I have had my Roadster since Saturday and already have found a lot of problems, The car was sold with a 3 month MOT and bought from a dealer in Bolton..
The dash clocks don't work so no speedo, fuel gauge, dash light etc.
Engine management light came on so was diagnosed as the o2 sensor, top right one.
Front 2 shocks knocking when jacked up in the air. One appears to be leaking but can't be 100% sure about this but no idea why it is banging. Maybe needs 2 shocks..
Power steering pipe leaking where it meets the steering rack. Diagnosed as cross threaded and needs a whole new rack?
Finally there is a huge hole in the rear cross member, maybe 4 inches in length, garage said it can't be welded?
Here are some pics:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/celox290672/61DA9847-BAD7-42E1-AF85-C9161A4DED79.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/celox290672/media/61DA9847-BAD7-42E1-AF85-C9161A4DED79.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/celox290672/9F827DE3-01F1-4F07-9824-5059907E7D2C.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/celox290672/media/9F827DE3-01F1-4F07-9824-5059907E7D2C.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/celox290672/1FCB6733-4716-41BE-8FC4-9F8C9FAAC933.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/celox290672/media/1FCB6733-4716-41BE-8FC4-9F8C9FAAC933.jpg.html)
So I have a few questions. Will having a faulty o2 sensor cause the engine to lose power? I'm not too concerned with this because I can turn it off come MOT time in March. Is it really necessary to replace the whole rack if the thread is cross threaded? Will the cross member be repairable in any way?
Sounds like not fit for purpose so send it back,
Also keep a very keen eye on the oil level.
Send it back. The cross member alone is a safety issue and an MOT fail.
Wow what a dog. Take it back, there are plenty of good ones out there
Cross member looks too far gone to repair.
Reject it, not fit for purpose.
Ps pipes corrode through on the U section, very expensive to replace cross thread is unlikely.
That cross member is dead and needs replacing, approx £230 from Camskill.
Banging from the suspension at the front is possibly bent shocks if they're leaking, ask yourself how they ended up leaking and probably bent! What else is damaged.
Dash faults are uncommon, it could just be a connector loose on the back of the binnacle, but why would it be loose?
This car is a dog, it wouldn't pass an mot, regardless of this 3 month mot it has.
Ok thanks for the good news lol. I spoke to and emailed the dealer yesterday who admitted the cross member doesn't look good. He is meant to be phoning me back today about it, but he doesn't know about the rest of the problems I found this morning so i'll need to discuss this with him and ask for my money back.
Do you know if he has to refund me by law as unfit for purpose or by law does he have the opportunity to fix it? I very much doubt he'll agree to pay for all of the work as it would cost as much as the car itself so i'd imagine he'd just give me my money back.
Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear of your woes, but I would echo what has been said, definitely return it , get a refund and walk far away from this one. Appears to be a complete money pit.
Question though, did you not see the car and drive it prior to purchasing?
Hope you get your money back soon.
I thought there was a thing that meant a dealer had to sell a car with a 12 month MOT.
That aside, agree with everyone else take it back and get your money back. Not fit for purpose!
just out of interest, when/how did you spot these issues?
Then get yourself a new one. :-) :-) :-)
Yep,
What everyone else said!
You now know quite a lot of things to check when you are looking at your next one....
Dont be put off, they are usually reliable and reasonably cheap to run and awesome to drive.
Quote from: "loadswine"Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear of your woes, but I would echo what has been said, definitely return it , get a refund and walk far away from this one. Appears to be a complete money pit.
Question though, did you not see the car and drive it prior to purchasing?
Hope you get your money back soon.
I went to see it and took it for a test drive. It was raining heavily so I was unable to see the leak when I looked under the car as it was wet underneath anyway but didn't spot the cross member which I should have. Also the speedo and all the other gauges were working ok but there were no lights on the speedo or rev counter so the guy said he would fix the lights for me. A couple of days later it arrived on a trailer to my address. I took the car for a drive and realised none of the clocks were working, but they were working fine before they tried to fix the lights behind the clocks s:roll: :roll: s:roll: . I am absolutely gutted because it's a really nice driving car. I used to race cars as part of my job until recently and the grip is good and steering responsive. I've read that some people can only go round bends at 30mph in the wet before the rear kicks out? I have to say I haven't found this and the rear is absolutely planted at 70-80mph round a sweeping bend in the wet. Such a shame s:( :( s:(
It was a track day car and this is clear from the red towing eye and a camera mount fixed to the top roof pillar:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/celox290672/80335AB6-C349-4623-A6DE-1D161181376F.png) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/celox290672/media/80335AB6-C349-4623-A6DE-1D161181376F.png.html)
It's a shame mate, it does look pretty good to be fair. I just think given the issues the cost of repair is going to mean they would need to effectively give it you for free. My guess is that (after a bit of a fight) they'll just give you your money back and auction it.
