April 2007
I recently bought (Feb 2007) a BMW 316i 1999 4 door saloon with 65,000 miles on the clock. The car cost £3900. I bought the car from a dealer. When i went to view the car it had a full service history. I took it for an hour test drive and no issues arose. The dealer didn't disclose any issues with the car. So happy with it i paid a deposit and collected the car the follwing day.
After 2 weeks of driving the coolant light came on followed by the oil light which were leaking I have been keeping the car topped up with coolant and oil until i could have it checked yesterday.
The garage has just told me the head gasket has broken, water pump is leaking, radiator is leaking, and various asscoiated works are required costing £1200 inc labour and VAT. Obviously i am annoyed and think the trader knew about these repairs prior to selling the car - but i have no proof.
Does anyone know if i have any rights or comeback to the trader? If so what should i do. Or am i just going to have to pay this bill.
any advice is appreciated thanks
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On 1st April 2007 the driver?s airbag suddenly deployed when I turned on the ignition while parked. In taking this up with Saab I was told that there was no evidence of a manufacturing defect or any other subsequent cause and that as the car was well out of warranty, it was my problem, not theirs. I do not consider an air-bag to be limited by a 3 year warranty and therefore I have a number of problems ......
1. The on-board computer reports via Saab?s service tool to the mechanic that there is an air-bag fault, that the air-bag is open circuit and that no air-bags have ever deployed in the life of the vehicle. This is contradictory.
2. My understanding from reading the user handbook is that there is no such thing as a front left side or right side event that would cause such an air-bag deployment. Indeed it states that both air-bags are interconnected. If the motion sensor and control unit legitimately fired the airbag, why did only one deploy? The motion sensor is apparently still in a ?primed? state waiting to detect a collision.
3. I am not keen to replace the air-bag and ancillary components while the cause of this deployment is undetermined. If no reason can be identified I am uncomfortable that next time (70mph in darkness or a busy road) I might not be so lucky. I am also not prepared to sell the car to anyone else while this is unresolved.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
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TVM - you've been in a situation where an airbag
If it was just the drivers airbag? Then yes probably. If they all deployed? (side curtain, thorax and passenger) then no probably not - the combined shock to your senses is too much.
But the point is what does the OP expect SAAB to do about it? withdraw every SAAB since 1999? pay him compensation?
Its like this. Airbags are explosive devices. It was always recgonised that, as such, there would be a miniscule chance of unintended deployment. They minimise the risk where ever possible, but there is still a risk. They have saved gazillions of lives and that one has exploded to the OP on his 7 year old car frankly is tough.
Dont get me wrong, he has my sympathy, but its still Tough.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
I found the article on the right interesting.
An employee of Glass's Guide suggests that for more expensive cars, black paint commands a premium over silver, with silver as the standard price, black is worth £500 more, white is worth £2,500 less.
As someone just in the process of speccing a new car, I have been debating this very thing with myself!
Does this apply to all body styles? I am probably going to buy an estate, will it all look a bit like a hearse if painted black? Read more
I think I have actually just fallen in love.... with the
white A5 >>
You will probably find that you have fewer arguments too.
The following may be of interest to owners of other makes not just Ford.
I have just been through the process of replacing the rear wiper blade on a 2000 Focus
I did not get a Ford replacement but a Bosch. It fitted OK but would only track the windscreen for half of its length for the whole of the arc of its range.
It is fine for front screens ( also fitted it to a Yaris) but probably not designed for rear screens.
I have now fitted a Champion and it works correctly.
I measured the approx amount of bend for each brand. Ford 2.4cm, Champion 3.1cm and Bosch 1.5mm Read more
I had a similar problem with Bosch Super Plus on the rear of my Focus, and in addition the inner ends of the front blades touched one another in the parked position. When it came to renewal time I bought genuine Ford blades ( price within a few pence of the Bosch) ~ and now I can't think why I ever bought Bosch at all. Never again.
--
L\'escargot.
Thought I would finally write something with a 'local flavour'
Just enjoying a post lunchtime cigarette, on the office balcony and lo and behold 5 tow away trucks pulled up across the road - ensueing flurry of car owners saw all but one remonstrate succesfully (exchange of folding noticed) and one taken away. The local rate is $100 to get your car back - the local authority recieves $120k per month from this per month.
In truth, with the growth in car ownership the city centre is becoming very jammed up however, the local cure has been to allow parking on the broad pavements which seems to have provided a short term solution.
In principal, parking costs around 50 pence an hour during the working day for supervised areas falling to 10 pence outside the centre.
