HELP!!

[tel777.]

Hi

I need some advise from those of you in the know.

I bought a p reg landrover disco as a tow car for my caterham academy race car, I have only owned the disco for 7 weeks and the engine seazed up whilst on a local run.

I have spoken to the guarage that I bought it from and they are saying "sorry you only get a months warrenty, tough." and "you should have bought an extrended warrenty what do you expect from a ten year old car" but I was never offered an extended warrenty.

I have been carfull not to blow the relationship out of the water and we are still on talking terms (at the moment) maybe they sense weakness but i'm just trying to sort it out quick and easy. Maybe I should have gone in with both barrells but I'm in business and it doesn't work with me.

What's my rights? and what should be my next step?

Thanks in anticipation

Tel

[crankedup]

Thats terrible, first thing to do is transfer this post into General Gassing forum for a wider debate.
So far as warrenty go'es on the face of it I would suggest the goods sold were unfit for purpose and also IIRC you also have an 3 month warrenty as standard and required by Law to be part and parcel of a trader sale. But don't take my word for it, fish around for loads more advise and good luck.

[Simpo Two]

I'd agree with Dave to get this on the GG forum. Also contact the Trading Standards dept of your local Council - they will be very familiar with the motor trade, what's legal and what's not. They also have the power to prosecute, which could save you gambling in the courts.

[tel777.]

The disco has done 125,000 miles.

Under the 1979 sale of goods act it looks like the garage is in breach of satisfactory quality. It doesn't matter if the car was bought for £100 or £10,000 if it says something like runs well or in good working order on the initial advert then they are in breach.

I now need to get some evidence together ie letters from garages saying that these engines do not historically sieze at this milage.

It is then down to the sales garage to prove that it was something that I had done in the 7 weeks that I have owned the car.

Any more advise is all welcomed

Tel

[tjdixon911]

tel777. said:

The disco has done 125,000 miles.

Under the 1979 sale of goods act it looks like the garage is in breach of satisfactory quality. It doesn't matter if the car was bought for £100 or £10,000 if it says something like runs well or in good working order on the initial advert then they are in breach.

I now need to get some evidence together ie letters from garages saying that these engines do not historically sieze at this milage.

It is then down to the sales garage to prove that it was something that I had done in the 7 weeks that I have owned the car.

Any more advise is all welcomed

Tel

What engine is in the car? Is it one of the BMW units? I'm sure you won't have any problem finding people who can vouch for their life expectancy - the Disco is not far off being 20years old (early ones are on G plates!) so there must be plenty of them around with that sort of mileage and probably alot more!

My parents have had 2 disco's and neither have had any major problems apart from the first ones clutch went... i think they had the first one for 9years and the second they have had since 2002!

[turbomart]

All car dealers have to give at least three months warranty by law! .....so get it back to them and demand they put it right. My mate bought a Subaru from a local dealer and had the same experience as you, the engine went pop two days before the warranty (3 months by law) ran out.... they sourced a secondhand engine and replaced it free of charge! as they should - end of.

Martyn

[tel777.]

tjdixon911 said:

tel777. said:

The disco has done 125,000 miles.

Under the 1979 sale of goods act it looks like the garage is in breach of satisfactory quality. It doesn't matter if the car was bought for £100 or £10,000 if it says something like runs well or in good working order on the initial advert then they are in breach.

I now need to get some evidence together ie letters from garages saying that these engines do not historically sieze at this milage.

It is then down to the sales garage to prove that it was something that I had done in the 7 weeks that I have owned the car.

Any more advise is all welcomed

Tel

What engine is in the car? Is it one of the BMW units? I'm sure you won't have any problem finding people who can vouch for their life expectancy - the Disco is not far off being 20years old (early ones are on G plates!) so there must be plenty of them around with that sort of mileage and probably alot more!

My parents have had 2 disco's and neither have had any major problems apart from the first ones clutch went... i think they had the first one for 9years and the second they have had since 2002!

The engine is a 2.5 tdi in a P reg disco about 96/97 i think, but not sure who makes the engine. No sign of BMW on the cover.

