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[duggs]

This is kinda tricky....In fairness its about the Vectra Sri I've just sold on Ebay BUT you guys are very knowledgable so I thought I'd pass it by you.

The chap bought a 2000 Sri (168,000 miles) from me for £750.00. I told him it wasn't perfect and had developed a strange noise from the engine bay which was thought to be the water pump on its way out.

It drove beautifully from Suffolk to Staffs and the chap drove it the weekend before he took it in to his mechanic who diagnosed a couple of engine problems although easily fixable. Whether he was advised not to drive it...I don't know.

Anyway...Today, 4 days after he took it, he phoned to say that the engine has blown up basically, siting a bent valve was the cause of the noise and it finally flew through the piston he said.

My question is this:  Could a car drive so well with a bent valve for so long and if that was the cause should his mechanic have picked it up when he did his inspection. In fairness, a bolt had gone holding the manifold on to the engine block and the strain had also caused the manifold to crack right through....although she ticked when cold...I would have thought a cracked manifold would have made one heck of a noise.  Whilst I feel sorry for him, and the car, I'm not sure I should feel quilty as I'd said the engine was making a noise and he took this onboard by letting his mechanic take a look at it.

Wonder if he could get a cheap 2nd hand 2.5 V6 put in..its a 2 litre at the moment..well it was till it went tits up.

[hotel21]

I'll move this to general chat so as to get a better response....  

[Andy B]

Caveat emptor - buyer beware I would say. If a valve was bent when you sold the car I doubt if a car would run on 3 & half cylinders well enough to make the journey as described.

[phil her up]

Don't feel bad, he bought the car in a auction (e bay) & for all you know he may have thrashed the nuts off it  in the short time he owned it , look at it this way if you hadn't have sold it YOU would have the big bill  

[Markie]

If the water pump was going then its belt driven, if it went the way one of mine went its pretty much the same as a tensioner going.

Luckily when i stopped ( or swmbo) stopped hers and i stripped it down the belt had moved 7 teeth...

so yes water pump could hve went completley and caused this.

Personally i wouldnt be having any responsibility....buyer beware

[Kevin Wood]

How has the valve bent? It can only be because some other failure has caused it to bend and no, the engine would not run correctly with a damaged valve. If it were in that condition his mechanic should have done a compression test to verify something is seriously wrong with that cylinder and would have advised not to drive it if he knew his stuff.

Sounds like it has been driven with a defective water pump, which is a bad idea when it's driven from the cam belt, and the cam belt has failed, bending the valve. He bought it from you with a known (minor) fault and has made it worse by not rectifying it immediately.

How does the manifold relate to this? Is this a separate problem or is he claiming it has caused the bent valve or something?

But ultimately, the car was sold without a warrantly and he has been badly advised by his mechanic regarding the noise leading to further damage.

Kevin

[JamesV6CDX]

I had a simelar thing recently...

I sold my Vectra LPG, after the prang. I explained to the guy about the accident damage, and he wanted to buy it anyway. He refused a test drive, and refused to inspect the car. I also told him honestly how much oil it was using.

He later emailed to complain, that the ride was noisy over bumps, and that engine bay wiring was messy, number plate light was not working, and that he didn't believe the MOT should have passed.

I would personally say, that you have no responsibility, and if he KNEW about a suspect (cambelt driven) waterpump, then he shouldn't have kept using it!

I suspect the cambelt eventually slipped due to the knackered pump, and caused a valve to bend. How does he know the valve has gone through the piston? Has the head been off?

It might just be a case of fitting another head, if the bottom end is OK, they come up often, and are cheap..

[duggs]

Thank you for your replies guys...Interesting to know.

He and I knew a bolt had come loose ( he said snapped) holding the manifold on to the engine block and he sais that the resulting "strain" had caused the whole manifold to crack through...to what degree, I don't know.

VERY interesting to note about the bent valve though....she ran fine for me and him engine wise, apart from the ticking noise when cold. I told him that my mechanic had diagnosed a water pump on its way out....and he took £50 off the bill accordingly. BUT I don't know what HIS mechanic told him of course...what ever it was, it didn't stop him driving her for a couple of days.

He's exact words were " it wasn't the water pump...it was a bent valve that flew through the piston and now the cars only good enough for scrapping"....he wasn't a happy bunny.

In fairness he's never actually asked for any financial aid or a refund...I suspect he's waiting for me to offer one. BUT while I MIGHT have helped out to drill out the "snapped" bolt and fix that aspect...what on earth does he expect me to do now the cars engine has gone bang.

[JamesV6CDX]

Legally nothing.

To be honest, although not nice for him, if he wanted a warranty, he should have gone to a garage to buy his car.

You were honest about the faults you knew, you could be expected to do no more... and you don't have to communicate with him, if you don't want to.

[Kevin Wood]

Any car is liable to go bang at any time without warning. Problems do occur. If it happens just after you've bought a car as seen with no warranty it's annoying but a risk you take. In this case, you had warned him of a problem, which is more than some sellers would. I think you have a clear conscience.

If he contacts you again be firm and point out that the car was sold as seen, that it was described to the best of your knowledge, in particular that a known problem existed, and that you can't really comment further because the main problem developed after it left your hands.

Kevin

[duggs]

Okey doke !  Hopefully he won't contact me again in any event.  I told him last night that I'm surprised his mechanic let him drive around with such a "serious problem"...whether he knew EXACTLY what the problem was or not....you could hear something wasn't quite right. As I told him, my mechanic diagnosed it as early water pump failure...again can't say for certain if it was or wasn't...but DID point out that something wasn't right.....and yet..she drove beautifully.