First Post - Car story so far

[joeldecai]

Long story short, after buying what looked like a good condition car from a ford dealer I've ended up with a BA MkII XR8 that has had the guts flogged out of it.

Got it home, had a huge driveline clunk and the start motor was had it (should've seen these as signs) as well as a tick on idle (which I told ford to inspect). And the paint on the wing was starting to go so they fixed that as well (I got the paint protector from ford).

I wasn't on my opens for 2 months so it didn't bother me, they kept it at ford for 6 weeks whilst fixing these issues. Eventually got it back, waited for a week and got my opens.

Drove it for a week (owned it for 3 months before so don't mention anything about the dealership taking it back) and it started rattling. Ended up being a spun big end. 3 months later and I have the car back (luckily I got the aftersales insurance which covered the $8500 bill) and the complete list ended up being spun big end, bent crank, oil pump was completely chewed out, piston rings were worn etc. AND the insurance wouldn't cover the piston rings or the oil pump because ford couldn't prove they were caused by/or the cause of the problem.

Ford had the car for 3 weeks before working out anything was wrong. The engine got sent to the rebuilders after 2 months (3 weeks of sending quotes and a week of the aftersales rejecting them) and sat for a week at ford before christmas and rusted up. Which they tried to make me pay to fix.

Ended up at the rebuilders where they replaced a few parts because its good mechanical practice, which the insurance company wouldn't pay ford and told me I've have to pay for. After a day of my old man ringing the dealership, all we had left to pay for was the rings and hone. Which i was happy with.

Got it back and it wouldn't idle. And would stall at speed. Ended up being about 5 airleaks (throttle body, every exhaust flange they removed) which I fixed myself because theres half a mechanics shop in the shed.

While it was on the hoist..turns out it has an oil leak (engine is a week old). Which ford are going to fix if they can find it. Also found a bunch of issues ford never found. Middle joint in the drive shaft is ******, every left hand rear bush is the same, left has rear spring seat/locater is crushed and being pushed out of the spring, huge backlash in the diff.

So the cars been flogged. I've done 3500kms in this car since I bought it (7 months ago) and the best the dealership could offer me if I was trading up was $15,000. The car was $25,000, I traded my el in for a $3000 minimum trade (PROFIT!) then got the aftersales insurance and paint protector and brought it back to $25,000.

So far thats my story. Compiling a long list of parts that ford won't replace because they were ****** before I got it and the aftersales will simply say that it looks like I've raced the car and won't pay. Fairly stoked with my experience.

To make it even better, I was an apprentice in a workshop that had a engine dyno and built engines as well as some exhaust and mechanical work. I've concluded I know more than the ford workshop given some diagnoses I've received.

Also after 3 months of my car sitting stationary on a two post hoist, the shocks have started leaks from being extended for so long. And theres been mould in the interior and the moisture has ruined the hoodlining. Which was perfect when I got the car.

So in general I'm getting slightly jaded after buying a BA that is less reliable than my EL was.

Oh and between me and my parents we've bought 3 cars from that dealership in the last 3 months. And I couldn't even get a loan car for my time without a car. Good service.

[earlybird]

Bad luck mate,name and shame them here.

[joeldecai]

Oh and the cars been serviced by the dealerships other dealer a town over since new. And no one managed to work out it was ****** before I got it.

[snottygobble]

mate i think you have every right to be seriously peeved, whilst it doesn't have all the creature comforts when i hear horror stories like this makes me content to keep driving my 40+ yr valiant. hope it all works out for you.

[JimNiki]

Car salespeople and Real estate agents are like great white sharks in a feeding frenzy ...
The second you walk in the door, they can smell commission and the last thing they're gonna do is let the truth get in the way of some instant gratification...

I tread very very carefully....

[BENT_8]

Sorry to hear mate, although, if i was forking out $25 large i would be getting an independant inspection done first.

A bit late now though, but a lesson learnt.

Is there any chance you can have the dealership through Consumer Affairs or whatever its called now.
No offence, but it sounds like a lemon.

[joeldecai]

Fairly sure its a lemon. It had an inspection from ford and got rwc'd elsewhere. We've got a hoist in the shed, put it up and had a look and abit of stuff seemed dodgy but nothing horrible.

