Right, went to collect the bravo today. all was well owner looked like a descent chap, had a long chat, walked around the car, no noises, went on a test drive, a long one. i was very happy

180 mile drive on the way home, fine, no problems.
last got to the motorway junction and herd something funny, like a flapping noise. went to pull off the bottom of the slipload on to a a road, the car nearly stalled.

pulled in and there is a knocking coming from the bottom end.i dont know what to do who to take it to whats wrong with it

help

the bloke isn't going to give me the money back as he said it was fine when it was sold to me

i didn't go cheep, this had just cost me 1.5k its now at the side of the road till my break down cover flipps over on to it

i dont know were to take it, what to do, i cant do the work my self, were should i get it recoverd to?

bump

car is at home and mechanic seems to think its top end thats gone....im taking some legal advice but i just need to know if a top end can just "go" or if it must have been going for weeks

Gutted for you, a typical case of "caveat emptor". Hard to see how anyone can make a car run OK for a few hundred miles but a proper investigation would cost, depends who pays, maybe take legal advice?

Used cars are a minefield but he may be dealing as a private seller and have history... fingers crossed...

thanks for the reply

the seller looks to be honest. but i still have a car that cost me 1.5k, and its flubberd. i have no car. and he has 1.5k of my money

doesnt sceem fair does it

he stated that the car was "best hgt available" mechanics were in "A1" condition

and he goes on with his best of the best. I don't want to take this guy to court as it feels like im getting personal and calling him a lier...but the law states that he doest need to know there was a faulty for me to take him to the scc

just the car was miss advertised. and the faulght would have been pressent at the sale of the car, diognosed or undiognosed

its not a easy case, as it never is with private sales but i beleve he has possably stiched him self up with this one with his own clames

all in all, legal action is the last thing i want. he sceems ambical, and has the same reaction i would have if i had sold a car to some one and it went pop
what ever way we deal with it. some one is going to be out of pocket, its not a nice situation for any one. esspecaly as i still thing the bloke is a nice guy and no mallance was intended (i have been wrong before however)

Aren't most if not all private sales sold as seen?

Sorry to hear about your trouble
Did you check the top end when you picked it up, pulleys/belts/tensioners?
I might be buying a spare one next week for spares, so if by then you know what bits you need and I have them let me know.
Good luck with it.

private sales are a mine field, but there is still legal recorse that can be taken if the car was not as described

the top end checked out. belts and tentioners done on time from the garage, looked at it today and there doesn't look to be any belt slip, its still tight as well (and looks new as new)

it defiantly looks like top end now, and i have a miss fire on one of the cilliners. also the top right of the engage, (inlet manifold top off) were the coil packs branch from is making a loude buzzing noise. (which im not sure it was doing before)

are you sure it isnt just a dead coil?

aww, i fell sorry for you actually it dis look like a really good car you were getting.

what you are describing doesnt sound like the engine has exhausted its self, have you checked all of the plugs are screwed in tight?

i had an issue after changing a set of plugs where one came undone and caused missfire and would of indeed damaged one of the coil packs, maybe this is all thats wrong?

if you were a bit more local i would be happy to have a look but shrewsbury is a long way from bristol lol

Really sorry to hear about your problems tis a shame when things like this happen but as such, the car is bought as seen. You aint got a leg to stand on if he's a private seller. Seek legal advice, but you'll end up wasting more time and money.

In future I recommend you take out a vehicle expection on a used car by RAC or AA or an independant.

The earliest MK2 Bravo is now 7 years old remember that. These aint new cars. But seeing how the problem occured a good few miles away, then car was probably described correctly at time of sale. If the cars engine was shot and you got there to buy a working vehicle and it wouldn't start then obviously thats mis advertised.

Good luck anyway and keep us informed.

is there any way i can check the coil packs? its possable one has gone but i dont think that would lead to the noise im hearing at the moment

i'm so sorry for you.
It sounds to me as though the guy has genuinely believed that he has sold you a genuine quality example.

The service history and the condition of the car show that it has not been neglected. From his point of view he couldn't have done much more and the fact that the car drove so many miles suggests that he was never aware of a problem.

There is a small chance that he knew of a fault and had a bodge repair carried out to sell it.

All you can do now, is have your mechanic look over the car and see what has actually happenned. This will put a light on things and we can go from there until then its all guess work.

goodgirl156 said:

it defiantly looks like top end now, and i have a miss fire on one of the cilliners. also the top right of the engage, (inlet manifold top off) were the coil packs branch from is making a loude buzzing noise. (which im not sure it was doing before)

Click to expand...

The buzz is normal, dont worry about that

So sorry to hear.

I hope you get everyting fixed soon and cheap considering you just spent 1.5K.

oh bummer that not nice
sounds like you were unlucky i would be gutted if it was me, i would be looking for a cheap replacement engine they can be found at a reasonable price, that is compared to labour charges in a garage these days.
do you know any guys can fix it cheap for you shame your not closer as i have a good mate who is a mechanic handy guy to know.
all the best getting it sorted if you do happen to get your money back come buy my sons his is up for grabs in the classified .
all the best

i can get it recovered to any were in the country by me recovery people moving it to some were it can be fixed is not a problem

Regarding coil packs, pull each injector clip off in turn and see which cylinders make the problem worse. If all the injectors are firing, but its only running on 4, then you will find the culprit cylinder. Change another coil pack onto that cylinder (do a compression test whilst the plugs are out too) and see if that helps.
In doing all this, you will be able to determine if its fuel, spark or compression that you are missing. HTH's
Also, when it broke down, did it just die and then fail to restart? It could be the cam sensor (behind the exhaust pulley) which needs to sync up with the crank signal for it to start.This commonly breaks after a cambelt change.
Just a few thoughts.

Steve

Steve H said:

Also, when it broke down, did it just die and then fail to restart? It could be the cam sensor (behind the exhaust pulley) which needs to sync up with the crank signal for it to start.This commonly breaks after a cambelt change.
Just a few thoughts.

Steve

Click to expand...

if it did just stop it wouldnt be the cam sensor as thats only used in starting the engine, it would suggest crank but i still dont think it sounds like that given the noise you mention.

would be good if we could find a member local to you with some spanners to have a look

if any one is willing to do that, that would be great? the car is still running and it will tick over
im positive its not a cam censer

car will no longer run, it just made a screeching noise and stalled when i was recording a vid clip