Car in the garage 4 weeks, what now?

[pabloeldiablo]

Long story short, I left my 2013 1.0 Ecoboost petrol car into the dealer where I bought it as there was a coolant leak on it.  It was a hard thing to fix as the problem was some seal that was very difficult to get at.  They got it replaced but now can't get the car to run.  They've tried all manner of things but they've had the car 4 1/2 weeks now and I still don't have it back.  They seem genuine and I believe they're trying their best, but they've admitted they don't really know what the issue is but are determined to fix it.

I bought the car last October when it was 2 years old so it's still under warranty and I have a courtesy car but I've effectively used up my months free temporary cover on my insurance so from next week the insurance will be charging me £15 a week to continue the temp cover.

What's my best option now?  The car was advertised as £8600 but I got it for £8000 trading in my old car.  I know I wouldn't get or expect 8k for it now but I don't know if I'd want another Fiesta after this.  Apparently this seal is a bit of a known issue.  I think I'd nearly rather get some money back and go buy some other make but I don't know if they'd give me the currently market value of a similar car (7-7.5k I think).

[iantt]

sounds like timing cover , theres a seal behind there, and yes it could be difficult to get at, but why 4 1/2 weeks!! if itvwont run, they obviously must have got either the timing belt incorrectly timed up or damaged the cam position sensors, or something like that.

seems to me they need to strip down engine again redo it all.

i cant see why your having to pay insurance on courtesy car. wont the garage pay?

[pabloeldiablo]

They waited a week for some tool to arrive to fix the timing but that hasn't fixed the problem.  The Ford engineer they contacted spent a full day on it last week and was left scratching his head too.  They ordered a sensor, think it was the camshaft sensor which was due in on Thursday but obviously didn't fix the issue as there has been no word from them.

I haven't told them about the insurance yet as the charge doesn't kick in until midnight on Tuesday and I was foolishly hoping I'd have the car back by then.  My insurance company gives me 30 days free temporary cover on another car and that will be fully used up next week.

Yeah I was thinking they probably need to strip it all back and start over but they told me it was 6-7 hours work to get at this seal and another 6-7 hours work to put everything back, so I'm not surprised something has gone wrong, I was kinda expecting it when they said how long it was going to take.

My guess is that it's something small and stupid that's causing the issue, or they've somehow damaged the engine seriously with the timing off.

Just wondering how much longer do I give them before requiring a refund or replacement.  I guess what sticks in my mind is that the car has been there 4 1/2 weeks and the seal replacement took about 3 days tops.  So they've effectively spent 4 weeks trying to get the car running, which doesn't bode well for them suddenly finding the problem and fixing it.

[GaryPL]

Sorry you're having a terrible time with your Ford garage. Is it worth contacting head office?

Based on my recent experience, perhaps not, but you've got nothing to lose in trying :-) 

[pabloeldiablo]

Thanks.

Yeah might contact Ford support but I don't want to make a whole big fuss out of it.

[GaryPL]

They have had your car for a month... A fuss is the least they should expect.

And from my experience of Ford in trying to buy a car, the service they provide (or more accurately, don't provide), is worthy of a strongly worded letter or two.

[pabloeldiablo]

The guy at the dealer seems to be doing all he can and he seems very genuine and honest to me but it's going on too long.  I'm just not sure how much longer to wait before deciding to get the car replaced or refunded, although I don't know if I'd even get the current market rate for the car, it's not even 3 years old and has about 22,000 miles on it.

[m1tch]

28 minutes ago, pabloeldiablo said:

The guy at the dealer seems to be doing all he can and he seems very genuine and honest to me but it's going on too long.  I'm just not sure how much longer to wait before deciding to get the car replaced or refunded, although I don't know if I'd even get the current market rate for the car, it's not even 3 years old and has about 22,000 miles on it.

Perhaps ask for a courtesy car until your car is fixed?

[pabloeldiablo]

Ok, just emailed Ford customer care asking what my options are for a replacement or refund.  When I think that the seal took 2-3 days to access and replace and they've had the car for 4 weeks on top of that and still can't get it to run, it doesn't sound like it will ever be fixed.

[Stoney871]

Reject it as not acceptable.

Under your consumer rights it must be fit for purpose and is after all under warranty.

Sent from my SM-G930F

[pabloeldiablo]

They have given me a courtesy car, a 2016 model.  I figured having me driving around in that would have spurred them on to get this fixed but it hasn't.  It's tricky as the guy I'm dealing with seems very honest and genuine and I'm sure it's frustrating him that the job has taken such a bad turn.  They have other Fiesta's in stock but not the same spec as my existing car.  I would maybe switch to a diesel but I specifically wanted the 1.0 Ecoboost petrol which is why I bought it, although I do a fair few miles each week so perhaps I should have bought diesel to begin with.

