Mr Fisher came to us with a 2010 Mercedes C250 2.2 diesel which needed an urgent engine replacement as he wanted it back before he set off on his holiday to Tenerife.

With engine replacement jobs we often find that a number of additional components can also suffer failure as a result of the damage to the engine. In this case the engine had overheated so much that it had literally melted the plastic inlet manifold.

If you are having a replacement engine fitted, always be sure to get your mechanic/garage to check all engine bolt-on components thoroughly for any issues as well as connecting hoses and pipes. Also, while the engine is out get your garage to check your flywheel and clutch for regular wear, because if they need replacing its far easier to do so while the engine is out and garages will often do the fitting for you for free.

A client recently came to us with a Range Rover Sport 3.6 TDV8 which had suffered from engine failure. He had literally only purchased the vehicle from the dealer and barely managed a journey home in it before experiencing issues.

For those who are unfamiliar with this model, it packs a monstrous V8 twin turbo diesel engine which powers out about 268bhp as standard. But having such a beast of an engine has its drawbacks as its a real handful of a job to replace it and most standard garages wont go anywhere near it.

Once we took the clients engine apart, we found that it was one of the worst engine failures we’d come across in recent times. The engine block, crank and one of the heads were all completely ruined by the engine failure and the oil pump had literally exploded into pieces!

We replaced the clients engine with a rebuilt one, supplied him him 2 replacement turbochargers, 4 injectors, a water pump and glow plugs. Its safe to say his baby was purring again. Although roaring is probably the more appropriate terminology for this beast of a vehicle.

One of the biggest common problems with these TDV8’s is turbocharger failure which eventually leads to engine failure. If you do start experiencing turbocharger problems, always be sure to get your garage to do a compression test on your engine before replacing them. The last thing you want to do is to replace the turbochargers only to find that you now have to replace a faulty engine. Each of these tasks on these TDV8’s is massively labour intensive and will burn a huge hole in your pocket if you have to go through the process twice.

Mr Smith came to us with a BMW X6 which had suffered from engine failure. He’d only purchased the vehicle in April and was very disappointed to have experienced engine failure having owned the vehicle for less than a year.

Once we got down to work on the vehicle we found that both front driveshafts were broken and the oil sump on his original engine had a hole which was filled with sealant as a basic repair.

We believe that the previous owner had some sort of accident where he drove over something that damaged the vehicle from underneath. Very quickly the oil would have drained out of the engine starving it of oil and causing permanent damage if continued to be driven in this state.

We replaced his engine with a rebuilt one and got his baby back on the road in time for the holidays.

Oil starvation is one of the major causes of engine failure. Always be sure to check your oil levels at least once a month to ensure your engine is well lubricated at all times.