Recent private purchase used car with issues

matt-dublin

Hi All,

i bought a used car privately in november and it turns out the car has several issues.

she's a BMW 318ci 2004 and looked to be in mint condition
problems i have are as following.

it appears theres water in the oil suggesting HG is on the way out or already gone.

LED tail light missing several lights, requires replacement fitting

passanger seat Airbag sensor mat is faulty.

where do i stand with the previous owner getting these repaired.

I've only had it less than three months

Owen

matt-dublin wrote: »

where do i stand with the previous owner getting these repaired.

You've no comeback. A private sale is caveat emptor - buyer beware.

Anan1

Even if you'd bought it this morning you'd have no comeback against the previous owner. You bought the car privately.

shamwari

Surely some or all of these issues would have been picked up with a proper pre-purchase inspection? In any event, it's your car now and your are stuck with it, warts and all I'm afraid.

matt-dublin

i had done a lot of the checks and the ecu showed no faults at the tim of purchase (i reckon he had his mechanic clear all faults that morning)

there was no resedue on the oil cap to suggest HG was going, she was running smoothly at cold idle as well 600rpm

The tail light is my own fault because i checked it in the daytime and didnt do a walkaround, but it didn't return a lamp fault on the dash so thought nothing of it until too late.

the passanger airbag sensor fault light doesn't turn on until someone gets in, back out and into the car again while the engine is running.

unkel

Unless the seller lied about specific questions you asked him and you can prove this, you have absolutely no come back.

doOh

realy ? water ? no cooling liquid ? i would go far far away ....

CarMuppet

Really sorry to hear about your car, but as said above you have zero comeback on a private sale. Only from a garage or dealer can you claim.

Best of luck with your car
Cheers
CM

Nissan doctor

As said, buying any car, especially one so prone to issues, without having it properly inspected will leave you stuck with whatever issues it has.

nightster1

matt-dublin wrote: »

Hi All,

i bought a used car privately in november and it turns out the car has several issues.

she's a BMW 318ci 2004 and looked to be in mint condition
problems i have are as following.

it appears theres water in the oil suggesting HG is on the way out or already gone.

LED tail light missing several lights, requires replacement fitting

passanger seat Airbag sensor mat is faulty.

where do i stand with the previous owner getting these repaired.

I've only had it less than three months

Isn't there something about a 3 mont guarantee, even for a private sale?

matt-dublin

doOh wrote: »

realy ? water ? no cooling liquid ? i would go far far away ....

sorry for your clarification coolant from the coolant syatem appears to be in the oil. producing the gick substance under the oil cap.

helpful comment mind you! carry on helping out there!

Owen

doOh wrote: »

realy ? water ? no cooling liquid ? i would go far far away ....

Water is a term used to describe the mixture of water and coolant in a car.

OP, you say there's water in the oil? How do you know? If there's a mayonaisse type gunk under the oil cap, it could be as a result of short journeys. The passenger seat occupancy mat you can get inexpensively online and have an independent mechanic fit for less than a main dealer, and the rear light cluster is most likely non-LED and just needs bulbs.

Henry Ford III

nightster1 wrote: »

Isn't there something about a 3 mont guarantee, even for a private sale?

An urban myth.

ronaneire

OP have you checked to see if the breather system is blocked. It can lead to a build up of gunk.

matt-dublin

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Water is a term used to describe the mixture of water and coolant in a car.

OP, you say there's water in the oil? How do you know? If there's a mayonaisse type gunk under the oil cap, it could be as a result of short journeys. The passenger seat occupancy mat you can get inexpensively online and have an independent mechanic fit for less than a main dealer, and the rear light cluster is most likely non-LED and just needs bulbs.

it could be short journeys as i havent gone too far in it recently, ill get a compression test done on it. The only reason why i checked was because the rad fluid level light came on which i thoguht was funny as she's only been recently servced.

ill bring her for a decent spin and check how hard the rad hoses are, if they're rock solid i can safely assume its the HG

the rear light is an led one, 8 out of the 16 leds are gone and it looks like the seal on the light is damaged.

thanks for the mat info, ill have a look around, might be able to pick one up from otto

matt-dublin

matt-dublin wrote: »

ill bring her for a decent spin and check how hard the rad hoses are, if they're rock solid i can safely assume its the HG

what

matt-dublin

if the head gasket is gone pressure builds up quite significantly to the coolant system

when your car is warm and you squeeze the radiator hose there will be a little bit of play in it.

when hg is gone and you squeeze the radiator hose its like trying to squeeze a rock.

bazz26

No offence OP but buying a car privately and expecting comeback, especially 3 months later is a bit naive. Buying a car from a private seller means that there are higher risks involved than buyer from a garage who are obliged to offer a minimum warranty with the car. This is why it is cheaper to buy a car privately rather than from a garage. You pay extra for the warranty and peace of mind from a garage.

matt-dublin

matt-dublin wrote: »

if the head gasket is gone pressure builds up quite significantly to the coolant system

when your car is warm and you squeeze the radiator hose there will be a little bit of play in it.

when hg is gone and you squeeze the radiator hose its like trying to squeeze a rock.

