Bought car, head gasket blew 29 days later

greendoor665

It's a 1.4 petrol, I believe the engine code is ET3J4. It's a 56 plate.

I should also mention there is some oil on the path where the engine block would have been, when it was parked the day before it broke down. So it must have been leaking oil before the fan belt snapped. There was no sign of an oil leak when we bought the car.

TadleyBaggie

A seized water pump could also cause the belt to snap.

bris

Wear and tear can happen within a day or 5 years from purchase, with a 12 year old car the odds are not in your favour. Unless you can prove the dealer knew of the fault before purchase you will struggle with this one.

forgotmyname

bobbymotors wrote: »

99.99% it will be driven by the fan (auxiliary) belt.

NEVER driven by the cam belt, and I cannot think of any vehicle where the water pump is driven by anything other than the fan belt/ auxiliary belt (may cars have 2 belts, one for the fan, one for the alternator / pas pump / water pump / aircon)

EDIT: I stand corrected. On more modern cars it appears the the timing belt can drive the water pump. Whether it does so on the op's car i have no idea.

Yeah loads of cars have the waterpump driven by the timing belt. Do you class the early 90's as modern?
90's escorts had the waterpump driven by the timing belt.

greendoor665

bris wrote: »

Wear and tear can happen within a day or 5 years from purchase, with a 12 year old car the odds are not in your favour. Unless you can prove the dealer knew of the fault before purchase you will struggle with this one.

My understanding of it is that its the other way round - the garage would have to prove the fault wasn't there when they sold it. Either way for the belt to snap now, clearly it was already severely worn when they sold the car.

shaun_from_Africa

greendoor665 wrote: »

My understanding of it is that its the other way round - the garage would have to prove the fault wasn't there when they sold it. Either way for the belt to snap now, clearly it was already severely worn when they sold the car.

The law (consumer rights act) states that in the first 6 months from purchase, any fault that shows during this time is deemed to have been there at the time of sale unless the dealer proves otherwise.
However, the one time that this doesn't apply is when you are using your short term (30 day) right of rejection.
In this instance, the onus is on the consumer to prove that the fault existed at the time of purchase.

motorguy

greendoor665 wrote: »

My understanding of it is that its the other way round - the garage would have to prove the faultwasn't there when they sold it. Either way for the belt to snap now, clearly it was already severely worn when they sold the car.

Yes 'fault', not 'wear' though. Wear and tear can happen at any time. A belt could look very reasonable and then snap one journey later.

A water pump could seize at any time too.

And the fact that the car didn't give you any problems for 29 days demonstrates the issue wasn't there at the time of sale.

greendoor665

So maybe the best option is to push for a repair in the 30 day to 6 month window then?

takman

bobbymotors wrote: »

99.99% it will be driven by the fan (auxiliary) belt.

NEVER driven by the cam belt, and I cannot think of any vehicle where the water pump is driven by anything other than the fan belt/ auxiliary belt (may cars have 2 belts, one for the fan, one for the alternator / pas pump / water pump / aircon)

EDIT: I stand corrected. On more modern cars it appears the the timing belt can drive the water pump. Whether it does so on the op's car i have no idea.

Some engines the water pump isn't even driven by a belt at all. The Isuzu DMAX V6 engine has the water pump and oil pump driven by gears from the crankshaft.

greendoor665

Update:

After being fobbed off by the dealer over the phone on Sunday and Monday, as the owner was "away til Friday", I sent an email outlining the situation and called back today.

The owner tried to claim they the car was sold without warranty and it was after 30 days so I had no rights. He also claimed it was a "sold as seen trade clearance" and that was written on the receipt. That's a lie and I knew it, but I didn't have the receipt with me to double check this.

He also said something about a discount meaning we had no rights. I explained all of this was meaningless and that we had rights under the CRA 2015 as he had sold to a consumer, and that the car was not marketed as a trade sale. I said he clearly doesn't understand the law, and he had the cheek to tell me that I was the one who didn't. What a cowboy!

He said he would "check the paperwork" and asked me to call back tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned if he doesn't offer to refund tomorrow then I'll be sending an LBA. I double checked the the receipt when I got home and it says nothing of the sort, not that it would matter anyway.

I am determined to get my partner's money back for this car, I certainly don't trust these wideboys to repair it! If no satisfactory response to my call or LBA, I will be trying a debit card chargeback. If that fails, it's small claims court and I'm sure we'll win against this mug.