Mis-selling Car

J_B

Geodark wrote: »

first thing most people do when they buy a car is pop the bonnet.

What? :eek:


I bought a car in April last year.
I opened the bonnet in about December to check that the screen wash was OK ... and checked the oil.

Aylesbury_Duck

J_B wrote: »

What? :eek:


I bought a car in April last year.
I opened the bonnet in about December to check that the screen wash was OK ... and checked the oil.

Good grief. Eight month interval to check the oil level? Get into the habit of checking it at least monthly, more if you do a lot of miles.

J_B

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Good grief. Eight month interval to check the oil level? Get into the habit of checking it at least monthly, more if you do a lot of miles.

Suppose I'm a bit blas! about this, but most modern cars shout at you with reference to such things!

Aylesbury_Duck

J_B wrote: »

Suppose I'm a bit blas! about this, but most modern cars shout at you with reference to such things!

Sure, but for something as critical as oil level, I wouldn't rely on an indicator light or dashboard message to tell me it needs topping up. If oil drops below the minimum then damage is probably being incurred, possibly long before any warning light tells you about the problem.

Check your handbook. Most oil lights are a last resort and are pretty much an instruction to stop as soon as is safe to do so because the engine is catastrophically low on oil. It may be that yours provides an electronic dipstick reading on the dash but again, I would rather rely on my own eyes. It takes less than a minute to open the bonnet and check the dipstick. It's silly to avoid doing that for something that could cost thousands in engine rebuilding in the worst case.

Carrot007

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Sure, but for something as critical as oil level, I wouldn't rely on an indicator light or dashboard message to tell me it needs topping up. If oil drops below the minimum then damage is probably being incurred, possibly long before any warning light tells you about the problem.

I would expect most modern cars to have 2 oil lights.


The traditional required, you are pretty much killing your car if you do not stop now.


And the please check oil infdicator that even engages if you brake hard!


There were such on my 308 and 208, usually meant 200-500ml of oil was needed.

meer53

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Good grief. Eight month interval to check the oil level? Get into the habit of checking it at least monthly, more if you do a lot of miles.

Got my car last March, opened the bonnet twice so far to top up the water bottle thingy.

A_Lert

Vehicle checks are on the driving test these days. I do end up slacking off them myself but my aim is to check fluids, tyre pressures (no sensors in my car) and treads, and lights every month.