General dodgy fiat 16v turbo

[alecando123]

hi guys,well il start by saying i am absolutely gutted, im after some advice regarding my rights with buying from a private seller, yesterday i swapped my vectra sri for a fiat coupe 16v turbo, i checked over the car and it seemed pretty mint,yer a few scuffs but nothing serious, i found the car on pistonheads and contacted the seller asking him if he was interested in a swap, he returned my mail and agreed that he was interested,
anyway, after travelling 170 miles to do the deal, on my return journey the worst happened..... cam belt slipped and to cut a long story short, smashed the valves and pistons to smithereens, i took it to my mate who happens to be a fiat specialist and took the head off and declared it a write off within moments, he said that it would cost just as much to get it fixed as to buy a new coupe, i want to know if anyone knows if i have any rights as a consumer, oh by the way the bloke is all apologetic but not accepting any liability for the damage. As for the description of the car,it was pretty brief, just that hed spent a small fortune on it recently to get it through a fresh mot which it has.
The guy had very little service history with the vehicle which was my biggest f~~# up but my car had very little either. id appreciate some useful advice, not just members telling me how stupid i am for buying a duff car, the car appeared absolutely fine , no knocks rattles bangs or smoke, if it had i wouldnt of touched it, im not a mechanic but i do know the basic warning signs! my mechanic mate said that it looked like the cm belt was newish but it was probably the tensioner bearing that wasnt set correctly. thanks guys

 

[beau]

absolutly nothing you can do, or the seller should do, im sure it was sold in good faith, you cannot 'tell' when a cambelt/tensioner is going to go, therefore you just replace them.

 

[ChrisUK]

Buyer beware, your f***ed. Fix it or scrap it. As beau said it should have been replaced no question you cannot SEE wear on the tensioner just the belt and even then its guess work.

 

[alecando123]

a new cam belt would of been the first thing id have done if id got it home, but i only managed 70 miles up the road

 

[beau]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/fiat-coupe-tu...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

or this might be a gooden-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-FIAT-COU...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

make one out of two with loads of spares

 

[alecando123]

cheers for the links, but with all the travelling around looking for an engine plus the labour involved, im lookin at probably a grand and with the car valued around 1500 there isnt much point, i think il sell the car as spares or repairs, infact, anyone reading and interested in the car, get back to me, its got 12 months mot ironically! its in yellow with cloth interior, bodywork is excellent with the odd scuff, no dents, im not gunna break coz i cant store so will have to all go at once, any questions drop me a txt 07871 325653 thanks guys

 

[J333EVO]

It will not cost £1000 to repair the head on a Coupe engine, not even an integrale head would cost that much and it has very expensive sodium filled valves.

You should be able to get it repaired for half that, cheaper again if doing it yourself.

Cambelts on 16V engine should be done every 24K or 4years IIRC though that is on integrale's and owners tend to be on side of cation when it comes to maintenance, preventative rather than correction to be on safe side and while there its good to replace all tensioners and the balancer shaft belts at same time, some people also replace water pump as you have to remove everything to do it.

 

[maddogmorg]

where abouts are you based?

It sounds you learned the hard way of the importance of cambelt history with the twincam engine. need to get mine changed asap.

 

[Hellcat]

Don't scrap her! Get her fixed. How much did you buy her for? Get that new engine in and you're 4/5 years and 30-40k trouble free almost guaranteed.

 

[maddogmorg]

It will not cost £1000 to repair the head on a Coupe engine, not even an integrale head would cost that much and it has very expensive sodium filled valves.

The 16VT does have sodium filled outlet valves.

 

[alecando123]

i have looked about for a block,looking atleast 350quid for the whole of what i need, im no mechanic so will have to get it done, lookin at atleast the same amount again for labour,my friend said it does have the expensive outlet valves at about 50quid each. the pistons are smashed to pieces, the valves had melted themselves on to the top of the pistons, my mechanic friend said hed seen nothing like it before!!! GUTTED im based in hereford

 

[alecando123]

if you read my first post it says i traded my old car in, straight swap for my vectra sri, the equivelant of 1200ish i guess