Hi all, I’m new to the board, so please excuse me if this “issue” has already been raised a thousand times….

Last Friday I purchased my 1.8 TDCi Focus (08 plate – 52k miles) from a garage in Sheffield and ever since then the “Engine Malfunction” warning light has flickered on and off. When I say flickered, I mean it sometimes comes on for 5 seconds, 10 seconds or 30 seconds and then goes off, however this never effects performance.

I took it into Evans Halshaw this morning for a check up, to which they did their usual FOC 15min check and said that they’ve received the following default codes:

Steering Angle Sensor

Brake Switch

Now I am a complete novice when it comes to the ins/outs and technical jargon of the motor mechanic industry, so I’m hoping someone on here may be able to shed some light. Evans Halshaw now want me to bring it back in on Friday for a full Diagnostics check, to the tune of £80, however I have a feeling they will just reaffirm that there’s a couple of issues and charge me the £80. Then, of course, there’s the potential repairs and labour costs.

I’m not all that keen on spending £80 just for them to tell me what they already have done, and I know I can have a Diagnostics check done at another garage for £35 (a garage that I have frequented over the years and found very professional and honest). I just want to see if people on here with more experience could offer their own advice.

For those that may be wondering why I don’t take it back to the garage where I bought the car from – well I have a feeling they would already have known about this issue prior to selling and ,given they only offer 30 days warranty from day of purchase, would look to do a “quick-fix” so that the issue is resolved for long enough to null the warranty if you know what I mean. Said warranty does not include Diagnostics (unless they did it themselves) so I know I’ll have to front the cost for that myself – I just don’t want to be lumbered with some huge total cost only a week after buying the car.

From speaking to people in the trade and looking online, this “Engine Malfunction” light does seem a popular issue and that it could be a million & one things. I guess I’m just hoping someone on here has an idea of the issues Evans Halshaw have listed above and could maybe advise on what potential repairs and costs I may be about to face?

Thanks in advance :)

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the family, and I will move your thread to the Focus section.

With regards to this issue, do not pay anything at all.

You bought the car from a garage, which means that the issue was due to an inherent fault which was present at the time you bought the vehicle. This means that it is the seller garage responsibility to resolve the issue for you, and all costs assosciated with it. Therefore, you need to contact the garage, advise them of the issue and the initial diagnosis provided by Ford. Give them the details you have and arrange the return of the vehicle for its repair. You should not have to pay anything for this issue.

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the family, and I will move your thread to the Focus section.

With regards to this issue, do not pay anything at all.

You bought the car from a garage, which means that the issue was due to an inherent fault which was present at the time you bought the vehicle. This means that it is the seller garage responsibility to resolve the issue for you, and all costs assosciated with it. Therefore, you need to contact the garage, advise them of the issue and the initial diagnosis provided by Ford. Give them the details you have and arrange the return of the vehicle for its repair. You should not have to pay anything for this issue.

Hi,

Thanks for the speedy response.

That is certainly one avenue I have explored and for the obvious reasons you allude to. I guess my hesistation with this is whether I can trust this garage to do the required job and not just do a botched up job which will alleviate the problem for the immediate future but then a few months down the line once the warranty is out of date the issue resurfaces again, if you understand me? I can't help but feel they were aware of this issue before they sold it, and I can't help but think of a lot of car salesmen as cowboys purely from friends' past dealings with other garages, so I'm automatically presuming they wont be remotely interested in resolving this problem permanently if the total cost wipes out the sales margin?

I have had these issues as well and learned the hard way.

You need to write to them, saving a copy for your records, and keeping proof of sending the letter to them (Royal Mail or signature of receipt if you do it personally) detailing exactly what issues there are on the vehicle, the exact description of what happens, when, where, how, the symptoms, the affect etc. And you also include any diagnostics completed.

Therefore if you take the car back and they "bodge" it for 3 months, and the issue just "happens" to come back, then you have a comeback. The letter delivered to them confirms the error existed long before the expiration of the warranty, and your legal rights are still present, even if the issue comes back a month or 6 weeks after the warranty expired. The signed and confirmed receipt of the letter means that if they do play games, its favoured to you in the event you need to claim. Should they play these silly games, then you have the right to get trading standards involved, giving them a copy of everything you have done.

I am currently building a case for argument with a trader I bought my car from a few months ago. This includes the potential of either rejecting the vehicle under the Sale of Goods act, or taking the matter to small claims court in order to get the issue rectified.

So what you need to do now, is to make a record of everything you do, say or send with regards to this. That way if it does bite later, you have all the evidence you need!