Bad Buys/Money pits...

[markyb]

Just interested in peoples bad car buys or cars that have needed a little attention once brought.

I brought my girlfriend a Ford KA on a '99 plate almost a year ago now. It looked sound, Full service history, clean and low mileage (42k) I brought it from a dealer who gave me a three month warranty. Two days later it went back with a noise from the rear, which was sorted.

- A Month later I was driving down the motorway when the backbox fell off. Had to get the full exhaust system replace -not that much money, common due to the age of the car.

- A week later noticed a smell from the engine bay every time the car was parked up. Also some fluid on the drive. Found out it was the power steering fluid leaking and that the rack needed replacing... -Got rack replaced.
When the garage were doing the rack they noticed that the rocker cover gasket needed replacing - Replaced.

- Another month passed, it become hard to start the car. Like a clicking noise. Turned out to be the starter motor...
Got that replaced

After all of the above decided to get another car for the missus, sold and brought her a Sport KA SE on a '53 plate with 20k on the clock which has been perfect.

Anyone had any similar storys?

 

[panthro]

Fiat Coupe 20VT LE. When I went to check it out it was fine. No problems at all. 2 weeks later, the turbo seals had gone, the wishbones were going and Aquamist system wasnt working properly. Should have checked it over a lot more thoroughly. Learnt my lesson. Still love them, but would never buy another one.

 

[topgun06]

Can I be your missus?

 

[deko]

my first car i bought, X reg 2001 fiat punto.

2 days after i got the car the brake pads on the front left wore down to nothing, metal on metal, horrible noise. New pads from fiat (30 quid).

a week later the drums at the back go, have to get the shoes (sp?) sent over from italy because i have an ABS model which is quite rare. 40 quid ish.

a week later the exhaust starts blowing like ****. Me and my dad do all the work usually, but we neither had the skill nor the time to do the exhaust, took it to a garage. guy fixed it for a fly tenner, thought that was that.

a week later exhaust starts blowing again. leave it for a couple of weeks because im now skint. pay-day take it to another garage, find out its a nut and bolt holding a bit of the exhaust together really and the last guy to fix it stripped the thread straight off the bolt, thus why it just seperated again. fixed now.

a week later the drivers side windscreen wiper stops working. i didnt know at the time that it was an easy fix (just click the linkage back in) so i had to drive home leaning to the left to look through the passenger side windscreen wiper. eventually linkage started to get loose so i fixed it with a couple of cable ties. held for about 2 months.

2 months later passenger side windscreen wiper linkage decided it wanted to stop being a linkage and decided to be a bit of cheese. was peeing with rain on the motorway with me doing about 80. passenger side windscreen wiper stopped about halfway up the screen, and the next time the drivers side came up it like caught on it and with a mighty elastic effect flew off. cue me driving on the outside lane at 80 with no windscreen wipers in the peeing rain quite literally ****ing myself. got that fixed now though.

and last night to top it off, the bonnet release catch broke off from the inside of the car. ive got no luck.


not being at all sexist here, but it was a girl that had had the car since new and we reckon that she never serviced or looked after the car in the slightest. we didnt really care about the car, i just bought it as a run about until this november when my family is shifting cars and im getting a 3 year old megane, and it only cost about a grand so we didnt bother even looking into its history or that, just bought it basically. only a month of this car left though, cant wait till i get a decent car finally.

 

[Dogbreath]

Just interested in peoples bad car buys or cars that have needed a little attention once brought.

I brought my girlfriend a Ford KA on a '99 plate almost a year ago now.

Did you buy the KA as well?

Not exactly a remarkable turn of events for an 8 year old city car is it? Those are just the sort of things that cars around that age require. The one thing is does show is that low mileage means nothing, condition is of vastly more importance.

Every car I have bought needed attention, and I bought them knowing it (though I didn't actually know my Fiat Coupe had a melted piston until I took it apart ).

 

[Dogbreath]

my first car i bought, X reg 2001 fiat punto.

2 days after i got the car the brake pads on the front left wore down to nothing, metal on metal, horrible noise. New pads from fiat (30 quid).

Consumable part.

a week later the drums at the back go, have to get the shoes (sp?) sent over from italy because i have an ABS model which is quite rare. 40 quid ish.

Consumable part.

a week later the exhaust starts blowing like ****. Me and my dad do all the work usually, but we neither had the skill nor the time to do the exhaust, took it to a garage. guy fixed it for a fly tenner, thought that was that.

a week later exhaust starts blowing again. leave it for a couple of weeks because im now skint. pay-day take it to another garage, find out its a nut and bolt holding a bit of the exhaust together really and the last guy to fix it stripped the thread straight off the bolt, thus why it just seperated again. fixed now.

Consumable part.


So your car required a few consumable parts replaced, and you had a problem with the wipers and bonnet catch.

I simply can't understand people that moan about service items needing replacement, as though it was the end of the world. If you run a car then replacing consumable parts is simply one of the running costs you need to factor in. If you had terminal engine failure the day after buying it, that's one thing, but you have to expect to replace a few bits on old cars.

