Dead car after 6 months

DannyDrama · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:09

Bought a mk4 golf GTI from a dealer in September. The ecu wiring has just gone and I've been advised it's not an economical repair. Do I have any comeback on such an old car? I suspect not but there's no harm in asking.

Rybo89 · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:11

Nope.

Vita · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:12

How can the ecu wiring just go? Has it burnt out? Snapped? Ecu gone dead? What?

MooMoo444 · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:14

I wouldn't have thought it was something you could diagnose 6 months in advance

Clarkey · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:19

Gone where?

asim18 · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:21

Clarkey said:
Gone where?

It's just gone innit, not important where. Maybe it went for a fag, we may never know.

If the ECU wiring wanted the OP to know where it was going it would have told him before it went.

teenwolf · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:24

DannyDrama said:
Bought a mk4 golf GTI from a dealer in September. The ecu wiring has just gone and I've been advised it's not an economical repair. Do I have any comeback on such an old car? I suspect not but there's no harm in asking.

we need more info.

Phantom Shadow · 15 Mar 2016 at 17:27

If it's more than 6 months since you bought it then you've no recourse. If it's under 6 months then it'd be down to whether it's something the dealer should have picked up on and fixed before sale. Depends when it september you bought it.

If it's the ecu/wiring that's just burnt out suddenly there's unlikely to have been anything wrong for the dealer to have sorted at the time.

Chances are nope there's nothing you can do about it, highly likely there was nothing wrong with the wiring when sold. These things happen on old cars. Could be worth approaching the dealer though, they might be able to offer you a good price on fixing depending on what's broken.

PhillyDee · 15 Mar 2016 at 18:06

Its probably not economical for a garage at £20-60 per hour, but likely to be time consuming for you to rewire but cost you next to nothing.

kaiowas · 15 Mar 2016 at 18:14

Clarkey said:
Gone where?

Bleedin' ****** nicked the copper for scrap.

Iamzod · 15 Mar 2016 at 18:38

Looks like you can get a replacement engine bay loom for about £40 on e-bay.

DannyDrama · 15 Mar 2016 at 19:19

I don't have any more info, just what the garage told my dad who told my mum who told me. :rolleyes:

I didn't think it would be something they should notice, I'm not a mechanic but I don't think it's checked as part of a service or anything. It was more idle wonderment than anything, as someone pointed out it would be even more uneconomical to chase them even if I could.

Thanks for the replies.

Gaygle · 15 Mar 2016 at 19:22

I don't see that the garage who sold you the car has any liability whatsoever. I think they could easily prove that they had no idea ECU wiring would suddenly fail some 6 months later and that the fault clearly wasn't present when they sold the car otherwise the car wouldn't have run!

I would find out for sure just *what* is wrong with the car. Why did you take it into the garage in the first place?

Bat · 15 Mar 2016 at 20:26

I'd get a 2nd opinion.

acemastr · 15 Mar 2016 at 20:29

Bat said:
I'd get a 2nd opinion.

This ^

Nothing sounds right here

p1RATE · 15 Mar 2016 at 21:10

ECU wiring? get some details on exactly what the problem is here. Is there a fault on the loom? is the ECU broken? The cost wont be excessive for parts but it will be on labour most likely.

Depending on how motivated you are to keep it on the road, you can probably fix this yourself. Replacing ECU's and modules isn't that difficult to do yourself and you can even replace or repair the loom in a weekend with a few spanners depending on how competent you feel.

iaind · 15 Mar 2016 at 21:14

A mk4 golf is going to be pretty old and cheap, I don't see any real recourse after 6 months.

Like other have said though, a proper diagnosis is necessary and very few things would be crushingly expensive so I wouldn't panic. If you buy a 12+ year old car you'll have to repair it now and again

Nasher · 15 Mar 2016 at 21:46

I'd have a go at fixing it yourself. Can't get any worse

*Moangroan* · 15 Mar 2016 at 21:52

PhillyDee said:
Its probably not economical for a garage at £20-60 per hour, but likely to be time consuming for you to rewire but cost you next to nothing.

+1

It will have gone somewhere...but i bet its only in one place.

If your not sure what to do get a 2nd opinion from another garage. Or a garage that can give you more details or even determine where abouts in the loom it has gone...if it has gone

Orionaut · 15 Mar 2016 at 22:05

iaind said:
A mk4 golf is going to be pretty old and cheap, I don't see any real recourse after 6 months.

Like other have said though, a proper diagnosis is necessary and very few things would be crushingly expensive so I wouldn't panic. If you buy a 12+ year old car you'll have to repair it now and again

12+ year old cars are well into "damage control" territory.

This doesn't mean that they are a bad deal. Simply that you will be very unlikely to be able to run one without having to do "Something" on a fairly regular basis. (And there is of course the ever present risk of a catastrophic failure which isn't actually anybodies fault (Attempting to make a claim against the dealer under these circumstances is a bit ***** really

))

It is still likely to be cheaper than running a new one!

(I will typically start at 20 years and run till the wheels fall off!

, but then that is because I can (and I fully accept that not everybody can do this))