Deposit on car but advisory appeared on new Mot

wigglers

Hi I put down a deposit on a ford kuga 2015 done 105k miles and the garage said they would put a new mot on it, it's been done today but come up with :... 

• Front Oil leak, but not excessive Covers fitted underside vehicle preventing full inspection (8.4.1 (a) (i))

       rear sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i)) 

I'm now seriously worried this car is a dud and if I go ahead with the purchase I could lose a lot less than the deposit....

Do I cut my losses and look for another car but foregit the deposit or... Please help... 

pramsay13

Are you looking for a completely blemish free MOT from a car that has done over 100k miles? 
Whether you are getting good value will depend on the price you are paying and the overall condition of the car, information that we are not privy to. 
If you do get it it's probably worth getting the oil leak checked out but it may well be minor. 

wigglers

No i just don't want it to break or be unrepairable in the future with my kids in the car. 
The oil leak was a advisory on the last year mot as well,but could the fact the covers are on be covering something more sinister?
I don't know much about cars, as you may well be able to tell. 

flashg67

Personally, I think you're right to be wary - will the seller get a garage to have a look or you could pay for an independent inspection

wigglers

It's a used car dealership, I haven't spoke to them yet but the thing is it's got the mot and they believe it's sold so can't see them offering to get it checked. 

fatbelly

I do think it's reasonable to at least tell you where the leak is, and to offer to treat the corrosion on the subframe.

I know it's 9 years old and 100,000 miles plus but unless it was advertised as having those issues in the first place then I think a decent dealer would want to address them.

Neither issue makes the car unreliable necessarily. However, the diesel  Kuga does not do well in reliability surveys 

https://www.whatcar.com/news/reliability-survey-most-reliable-large-suvs/n26156

Arunmor

I've had a small oil leak the last 3 MOTs it would be an expensive fix so I just leave it.  Most cars have an undertray beneath the engine these days.

Goudy

The rusty rear subframe is common on these.
They weren't painted or treated particularly well when they were manufactured and a few years of our salty winter roads tends to see them start to rust.

To treat it properly, it needs to come off as the top surface tends to trap mud and water.
I believe new ones are out of stock these days but there are still plenty of good used available that would clean up and treat properly.

As for the oil leak, again certain engines are prone to this.
The 2.0 TDCi is particularly prone to the rear main seal leaking and there is also an o ring on the high pressure pump that fails as does a gasket on the drive behind it to seals it to the cylinder head.
You might spot this one by looking at the rear (closest to the firewall) of the right hand end of the cylinder head (right end as you stand in front).

It might also smell a bit as the oil burns off the engine but a dealer might have tried to clean it off.

Mildly_Miffed

wigglers said:

The oil leak was a advisory on the last year mot as well,but could the fact the covers are on be covering something more sinister?

No. All vaguely modern cars have undertrays under the engine bay for drive-by noise regulations and for aerodynamics. The MOT tester isn't allowed to remove it.

It's a 9yo car with 100k+ on the clock.

But it's not as if it's a particularly rare style of vehicle. Just keep looking if something - anything - about one particular one doesn't feel right. The more you look, the more you'll get a feel for reasonable expectations.

wigglers

Mildly_Miffed said:

wigglers said:

The oil leak was a advisory on the last year mot as well,but could the fact the covers are on be covering something more sinister?

No. All vaguely modern cars have undertrays under the engine bay for drive-by noise regulations and for aerodynamics. The MOT tester isn't allowed to remove it.

It's a 9yo car with 100k+ on the clock.

But it's not as if it's a particularly rare style of vehicle. Just keep looking if something - anything - about one particular one doesn't feel right. The more you look, the more you'll get a feel for reasonable expectations.

Sorry what do you mean? I get they can't take the covers off. 

Goudy

wigglers said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

wigglers said:

The oil leak was a advisory on the last year mot as well,but could the fact the covers are on be covering something more sinister?

No. All vaguely modern cars have undertrays under the engine bay for drive-by noise regulations and for aerodynamics. The MOT tester isn't allowed to remove it.

It's a 9yo car with 100k+ on the clock.

But it's not as if it's a particularly rare style of vehicle. Just keep looking if something - anything - about one particular one doesn't feel right. The more you look, the more you'll get a feel for reasonable expectations.

Sorry what do you mean? I get they can't take the covers off. 

No, the MOT tester cannot take things apart to check the condition of anything that is obscured by another part.
So if an undertray is fitted, they cannot remove it to check under/above it.

They will often mark on the MOT as an advisory, something is obscured to cover themselves.

The same goes for child seats, they can't remove them to check the condition of the seat belt on that seat, so will mark it down that the seatbelt was obscured by a child seat.

Here's a couple from one of my old cars (not when I owned it btw)
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• Nearside Rear Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt
• Offside Rear Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt

The tester that tested your prospective car has noticed a leak that's obvious.
But can't take anything apart to see where it's coming from, so they issued an advisory.

If they didn't mark it as an advisory and you bought it, you could complain to DVSA that it had an MOT yesterday yet it has an obvious oil leak, what's going on, what else have they missed??
Then the MOT tester gets a big headache for not filing a proper MOT test result.

I think what Mildy Miffed is suggesting is look for another, better car.
Kugas aren't rare and now you know a couple of common areas that cause them trouble, leaks and rear subframe. Next one you look at go straight to these areas.