If you can get your money back though I guarantee you'll be able to get up and running soon in a equally well handling example. Good luck! s:) :) s:)
Before you give it back rip off the front skirt, side skirts and (at a guess) rear spats..and give them to me s:) :) s:)
Quote from: "Meeerrrk"Before you give it back rip off the front skirt, side skirts and (at a guess) rear spats..and give them to me s:) :) s:)
I didn't even realise it had a kit. Here's the rear of the car, don't know if there's any kit on the rear or not?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/celox290672/73679BCF-3DB6-4BFF-A2FF-0F9B208E18EE.png) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/celox290672/media/73679BCF-3DB6-4BFF-A2FF-0F9B208E18EE.png.html)
Yep, they are rear spats on there (I want some too! s;) ;) s;) )
s:roll: :roll: s:roll: Ignore them, they're leading you astray.
Go get your money back and find a better one.
Sorry to say £1500 isn't much of a budget for a decent car, add another 1000 and you will find a sweet one.
As said above, yep it's got rears too, full kit.
But wabbitkilla is right, ignore us and go find a goodun
So it has a full kit, this is bringing tears to me eyes lol. I emailed the dealer a photo of the cross member and he admitted it wasn't good and he never needed to have a look underneath. He did say he would phone me today but time's getting on now it's gone 4pm and Christmas Eve tomorrow so i'll be stuck with it until at least New Year I feel.
I've already got 2 cars, a Mitsubishi Colt 1.5T Ralliart and a 4.0 V8 Jag, this was to be a third car and also a car my wife could use to replace her Beemer, so my budget is limited to £1500 unfortunately.
The issues with your car certainly aren't unfixable but the problem from my side is why are those fairly unusual faults present and what else is damaged;
Crossmember happens to the best of us! They all go, I've replaced mine it wasn't as big job as you think.
Dash; sounds as though he tried to replace bulbs or something and has damaged it. Best case he has left it unplugged, couple of bulbs to replace and away you go. Worst case get a replacement dash (ebay) plug and play.
Steering; sounds like someone has tied to replace a failed ps pipe (again they all do it) and messed it up. New rack and pipe and away you go
Shocks; sounds like they are totally shot. Kyb replacements or second hand items. Or go to town and upgrade.
These aren't hard cars to work on and there are parts available.
My biggest problem if i were you would be with the condition of those parts; it's obviously not been particularly well looked after. So what else is lurking? Precats / oil control rings? Etc
+1 to more hidden problems.
I've just had an email from the dealer who is coming to pick the car up after Boxing Day to fix the dials and replace the cross member - fair enough.
I said to him that I like the car and so does the wife but it needs to be made roadworthy. I'm not bothered about the shocks and the O2 sensor as I can deal with them when it's MOT time but more concerned about this power steering problem. Does anyone know if the leak on the power steering would fail an MOT? I see a liquid can be bought to put in the power steering fluid I think that makes a permanant seal in the system, so maybe I could just have under the car steam cleaned once i've done that so there would be no trace of the leak?
Am I right in reading you test drove this with no speedo at what you believe to be 70 to 80mph in the wet on curvy roads?
I sincerely hope this was on a private road! s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
I would be inclined to get my money back......i think once you let him fix it you are stuck with it,theres plenty others for sale.
Im sure there are better cars about but if the dealer refuses to do all the work on the car ive got a rack I can donate to you and a set of clocks should you need them
Quote from: "jinxedkitten"Am I right in reading you test drove this with no speedo at what you believe to be 70 to 80mph in the wet on curvy roads?
I sincerely hope this was on a private road! s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
At the moment I'm using a speedo app on my iPhone which is wedged in the cup holders. It was showing 70mph when I last looked at it...
Power steering leak is definitely a fail, even corrosion on the pipes can be a fail.
I'm not kidding those pipes are super expensive unless you're lucky with a breaker.
hidden problems are my main concern.
I suggest you have a read of this l viewtopic.php?f=75&t=50988 (http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=50988) l
also another recent new buyer found his cross member was disguised using fibre glass, it was totally shot underneath.
Do not be fobbed off fooled or conned, it is all too easy to be blinded into keeping a money burner
Quote from: "Wabbitkilla":roll: Ignore them, they're leading you astray.
Go get your money back and find a better one.
