advice - problems with a car purchased from a garage

AdrianC

lauram25 wrote: »

When my garage discovered that the light had been tampered with, they fixed it. It was about 1-2 days after that that it came on highlighting a fault.

So yes the light being off was masking an existing issue.

Was it? Or was it coincidence? I assume they checked for stored codes when they fixed the light? I mean, it wasn't on as soon as they fixed it, so...

lauram25

AdrianC wrote: »

Was it? Or was it coincidence? I assume they checked for stored codes when they fixed the light? I mean, it wasn't on as soon as they fixed it, so...

Can i just ask why all your relies are sarcastic ? Ive come on here and asked for advice, i expect people to have a point of view and i dont expect it to be the same as mine etc but i dont expect people to be so sarcastic and quite rude.

AdrianC

That wasn't sarcastic, or rude. It was a perfectly straight answer. Let me expand on it, and you may see my point:

Was the non-functional light masking a pre-existing fault, or was it a coincidence that a fault came up a little while after the light was fixed?

When they fixed the light, I assume they checked for stored codes. The light did not, we're told, flag a code immediately it was fixed, so we can assume there were none at that point in time.

TheMoonandBack

lauram25 wrote: »

Ive deffo been duped by someone, but as its 11months after i purchased the car, im guessing theres nothing i can do?

You have, but whether it’s the garage you bought the car from, or someone previous to them, is probably impossible to prove now.

When you had the original issues, which resulted in the selling garage fitting a front lambda sensor, can you remember if the engine warning light was on ? If it was, then that suggests they or their mechanic, was involved in bodging the light so it didn’t come on.
If you never saw that light come on until your garage fixed it then it suggests to me it may not have worked since you bought the car, in which case it can’t be proved the selling garage were involved in bodging it.

It is part of the perils of buying a used car in my opinion. I think you have to expect to spend a bit on maintenance to sort out any neglect that’s occurred in its previous ownership.
If you like the car I would get it fixed and put it down to experience.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

TheMoonandBack wrote: »

It is part of the perils of buying a used car in my opinion. I think you have to expect to spend a bit on maintenance to sort out any neglect that’s occurred in its previous ownership.
If you like the car I would get it fixed and put it down to experience.

That's the bit I agree with. I think the OP has been conned, but on the other hand has not been wise in the experience.

A couple of mistakes:

1) If they had found the light had been tampered with, that was the point to a few months, which suggests that the fault was a new fault - who knows what the light had been taped up to disguise.

2) If you really don't know how to check a car for faults, then it is money saving to pay someone to check the car out. Something like an engine management light not coming on on the diagnostic at start up I'd suggest would be a fault that the checking firm would have to hold their hand up to.

I understand why the OP is miffed with some of the responses. I subscribe to the principle that the modern world is big and complicated and it is unreasonable to understand everything that goes on. While I sympathise with his position that in buying a second hand car it is unreasonable to expect things not to go wrong, the OP has been sold a car with faults that were disguised (worse, if it is really just a sensor, I suspect taking the dash off and covering up a light is harder work than replacing the sensor) so I am sympathetic with the OP. We live in a world where people don't even know how to check their radiator water level, so expecting people to know what happens to a car as it gets older is pushing it, especially as half the posters here seem to have 20 year old cars that have done a million miles and all they've done is check the oil every 6 months and replaced a couple of tyres

AdrianC

The owner's handbook will tell the OP that the engine management light should go on at start-up then off again. Just like it does in every other car built in the last 20 years or so...

DoaM

If the seller had cleared stored codes and reset fault indications when fixing the masked light then it's entirely possible that the lambda sensor had a pre-existing fault which took a couple of days to reappear. Therefore it's not cut and dried that the lambda sensor fault first appeared after the masked light was fixed.

lauram25

Yes live and learn is the answer, thank you.

TheMoonandBack wrote: »

You have, but whether it’s the garage you bought the car from, or someone previous to them, is probably impossible to prove now.

When you had the original issues, which resulted in the selling garage fitting a front lambda sensor, can you remember if the engine warning light was on ? If it was, then that suggests they or their mechanic, was involved in bodging the light so it didn’t come on.
If you never saw that light come on until your garage fixed it then it suggests to me it may not have worked since you bought the car, in which case it can’t be proved the selling garage were involved in bodging it.

It is part of the perils of buying a used car in my opinion. I think you have to expect to spend a bit on maintenance to sort out any neglect that’s occurred in its previous ownership.
If you like the car I would get it fixed and put it down to experience.

EdGasketTheSecond

It's probably a code P0420 (cat efficiency) from what you describe and can be safely ignored so long as its passing the MoT alright. Just put some tape over the engine light.

lauram25

Garage said the fault will eventually affect the emissions so may or may not pass the MOT in jan