I recently booked in my 2014 Jaguar F-Type SVR for a normal service at my local dealership and requested them to do a full diagnosis on the car to check for any abnormalities I couldn’t have picked up. The car is out of motor plan and Warranty so i’m paying cash, mileage is just under 71 000 km. A few days after i left the car, they called me with a quote but at that stage they never mentioned any timing issues and mind you when I brought in my car it was performing perfect with no funny noises, no smoking issues or loss of power or any funny glitches when starting or driving.

After giving them a go ahead to service the car as per the quote they gave me, I later received another call that they had picked up a loss of timing on my car and they needed my permission to attend to it. I really got confused at that stage since my car was fine when i left it but ended up giving them the permission to proceed.

A few weeks later I receive another call again that as soon as they were done fixing the timing issues they just discovered that the valves we bent so as usual they needed my permission to order and fix them. At this stage I requested to see my car and have a word with the workshop manager. When i spoke to the workshop staff they convinced me that these cars can loose timing anytime and it’s possible that after i dropped my car the tensioners n valves were already gone( not their exact words but they confused me more with language) plus they mentioned that the engine oil level was a bit lower than normal level and that could have been another reason.

The car was obviously starting different now and they admitted that this problem started after i left the car. Their first diagnosis report which was done immediately after i left the car does not show any cylinder misfiring issues hence they never quoted me on timing issues in their first quote. So clearly all of this happened at the dealership and then one wonders what could have happened during that period, that could have caused all these issues. When I checked the mileage of the car from the time i left it, they only drove it for about 1km only which could be due to movements around the workshop so they say.

The other question is in such instances where i left the car in a certain condition and all this happens at the dealership who takes responsibility for these issues that they picked up later. The workshop manager argued that it’s my responsibility because these are wear n tear issues that the dealership has no control of (obviously the car is out of warranty and they wouldn’t wanna pay for it) but I wasn’t convinced n strongly believe it’s their fault. Something possibly happened at that workshop that could have caused all these issues. I’m also wondering if they might have done timing wrong and upon testing the car it bent the valves?

I’m busy trying to contest their decision and I’m wondering if there are any people with experience around timing issues on these cars and what could have possible happened after i left my car and who takes responsibility for these issues in a case like mine?



2nd Diagnosis report from the dealership.