Realistically most of the stuff thats worn out is stuff I was going to replace anyway, i had nil intentions of keeping it standard. Just annoying when I have to put a timeline on it all now.

Considering I can do it all myself at a higher standard than the dealership did, at lesat I'm not losing thousands in labour fixing it up haha.

On the plus side..the interior is quite nice.

[XR2DOOR]

any pics ???

[aussie muscle]

well if it was flogged by the first owner it's not a lemon, just a victim. if i were you i'd fix it up as best you can without spending much money and then sell it. you're better off getting a loved car.

[Sam_Boss260]

Dealer car or not, I always get an independant inspection from RACQ or the likes. They are pretty fussy. Whilst they may not uncover everything, it is better than just taking the Ford Dealers word for it.....

[deesun]

The car was serviced at another yard, what makes you think they talk to each other? The dealer sells 100"s of cars, why would you think they take notice of any particular one. For all you know the car may have been in good condition and then stolen and given a hard time and thats what stuffed it. Do you think the owner was going to tell the salesman? I really am sorry to hear you having so many problems but I think you should consider yourself lucky you got the insurance. It could have been much worse, you could have been staring down the 8500K yourself. The insurance company like all won't cover things that are wear and tear and it will say so in the fine print. The dealer like all dealers will get out of anything they can, lucky you have a good old man who gave them some heat. Don't forget they bought the car too and it could cost them more than the profit they made on it. A hard lesson in all of this but now lets hope you can enjoy the car with all its new bits and a lot more you will add. Have fun.

[joeldecai]

Yeah. I was surprised to learn they don't even keep service histories on the computer. Only warranty repair histories or whatever. Honestly
if I'd been rebuilding it myself i'd be looking at $4500 max. The ford bill had a stupid amount of labour.

Oh well. Fix it up and keep it forever. Get my
moneys worth haha

[deesun]

And don't forget more than $100 an hour.

[Fev]

Just letting you know a bit more about dealerships.

The salesman wouldn't really know the history of the car other than whats in the log book, what the previous owner has told them and where the yard bought the car from. We aren't researchers and generally don't have the time to go into depth. We don't drive most of the cars we sell very far so when it comes to the test drive, you're in the same boat as we are although a small percentage are drive cars we use as company cars which we can obviously give you more of an opinion on.
That being said, some salesman are leeches which is unfortunate and gives the rest of us a bad rep. It doesn't matter where you are whether its Ford, Nissan, Holden or Mazda. Most salesman go from one to the other so you can't blame Ford Mo Co exactly on that but Luckily I don't work with any though I have met a few.


I totally feel for you having bought a car which does have problems, thats what the stat warranty is for and you've used it and they've done by you. The aftersales insurance is probably through ANOTHER company like Sentry, not the Ford dealer itself so liasing between all 3 departments takes time.
The engine builders must have been chucking some ridiculous quotes at them for it to take so long for them to accept as well.

[joeldecai]

Nah ford had to get quotes from several different rebuilders. Except I'm in a small
town and there's only one engine rebuilders shop. And several
quotes got lost.

It's the difference between dealerships and small shops I guess. We used to keep a fairly good database of customer cars, work out which parts were wearing out and if anything was getting smashed too quickly. And then tell
them to stop flogging it when it's cold haha.

[WoodysXR6]

Just proves their into making a quick buck!

What dealership was it?

[joeldecai]

Diffs also dying now. Vibrating, clunking and starting to lock up in parking lots. Excellent. And the power steering has starting changing feel/load randomly and leaking.

[04redxr8]

You are having some real troubles there. As for diff clunk, I had that with mine. Took it to a diff specialist (spoke to 2) and was assured it was the type of oil in the diff. The diffs require a certain type of oil that has friction modifiers added to it. Generic oils will cause them to clunk and carry on. Particualarly when reversing slowly on full lock.

Good luck, and I hope you get it sorted.

[XR6_661]

You're lucky it was a dealership purchased car in a way....You'd be left in the lurch if it was a private sale.

[glavas]

this is why i dont buy used cars to much stress. buy a new car mate.