car dealer and small claims

metsta | 21:46 Thu 16th Oct 2008 | Motoring

1 Answers

I px'd my car with a medium sized local dealer, my car was 5500 against an 8k car so paid the difference on a debit card 1000 and credit card for 1500.
the car was running rough but i was reasonably happy with it and paid 1k deposit on the assurance that the running would all get sorted. They sent the car the next day to a local mechanic and they replaced a part; (discovery td5, injector rail) i went to the mechanic and checked all was ok with the car before doing the deal, the next day they called to say car was ready to go, in the meantime i called a local landrover dealer and outlined the original fault and they said be sure the mechanic also checks the ECU for oil contamination and the engine main loom/harness, as the oil may have travelled through the plastic pipe and through loom into ECU a common TD5 fault. THe dealer called the mechanic and asked that they check the ECU which he reported back was done and the ECU all fine. I was happy with that as i know of the mechanic and they are pretty decent.

A week after owning the car i noticed an oil leak from steering damper/box and top of wishbone, also the car started running lumpy and missing again. I call the dealer and they tell me to take it back to the mechanics which i do, the car has an AA 5* warranty so they will look at it and get the work done. They look at the car and diagnose the steering box is ******* oil as is the rocker gasket, they had no answer for the lumpy running other than they would take a look.

Not feeling overly confident with this mechanic now i take it to a Landrover specialist and they also diagnose it needing a new steering box, as they gasket kit doesnt ever work and a new box is the only fix! 600 quid!!!
THey pull the ECU and its full of oil, 9 times out of 10 if left in a bowl for 24 - 48hrs it drains out and is good to go again, there are no faults and errors on the diagnostics. However in order for the ECU to be full of oil it