Thanks to you both for your replies, that's such a shame cos I was hoping to take it further, nothing like a good battle!!
Maybe you're right Aocal and it's the small journey's that do the damage. It's frustrating as I had a year old Megane that was costing me £200 a month and I thought I'd be more money-wise and buy a car outright instead of financing new....how wrong can you be!
I've just had the garage on the phone, apparently I'm 3000 miles away from 80k so they recommend changing the cam belt too, which I thought was probably a good idea as I had a Micra that I had to scrap previously after this snapped, but hey like you Aocal, what do I know! All I do know is that the bill is now upwards of £600!! This is turning out to be a very expensive day!
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I've just had the garage on the phone apparently I'm 3000 miles away from 80k so they recommend changing the cam belt too...
Definitely good advice - it'd be rather silly to keep the existing belt when they have to remove it anyway to get the head off!
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Correct-Additional Labour charge for the belt should be NIL! Perhaps it would be a good idea for the pulleys and idler wheel to be replaced-also possibly the water pump added expense (£40?) but good advice!
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Oh god, I really wished I knew what you were all talking about!!! I'm am definately going on a car maintenance course this summer!
Thanks again :)
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Scary
Note what was said, Yes it s an excelent idea to change the belt, but all you pay for is the belt kit.
Reason is that they have to take the belt off anyway to do the head gasket. Only pay for the parts for this, not extra labour.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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For a GM 16-valve engine they normally do a cambelt "kit" including the pulleys and idler. For the 8-valve (old-fashioned looking thing with a small rocker-cover) it's less important as I'm sure that's a non-interference engine. If it's the 16-valve (under a big plastic cover with "Ecotec" written on) then a water-pump is a good idea as it's driven by the cambelt and has a habit of seizing up, knocking the belt off.
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Hi all,
An update...
Just had a call from the garage, they have replaced the head gasket and cam belt but have now found that 2 springs under the rear of the car are broken, the lady on the phone said it looks as though the previous owners must've used the car to carry heavy things in the boot therefore the springs have cracked. She advised that I have this fixed as it will not pass the MOT in Nov with broken springs (there was a technical name for them but I can't remember what it is!), plus I will be driving the family on holiday next month with a boot full of luggage so would be stupid not to have it fixed.
Here's the thing, a couple of weeks after I bought the car I noticed a creaking sound when I went over speed bumps however fast or slow I was going, I contacted the garage I bought the car from and they told me to bring it back so they could have a look. They said that they had 'apparently' stripped the engine and found whatever it was (can't remember!) to be very dry and it just needed lubricating. I picked the car up and didn't have problems for a week or 2 but eventually it did still make the noise. By this time it was out of the warranty period they they had given me so I didn't go back (stupid I know). Now do I have comeback on the original garage for selling me a car which obviously had broken parts on it at time of sale? I've hardly used my car and never carried anything but a bit of shopping so I know that I didn't cause the damage.
Any advice gratefully received.
Jo.
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speed bump boings do indeed break springs
your car is on an age where spring breakage is common
bags of coil int boot break them too
serviceable item, you cant forsee a vorsprung boi-ng
soz =
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I'll have a pint of what bell boy's on.....:)
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Not unheard of for coil springs to need replacing on fairly "young" cars. Besides, if you won't be subjecting the car to "heavy" use, the new springs will probably outlast it. Still no comeback I'm afraid, it's all wear and tear.
You've not been very lucky with that car, but don't let the faults encourage you to get rid - with all the new bits that've just been fitted, it's in far better shape now than when you bought it, and will most likely last a few years before anything major needs doing again.
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Greg
"No comeback ....all wear and tear?" You've not heard of the 6-month "presumption of pre-existence" now enshrined in the SOGA then?
[I reckon that bb has been buying his fags off the Home Secretary....]
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no wacky bacca here
soga on a road spring? think i would need the weed before i could see the need to complain about a broken spring seid
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Thanks for your replies,
I know the car is of an age that would mean that things need replacing and have no problem with that, just that in my opinion I've been sold a car that had faults on purchase and the salesman was rubbing his hands together selling me the vehicle. Don't blame him either, it's his job but I have to carry my 3 kids around in the car and who's to say that it might not have been something a lot more serious wrong with it..
The garage has just rung me and the car's ready to pick up, they didn't find any other major faults with it so that's a relief! £776's worth of repairs though which is a lot of money in my book considering I bought it from a so called reputable garage, not a private sale which I wouldn't have been surprised at the faults.
So would it be worth me ringing the garage once I've got my receipt and seeing what they say?
BB, you sound like you're having a good afternoon!!
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hi scary-i sell cars of this age and always check them out prior to retail but i tell all my customers that cars are only washing machines on wheels and they can go wrong.
Do speak to the selling garage and if they have a good reputation they may help in some way,to be honest i would have spoken to them when the h/g went and sounded them out
This jobs tough at the best of times,i dont think the selling dealer sold you a lemon ,i think you have been unlucky (buy a ford next time something like a fiesta/focus,better built ) for the record ive just picked one of these up an astra and the engine light is on so im not vauxhalls biggest fan.
hope your motoring is smooth from now on (dont wash the thing under the bonnet is my best advice on these later astrals)
strongest thing i take is medicine from the offy
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Did the car have a full mot at time of sale? or just what was left on it? i.e did they put 12 months mot on it for you ?
