You've got a lot more cover than that with the Sale of Goods Act, car dealers don't like you to know this though.
Help - bought a bad car.
- Thread starter Eddie
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You've got a lot more cover than that with the Sale of Goods Act, car dealers don't like you to know this though.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Yes, it's a MK6 Fiesta, 1.4tdci, so if you're saying it's definitely the right engine then that is at least something.
The local mechanic is one we have taken our cars to for 20+ years, so I have (until this very second) no doubts about what he said, tbh. He's never given me any reason for concern in the past as he always seems to do a good job, but who knows... that would be just the icing on the cake!
He said that the engine has had bits chopped off in places to make it fit which made it hard to recognise exactly what engine it is without looking at the engine number. So I presume you have to take bits off to gain access to that(?). He only showed us the underside and pointed out the gear box bit so we could take a photo. We did ask him to make a visual inspection only so maybe he would have been able to make a more confident judgement if he could remove whatever bits he would have needed to in order to do that.
The dealers did say today that they would find out everything from the engine number once they had the car and that they thought it highly unlikely the engine had been replaced, well he said it was highly unlikely the gear box was wrong too, but it's clear to see in the picture, so who knows.
We haven't checked if the engine number matches the V5 as we don't have the V5 through the post yet. All the other numbers appear to match up, so I don't know.
The local mechanic is one we have taken our cars to for 20+ years, so I have (until this very second) no doubts about what he said, tbh. He's never given me any reason for concern in the past as he always seems to do a good job, but who knows... that would be just the icing on the cake!
He said that the engine has had bits chopped off in places to make it fit which made it hard to recognise exactly what engine it is without looking at the engine number. So I presume you have to take bits off to gain access to that(?). He only showed us the underside and pointed out the gear box bit so we could take a photo. We did ask him to make a visual inspection only so maybe he would have been able to make a more confident judgement if he could remove whatever bits he would have needed to in order to do that.
The dealers did say today that they would find out everything from the engine number once they had the car and that they thought it highly unlikely the engine had been replaced, well he said it was highly unlikely the gear box was wrong too, but it's clear to see in the picture, so who knows.
We haven't checked if the engine number matches the V5 as we don't have the V5 through the post yet. All the other numbers appear to match up, so I don't know.
There is no doubt its the correct engine.
As has been said, there is no point in expending the amount of effort it would take to butcher the wrong gear box/engine to fit it into a diesel fiesta.
I would just get on ebay and buy a replacement wheel and carry on driving myself.
As has been said, there is no point in expending the amount of effort it would take to butcher the wrong gear box/engine to fit it into a diesel fiesta.
I would just get on ebay and buy a replacement wheel and carry on driving myself.
I dont understand why he said it might be from a different manufacturer. Thats just so wrong it's hilarious.
It is potentially not the cars original engine but there are numerous reasons why an engine would be replaced, many not bad ones, especially for another one the same as the factory engine.
The whole engine/gearbox thing might be a non-issue. I presume the engine and gearbox both work fine, and that the charging issue (Which would have been the alternator) is now fixed. Therefore the only fault with the car is the vibration at around 65mph.
This could be as simple as a buckled wheel or a bodge job on the wheel balancing. It could also be worn suspension bushes - none of these are serious or would reasonably result in a rejection of the car under SOGA.
It is potentially not the cars original engine but there are numerous reasons why an engine would be replaced, many not bad ones, especially for another one the same as the factory engine.
The whole engine/gearbox thing might be a non-issue. I presume the engine and gearbox both work fine, and that the charging issue (Which would have been the alternator) is now fixed. Therefore the only fault with the car is the vibration at around 65mph.
This could be as simple as a buckled wheel or a bodge job on the wheel balancing. It could also be worn suspension bushes - none of these are serious or would reasonably result in a rejection of the car under SOGA.
[TW]Fox;21684617 said:
Maybe he was just getting excited or something, I don't know.
Maybe I'm getting confused in exactly what he said, I wasn't exactly calm when I saw the gearbox, so maybe I misheard, I'm not 100% sure I didn't.The engine and gearbox both seem to work fine to me, apart from the vibration it drives well. The problem as I see it is when it needs work doing to it in the future. Also the value of the car, personally I think we paid too much for a car that has had that done to its gearbox/engine. Also you've got to consider selling it on, I'm not going to sell it on without making any potential buyer aware, I doubt any of you here would buy a car that had that done to the gearbox.
The whole purpose in buying a car of this type was to save us some money, I don't like the idea of expensive repair bills in a month's time, or high tax rates, or high fuel rates, so I just wanted to minimise the cost of keeping a car on the road. We thought we were buying exactly that, but it appears that we bought something that might have potential to bleed us dry over the next 12 months.
The problem is that none of this amounts to a right to return the car under SOGA. There is nothing wrong with the functionality offered by the engine and gearbox.
[TW]Fox;21684781 said:
Ah right, well that's probably more bad news then. We both actually do like the car, it drives nice, we'd definitely buy another one if we did get our money back. I'm just concerned that we aren't going to be able to afford to fix it if it goes wrong in a month or two.
I think your mechanic may have put thoughts/given you bad advice and made the situation a whole lot worse. The engine seems to be correct on the face of it, it may have been replaced but you can't be sure right now.
I'd suggest you let the garage you bought it from try to work out the history of the engine change and figure out why the gearbox/engine has been trimmed to fit. I believe they should have notified you (perhaps only if you had asked though, I guess this is where it gets complicated).
Either way, the engine being replaced may not necessarily be sinister. It could even have been replaced under warranty, although this seems unlikely given the workmanship.
I'd suggest you let the garage you bought it from try to work out the history of the engine change and figure out why the gearbox/engine has been trimmed to fit. I believe they should have notified you (perhaps only if you had asked though, I guess this is where it gets complicated).
Either way, the engine being replaced may not necessarily be sinister. It could even have been replaced under warranty, although this seems unlikely given the workmanship.
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With due respect you don't sound the most clued up of people and it seems your mechanic has scared you somewhat. The gearbox/engine is a non issue and I don't understand why it would affect the value
Right, well that sounds like it might be good advice - actually give the garage some chance to look into it before deciding what to do next. There is, I suppose, the possibility that they didn't know and just tried to pull a fast one with the wheel.
Tbh, you are 100% correct - I know absolutely nothing about cars except how to drive one and what noises and stuff it shouldn't be making. I am also beginning to see the possibility that the local mechanic may have got a tad excited, but I don't know for sure as I haven't seen exactly what he was referring to - maybe they are horror pictures for another day.
It has the wrong gearbox on it.. hence it having bits chipped out of the bellhousing to make it fit. If it's the wrong box, it's likely got the wrong ratios for that engine in that car. That IS a problem.
I think there's potentially ways to argue it. Does the potential new engine/gearbox alter the CO2 emissions, meaning that the car isn't validly registered?[TW]Fox;21684781 said:
Something's not right as the bits don't fit together. I don't think that's standard, even for Ford[TW]Fox;21685071 said:
I was thinking that, probably a cheap box that isn't from the current model or possibly not a diesel.
Vibration needs to be sorted as agreed, the rest seems a minor issue unless the gearbox is not fit for purpose.
I think thats prob what the 2nd mechanic was getting at. Rather than him not knowing what the engine is off.
I've listned to mechanics spout loads of stuff out at customers and they only here part of it as they don't know what half of it means.
Double overhead manifold sprocket anyone?