Faulty car - Multiple issues?

AGray · 26 July at 1:03PM

Hi - In November 2024 I purchased a Vauxhall Zafira (2016) Manual/Petrol. I travelled short of 60 miles to collect the vehicle. At the time it came with a 3 month showroom-warranty.

Just before Christmas I was at work when it rained and I realised there was a stream of oil coming from the under the vehicle. I did have another issue where the vehicle had an incredibly poor cold-start/idle. This was obvious over the winter period.

I did report the issue to them, but I wasn't able to take any immediate actions for a few weeks just due to work. The oil issue did get worse, to a point I was losing 4lt daily. The showroom advised they can get it booked in, but their warranty was a return to base warranty, meaning the vehicle needed to be returned to them.

This wasn't possible obviously, they refused to transport the car to them, leaving me to bear the cost should I go down that path. Obviously this was going to be costly so I instead got a local garage to handle the repair. The garage I had the repair completed at said a seal wasn't put on correctly, which was what caused the oil leak to get worse over time. This would have been handled in the pre-sale to myself by the garage during their service.

The vehicle encountered a separate issue, around this same time - The vehicle wouldn't recognise the clutch being pressed in when trying to start it, sometimes it would - sometimes it would not. There was one occasion where I accidentally stalled it during a school run and typically this was the one time it wouldn't restart, I was incredibly popular for about 45 minutes trying to start it then.

I managed to fix that issue myself after that, as there was some sort of loose connection under the steering wheel.

More recently however, during the warm weather - I had the air conditioning on while travelling. I was stationary at traffic lights when an engine warning sound occured and the dash said to stop the vehicle. I was obviously not in a safe location to stop there and then, so I was just about to move off when there was a loud bang and then smoke filled under the bonnet.

I managed to park up, phoned the AA who came out and said that a coolant pipe clip had broke off, he re-clipped it and filled the coolant tank up and told me to get a garage to have a look at the clip. A garage did and they were fine with the clip that was applied, so no action additionally was taken.

I did notice that if I had the air conditioning on, the engine temperature gauge would occasionally peak past 90 degrees, going ever further to 130 degrees. I stopped using the air conditioning and I never had any issues for a while. However a few days ago, while driving to work on the motorway the engine warning came on again, saying the gauge was peaking up to 130. I stopped on the hard shoulder and gave it several minutes to cool down - It was enough to get me work at least.

As my 3 month warranty expired months ago, I luckily took out an external warranty several weeks ago. The only issue was no garages in my town would accept warranty claims, with the exception of Halfords. They found the issue and confirmed it was the coolant tank had cracked, thus a new one was needed. They found this was wear and tear though.

They said though upon completion - This did not fix the issue. They found that the radiator wasn't fully operational. In fact, the wiring had electrical tape all over it, and the radiator was actually affixed to the vehicle using zip ties (Rather than being bolted in?). Halfords refused to carry out this work though, they didn't trust whatever this prior unrecorded repair was.

Another garage said the same, they wouldn't touch it. Both recommended using an car electrician garage. I found one, but this isn't to be seen until the end of next week.

I've had this car 8 months and had fault after fault with it, to say I am at the end of my tether is an understatement. At this point I haven't spoken to the original show room about the issues, as they would be expecting me to travel down to them. However I am close to considering that I do not want this vehicle anymore, but with the timescale I don't know if this is possible to challenge now.

Secondary to it, they could well play the idiot by denying any knowledge of any faults I have experienced.

So jist of the situation would be:
• Purchased Zafira 2016 in November 2024
• Oil leak reported pre-Christmas, but was unable to repair until mid-January
• Idle Control fault (Only in cold temperature)
• Clutch Switch fault (Fixed personally)
• Coolant fault (Repaired recently)
• Pre-sale repair carried out on Radiator showing a botched repair

Ayr_Rage · 26 July at 2:14PM

You should've taken it back to the seller at the first sign of any issue.

Leaking 4 litres of oil a day and continuing to drive it is quite frankly insane, you may have damaged the engine.

You have no proof as to who fitted the seal incorrectly.

You have no proof the seller botched a radiator repair unless as part of your pre-sale inspection you pointed out a fault which they subsequently attended to.

Other faults such as hose clips and cracked tanks are possible on old dogs.

As for buying another warranty that'll be money down the drain as the vehicle has to be in a decent condition to start with, a 9 year old car will almost never satisfy the conditions required.

As harsh as I may sound, time to put the old dog down or otherwise dispose of it, especially as you've never allowed the seller to address any of the issues in the last 8 months.