 

[markyb]

Did you buy the KA as well?

Not exactly a remarkable turn of events for an 8 year old city car is it? Those are just the sort of things that cars around that age require. The one thing is does show is that low mileage means nothing, condition is of vastly more importance.

Every car I have bought needed attention, and I bought them knowing it (though I didn't actually know my Fiat Coupe had a melted piston until I took it apart ).

No its not that remarkable and yes they were due to age. But Its the fact they went almost after I had brought it. I understand that the car would have needed some money spent on it.

Mainly wanted to see if anyone has had similar experiences to Shock's bay purchase.

The one thing is does show is that low mileage means nothing

Indeed, The condition of the KA was great.

Did you buy the KA as well?

 

[MarkDavis]

Just interested in peoples bad car buys or cars that have needed a little attention once brought.

Any Alfa Romeo. But make that 'a lot' of attention instead of 'little' attention.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Moral of thread, mileage is not as big an indicator of potential issues as age.

 

[Housey]

I bought a 1.3 Fiesta Ghia Mk2 as my second car, I purchased it off my mates mum and she had it from new. As I recall it was 3 years old and had only covered about 7K in that time and was showroom new because she used to wash it week after week even when it was spotless and really treat it with great care. I had been driving it for about 6 months when the cam belt on the CVH engine when and trashed itself. At the other end of the scale my GT3 had 6K on the clock when I bought it (no it wasn't the car after the Fiesta!) and ran like a bag of nails for a couple of weeks. Once it had been given a few Italian services however it ran like clockwork.

No miles and lots of care does not a reliable car make...

 

[Booner!]

I brought my girlfriend a Ford KA on a '99 plate almost a year ago now. It looked sound, Full service history, clean and low mileage (42k) I brought it from a dealer who gave me a three month warranty.

After all of the above decided to get another car for the missus, sold and brought her a Sport KA SE on a '53 plate with 20k on the clock which has been perfect.

So you had lots of problems with a Ford KA that convinced you to get rid of it and replace it....with another Ford KA?!

Surely having that many problems would make you think twice about another?!

 

[Dave M]

Fiat Coupe 20VT LE. When I went to check it out it was fine. No problems at all. 2 weeks later, the turbo seals had gone, the wishbones were going and Aquamist system wasnt working properly. Should have checked it over a lot more thoroughly. Learnt my lesson. Still love them, but would never buy another one.

I half expected to see a Coupe in this thread - first reply was good work though

Aquamist is a mod though isn't it - modded cheap turbo's = double danger, I hope he didn't have a boost controller too

 

[commited]

/waits for rG-tom

 

[Hxc]

The mini.

Failed the MOT today on a few things, including a bloody subframe.

Gonna cost a fair whack to put it all right. Probably in the region of £500.

Should've got something sensible for a first car....

 

[Ghuraba]

Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec T, 72000 miles, full Ford service history.

6 months I have had it and had the following done:

Rear wheel bearings & Drum £180
Timing belt £200
Front discs & pads £80
Back box & middle pipe £160
New Battery £75
Two Yokohama C-drive front tyres £116
Front track rod £90

The PAS pump and clutch pipe have a slight leak. But nothing major as I have not had to top up the PAS or brake fluid at all and there is no dripping on the driveway, more sweating. But the PAS is around £275 and labour £100. At this rate I will have replaced every removable part possible. I knew I should have bought the Toyota Avensis

Michael

 

[Janesy B]

The mini.

Failed the MOT today on a few things, including a bloody subframe.

Gonna cost a fair whack to put it all right. Probably in the region of £500.

Should've got something sensible for a first car....

to be honest you knew it would need some work though? buying an old mini and all, you gotta expect work on a classic

 

[Hxc]

to be honest you knew it would need some work though? buying an old mini and all, you gotta expect work on a classic

Of course I knew it would. Just didn't think it was as bad as that.

I'm willing to pay for it and can afford it, not really complaining at all.

 

[InvaderGIR]

Moral of thread, Learn the difference between bought and brought.

Fixed for you Fox, I couldn't read the OP past the first couple of sentences due to that.

 

[Janesy B]

Of course I knew it would. Just didn't think it was as bad as that.

I'm willing to pay for it and can afford it, not really complaining at all.

ALways the way with a classic, as soon as you start one job you'll find ten more, luckily most mini parts are available so your in luck.

 

[bigchez]

cossie.

Done as needed:

* cylinder head - £650
* 2 exhaust valves - ~ £40
* headgasket - ~ £250
* turbo exhaust housing £350
* melted wires £250
* needed new mapping £550
* split boost pipe £75
* snapped actuator rod £135
* alternator belts £50
* cracked downpipe - dunno was fixed when head changed
* heatshield £65
* steering rack gaitors - £60 (£12 for the gaiters, rest for labour!!)
* rewired fuel pump - £125
* lots of labour costs!

Also replaced injectors for £250, it needs a newfoglight.

and more I can't even remember now. Its getting scary expensive pretty quickly!

and now either turbo has let go or i have a serious problem with my bottom end (ooeer )