Problem with newly bought car

DSpence

Hi all,

I just bought a car (53 reg Astra, ~77,000 miles on the clock) from a private seller through autotrader a few weeks ago. It's been fine since then until yesterday when one of the warning lights on the dashboard came on and it ran on 'limp home' mode.

Took it into the garage today and they've told me that the no.2 cylinder is leaking oil into the spark plug, and that in order to properly fix this (can keep it going by periodically replacing the spark plug / oil) the engine needs to be replace. This will be around £900 to do inclusive or labour, and I bought the car for £1000.

The garage also said that there was no way the previous owner wouldn't have known about this, as it would have been a problem he would have encountered at some point. They suggested it as the reason the car was for sale so cheap. Obviously I wouldn't have gone near this car with a bargepole had I known about this problem.

The garage suggested that as I didn't sign any 'sold as seen' receipt, I would be entitled to go back to the guy that sold it to me and demand my money back as there is clearly a major fault with the car.

The AA 'selling a used car' page says: "Remember that if your vehicle has a serious defect and is unroadworthy, you could be breaking the law by selling it, if you haven't described it accurately"

What are my rights here, and what can I do about this?

Would appreciate any and all help / advice...

Thanks in advance,
Dan

forgotmyname

Private sale the car is now yours. Any bills are also yours.

A 10 year old car worth £1000 car will have faults and issues and need looking after to keep running well.

Take it elsewhere and get a proper diagnostic. Why is oil leaking onto the sparkplug? A faulty plug or lead or coil can cause the same issue.

No spark and the plug fouls up.

If you dont know about cars, Then you need to take someone who does or get an inspection.

Did the seller state that oil did not leak onto the plugs or that the coil pack is not faulty?

If the seller knew about it why did it take several weeks for you to find a fault?

Get a proper diagnostic and take it from there.

DSpence

I know I'm responsible for maintaining the car at this point - should a fault as serious as a leaking cylinder (the garage have been looking at this all day and have ruled out other possibilities) not have been disclosed however?

The guy I bought the car from made no mention of anything wrong with the car beyond a scratch in the back of it and that the handbrake would need tightening at some point (advisory on the MOT cert he gave me). He actually said that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine at all.

I haven't done a huge amount of driving since I bought it (around 200 miles), but there isn't a way of knowing how bad the leak in the cylinder is. It could take another 1,000 miles for the fault to re-occur, or another 300.

The point is though, this was sold with what is clearly a huge defect.

colino

Garage is talking nonsense and you really have to find a new, "expert". Private sale of a bargain-basement, 10 year-old, mid-range car is very much caveat emptor. The receipt is entirely irrelevant and don't waste any time, money or energy attempting to gain anything from the private seller.
Once a proper garage has a look and diagnoses the valve-stem oil seals properly, you can throw in a can of snake oil, refurb the head, or live with it.

fivetide

He would tell you it was fine.

If the car has been running ok for the past "few weeks" this might well be a new fault and given the price paid etc - not much you can do about it I reckon.

Jamie_Carter

It could just be the head gasket gone.

DSpence

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

It could just be the head gasket gone.

I really hope not.... The final straw with my last car was the 2nd head gasket in 6 months xD

artbaron

You've no comeback on the seller at all, unfortunately.

Jamie_Carter

DSpence wrote: »

I really hope not.... The final straw with my last car was the 2nd head gasket in 6 months xD

Head gaskets are far easier and cheaper to replace than complete engines, even if the head needs skimming.

DSpence

Thanks everyone - going to take it to a Vauxhall dealership tomorrow and see what they reckon. Fingers crossed...

motorguy

DSpence wrote: »

Thanks everyone - going to take it to a Vauxhall dealership tomorrow and see what they reckon. Fingers crossed...

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this is a common problem with Vauxhalls of this vintage and the garage is totally correct with its diagnosis. I've seen three with that problem in the past year. Cant remember which engine it is, but its either the 1.6 8v or 1.6 16v that its most prevalent in.

Oil gets past the oil ring and clogs up the plug, making it run on three cylinders and throw on the management light. Usually there is also a lot of bluey white smoke from the car under hard acceleration.

My mechanic thinks its caused by the engine having been previously overheated and the oil rings losing their tension because of this. This would be backed up because the last car i saw this on had recently had a new head gasket, etc, etc, suggesting that that car had previously been overheated.

Also, you've no comeback with the seller, though you're garage is probably correct in that the seller knew about this problem, its going to be very hard to prove that.

Learn how to clean the plugs yourself, keep topping the oil up and drive on at it, but unfortunately it is ultimately terminal for the engine.