Sorry to say £1500 isn't much of a budget for a decent car, add another 1000 and you will find a sweet one.
Nah only needs another 500. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Quote from: "adam p"I've just had an email from the dealer who is coming to pick the car up after Boxing Day to fix the dials and replace the cross member - fair enough.
I said to him that I like the car and so does the wife but it needs to be made roadworthy. I'm not bothered about the shocks and the O2 sensor as I can deal with them when it's MOT time but more concerned about this power steering problem. Does anyone know if the leak on the power steering would fail an MOT? I see a liquid can be bought to put in the power steering fluid I think that makes a permanant seal in the system, so maybe I could just have under the car steam cleaned once i've done that so there would be no trace of the leak?
If it's only got 3 months MOT I'd get him to redo it now with a full 12months
I'd also be weary of the quality of the subframe repair. Worst case is that they just weld and paint yours up. s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Best case will be that they buy a cheap secondhand frame of eBay, which is prolly already touring from the inside as we speak. There is documented experiences on here if dodgy rear secondhand frames.
They are unlikely to buy a new one at about £300, which really is the best option.
+1 to 12 months not minimum, that's not done at their "mates" mot station.
PeteT bought his from a dealer in Bolton with 12 months mot. Duff rear light and bent front offside shock.
I've seen that car before. Pretty sure it was for sale my a member on here? I believe he traded in at a garage.
It may look smart on the outside but looks pretty rotten underneath.
Best of luck with getting the result your after from the dealer, just hope they play fairly.
Honestly walk away, these cars can have a bad rep for having dodgy engines when they are miss treated and not looked after, yours is probably one of the worst I have heard about and you don't really know how good your engine is.
I'm beginning to wonder if it's the car I nearly had the rear cage out of, which Rob purchased. I'll see if I can find the pics
Quote from: "rbuckingham"Honestly walk away, these cars can have a bad rep for having dodgy engines when they are miss treated and not looked after, yours is probably one of the worst I have heard about and you don't really know how good your engine is.
+1 reject it and get your money back ASAP, save yourself a world of disappointment.
Quote from: "adam p"...Finally there is a huge hole in the rear cross member, maybe 4 inches in length, garage said it can't be welded?...Will the cross member be repairable in any way?
I did some mods to my crossmember (big cuts to fit 2GR engine necessitated reinforcement). Crossmember is straightforward to remove but you'll need rear end realignment after reinstalling it*. To modify mine I removed it, bought some .090 thick steel plate, trimmed the bits the way I wanted, dropped it with a welder, reinstalled. I'd think you could do the same with a rust rotted crossmember. The worry is that the entire crossmember may be eaten up from the inside with nothing much good to weld onto. Welders hate rusted parts - must have clean metal to weld. You'd be able to tell for sure if you have the whole thing out on a bench to inspect. But be prepared to replace it.
Oh yeah, I did my own rear end alignment with fishing line and a steel scale. I hate letting shops touch my car!
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g430/paulshibbs/Crossmember%20mods/crossmemberboxwelded-viewinbdLHS_zpsf9e06f37.jpg)
Quote from: "Meeerrrk"I'm beginning to wonder if it's the car I nearly had the rear cage out of, which Rob purchased. I'll see if I can find the pics
This is sounding worse and worse. Yes if you could try and find the pics that's would be great out of interest.
Where are you from Adam?
Quote from: "cabbydave"Where are you from Adam?
In on the Wirral mate.
Why would you let the dealer only do the cross member and the speedo? Make sure they fix every single thing wrong with the car or let them have it back. From what you have said there is still quite a few hundred pounds worth of repairs needed which you'll end up paying for.
That's the worst Mk3 purchase I've seen in 18 months as a member here. Complete shocker. For the cost of the work to have that done at a garage, it's beyond economical repair IMHO. Doing it yourself, it's a project
Get shot. Get your money back.
Quote from: "s12vea"I've seen that car before. Pretty sure it was for sale my a member on here? I believe he traded in at a garage.
It may look smart on the outside but looks pretty rotten underneath.
Best of luck with getting the result your after from the dealer, just hope they play fairly.
+1 I definitely recognise the numberplate. Can't think for the life of me who's it was though s:? :? s:?
Get it sent back to the dealer even if he'd let you have it for free too many problems could be lurking.
I really hate dealers. Have been stitched twice by them. Although no where near as bad as this.
Good luck.
Good news the car I was thinking about reg starts V81 !
