2 days old and trouble already

Anonymous · September 4, 2005, 21:21

Hi
had my mr2 2 days and the engine light has come on and will not go off
I have trouble pulling away in 2nd at low revs and when i checked the oil it was empty!(it had some in 2 days ago)

Can any one give their thoughts

From reading this site I would say its the pre cats ?
what do you think? s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

roger · September 4, 2005, 21:34

Main Cat, pre-cats or engine. May not find out what was first but you will probably find at least 2 of the above are gone.

Don't know where you bought it from, but I reckon straight back. Even if it was a private sale, I would guess the owner knew something was up. If it was, did you buy and sign "As seen". Makes it more difficult, but if you did ask Trading Standards about your rights.

Anonymous · September 4, 2005, 21:37

got it from garage with 3 months warranty!! what should i say when i take it in tomorrow

spit · September 4, 2005, 21:45

Sorry to hear this jimbob.

Is this the 2000 dealer model you test-drove last week?

There could be any number of reasons for the CEL, but in any case the oil consumption should have you taking it back for an unconditional refund, irrespective of whether its precats or something else.

If t'were me, I wouldn't settle for a repair offer. Been there before with an oil-losing engine and had nothing but probs with the parts that were retained. There's plenty of good 2nd-handers out there, and IMO you shouldn't have trouble finding a good 'un.

Good luck.

roger · September 4, 2005, 21:47

TBH I would go down the "I want my money back route", not of mechantable quality, and start again. I appreciate it might have put you off this excellent car.

The only way you will know for sure that everything is OK is if they give you a new engine (or full rebuild) and main cat, and gut the pre-cats.

Unfortunately there will probably be much whistling through the teeth and they will probably say we will have to take the engine apart but if we can't find anything the cost is down to you. Unless you get the pucka job from the outset, walk away.

If you accept a part repair and something is still not right (pre-cats disintegrating, for example), you might find the problem re-occurring, and bet your bottom $ 3 months will have gone by!

Anonymous · September 4, 2005, 21:53

I am very surprised the car failed in just two days without any symptoms...

In any case, I would take it back and demand a full refund. I agree with the other guys, the MR2 is a very reliable car (as reliable as the next person's Corolla, actually) and you shouldn't have trouble finding a really good one.

Anonymous · September 4, 2005, 22:58

thanks guys, but now i am really worried.
I part ex my car and that will have gone to auction and we got the mr 2 for £8500 before part ex.
Would you really ask for money back? can this problem not be fixed the car only has 35k and is 2000 model. where could we find another one like that

Jap GT300 · September 5, 2005, 08:35

You could have an import off me for a grand less and half the miles s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

darrenjuggins · September 5, 2005, 08:53

Hi Jimbob,

Sorry to hear the situation.

You don't say it was an independant or Toyota, I'm assuming it's a independant with only a 3 month warranty, Toyota normally offer a 1 year warranty.

It's interesting the CEL lights come on, as over the whole course of my engine failure disaster, the CEL never tripped once - but I do know it works cost it came on when my MAF failed!

Anyway back to the point.

There are a number of options:

1. If you do indeed have a three month warranty, then you could go down the route of having a full Toyota replacement and assemble, if you can get the independant garage to agree under it's warranty terms to let toyota look at it, inspect it and have the £6,500 worth of work (yes it does equate to that much, I saw the bill they put in!)

Toyota have the Kit of Parts needed and you would actually end up with a nearly new engine (Short block, etc) in a 5 year old chassis.

2. Go down the sale of goods act route and research this with your local trading standards office, you should obviously not be receiving a product from a garage or other wise that fail's to perform after only 2 days. Depending on your research your options here could be refusal of the vehicle on the grounds of not fit for purpose, or a returns policy within so many days of purchase (all garages have differing policy's)

3. Depending on the above - obviously Adam can source you a vehicle, now i'm not sure if adam is refering to a european car or a Japanese car, I'm sure adam would fill you in better on that.

All in All you are - at this moment in time, in a fairly good position, only 2 days after purchase... just don't let things drag on.

The end result your looking for it a repaired car by Toyota or your money back.....

Please be aware though, they you may want to look at taking an extended warranty out with Toyota (2 years = £560) the reason I say this is that parts - big parts that is like power steering pumps can be a tad expensive if they go and a couple have at the age of your vehicle and at Toyota prices can add up quickly - £930 fitted!.......

But please don't be put off, all car experience problems and they are few and far between with the MR2, it's just the bits that do go, like the engine and cat and Power Steering pump are expensive.

sorry - for such a long reply, but as you can see we all love our cars and want you to be able to do the same, if unfortunate that she has let you down so soon after purchase.

Best of luck in what you decide.

Cheers

Darren J

Anonymous · September 5, 2005, 10:15

hey cheers darren
I really want it fixed but dont want a time bomb.

would i be able to get a warrenty of toyota for £560 even though I have bought it from an independent?

darrenjuggins · September 5, 2005, 10:48

Hi Jimbob,

You can get a toyota Warranty if your vehicle is less than 7 years old. Even the oldest Roadster is only just over 5 (Came out early 2000 i beleive).

Best thing to do is visit a toyota garage, if you have a good or preferably full service history, there shouldn't be a problem.

