it. Insurance policies take care of accidental damage. A broken flywheel would be considered a typical mechanical breakdown which is not covered under any insurance policy. Even if you were somehow able to collect from your insurance company, they would just raise your premium rates and get that money back over time. In the long run you would lose