Brendand Alan Moroney files lawsuit against Auto Corner Pty Ltd over engine breakdown

A man has tried to sue a Mackay car dealership claiming his new car broke down just 100m after a warning light flickered on the dashboard – but an expert mechanic said the owner actually ‘destroyed his engine’.

A man has tried to sue a Mackay car dealership claiming his new car broke down just 100m after a warning light flickered on the dashboard.

But an expert mechanic believes the owner actually “destroyed his engine” trying to perform a roadside repair.

Brendand Alan Moroney bought his Mazda BT-50 from the Mackay Mazda for $43,400 on May 1, 2018.

On May 7, 2021 he was travelling about 90kmh on a rural road in Kumbia when an orange warning like “in the shape of a cog” flicked on.

A recent court judgment stated “a very short time after” the engine stopped and his car halted in the middle of the road – Mr Moroney claimed he had travelled about 100m.

At the time the vehicle was about three years old and had travelled more than 143,000km.

In a lawsuit filed in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Mr Moroney claimed apart from the brief appearance of the warning light there was no indication “whatsoever that there was any malfunction with the vehicle”.

He claimed he checked the engine and there was steam “escaping from a hole in a hose” and as a result contacted a local mechanic who gave an initial diagnosis after being sent photos and travelled to the vehicle the following day to install a new radiator.

But on attempting to start the vehicle, water gushed out of the radiator’s header tank.

It was later discovered the vehicle needed a replacement motor, EGR cooler and thermostat, the judgment stated.

Mr Moroney is suing Auto Corner Pty Ltd trading as Mazda Mackay and Mazda Australia Pty Ltd seeking “repair of the motor vehicle plus damages”.

He bought the vehicle in 2018 and the engine died just over three years later.

The judgement stated data collected from the vehicle indicated it had actually travelled about 12km from the time the cog warning light came on and the engine stopped.

An expert Mazda mechanic provided a report stating “physical evidence is that they addressed their predicament by performing a temporary repair and then tried to see how far they could continue”.

The mechanic stated based on his investigation it was his opinion the vehicle occupants had “most probably stopped on more than one occasion to effect temporary repairs”.

He stated there was “an extremely high probability (Mr Moroney) destroyed his engine by trying to reach Kumbia after performing at least one temporary cooling system repair”.

QCAT member Glen Cranwell rejected Mr Moroney’s claims his vehicle broke down after just 100m given the stored data suggested otherwise.

Mr Cranwell also rejected claims Mr Moroney only attempted temporary repairs after the vehicle came to a final stop and that the expert mechanic’s conclusion was “far more plausible” – that Mr Moroney tried to repair the engine at least once before it broke down in an effort to reach Kumbia.

“(It) is more probable than not that it is the failure of these repairs which led to the destruction of the engine and the motor vehicle coming to a final stop,” Mr Cranwell said.

The application was dismissed.