I know other people have different warranties, with different people at different prices, but I haven't had an issue at all the the toyota one over the last two years, so I will be renewing for another two as I intend to keep my vehicle.

as always, it's your choice and my opinion, is just that my own, but I'm happy to share it with you.

Cheers

Darren J

Liz · September 5, 2005, 11:54

If you buy a Toyota one, I am sure that Darren can clarify on this, but do they have a period after you take the warranty out in which you cannot claim, the last thing you want is to have to wait.

Just chuck it back at where you bought it from, there are tonnes of them for sale out there and you will find something as good as, if not better than the model that you have.

Welcome to the club BTW! s:)

s:)

Anonymous · September 5, 2005, 12:09

ok guys if I was to say i want a full refund as you are all saying I should Where could I get one
uk car silver a/c 2000 reg 35K for less than £8500 s:?: :?: s:?:

If you know of one I will get a refund

Bongo · September 5, 2005, 12:10

Maybe the price was so low because of the problems?

darrenjuggins · September 5, 2005, 12:21

Hi Jimbob,

Check here on the forum, I've just done a search, can't find any silver, but does it have to be silver, or mainly the car ?

Adam - do you have anything on offer at the moment ?

Cheers

Darren J

Anonymous · September 5, 2005, 12:22

If the Parker's Guide is anything to go by, it's not a particularly great deal (suggested price is £7865 for a 5 year old with 50k miles from an independent dealer) .

I'd have a look at the standards trading assoc. (so I appear knowledgeable when facing the dealer) and try to get a full refund. It doesn't matter if your old car has been sold; the dealer should refund you the exchange value.

I am sure he will try to attempt a repair but would you accept that? It's up to you - I wouldn't. Like I said earlier, how come there was no indication of a fault? Two days is such a short period and the MR2 is not the type of car where things just break down instantly. Touch wood...

Liz · September 5, 2005, 12:22

Quote from: "jimbob366"If you know of one I will get a refund

Well a quick search on Auto trader found this:

2000 TOYOTA MR2 1.8 VVTi 2dr [AC+Hard Top] Roadster,
Petrol, 26,000 miles, . Silver. Drivers airbag, Passenger airbag, Side airbags, Central locking, Immobiliser, Front electric windows, Chrome gearstick attachment and chrome effect mats.PRIVATE PLATE (S4XY T) to remain which has been valued at £700. Toyota Service History (except 2004 - car not driven while away in USA), 2 new rear tyres and battery. MOT 06/06 TAX 12/05. Move to the USA forces sale. Contact me if you have any questions. £8,625. ono.
Tel: 07939 021688
Email: Email Advertiser
Distance: 32 miles
Price: £8,625ono.

Bound to take £8,500 - got less miles than the one you were looking at and a hardtop which you did not mention which you had. Don't know where in the country you are (why does no one say??!) but this must be near to Essex. So, they are out there as we all said. So get asking for your refund!

roger · September 5, 2005, 13:39

..... and you get a S4XY plate....

Straight to Elite Registrations (or whoever), me thinks s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · September 6, 2005, 18:22

well the latest update the garage have said it is a piston that has gone and caused the problems.
They said it will take a couple of days to strip down the engine and see what the damage is!
They will then phone me !

If they fix this do you think I will have further problems or will i have a better engine?? s:?: :?: s:?:

markiii · September 6, 2005, 19:10

pistosn on teh 1zz rarely if ever just go on their own.

I would run away ASAP.

darrenjuggins · September 6, 2005, 19:26

Hi Jimbob,

By the sounds of it, it one of the now, more common engine failures.

A quick search will give you details, but the short story is that the short block wears, the piston rings don't keep the oil it, it escapes and the destroy's the precats and then the main cat!

Thus to resolve all the issues, tell the garage if it's ordering parts to speak to toyota who will present them with a bill for about £4,000 before labour and about £6,500 with.... !

Thus: New Short Block, Internal Gubbins (Technical!), Pre cats (Manifold), Main Cat !!!

Err changing a piston after stripping down will be simply a waste of time without all the other stuff - Sorry Jimbob, they are on a hiding to nothing unfortunately!

Get them to agree to the WHOLE of the Above or just tell them to get a re-con unit or Tell them to forget it!

You don't know the history of the vehicle, thus there may be other issues as well.....

I was happy to keep mine after the block change as I knew the car from new, but unless the full kit and caboodal is done, you will just get more issues, sorry mate, probably not what you want to hear s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

Cheers

Darren J

Liz · September 6, 2005, 19:42

What sort of service history did you get with the car Jim?

Anonymous · September 6, 2005, 21:05

Full toyota service history, I bought the car from sanderson motorhouse(independant i think)

Anonymous · September 7, 2005, 07:18

IMHO take the money and run. If they sold you this lemon whats the repair going to be like ?

Anonymous · September 7, 2005, 11:58

A piston failure? I can't believe they did not know about it...

Like the others have said, a piston doesn't fail on it's own (besides being a very rare failure on the '2) and, by doing a quick search, it seems to be associated with a pre-cat failure.

Mate, take most people's advice and walk (or better still, run) away from this car. I hate to say this but I have a feeling you will not enjoy it if you keep it...