Zafira -Engine Cooked after Coolant system Failure

mark55man

Hi

I got a second hand Zafira (03 Plate) for my OH at end of January. Serviced and MOTd by the garage. A well established and honest feeling garage (albeit 30 miles distance from home near my work) and we did a good deal smiles and handshakes all round.

My wife was driving it early this week and it broke down and had to be recovered to our local (different) garage. They have told me it had suffered a catastrophic loss of coolant and the engine was cooked.

So my question is - should I expect the garage to refund me as we have owned it for less than 2 months and done relatively few miles (2000 only). I would imagine sales of goods act would come in but I am not a lawyer, nor do I want to get legalistic to start with (unless I have to)

Grateful for any advice - thanks in advance

Mark

enfield_freddy

the reason for the "catastrophic loss of coolant " ?

Brooker_Dave

The fact it's 12 years old won't help matters.

Head gasket time?

Strider590

mark88man wrote: »

Hi

I got a second hand Zafira (03 Plate) for my OH at end of January. Serviced and MOTd by the garage.

Yeah right, bet it never went near a service bay, service booked stamped, MOT bodged.
Never trust a selling garage on the MOT, they know you'll probably not find the problems for at least 12 months, by which time it's too late to complain.

mark88man wrote: »

A well established and honest feeling garage (albeit 30 miles distance from home near my work) and we did a good deal smiles and handshakes all round.

Salesmen, unfortunately it's human nature to trust chatty people. But those who talk too much rarely have anything valuable to say.

forgotmyname

If she cooked the engine then they can put a large portion of the blame onto her, When the temperature increased why did she not stop the engine and turn it off?

When it gets hot they give off a smell and the gauge would have increased or a warning light if there is no gauge. Then the engine would have pinked a bit as it got hotter.

Even upto this point there is a chance that the engine could be saved.

Its worth trying, But its an old car and the actual fault could be blamed on the driver failing to stop the engine before damage occured.

I wouldnt waste money on legal action in this case.

motorguy

mark88man wrote: »

Hi

I got a second hand Zafira (03 Plate) for my OH at end of January. Serviced and MOTd by the garage. A well established and honest feeling garage (albeit 30 miles distance from home near my work) and we did a good deal smiles and handshakes all round.

My wife was driving it early this week and it broke down and had to be recovered to our local (different) garage. They have told me it had suffered a catastrophic loss of coolant and the engine was cooked.

So my question is - should I expect the garage to refund me as we have owned it for less than 2 months and done relatively few miles (2000 only). I would imagine sales of goods act would come in but I am not a lawyer, nor do I want to get legalistic to start with (unless I have to)

Grateful for any advice - thanks in advance

Mark

Sounds like a hose has burst and your wife drove on at it until it would go no further?

Or maybe a stone has hit the radiator and burst it?

I doubt either way the garage will cover it - wear and tear failure or something being burst by a stone followed by neglicence by your wife in not stopping ASAP.

Strider590

motorguy wrote: »

Sounds like a hose has burst and your wife drove on at it until it would go no further?

.

After 2 months?

Sounds to me like it had a slow leak, took 2 months to drain and the final journey killed it.

Essentially yes i'm saying the garage must have known about it.
It's worth having a look underneath, OAT coolant gradually leaves red crystallised marks on the area of the leak. If these exist then the fault was known.

Also check the MOT history (available online), leaking coolant should always go down on the advisory section.
If it had previous advisory noted for coolant leaks, but not on the recent MOT, then you have the garage by the balls.

ess0two

Strider590 wrote: »

After 2 months?

Sounds to me like it had a slow leak, took 2 months to drain and the final journey killed it.

Essentially yes i'm saying the garage must have known about it.
It's worth having a look underneath, OAT coolant gradually leaves red crystallised marks on the area of the leak. If these exist then the fault was known.

Also check the MOT history (available online), leaking coolant should always go down on the advisory section.
If it had previous advisory noted for coolant leaks, but not on the recent MOT, then you have the garage by the balls.

Lots of second guessing going on here.


Either way how is this the dealers fault?

colino

Strider, you seriously need counselling over your rabid hate of garages, traders and apparently anyone involved in the industry (or any industry if they are a limited company).
The leak didn't happen after two months, it is 12-13 year old system that certainly didn't go off the forecourt like that, or it would have committed Hara Kiri within a couple of days, not a couple of months.

mark55man

Thanks everyone for your comments - something to think about.

OH says no burning/hot smell - although not necessarily sure that the gauge would have been checked

Will check for the gradual loss, but our local garage topped it up with coolant and it ran out very quickly so supports major leak rather than gradual erosion unless that could have happened as a result of the cooking.

Does the sale of goods act apply here. I mean its a car, so its going to get driven, and my OH is a good driver not going to put undue stress on the car

Will check the old MOTs but they are at the garage at the moment so cant do that until Monday

Spicy_McHaggis

I can't see old mots being much help with an overheating engine.