that's a fairly crap way of diagnosing HG issues and it far from conclusive.

matt-dublin

bazz26 wrote: »

No offence OP but buying a car privately and expecting comeback, especially 3 months later is a bit naive. Buying a car from a private seller means that there are higher risks involved than buyer from a garage who are obliged to offer a minimum warranty with the car. This is why it is cheaper to buy a car privately rather than from a garage. You pay extra for the warranty and peace of mind from a garage.

i wasn't really expecting anything, i wanted to find out before i go get it fixed.

i only asked because i remember seeing something about this before and i can't remember the result

matt-dublin

RoverJames wrote: »

that's a fairly crap way of diagnosing HG issues and it far from conclusive.

its a good indicator, along with the emulsification and if the car was overheating with this id be 99% certain of HG.

another good identifier is rough cold idle

100% sure is compression test.

matt-dublin

matt-dublin wrote: »

its a good indicator, along with the emulsification and if the car was overheating with this id be 99% certain of HG.

another good identifier is rough cold idle

100% sure is compression test.

Well considering your car isn't overheating and the cold idle isn't rough you yourself have just confirmed that it is not a great test

I'm not going to make any comments about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing etc ........

kazul

matt-dublin wrote: »

its a good indicator, along with the emulsification and if the car was overheating with this id be 99% certain of HG.

another good identifier is rough cold idle

100% sure is compression test.

You know all this but still didn't check the car properly before buying it? And you don't know that there's no comeback on a private sale?

Or maybe it's a subtle way of saying,

"Look at me, I have a BMW"

That I can't afford to maintain

matt-dublin

agreed, but im hardly going to go off and get my hg replaced without a compression test now am i.

ive also haven't checked the upper rad hose pressure yet either so i cant confirm anything yet.

generally fme and my mechanic agrees that upper rad hose pressure being high tends to be very colclusive in identifying HG issues.

if the car was over heating and there was no upper rad hose pressure it would suggest a leak in the coolant system.

the HG failure causes CO2 and build up as well as oil in the coolant system resulting in the high pressure in the upper rad hose.

Zubeneschamali

kazul wrote: »

"Look at me, I have a BMW"

I don't think anyone here thinks a 318 is particularly cool.

matt-dublin

kazul wrote: »

You know all this but still didn't check the car properly before buying it? And you don't know that there's no comeback on a private sale?

Or maybe it's a subtle way of saying,

"Look at me, I have a BMW"

That I can't afford to maintain

useless post but thanks for your help. if you hd read the full thread you will find i did check for the hg without any symptoms.

the tail light was admittedly my own fault and the airbag sensor could have been missed by anyone

Nissan doctor

You keep mentioning a compression test, this will not tell you if the head gasket is gone. In order for a head gasket failure to effect compression readings the car would be running extremely badly, i.e completely down on 1 cylinder.

A leak down test will show you have loss of pressure from a cylinder, a coolant pressure test will confirm you have a leak from the cooling system and a 'sniff' test will confirm the mixture of the 2.

A head gasket replacement is a big job to do without being 100% sure its gone.

Low usage or blocked breathers can cause the build up of gunk on the oil cap and on a BMW a coolant leak can be from anywhere, they suffer split pipes and seals, failed coolant caps, cracked expansion bottles, leaking rads etc etc

kazul

matt-dublin wrote: »

useless post but thanks for your help. if you hd read the full thread you will find i did check for the hg without any symptoms.

the tail light was admittedly my own fault and the airbag sensor could have been missed by anyone

So the HG started giving trouble since you bought it and there are a few blown LEDs and an intermittent fault with the airbag.
You know all this and seemingly know how to fix it, so why start a thread?
The biggest problem wasn't even there when you bought it, so how do you think you would have some recourse to the seller?

So it would seem I made a useless post on a useless thread

kazul

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I don't think anyone here thinks a 318 is particularly cool.

You mentioned coolness, and "cool" is relative. Weird to see that the OP thinks it's not cool either.

matt-dublin

kazul wrote: »

You mentioned coolness, and "cool" is relative. Weird to see that the OP thinks it's not cool either.

kazul, i bought the car because i like 3 series bmws, ive always owned one, always liked the way they drive, feel and look.

i only spotted the emulsification this morning after topping up the radiator due to a low fluid level.

i asked the question because i wanted to know was there any recourse or would the repairs have to come out of my own pocket.

it was a genuine question and wether i know how to repair them or not is not what i asked, i asked was there buyer protection and which has now been answered and thanks to all that did

unnecessary and should be considered trolling.

-Chris-

kazul wrote: »

You know all this but still didn't check the car properly before buying it? And you don't know that there's no comeback on a private sale?

Or maybe it's a subtle way of saying,

"Look at me, I have a BMW"

That I can't afford to maintain

OK, relax. Let's try not to get personal with our posting please.

Post constructively wrt the topic at hand, or don't post at all.

Nonoperational

Jeez that's some serious roasting the OP got for what was a relatively innocent question.

-Chris-

Actually, I think the question's been answered.

Thread closed unless the OP PMs me to reopen it.