Don't know what to do. Bought a car.....

Fliss_M

Bought a car about 12 days ago. Ford fiesta freestyle. 10 years old for £995. Really tidy car. Drive it the 20 miles home, starts over heating. Have a look, no coolant, can't see a leak, hum. Get my mechanic out to service it and fit a cam belt as its due. Thinks its sorted, its not, over heats again. AA tow it to a garage we use. Think it's the thermostat but when it's there it won't even turn over. Garage wonder if the head gasket is gone. It's there now. Waiting for the verdict.

Now I called where I bought it from and he says if it's the head he'll give me my money back. But that's 20 miles away with a car that won't run. Can I reasonable expect any repair money? After all I have paid £200 for service and cam belt already my instinct is to fix it. I paid by credit card which is why I suspect my money back is being offered.

Also if it is just the thermostat and the started motor again is that reasonable in a 10 year old car or should I be looking for compensation?

davemorton

May as well ask before someone else does, private or trade sale?

notakid

I had a similar problem. The thermostat was sticking but in truth that wasn't the problem, it was the head gasket. My car would suddenly stop working and then it would turn over.

I'd say as there was no coolant the previous owner has damaged the engine by running it and it over heating.

A good garage will try and resolve the problem by trying to sort out the cheapest and most obvious problem first. Hence checking the thermostat.

I was quoted 400 to 500 pounds to fix.

Tilt

Must be trade if there is an offer of a refund. £200 for a cam belt and service sounds like a bargin to me.

I think under the SOGA, you should of first contacted the seller to provide him with the opportunity to inspect and rectify. If you bought the car after being given the opportunity to inspect it, I think the distance side of things is down to you. The fact that you have got someone else to work on it will somewhat prejudice your claim for the full repair cost (although I can't see anyone doing a cam belt change for under £200) as the seller could argue he should of been given the opportunity to mitigate his costs.

A competent mechanic will detect a head gasket failure within 10 minutes so I would suggest it's the thermostat which should be around £60 to replace.

Notmyrealname

Fliss_M wrote: »

Can I reasonable expect any repair money?

No. In fact you are quite lucky as the seller could use that as a get out of jail free card, blaming the problem on the guy who did the service and cambelt.

colino

Pretty !!!!less mechanic who did work on a Fiesta and didn't spot another major fault on it, but as you are already in so deep (and they are very easy to fix) and the trader will not refund the money you have spent on it, get a friendly, local independent to fix it for you and move on.

colino

The word was f e c k, an old english word that is neither insulting or inflammatory unless you first heard it on Father Ted.

Fliss_M

The cam and service was an aside. I expected those on a 10 year old car. Repair was more over the coolant and possible head gasket part. Thanks for the answers tho :-)

McDude

I’m a bit confused, did you drive the car without coolant? That could easily have written the engine off, if it now won’t even turn over chances are it has seized (sorry). I would now want to assess if the engine can even turn over – pull out the plugs and roll it in gear to see if the pistons can move, if not then it’s goodnight. If the engine can actually rotate then you have some hope.

If it is the head gasket one would expect to see ‘mayo’ in the oil – when the water enters the combustion chamber it mixes with the oil to form an emulsified gloop. Check the oil fill for said mayo. If the gasket has gone you may also have warped the head which could be pricey to fix. But a gasket leak shouldn’t have used up all the coolant unless driven like that for a long time.

The thermostat may be at fault, but without coolant in the system it can’t be blamed. You really need to find out why there was no coolant in there in the first place. Most likely is someone drained the system and forgot to top back up – if this was the garage you bought it from then it is 100% their fault.

As others have posted, you’ve created a sticky situation for yourself in that you got someone else to work on the car (sorry again). If I was a weasily trader I’d claim that your mechanic over tensioned the belt and damaged the water pump and the fluid leaked out of there and created the whole problem! As an aside, it’s usually a good idea to change the water pump at the same time as the belt anyway.

None of this really helps you; I think you need to get the car back to the original trader to give him a fair chance to remedy the situation. What happens next depends on how he responds. The most economical repair may be a replacement engine, but clearly you’d rather he sorted it out.

forgotmyname

Head gaskets cheap enough though. As long as there is not other damage.

Even a 2nd hand head & new gasket.

Depends how much you like the car, Or if you want your money back and try again?

Old cars can breakdown. But there again so can cars costing £10,000 +

The problem with older cars a few minor repairs and you doubled the cars cost. If you ignore that then it should last you well afterwards.

[Deleted User]

Tilt wrote: »

so I would suggest it's the thermostat which should be around £60 to replace.

How much :eek:

Thermostat is less than a tenner, and takes 15 minutes (tops) to change.