Dealer moral dilemma

[MissMoppet]

Yep, me again.
Avid readers will know by now that I am a newly acquired Stag owner: ever so green but learning fast . . . This morning I took it out of the garage to hear a grinding noise from the steering. Unscrewing the pot I was surprised to see . . . nothing. Not a smidgeon of oil in sight. Dropped below the dipstick. Now I bought it from a (well-known) Stag dealer when there are many private Stags on offer in the hope that at least a dealer would have carried out a basic PDI. The day after I found acres of oil awash underneath - but at least that has prevented the tin worm. And there are many other fairly basic omissions that I would have hoped would have been corrected before selling.

Now dear Forum Readers: do I keep the dealer's name between Me and My Maker or do I issue a gentle warning to those who contact me : be very careful . . . I would like to protect future buyers - and especially the lovely erudite readers of this Forum if I could but don't at the moment see a clear way forward (Caveat emptor and all that: yes I should have taken a "friend" along). Maybe in this litigious world there is nowt I can do, except keep doing the lottery to pay the repair bills. And smile.

Over to you.

[jleyton]

Surely if he is in business as a 'Dealer' then he is bound by the Sale of Goods act etc ?

Isn't that one of the advantages that you pay for as opposed to buying from a private seller ?

Good luck anyway.

Cheers

Julian

[V Mad]

I dont, for one minute think that you will be one of the people rushing to name and shame without having given the dealer a reasonable chance to respond and put things right.

[Firept]

Bernie (you dont mind me using your real name!!).
As you've paid a premium for buying from a dealer to get some form of comfort and implied guarantee you need to go back to the dealer and at least let them see if they can put this right first, if not get quotes for putting it right and see if he will pay or at least contribute towards the cost of repair, Yes you have sales of goods act but softly softly catchee monkey. As a dealer he must have insurance top cover this so its not directly out of his pocket might be next year when he renews but Hey.
How long have you had the car?

Paul.

[richardthestag]

Hi Bertie

I know that us TV8 lot have been amusing you with our engine woes but you seem to have had a fair number issue with your stag, the paranoia is setting in fast with young padawan welcome to the club mon brave.

Keep the dealers name to yourself, SoC probably wont thank you for naming and shaming on this forum

Have you contacted the dealer to fix it yet?

I take it that you check all the fluids before starting up each day! and if so did the Reservoir empty pretty quickly? Are the hoses intact and not melted again exhaust or something else that would not be in the way if you had a TV8? Not bitching in any way but I don't know what your engine bay looks like, dont know what your cars looks like so dont know where the pipes route or what bits are fitted.

Assuming that the reservoir and pipes are intact PAS fluid can go to a couple of places. again assuming that your rack and pas pump are standard - who knows eh.

The rack can leak fluid out to the floor via the rack casing joint near the n/s mount IIRC. if it aint on the floor then I suspect that you will find one of the rack gaitors bulging with fluid. If that is the case then seals are shot and recon rack is the order of the day, some on here have played with miracle snake oil that swell up existing seals to stop leaks but this may have already been done. Anyway the dealer may put a leaky old rack down to wear and tear on an old car and say any warranty is null and void. That said rebuilding the rack or fitting a good recon unit is not a horrific job.

Thing is that the stag is an old car now, it wasn't terribly reliable when it was new and some dont seem to have improved with age. I think you probably need to expect the odd ailment and problem, gives the car character donchano If you want total reliability then you probably havent spent enough, or owned it long enough to rid the ailments or even dare i suggest it bought the correct car. But us lot have all been there and can help.

Stags dont leak fluid btw they mark territory just like old land rovers do. It is also an essential maintenance reminder, when it stops leaking you need to add more oil

Have you got your Lucas Smoke top up kit ready for when all the smoke leaks out of the loom?

Oh and when you can stop driving with one eye on the oil pressure and the other on temperature - oops you have RV8 and they dont suffer from that do they then your only problem will be the heart stopping moments everytime that the car makes an odd noise, doesn't accelerate cleanly, clonks or donks. You do get over it and then you can truly enjoy driving it.

[wilf]

What damage?

All that has been reported is a lack of PS oil.

So top it up. If it leaks out again, THEN take it back to the dealer and ask him to fix the underlying problem (you might find your rack end concertina rubbers are full of fluid).

I have to say that if you want to run an old classic, then regular checking of ALL fluids is mandatory.