BTW I got my car back from the garage last week after having one side repainted due to vandalism (got compensation paid promptly, too) the cost of the bodywork was $150 - mind you, its a white American convertible of 17 years and only the size of a 3 series BMW so it was a bit of a blow over.
I am gathering energy to write about the flourishing Chinese imported car market which has seen some grandly (funnily) named models hit the market if anyone is interested.
Spring is definately in the air here and the aged part of the population are wheeling out their Zaparozets from hibernation - think NZU Prinz without the reliability so break downs will shortly abound. In fact, whilst walking the dog on sunday morning I watched one old boy servicing his 25+year old Lada estate after its winter sajourn under a balcony - never knew a hammer had so many uses! Read more
There are some more Modern Lada's about. Have a look at the 15 April entry in Keith Adams blog on www.austin-rover.co.uk/
On saturday I recieved a 'notice to owner' to say that my car had been ticketed on 27/2/07 and that the charge had not been paid. As a result I have a bill for £80.
I never got a ticket on my car. where do I stand? Can I argue that I should be allowed to pay the 50% discounted rate on the grounds that I did not have a PCN? I agree that I was parked on a yellow line, 5 mins before I was allowed to.
The back of the letter has 'grounds for representations to the council' of which the only one vaguely descriptive of my position is:
'you disagree that the Parking Attendant was prevented from issuing the PCN'.
Is this the correct description of my complaint?
thanks Read more
Just a thought, but is it possible that some idiotic joker removed the ticket from the windscreen before you returned to the car?
Google maps does route planning. Try this one.
1. go to maps.google.com/
2. click on "get directions" (third line at top)
In the second line boxes:
3. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
4. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
5. click on "get directions" button (right of From and To boxes)
6. in left column scroll down to step 23
Martin Read more
Just take a Sat NAG with you. At least she can cook as well and I love 'er, but as for map reading.........well.."£***&^%
VBR..............MD
hi there my pug 205 stdt has an electrical problem . the digital clock works but you can hardly see it i changed the bulb as blown but the clock doesnt light up even when lights on checked all the fuses in the board are there any more fuses under the bonnet that relate to this also could this bulb be in line with the ash tray light as this doesnt work as well ?? failing this does any one know a good auto electrician in essex southend way ??? ta Read more
cool thanks much apperciated il
will try tmrw thanks again andy
Hi All
I am looking for some advice on which car I should get for me mum(bless her)
She is getting on and now needs an auto but seems addicted to diesel.
What is the best small diesel auto / semi auto or is there a decent petrol one? Not my area so I don't have a clue.
I like the Honda Jazz 7 speed thing but as it's petrol, it's being sniffed at :-) LOL
Her budget is around £8500 plus P reg diesel Fiesta
Any help would be really great :-)
Thanks a million.
Ruth Read more
Well, it's the torque. In order to get performance from a petrol auto you generally have to rev it more than a diesel. Higher revs , like for like, means burning more fuel. The torque of a diesel gives you a quicker shove at lower revs, without the need for reving. On the crowded roads of the south-east this has more relevance to everyday driving. It's not just because of company car tax rules that sales of diesels have increased the way they have over the past decade. Yes, if we all lived in the sticks and only ever drove on empty country roads, I dare say we would drive more high-reving petrol-engined cars.
I think local yokel was saying that the difference between a petrol auto and a diesel auto would be 5-10 mpg max, if at all. My medium-sized diesel auto does 44mpg in town. I know that if it had a petrol engine, it would give less than 30mpg, judging on previous manual petrol cars I have driven in the same conditions.
My mondy is having a bit of a problem keeping it's cool!
Called the AA out last night and we have no coolant circulation. With the thermonstat removed it still got too hot so it seems to point to the water pump not doing it's job.
Can anybody reccommend a garage in Southampton? I'm hoping that it can be done for around £200ish else it's starting to become uneconomical.
TIA,
Lou
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The water pump on V6 is easy to do as it's right on top of engine on right hand side looking from front - it is under the black plastic cover with duratec on it - once done give car a good run to get it hot and then check expansion tank - there should be no froth on top of water and no sign of any bubbles rising up the clear pipe going into bottom of tank - if there is your head gasket could have gone - these are a weak point on V6 - you would then be looking at £1500 for head gaskets give or take. - - One thing you could do is try and source a metal impeller pump from a motor factors - they are about but take some finding.
For more info on H/G's failing go to forums on this site and look for V6 engines www.fordmondeo.org/forum/index.php?
Browse
One possible complication is, if the warning lights came on two weeks after you bought the car in February, but you haven't attended to the fault until April, you may have caused extra damage by introducing coolant into the oil and/or the combustion chambers.