Money back or repair?

Spook80

Hi all,

Looking for some advise and not sure if this is the right section so apologies if its not.

Bought a 2015 Ford Mondeo from a garage at the end of august. It came with a 6 month warranty for engine parts only.

I only noticed towards the end of September that its been leaking oil and looking back on a photo from the day i brought it home makes it obvious it was leaking before i bought it. I rang the garage and they told me to bring it to their mechanic at a separate location which i did.

He had it for just under 3 weeks altogether with several phone conversations in between saying he had changed different seals, put the gear box back together and it was still leaking oil. He said he replaced the crank shaft oil seal, thrust washer seals, and sump gasket.

Got it back 2 days ago and just noticed again a new oil patch in the driveway just under the front of the car.

Very frustrating considering i purposely went to a garage over private because i don’t know a lot about cars. Garage is over an hour drive away which makes it worse dropping the car back each time and arranging a lift.

Just wondering what people would do now? Can people ever get a refund on cars or is it hard luck? How many attempts should i give them to fix it and is this a bad sign for how long the car is gonna last me?

I’m worried now it might not be repairable and they could do a patch up to last the warranty period.

Thanks

User1998

I would give them another chance at fixing it before trying to get your money back. Unfortunately this is what comes with buying a car from a dealer that is far away. Maybe you could discuss with them getting it fixed at a local garage as their mechanic failed to fix the issue and is over an hour away

Spook80

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119815741#Comment_119815741

Yeah will probably give them another chance. I was torn between taking it to my local mechanic and just forking out what’s probably a lot of labour cost but with peace of mind. I guess I’m worried if there could be something serious wrong like a crack in the engine causing the oil leak (rather than a simple seal) that they’ve discovered and want rid of it. I don’t know enough about cars to know if that’s possible.

Del2005

1st repair should be permanent. You now go to the next steps which are refund or replacement.

wotzgoingon

If they actually did replace those seals then it should have stopped leaking. You can get dye that you put in with the oil and drive it for a few days or even one day if it's bad and then put on the special glasses with a torch and you can see where the oil is leaking from. Any garage worth their weight in gold should have these kits in stock at all times to trace a oil leak rather than just try to seal up all seals.

mickdw

They are surely bluffing. If they had gone to trouble of removing gearbox etc, they would surely have stopped the leak.

Get a local garage to take a quick look. They will quickly tell if it looks like crankshaft main seal which your dealer is claiming to have fixed.

Spook80

Thanks for all the advice and comments. It’s very frustrating. After having the gearbox removed and refit he says he took it for a drive and it was still leaking oil so had to remove gearbox again.

Eventually he came back with a photo of a seal which looks kinda like a long piece of trunking lid in black. He says they’re very rare to go but can shrink and that was causing leak. This had to be ordered from Ford which added another few days on.

A big part of me now is tempted to let Ford take it and give it a good check and at least I’ll hopefully know if i was ripped off or not.

I have a neighbour who works with Ford so hopefully will get looked after.

junkyarddog

What size engine,if it's the 2.0 tdci there is an issue with the rear seals on the rear main bearing cap,they shrink and leak.

It's an absolute ball ache of a job.

Watch this.

https://youtu.be/NExYMYL2Zjk

Spook80

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119831098#Comment_119831098

Yes it’s a 2L. Thanks a lot for this, that seems about right. If its a known issue I’d hope Ford wouldn’t charge a fortune for fixing since I’m guessing its a lot of labour hours.

tedcrilly

Hi

Can i ask how this worked out?

(ford s max with oil leak) just curious if it got fixed, cost , source of issue.

any recommendations of garage ?

thanks

TC

Spook80

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120494002#Comment_120494002

Very sorry I’ve been logged out and only seeing your post now. I ended up giving the garage yet another chance since this post and yet again it was leaking. I got a full refund in December and bought a 2014 Mazda 3 from an official dealership. Lesson learned, from now on I’ll be buying from a reputable dealer.