Just wanted to add a few things. I've owned 258 cars and have plenty of repair experience. A car with a bad rod will make a knocking sound. One that has a broken rod will rarely start and if it did, it would make horrible sounds from the violent mashing of metal parts against each other and not run more than a few seconds before internal metal parts jamming the entire lower end would permanently stop the engine.
If the car started and ran, then a bad rod bearing is what should have been communicated to the mechanic doing the repair (although misdiagnosed). It would be safe in probably 99% of cases to start the car and idle it, or gently drive it across the lot to repair area with this condition. There's no chance of anything coming out of the top of the engine putting a hole in the hood. There is slight risk of the rod bolts breaking and the rod coming through the pan or side of the block, but this very unlikely at low RPMs.
However, here's where things went wrong: "It was ours and a mechanic friends assumption that the rod was broken due to the noise the engine made the current mechanic himself admitted he how we could mistake the noise."
First, the "mechanic friend" misdiagnosed the problem. Then, The 2nd mechanic did the same. If he knew that this type of car's fan could come through the hood, he wouldn't have started or driven it, and I believe he was driving to the shop to change the engine based on both the mechanic friend's diagnosis....and his own after he started it...that it had a bad rod bearing.
To add, I researched fans coming through hoods from bad cooling fans...I found a 2003 BMW with pictures that had its hood damaged from exactly what happened in this case as the metal tipped fan broke through the plastic surround then into the hood and another where the fan came through the bottom of the fender. It's uncommon, but clearly does happen.
As for liability? I'll let the pros here tackle that....if what I posted above is even relevant.
If the car started and ran, then a bad rod bearing is what should have been communicated to the mechanic doing the repair (although misdiagnosed). It would be safe in probably 99% of cases to start the car and idle it, or gently drive it across the lot to repair area with this condition. There's no chance of anything coming out of the top of the engine putting a hole in the hood. There is slight risk of the rod bolts breaking and the rod coming through the pan or side of the block, but this very unlikely at low RPMs.
However, here's where things went wrong: "It was ours and a mechanic friends assumption that the rod was broken due to the noise the engine made the current mechanic himself admitted he how we could mistake the noise."
First, the "mechanic friend" misdiagnosed the problem. Then, The 2nd mechanic did the same. If he knew that this type of car's fan could come through the hood, he wouldn't have started or driven it, and I believe he was driving to the shop to change the engine based on both the mechanic friend's diagnosis....and his own after he started it...that it had a bad rod bearing.
To add, I researched fans coming through hoods from bad cooling fans...I found a 2003 BMW with pictures that had its hood damaged from exactly what happened in this case as the metal tipped fan broke through the plastic surround then into the hood and another where the fan came through the bottom of the fender. It's uncommon, but clearly does happen.
As for liability? I'll let the pros here tackle that....if what I posted above is even relevant.
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