Ford Fiesta Coolant issue - Dealer might take car back?

corrag

Hi all

I'm looking for a little advise. In February I went to a car dealer and looked at a 55reg, 1.4 Zetec Climate Ford Fiesta. When I checked it over I noticed the coolant bottle was empty. I asked about it and the guy said it was probably not filled after the service it just had but he'd fill it.

I brought the car and checked the coolant and all was well.

A few days of driving I heard a gushing noise and when I checked all the coolant had gone. It went back to the garage, they kept it a couple of days then said they'd found a leaking hose. This was replaced and I got the car back.

A few weeks later the coolant had gone again. Back to the garage, this time they fixed a poor connection. Got the car back again.

A day or so later the coolant was dropping again. This time I lost patience and said I wasn't happy that they were just blundering through doing cheap fixes. They apologised, gave me £40 for the coolant I'd had to keep buying and fixed it again.

Disappointly its still loosing coolant. I've emailed them today and they have said:

My courtesy car should be back with me the early part of next week, I will e-mail you as soon as it is here so you can come and swop over, I will speak to the manager in the mean time and maybe see if it's going to be easier to swop your fiesta with another car here perhaps, I will let you know what we think we should do for the best.
Regards

Does anyone know where I'd stand asking for my money back instead? I appreicate that they have tried to fix the fault, but if they decide not to carry on fixing it I'm not sure I want to be forced into choosing from their stocklist. They don't have anything that is a close to the model of my car either. I'm also worried that this constant running out of coolant could affect the head gasket, though I hear they are very robust. I've been keeping an eye on the oil and there isn't any sign of milkiness.

Thanks all

Premier_2

corrag wrote: »

Hi all

I'm looking for a little advise. In February I went to a car dealer and looked at a 55reg, 1.4 Zetec Climate Ford Fiesta. When I checked it over I noticed the coolant bottle was empty. I asked about it and the guy said it was probably not filled after the service it just had but he'd fill it.

I brought the car and checked the coolant and all was well.

A few days of driving I heard a gushing noise and when I checked all the coolant had gone. It went back to the garage, they kept it a couple of days then said they'd found a leaking hose. This was replaced and I got the car back.

A few weeks later the coolant had gone again. Back to the garage, this time they fixed a poor connection. Got the car back again.

A day or so later the coolant was dropping again. This time I lost patience and said I wasn't happy that they were just blundering through doing cheap fixes. They apologised, gave me £40 for the coolant I'd had to keep buying and fixed it again.

Disappointly its still loosing coolant. I've emailed them today and they have said:

My courtesy car should be back with me the early part of next week, I will e-mail you as soon as it is here so you can come and swop over, I will speak to the manager in the mean time and maybe see if it's going to be easier to swop your fiesta with another car here perhaps, I will let you know what we think we should do for the best.
Regards

Does anyone know where I'd stand asking for my money back instead? I appreicate that they have tried to fix the fault, but if they decide not to carry on fixing it I'm not sure I want to be forced into choosing from their stocklist. They don't have anything that is a close to the model of my car either. I'm also worried that this constant running out of coolant could affect the head gasket, though I hear they are very robust. I've been keeping an eye on the oil and there isn't any sign of milkiness.

Thanks all

A 55 Fiesta is a very common car. If they don't have one currently in stock, I'm sure they could get you one very soon.

Mind you, if a garage admitted to me that their serviceing was so shoddy that they forgot to refill things, I don't think I'd have given them any of my hard earned cash in the first place

corrag

I know I did think wow how come he didn't even notice it was empty. I took my Dad with me for moral support and he said it could have been an airpocket in the coolant.

The thing is since I parted with my hard earned cash and they let me down, I'm extra nervous about getting another car from them. Perhaps I should get a horse and cart, I know all about them

Thanks for the reply

ROY47

Be very careful here with the courtesy car is not her til next week excuse

Getting close to the 3 month warranty was all you had on this car sir
and now it's out of warranty

Strider590

Could be a hole in the radiator, water only runs through the rad when it gets hot enough to open the thermostat.... If you do lots of short journey's it might never open up the thermostat, but then one day sat in traffic it'll get warm enough and dump all the coolant onto the road.

corrag

Apparently they checked the rad first though how well they checked it I don't know. It would make sense as alot of the time I just poodle around but occasionally it gets a blast down the motorway (a very safe 65mph blast though, the motorway is always busy).

Yeap the three month warranty is up soon. They offered an extension for a not unreasonable amount of money but when you read the small print it didn't cover diagnostics and the car had to completely break down. So if you where a cautious driver and took it to them becuase you thought something was wrong they wouldn't pay.

Never mind what will be will be. I really don't want to be forced into taking another of their stock cars so I'll see what they suggest regarding fixing it first.

Thanks everyone.

corrag

They want me to choose another car from their stocklist!

I'm really confused. The only thing they have I'd consider is a 2003 (53) Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec. But at £3,490 its £500 less than I paid for the Fiesta only 3 months ago and I'm not prepared to lose out. Would they be obliged to refund the difference? I'm really not sure what to do for the best. I love driving my Fiesta but I know I'll feel safer motorway driving in a Focus. But is the fact its older something to consider?

The Focus only has 49k on the clock, it has it has service history and only two owners but I know that the older style Focus had a fault with the speedo and some models clocked up miles without being registered.

Any help appreciated.

ta

fivetide

I think the issue you need to resolve is what impact would it have on your insurance? That might go up a bit for the bigger car.

They should give you the difference in price but the price seems high for the age of car.

5t.

vax2002

Have a look at the exhaust when started, obviously sit someone in the driving seat to avoid thief's !
Is the car blowing steam from the exhaust, not a lot, but noticeable and does water run from the exhaust ?
That is where the coolant is most likely going, through the head gasket and getting drawn in to a cylinder.
It can tun like this for months but eventually the head gasket fails and the engine starts to mis-fire and run erratically to the point where it fails to run at all.
A mis-conception is that a failing head gasket will mix water in the oil, that may be true but is known as an outer failure, a inner failure is where the coolant is drawn by the induction stroke of the engine in to the cylinder bore and involves a failure in the gasket between the water jacket and cylinder bore.
This is most likely where all the coolant is going.

corrag

Thank you both. Considering the checks that have been made on the car i.e radiator leaks, pipes, cap etc all these have been changed and its still leaking so perhaps it is going through the Head. I was hoping it would just be water pump etc. I'll have to check for steam.

Even if the head went would that cost alot to fix?

I have a nasty black puddle on my driveway now so I thought it was coming from the drivers side of the engine.

I agree that the Focus sounds alot of money.

Quite frankly I hate cars. I've had nothing but trouble with them for years now.

Premier_2

corrag wrote: »

They want me to choose another car from their stocklist!

I'm really confused. The only thing they have I'd consider is a 2003 (53) Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec. But at £3,490 its £500 less than I paid for the Fiesta only 3 months ago and I'm not prepared to lose out. Would they be obliged to refund the difference? I'm really not sure what to do for the best. I love driving my Fiesta but I know I'll feel safer motorway driving in a Focus. But is the fact its older something to consider?

The Focus only has 49k on the clock, it has it has service history and only two owners but I know that the older style Focus had a fault with the speedo and some models clocked up miles without being registered.

Any help appreciated.

ta

There is no obligation, but no harm in asking

I feel sure they will attempt to come to some agreement with you