First post here so hello to everyone

My wife has just bought her first car a 1999 Ford Ka. It’s a great little runner and has a full service history. However she has just realised this morning that the central locking doesn’t work. If you unlock the driver’s side you have to open the passenger side using the inside handle. And the when you need to lock it you have to lock the drivers side with the key and then walk round and lock the passenger side.

I also noticed the rear windscreen heater wasn’t working and after looking through the handbook worked out they both had the same fuse so thought it might be that. A quick look in the fuse box and discovered there was no fuse there. So I put a fuse in and as soon as I did there was a ‘whirring’ noise from the drivers side lock. Now when you try and lock the car the lock is just makes a whirring sound and doesn’t lock. I have taken the fuse back out so she can still lock it.

Obviously with this been her first car she has had to pay a bomb fore the insurance and with only been a student at the moment funds are a bit short so she can’t really afford for a garage if it is going to me something major to fix.

Is there anything else I could look at to fix it or is it best to take it to a garage and hope it’s not to expensive to fix?

Thanks very much

Obviously someone had the fault and removed the fuse to avoid fixing it.

Was it a dealer purchase or a private sale?

If it's dealer take it back to them as they would definitely known there was a fault, hard to miss.

Sale of goods act applies and they should redress the problem.

Private sale - then it was obviously an existing problem they did not disclose to you.

Fuses don't remove themselves.

I'd go and give them a good kick in the love spuds.

As for fixing it, may be a duff central locking motor on the drivers door, a good auto electrician should be able to diagnose.

They're not expensive and mobile ones are usually pretty good.

Let me know how you get on.

Obviously someone had the fault and removed the fuse to avoid fixing it.

Was it a dealer purchase or a private sale?

If it's dealer take it back to them as they would definitely known there was a fault, hard to miss.

Sale of goods act applies and they should redress the problem.

Private sale - then it was obviously an existing problem they did not disclose to you.

Fuses don't remove themselves.

I'd go and give them a good kick in the love spuds.

As for fixing it, may be a duff central locking motor on the drivers door, a good auto electrician should be able to diagnose.

They're not expensive and mobile ones are usually pretty good.

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks for the advice it was a private seller who's phone is now conveniently switched it. A bit annoyed with myself as I checked everything else before she bought it but never thought of seeing if the central locking worked.

The problem nowadays is a fair amount of "private" sellers are actually unscruplous dealers who get trade in's which are a bit ropey and rather than go through the process of checking and guaranteeing them just throw a bucket over them and stick them on the free ads or put a sign in them on the side of a road.

They bypass any comeback when things go wrong.

I have never and will probably never buy a roadside bargain as it's very much a case of buyer beware.

Dealers may charge more but the comeback in the event of faults make up for it.

I got my car at the end of september and they gave me a one year no quibble warranty.

That's always worth the extra cost.

Hopefully you get the problem sorted without too much cost or hassle.

I'd still try to find the little #### and punt him in the pods. Not that i'd condone violence of course.

the good news is it sounds like the central locking is still working but something has broken off of it inside the door, probably a plastic link , a Haynes manual will explain to you how to get it apart to find the piece that is probably broken in the door then get a replacement part from a scrapyard would be my advice Michael