Tel

[markCSC]

The TD4 in the Freelander was a BMW unit the TDi and TD5 aren't

[gtr-gaz]

Well, I had a P reg disco for about 6 years. It was 18 months old when I bought it and we sold it about 4 years ago.

The early discos' had a 200 Tdi unit, the one I had (and you probably have), is a 300 Tdi unit, which had a bit more power. The 300's had quite a few teething problems. A misaligned camshaft pulley being the worst. This caused the cam belt to fail long before the replacement interval.
It failed on ours, which caused a few bent pushrods and meant the engine had to be rebuilt! Perhaps you have the same problem and it's not actually seized??

Land Rover did do an upgrade kit. A very simple solution and easy to spot if it's been done.

Personally, I think it's about the worst car I have ever owned..sorry, but we had so many problems with oil leaks from the diffs and power steering pump.

[chris.mapey]

As has been mentioned under law, all car dealers have to offer a 3m warranty on all cars sold to a member of the public.

If they try to state that it was a trade sale, then if you didn't provide them with evidence that you are a trader, then the normal sales rules apply and they will have to fix it, as above.

HTH

Chris

[tel777.]

looks like I may have struck a deal on the back of your advice.

they are going to take the car back off me upgrade me to a newer disco and I pay the difference, they will throw in 3 month warrenty but I have to deliver the older disco to them and collect the newer one.

They have been transparent as they said they can then offset some of the cost of the repair to the existing disco against the profit on the newer one. I just have to watch out that they don't try and over charge me for the newer one.

I havn't agreed to this yet, what do you all rekon?

Tel

[MG Mark]

tel777. said:

looks like I may have struck a deal on the back of your advice.

they are going to take the car back off me upgrade me to a newer disco and I pay the difference, they will throw in 3 month warrenty but I have to deliver the older disco to them and collect the newer one.

They have been transparent as they said they can then offset some of the cost of the repair to the existing disco against the profit on the newer one. I just have to watch out that they don't try and over charge me for the newer one.

I havn't agreed to this yet, what do you all rekon?

Tel

I've owned my M reg 1994 disco 300 tdi from new and it has just passed the 196k mile mark with no major problems and no major engine/ancillary components changed, other than usual servicing items, bar needing to pull the engine out at 140k to replace the cheap rubbish clutch release fork arm that wears through. The 300tdi unit is v. reliable provided it isn't thrashed, the oil is changed regularly, belts are changed at the right mileage, and a regular eye is kept on the coolant level to spot when the stupid little gasket that connects the water pump housing to the block starts weeping. Other than that I've done nothing to it and it is still going strong (touch wood).

If they are going to exchange the car, with whatever appropriate cash adjustment regarding age, mileage etc, see whether it is a 300tdi or TD5 that they are proposing. The last of the 300tdi was in 1998 so that puts it around the R and S reg mark, before the TD5 engine came along with the Discovery II. By and large the 300tdi is a simpler engine with no ECU, although the last 300tdis did have an ECU controlling the injector pump, wheras the earlier ones had a mechanical pump.

Things to look for around the 125k miles mark on the 300 tdi of whatever age are the service history (re oil and belt changes etc - if it doesn't come with one then either walk away from it or assume the worst), rust in the boot floor, sills and the tops of the inner wings in the bonnet(I've had to replace my boot floor), bi-metallic corrosion on the body panel edges, particularly the back door etc etc. In a 300 tdi, expect the clutch release arm to go around that mileage unless it has already been replaced. Other than that, they're generally fine, happy engines which aren't normally prone to seizing. Hope that helps,

MG Mark

[tel777.]

nail on the head.

you have described the model that I am looking for and to the exact mile the milage.

I'll look out for the signs

Thanks

Tel

[MG Mark]

tel777. said:

nail on the head.

you have described the model that I am looking for and to the exact mile the milage.

I'll look out for the signs

Thanks

Tel

No worries - let us know how you get on and if you any more questions, be happy to try and answer them - with the mileage on mine, I've done most things on it bar anything much on the engine, gearbox, transfer box or differentials, which seem to soldier on regardless as long as they get fresh fluids at the thr right time.

MG Mark