[billywhizz]

I'd better not admit to not checking the brake fluid properly then, whoops I just did. Hadn't realised the reservoir is in two parts on my car, one circuit was empty. Fairly heart stopping.... Idiot, won't make that mistake again....

[flying farmer]

As I found out to my cost, leaving a Stag standing can bring on all manner of woes. When the tax ran out last September I put it away in full working order and ran it at least once a month during the Winter.
On emerging from its Winter hibernation I took it straight for an MOT, it left a trail of power steering fluid across the MOT testing bay. FAIL!
Neil

[MissMoppet]

Most grateful chaps for all your solid advice and dare I say sympathy, even if I do have the wrong engine. I bought from a dealer - he had half a dozen for sale when I picked mine up - because I had this touching belief that buying from One Who Knows would if not g'tee, at least give me a sporting chance that the obvious flaws would have been corrected. Silly me. (in my experience he buys and sells and does nowt in between). Well it is going into a reputable garage tomorrow to have the engine out and all the seals done + minor things like reverse detent spring, carb tune - well put a TV8 back then come the shouts - at a probable cost of £1K. And the dealer is giving £500. I have recently been told that the Sale of Goods Act does not apply to "classic" cars whatever they are - as there has been a court case involving a Bentley that the owner lost. I think we all agree the law is an ass.

[Bob Heritage]

I think we are all wiser in hindsight. I'm sure you will get all the help you need to get your Stag right on here , Rover or not they all look the same with the bonnett down.
I'm just waiting for the day when Miss Muffit meets Stagmuffin

[Firept]

Bernie.
There's nowt wrong with the Rover engine I had several P6's 3500s & SD1 3500. Lovely cars well built (apart from the SD1!!) and if you look after the engine it will reward you just like the TV8.
Its just a shame that this leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, Still look on the bright side at least it will be ready for the nice Summer we will have next year you will be ready to go and others will still be rebuilding.

Bob I'm just waiting for the day when Miss Muffit meets Stagmuffin
I used to have to buy pro video equipment from I think REW in London and the department was staffed by.... Mandy Mutton and Julian Ram Interesting combination!!.

Paul.

[Giles]

Got mine from a dealer few years ago now - got all of 6 miles down the road before it broke down! Still at least he lent me some tools and I got it home in the end. Nothing wrong with a RV8 - they take a lot of abuse. Gave a few of them plenty of that when i used to do comp safari off road racing - the only one that let me down was after i smashed the timing case and lost all oil pressure - was still running even then!

[Richard Saunders]

In all honesty, if it were me I'd contact the dealer and tell him I'm not happy and give him the chance to out things right. Probably give him a couple of chances in fact, and if he doesn't put things right I would post an honest account of your experience. Nothing wrong with stating facts. In my experience dealers usually want to do the right thing because they know they trade on their reputation and that in the relatively small world of classic cars and the Internet it can be made or ruined very easily.

I bought my car from Cherished Classics. Within two weeks I had head gaskets go caused by a faulty radiator, a leaky power steering rack and electronic iginition problems. I live over 100 miles away. When I rang the guy up he was horrified that my experience was less than perfect. He sent a low loader down to pick the car up, did all the repairs FOC and delivered it back to me with profuse apologies for the hassle. The result - the car has run great ever since (two years) and I have recommended Cherished Classics many times. You could argue that I should not have had the problems in the first place buy, hey we're talking 40 year old cars, and he went the extra mile to put things right.

Bottom line, in my opinion, give the guy a chance to put things right. If he doesn't take it then he deserves to have an honest account of your experience recounted.

[jleyton]

Just going back to the original problem of loss of PAS fluid - presumably the steering has been ok up until now so it would seem that you have a gradual loss of fluid.

If that's the case then I don't think you should be too hard on the dealer as these things can happen on any 30+ year old car.

I think the important thing is how he reacts - Richard's excellent experience with Cherished Classics is a good example.

Cheers

Julian

[MissMoppet]

Just going back to the original problem of loss of PAS fluid - presumably the steering has been ok up until now so it would seem that you have a gradual loss of fluid.

If that's the case then I don't think you should be too hard on the dealer as these things can happen on any 30+ year old car.

I think the important thing is how he reacts - Richard's excellent experience with Cherished Classics is a good example.

Cheers

Julian

Maybe - but I've only driven 300 miles since I picked it up.