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Yorkiebar, it only had what what left on it. I think it's due an MOT in Nov, so it was around 5 months past it's last MOT. The garage reckon the car was used for carrying heavy stuff in the back on a regular basis judging on what they found.
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Ok, was just an angle I was looking at.
If it had had a fresh mot on it and the springs had since broken the garage might have been helpful towards them; but they are wear and tear items and there is no proof they were broken at time of sale or since etc.
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Looks like I've got to accept it then, looking forward to picking my brand spanking new parted car tomorrow!!
Thanks for everybody's help, I'm enrolling in a car maintenance course, I think I have a lot to learn!
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"No comeback ....all wear and tear?" You've not heard of the 6-month "presumption of pre-existence" now enshrined in the SOGA then?
It'd be very difficult to assert that either the HG fault or the spring fault existed months ago when OP bought the car. If I had a car that was 6 months out of manufacturer's warranty and the springs cracked, I wouldn't expect the manufacturer to pay for new springs because the problem *might* have been there 6 months prior when the car was covered - who's to say that I hadn't taken a speed-bump rather quickly and broken them myself? Equally I wouldn't be happy that I had to pay for repair work on a nearly-new car, but that's life.
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Greg
I wasn't only thinking about the springs - although the presumption still applies. Logic doesn't enter into it; this is the law we're talking about...
That garage will be grinning from ear to ear. Another punter that doesn't realize that the law says that all those repairs were straight down to the garage.
Still; if God had not wished them shorn.....
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a dealer selling an X reg astra is bit down market to say the least. It is banger market at that age, they are almost scrap. For 3K you could have had a decent 4 yer old Mondy!
amazing how punters chuck their money away!
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scarymary:
i.m.o. the warranty part of your question really ought to be posed in the non-technical "discussion" part of this forum. i.m.o screwloose is on the right track.
remember that some of the replies above are from traders, and i suggest you read:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=33...1
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=43
also see previous similar discussion at
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=51726&...f
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=52...5
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=50...4
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"For 3K you could have had a decent ..."
Doubtless, but I don't remember the OP saying she had £3K. You're not a subscriber to bangernomics, I take it? Personally, I never pay more than £1K...
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'a dealer selling an X reg astra is bit down market to say the least, they are almost scrap. For 3K you could have had a decent 4 yer old Mondy! amazing how punters chuck their money away!'
I love my car, it's the exact model and colour that I was hoping to get that day, IMO it's far nicer to look at than the new clio and megane that I've had previously which cost me 4 times what this car did. It's also a pleasure to drive, just unfortunate it obviously wasn't looked after previously. I have no intention of letting it get into that state again.
Thanks for all the advice over the last week. I picked the car up on Friday and the garage said that I could try trading standards but it's unlikely it will get anywhere so I'm just gonna leave it as lesson learned.
Thanks again all :)
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"an X reg Astra is bit down market to say the least, they are almost scrap"
What a throw away society we've become when a 7 year old vehicle (at most) is considered scrap. A few years ago the average scrapping age of a car was 12 to 14 years old, now with all the advances in vehicle design are we really looking to junk vehicles at under 10 years old for what used to be (and probably still is) a pretty straight forward repair?
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Glad you got the car sorted and got over the problems.
Its often enough to make an owner hate their car (and then every lttle problem magnifies). Sounds like you have got the car you want, and there is no reason why it shouldnt give you years and 1000's of miles of happy motoring. I hope it does.
No doubt you have seen a related post on the discussion thread! 2 sides to that 1 too, most people in the real world, with ordinary money to spend appear to sit in the same camp as you!
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>>If I had a car that was 6 months out of manufacturer's warranty and the springs cracked I >>wouldn't expect the manufacturer to pay for new springs
Going back a few years but I had Renault fit new rear springs FOC on a Clio that was 4 yrs old, and that was in the days of 1 yr warranty.
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Greg "No comeback ....all wear and tear?" You've not heard of the 6-month "presumption of pre-existence" now enshrined in the SOGA then?
Page 17 of this useful pdf:
www.berr.gov.uk/files/file25486.pdf
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That's all very well for a pair of shoes (as given as an example in the PDF), but supposing I'd bought a car, driven 20k in the first 6 months, and then said "Mr Trader, my cambelt's snapped. It's obviously your fault for selling me a dodgy car - please pay for a new engine". Mr Trader would laugh in my face, and throw me out of his showroom. And rightly so.
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... Mr Trader would laugh in my face, and throw me out of his showroom. And rightly so.
wrongly so, and he would then be liable to explain his unlawful act in a courtroom.
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wrongly so and he would then be liable to explain his unlawful act in a courtroom.
How could he be liable for events which may be due to the way I've treated my car, some 6 months after it's left his forecourt. For instance I bought my car last Summer. By Christmas it became apparent that my brake discs were warping. As they weren't warped at the time of purchase (no judder etc), and the trader I purchased it from did not possess a crystal ball, how could I have even attempted to hold them responsible?! (yes it's a true story, and I did pay for new discs/pads myself, no problems since). I guarantee if I'd sued the trader I would've lost the case. Finding a solicitor who'd be prepared to take that case on would also be difficult to say the least.
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