This one?
m http://www.motors.co.uk/car-36576832/sp (http://www.motors.co.uk/car-36576832/sp) m
Quote from: "Davegtst"Why would you let the dealer only do the cross member and the speedo? Make sure they fix every single thing wrong with the car or let them have it back. From what you have said there is still quite a few hundred pounds worth of repairs needed which you'll end up paying for.
+1.
tell him you want the car independently inspected, AA will do it and if he has nothing to hide (which given the state of the car he clearly has) he won't have a problem with that.
Looking at the other cars the dealer is selling it looks like you seriously just have to reject the car and get your money back. He is not going to spend the amount of money needed to repair it properly.
Quote from: "Wabbitkilla"Looking at the other cars the dealer is selling it looks like you seriously just have to reject the car and get your money back. He is not going to spend the amount of money needed to repair it properly.
+1 pity though it does look pretty good in pic's.
Quote from: "krazysteve"This one?
m http://www.motors.co.uk/car-36576832/sp (http://www.motors.co.uk/car-36576832/sp) m
Yeah that's the one. In the Autotrader it was advertised with 100,000 miles on the clock, in another ad 105,000 miles and when I bought it, it had 109,000 miles on it. He said he advertised it before he took it in. That red towing eye was taken off before I looked at it, so I suppose you could say I didn't buy the car that was advertised. Just taken the tax holder out of the windscreen and noticed 2 chips underneath where the holder was. They're within an inch of each other so not even sure if that could be repaired or yet another MOT failure to add to the list of problems...
The guy who sold it to the garage said it had been featured on this website with the website name on the back bumper, so I would assume it has or had plenty of mods on it. The only mods visable are the induction kit and lowering springs (which have a lot of surface rust on them). Service history goes up to 95,000 miles or it's got almost full service history.
I always kept my track and race cars in tip top condition and i'm sure that most people who are serious about track days do also, so I don't know what happened in this case, maybe the guy ran out of money and couldn't maintain it s:( :( s:(
Ok i've just done a search for the MD of Bradley Fold Garage (Phil Holt) and this info came up. The guy owns 3 companies at the same address and one of the companies only started up in October this year. I paid him £1450 into his own bank account due to his Paypal card machine not working correctly.
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It does look nice but Take it back mate you've been sold a shed, can be fixed but will cost a hell of a lot, just for the cross member I was trying to get one but couldn't get a 2nd hand one, so priced up a new one £400, luckily mine managed to get it welded. Hope u get it sorted
I had a full inspection done on the car and there are quite a number of things that make it unroadworthy and an mot failure:
F/O/S tyre below legal limit
Front tyres on wrong way round (directional)
Side light bulb not working
Rear crossmember dangerously corroded.
R/O/S roll bar link excessive play
Excessive travel in brake pedal. Maybe just needs bleeding?
Front shocks need replacing
Power steering pipe cross threaded.
So there are some serious and not so serious faults. I emailed and contacted the dealer just before Christmas Eve to let him know the problem with the crossmember. He promised me that the car would be collected 3 days in a row before actually collecting it on the 4th occasion which was midday yesterday. I also emailed him the list of all the other faults yesterday and asked for him to contact me with his proposals when he has had chance to look over the car. I haven't heard back from him yet but it has only been 1.5 days since it was collected so I'll leave it until Friday before contacting him again.
I really like the car so if he's prepared to replace the crossmember, shocks and sort the power steering leak then I am prepared to sort out the other issues myself over the next couple of months before the mots due. After all I only paid £1450 for the car anyway so can afford to spend £300-£400 and it would still be a cheap car. I'd driven a few hundred miles in it over the last 2 weeks and it hasn't used any oil so presume the engine must be good. The crossmember's on offer at £209 inc vat at the moment but whether he would prefer to pay to fix the faults or refund me and sell it on to another unsuspecting person remains to be seen...
Looks nice on the outside but buyer beware,what people say on this forum is comeing from past experience and only steers you in the right direction.IFyou are lucky to find another one in the area, my friend has a garage with a ramp and for a small fee it can be used to give your new buy a good looking over underneath, I am in darwen and my mates garage is in Blackburn,mr2s are one of the most fun cars you can have with you trousers on, this last BIT will no dought be cencored for family viewing.
It's certainly a fun car to drive. The dealer emailed me to say the faults have nearly all been fixed except for the shock absorbers which he says are working fine with no leaks, although that's not what my inspection says...
He's got the subframe off and just waitIng for a replacement to arrive so shouldn't be much longer now. It's already on lowering springs so may see it as an opportunity to upgrade the shocks when it's due it's mot the end of next month. While I was driving it around for the 2 weeks I had it seemed a good car except for the faults, but once they're all done then I hope I've got a bargain.