Help please - bought a used car oil light and fault within 14 days

Drew1980

Hi,

We bought a grandland (can I mention the dealership?)

Oil light comes on after 14 days - wife reported it straight away.

The dealership have dragged out the "repair" for months.

We have it in writing that they requested a new engjne from warranty, but they then just replaced cam cover without updating us.they say car is now fine.

2017 grandland x had known issue with "wet timing belt", which somehow damages oil pickup and can damage the brakes.

There were peugeot and Citroën cars with the same issue - they did a full recall.


Any advice please? 

TIA

sevenhills

Maybe this is you?

https://www.grandlandforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1575&sid=0b7ef6852c35d186fd037fa8bb518c3d

Drew1980

Yep, no progress since that post  

Grumpy_chap

Drew1980 said:

Hi,

We bought a 2017 grandland x (can I mention the dealership?)

Oil light comes on after 14 days - wife reported it straight away.

The dealership have dragged out the "repair" for months.

We have it in writing that they requested a new engjne from warranty, but they then just replaced cam cover without updating us.they say car is now fine.

2017 grandland x had known issue with "wet timing belt", which somehow damages oil pickup and can damage the brakes.

There were peugeot and Citroën cars with the same issue - they did a full recall.

We've requested a full refund, but they've said no...I fear they'll try and drag it out even more, and we really need a car to get kids fro. A to B.

Any advice please? 

TIA

You say the issue has been dragged out for months.
When did you buy the car and how many miles have you done in your ownership?
Where is the car now?
What is the current status of the car?

Given the time period, if you were now to successfully reject the car, there would likely be a deduction to reflect the beneficial use you have had from the car.
If you were to simply sell the car, what would your loss be compared to any deduction for beneficial use?

Mildly_Miffed

The original belt interval on the 1.2 Puretech engine was 10 years - but that was reduced to 6 because of the delamination issues, and the belt's on the third design now. So a 2017 engine should have had a belt change last year, which would have fitted the updated belt and prevented the problem.

There's only been one recall for these belts - and it applies to all the Stellantis brands fitted with the engine. Remember, your Grandland X is basically the same car as a 3008/5008 or C5 Aircross or DS 7, built at the Sochaux plant in France on the same line as the Peugeots.

When the belt starts to delaminate, fibres can block the brake vacuum booster - and a lot of cars with this engine were recalled to check for this a year or so ago. The belt was measured to see if it had started to expand.
https://www.check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk/recall-type/vehicle/make/VAUXHALL/model/GRANDLAND X/year/2017/recalls
Was the recall done on your car?

But the issue with yours is that the belt fibres have blocked the oil feeds, causing the light to come on - which may have starved the engine of oil and caused internal damage.
If it did cause damage, then the engine needs replacing.
If it didn't caused damage, then a good clean out and replacement of the belt is all that's needed.

Drew1980

"You say the issue has been dragged out for months.
When did you buy the car and how many miles have you done in your ownership? "

- Not 100% sure of exact dates etc as wife bought it and not here right now - but it was mid October it was bought - car is at the dealership garage - they say theyve replaced and tested the new CAM cover so it's fine.  Not happy, as was informed getting new engine - told delay as need to get car up in the inspection pit - then 2 weeks later said it's been fixed with a CAM cover instead.

I wouldnt sell the car to someone else, unless they were a mechanic and fully aware of all the issues...last email from the company - stated that the car had lost 1.9L of oil since we bought it - spoke to a mechanic who said either the engine is burning oil, or it was leaking oil before I bought it and should have been picked up in pdi - 


"When the belt starts to delaminate, fibres can block the brake vacuum booster - and a lot of cars with this engine were recalled to check for this a year or so ago. The belt was measured to see if it had started to expand.
Was the recall done on your car?"

I don't know I'm afraid - is there a way to check?

I'm clueless with cars, but the whole 1.9L in 14 days thing makes me think it would have done some damage?
from the manager's last email - "You were informed on the 17th of November by the Service team that the vehicle requires an engine due to 1.9 litres of oil loss."

I guess if the 1.9L all lost in it's entirety during the 14 days post-purchase - it was a pre-existing issue? should have been ID's on PDI?

 - just had a reply from friend's sister who is a soicitor - apparently if you report a fault within 30 days - you have the right to reject car regardless?

thanks for the help

Mildly_Miffed

OK, if the light came on because there was no oil left in the engine, that's very different to the cambelt issue.

Did you check the oil level at all in the time you owned it? As with any engine in any car, you need to be doing this regularly, ideally weekly.

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-safe

Owner's handbook - https://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/vauxhall/Home/PDFs/owners/owners-manuals/grandland-x/grandland-x-owners-manual-august-2017.pdf
Page 205.
"Engine oil
Check the engine oil level manually on a regular basis to prevent damage to the engine."

It then says...
"The maximum engine oil consumption is 0.6 litres per 600 miles"

How many miles did you cover in the two weeks? 1.9 litres in 1800 miles would be acceptable consumption. 1.9 litres in 100 miles would be a fault.
The engine holds 3.5 litres, with 1.0 litre between max and min marks on the dipstick - p245 - assuming yours is the 1.2 Puretech. A bit more if it's the 1.6, but then the cambelt issue wouldn't apply at all, since it's a completely different engine - that's the BMW "Prince" engine, which has a whole list of other issues of its own.

No, the right to reject is not absolute...
If a significant fault (that isn't reasonable to expect of used goods of that age and apparent condition) was present before purchase, you have a right to repair or reject.
Within six months, the presumption is the fault was present, unless the retailer can prove otherwise.
Within 30 days, the retailer cannot insist on repairing, but has to accept a rejection.
The question is why the oil was lost.
If it was burning or leaking it through an internal fault (and if they've replaced the cam cover, I suspect the crankcase breather was blocked), then it was almost certainly present.
If it was leaking through stone damage to an oil cooler or pipe, then it was almost certainly not.
Then there's a question over whether damage to the engine has arisen through the fault alone, or whether there's contributory negligence from failing to check the oil level in time to top it up before it ran out and did damage.

Drew1980

Thanks - it was just over 100 miles done in the 14 days before oil warning light came on and was reported.

Longest commute was back from dealership 20 miles away

Drew1980

Thing I'm confused about - we reported fsult within14 days of sale

But they dragged out repair over months.

Do we still have right to reject, same as in first 30 days?

Ectophile

Drew1980 said:

Thing I'm confused about - we reported fsult within14 days of sale

But they dragged out repair over months.

Do we still have right to reject, same as in first 30 days?

They are now claiming that the car is fixed, and there's nothing wrong with it.  Is there actually anything wrong with the car now?  If not, then they aren't the ones dragging things out for months.

Drew1980

It's incredibly confusing - I've spoken to 3 seperate mechanics yesterday and today, explained the oil loss of 1.9L - they've all said fault must have existed before car was bought, or engine will be damaged if know obvious oil leak within the 14 days.

Spoke to solicitior - said as fault reported within 14 days - we have right to a refund. Especially if pre-existing issue.

What am I supposed to do? 

Accept a new cover on an engine that 3 mechanics say is damaged? 

Dragged it out - took months to add the cover, told us we were getting an engine which sounded good, then get a new cover instead - which they never updated us on until it was fitted.