I don't know if they have anything suitable to swap with except if I fork out some extra cash to get a slightly newer model.

[dave1987]

Make sure you test drive the diesel thoroughly - I drove the 1.5 TDCi 75hp version and thought it was terrible versus the 1.0 ecoboost. Personally I think the 1.0 ecoboost is worth the fuel penalty for going petrol.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[pabloeldiablo]

They loaned me a 2016 1.5 diesel Fiesta, I don't know if it has a turbo or not.  It drives quite well but there's only 1500 miles on it but I've put about 200 of those on since I've had it.

I think I prefer my car but at the moment it can't even be driven out of the garage!

[Jazman23]

Sounds horrible mate, i think they've had it a reasonable amount of time now. Although they are very honest and sympathetic you dont really know if it's just an act. You may feel bad making a fuss now, as would I but it's been more than a month and they haven't fixed it. It seems like it ran before the coolant leak so obviously they've caused the issue. I know it's not nice but i'd strongly consider getting a replacement out of them.

IF they don't have any suitable replacements there, if they are a Franchise maybe they can bring one from another one of their dealers? If not I'd be looking for compensation of the price you originally bought it for. You bought it less than a year ago, it's still in warranty, it's not even three years old so you wouldn't expect it to not be dead anytime soon in my opinion.

You give them your car to fix a warranty problem, you expect them to take care of it and return it to you in working order, if they cannot through their own fault then a suitable replacement or compensation should be sourced by them.

Fiesta's are great cars in my opinion, I've had 2 (a Mk7 and now Mk7.5) I had an issue with my Mk7 that they couldnt Identify so I sold it and bought a new Mk7.5 and haven't looked back since. I can understand why you'd be put off though

[delboy]

i would not trust the car again myself. you have been patient with them so start asking for a full refund then go get a diffrent car. i was gonna get the new ecoboost fiesta but read on it and drive it and then the mazda 2 and the mazda2 (new shape) nocks the pants off the fiesta.

put it all down in writing & whats been happening an request a full refund or a replacement car as they killed your car

[Joss max]

Also Don't forget you have options with trading standards if things get sticky with the dealer. Best of luck with it getting sorted Paul

[pabloeldiablo]

Well good news hopefully.  Just off the phone with them and they reckon they found the problem.  Said it is a camshaft magnetic thing that's stopped working.  A new one is on its way and the car should be ready tomorrow.  He sounds fairly certain this is the issue so hopefully this fixes it.
 

As for what to do.  Assuming I get the car back, I think I will hold onto it until the warranty runs out in October.  After that, I might look at trading it in for something else.

[iantt]

I got one .lol

[pabloeldiablo]

Haha very good.
 

They just called and the car is fixed and running.  He said he will take it for a drive tonight to make sure everything is ok and I can pick it up tomorrow.

 

Hopefully that's it sorted.

[iantt]

they obviously damaged it taking it out or putting it back in, I would have thought they would have tried that by borrowing them off another car weeks ago.

at least its running .

[delboy]

that only gets damaged if messed about with. that would have shown up on a diagnostics if they botherd to do one as its a sensor 

[pabloeldiablo]

Just an update here.  I've had the car back about 3 1/2 weeks and I think the coolant is dropping again.  It's currently sitting just under the max level or between the max and minimum levels.  I'm not 100% sure yet but I think it's dropping again, although I don't know if it will settle.  At this stage I'm not sure what else could be wrong, I'm guessing either the water pump or head gasket?  Although the car is just under 3 years old with 23k on the clock so I imagine head gasket is unlikely.

I'm going to monitor it for the next few weeks and if it drops much further, bring it back again although I don't know what else they can do.

I went and got my car evaluated at a different dealer during the week, they offered me about £7100 for it against a car that was £9995, even with knowing about the coolant issue.

I really like the Fiesta and would prefer not to sell it but the warranty is up next month and I don't really want to have to spend money on repairs for a car that is so young.  Although I don't know if that is a good argument or false economy seeing that changing the car will most likely cost me more!

[jbell]

Head gasket failure is supposedly rare in mk7.5s. 

 

[craigie53]

if you really think the coolant is still dropping then trade it in, you could end up spending hundreds if not thousands on repairs after the warranty runs out, it's a big risk.

felt really sorry for you reading your posts, hope it goes better for you next time.

[pabloeldiablo]

Thanks.  Yeah it's frustrating.  It's a lovely car that is driving well (so far) so it seems a shame to trade it in so soon.  But I don't think I'm being unreasonable in expecting a car that is so young with such little mileage to be giving no problems.  Previous to this I had a Nissan Almera for 10 years plus and it gave me no bother until the few months before I traded it in.  I was expecting the same with the Fiesta and would expect the same of any car I bought.