Sooo my wife got into a minor fender bender with her 14 XJ 3.0 AWD 61k miles about a month ago. As*hole drove away and the car was disabled so she couldn’t even follow the dude. Anyway after the dealership had it for a month they called today to say “oh yeah the engines blown you need a new one”. WTF?!?! It was literally the slowest crash ever like probably 7mph minimal body damage but immediately after the car seized up and hasn’t turned on since. I’m not to car repair savvy but is this possible? Also would the insurance even cover a new engine? Even if they would wouldn’t they just consider it a total ? Any advice you could throw my way I’d appreciate it. We love XJ’s, I have a 16 XJL and she’s been beating the **** out of it for a month and I’d like to figure out sooner than later a way out of this mess.

Thanks

 

That is terrible - and hard to make sense of.
I would think that if the engine somehow was damaged by the accident, it would be covered.
But then it falls on the dealership to give more detail on the engine problem, and how it resulted from the accident.
Your questions about how your insurance handles this depends on who your insurance company is, and what kind of coverage you have,
I would expect that if your engine 'is blown' with head gasket issues, they may total it if it is covered.
However a blown head gasket is repairable, but the cost range widely depending on where you can find to get it (both would probably be better actually) fixed.
Then if you're a motorhead, you may attack it yourself.
Some cases end-up with stripped threads in the block (for the head bolts) which can also be repaired by a skilled mechanic that is familiar with proper options & methods (helicoils, keenserts, or other more appropriate hardware).
Or there is the option of replacing the engine, but that cost would exceed the value of a 2014 XJ too and end-up totaling out the car.

That leaves you with the argument with the dealership about the engine being blown, your position being that it was fine with no problems up to the accident.

 

It couldn't be something as simple as an inertia switch having been tripped, could it?

 

Did accident damage cooling system like radiator

 

Do you have pictures of the vehicle showing the extent of the damage?

In my experience, an overheated AJ126 cannot be successfully repaired as both the block and cylinder heads usually warp. A replacement engine from a breaker's yard is roughly 15,000$US installed, depending on the local market.

 

I don't believe the XJ has an inertia switch?

Yes please post some pictures as this does not make sense but we don't have all the info either?
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I think this needs a lot more questioning of the dealership. Saying the "engine's blown" is very vague and you need to ask them exactly what the issue with the engine is. If it was running OK before the fender bender, even if this led to radiator damage and loss of coolant, or complete loss of the engine oil, this would not have overheated or seized the engine because it stopped immediately after the accident and from what you say, has not been(or should not have been) run since.
Personally I would be suspicious that the dealer has done something with the car (like running it without coolant or oil) that has caused to engine to "blow". Some intensive questioning of the dealer may give some clues on what has actually happened.

 

The X351 does not have an inertia switch. The ECU monitors the air bag system and if it senses that the air bags have gone off for whatever reason, it trips a relay inside the ECU and will kill the motor. It has to be reset using SDD software.

 

Well that wouldn't go over too well in a James Bond movie...
I bet Aston Martin doesn't do that.

 

Yes did the air bags deploy? Good point.
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🤣

 

i agree with everyone, ask the dealership to explain whats wrong with the engine. they cant just say "blown engine"

to answer your question about insurance, simple answer is "yes technically they should because it was involved in a car accident".....more complicated answer is: they will send someone to inspect the car, however if they find that the engine truly is gone, they will factor in that cost and MAY fix it....or total the car