Couple of questions (Picked car up today)

[gorrie]

OK... I picked up the replacement Elise today and there are a couple of things I need to attend to.
1st, it's loosing coolant. Level was fine when I left the garage in Greenock... was very low when I got back to Livingston. All the way home my drivers side of the windscreen was being peppered by water drops which I now believe is coolant (it's a slippery substance on the fingers and it smells like coolant to me, and there is splashes on the driver side service panel too).
There was no overheating apparant, I can't see any mayo on the dipstick or oil filler cap, and I can't smell coolant in the exhaust emissions.... so hopefully it is not HGF, and is just leaking from the radiator.

Now, I know the standard radiators can (do) pop the end caps regularly so it might be that I need to upgrade to an Ali Rad... but, is this 'splashing' typical of an end-cap which has gone or does that sound more like a split hose or knackered hose clip (I thought the end caps would pop and drop all coolant in 1 go). I'll get the service panel off and see if I can see where it's coming from exactly but thought I'd ask.

2nd thing, Steering wheel is squint (ie, need to point it at 10 about degrees right to point the wheels straight). Would a normal geo at CLCM sort that or is it possible for me to amend that myself easily? There is also some 'very slight' give in the steering wheel in nuetral position, nothing major... you only just notice it at dead-ahead when you wobble side to side... not sure what that will be, but not sure whether a geo would best to wait until after looking at that?? It is only very slight and to be honest, I wasn't sure if it was because it was on narrower front tyres than my 135R, so maybe in my head.

I've pm'd Stu160 about some replacement discs, definitely needs fronts. Get some new pads at the same time. Apart from that, everything else looks OK. The rear tyres were well worn, and they've replaced them with some Hancook Ventura things.... not my choice, probably the cheapest they could get, but they will probably do for now. The plan is to get some Exige or Pro-Race 1.2 wheels with 48's/888's anyway, which would mean the standard wheels/tyres would be spares.

All in all though, for the price, it could have been worse....

[Edin430]

IIRC the main rad hose is on the drivers side, so if its not the ends it'll be the hose

[robin]

If you don't know the true history of this car, I would get it checked over completely before doing too much work on it ... I would check that all the wishbones are straight and that there is no other suspension damage (bent tie/track rods) before getting it realigned.

You need a new radiator in all probability, as the S2 items fail frequently - the hoses do sometimes pop off, but I would guess this would result in total coolant loss ...

Is this car warrantied?

Cheers,
Robin

[gorrie]

Hi Robin. Its the standard 30 day Arnold Clark warranty, but as the car is 5yrs old, the small print says that it's parts only (no labour). Still... it's more cover than I'd have if I'd bought privately.

I've cleaned up the radiator/hose a bit, secured the hose and topped up the coolant. Let it run until the system was hot enough to engage the radiator & I can confirm that the leak is from the connection between plastic end cap & the radiator core..... so, yep, new rad !!

Obviously I aint paying arnold clark labour to remove the clam and fit a new rad, so I'm gonna call the service manager on Monday tell him what I've found and ask them to agree towards supplying money towards the part only. Basically, I'll be buying the all-ali one from Elise-Parts if I am able to buy it myself. I might need to get Murrays to supply a quote for OEM Rad though.

Hopefully maybe see if Ali would do the labour bit, and give the car a once over too. Needs A service and nothing in the book for belts, so it will be heading over his way at some point anyway.

There's money in the slush fund for this kinda stuff, but I'd rather put it towards things I'd like to do to the car TBH. I knew that coolant had been low on he car so had prepared for HGF... so, it's not all that bad. However, had it been HGF, I was gonna get Ali to just do a stage 1 upgrade at the same time.

Looks as if the 1st owner took good care of the car for 4yrs looking at the paperwork.... services are almost to the day.... 2nd owner seems to have let it go over the last year though and got it serviced at the Ford Garage (apparently the boyfriend of someone who works at Arnolds)...

[pete]

Hi Robin. Its the standard 30 day Arnold Clark warranty, but as the car is 5yrs old, the small print says that it's parts only (no labour). Still... it's more cover than I'd have if I'd bought privately.

I've cleaned up the radiator/hose a bit, secured the hose and topped up the coolant. Let it run until the system was hot enough to engage the radiator & I can confirm that the leak is from the connection between plastic end cap & the radiator core..... so, yep, new rad !!

Obviously I aint paying arnold clark labour to remove the clam and fit a new rad, so I'm gonna call the service manager on Monday tell him what I've found and ask them to agree towards supplying money towards the part only. Basically, I'll be buying the all-ali one from Elise-Parts if I am able to buy it myself. I might need to get Murrays to supply a quote for OEM Rad though.

Hopefully maybe see if Ali would do the labour bit, and give the car a once over too. Needs A service and nothing in the book for belts, so it will be heading over his way at some point anyway.

There's money in the slush fund for this kinda stuff, but I'd rather put it towards things I'd like to do to the car TBH. I knew that coolant had been low on he car so had prepared for HGF... so, it's not all that bad. However, had it been HGF, I was gonna get Ali to just do a stage 1 upgrade at the same time.

Looks as if the 1st owner took good care of the car for 4yrs looking at the paperwork.... services are almost to the day.... 2nd owner seems to have let it go over the last year though and got it serviced at the Ford Garage (apparently the boyfriend of someone who works at Arnolds)...

I'd argue the toss with Arnold over labour TBH. Regardless of what their warranty says you are still covered by the Sale of Goods Act...

[tut]

There is no way that you should be driving a car away from one of the biggest dealers in the UK with a leaking radiator.

Don't ask them, tell them, that you want it put right without any cost to yourself, and don't take any bullsh*t from them.

tut

[Andy D]

There is no way that you should be driving a car away from one of the biggest dealers in the UK with a leaking radiator.

Don't ask them, tell them, that you want it put right without any cost to yourself, and don't take any bullsh*t from them.

tut

Car clearly wasn't prepped properly before you collected so why should you put your hand in your pocket for the repair? Go straight to the Dealer Principal with your complaint and not the salesman as the cost of any repair will affect his commission so he may be a tad reluctant to help...

[Matelotman]

Another "happy" customer from Arnold Clark. You just have to google "Arnold Clark complaints" to see what people think of their customer service and aftersales

IIRC there was a website campaign against them which I think went to court etc a few years back....

I reckon the steering wheel "wobble" is probably the steering rack

[robin]

Agree with Tut that they shouldn't sell a car with obviously leaking radiator/coolant loss - that was a fault on the vehicle when they sold it rather than one that developed afterwards (I'm sure if you talked to the warranty company and told them the fault was on the car when you bought it, rather than developed afterwards, they wouldn't be very pleased with AC pushing the fault onto the warranty!).

Missed the part about the wobble - I would check the steering UJ's in the column - could also be a track rod end ball joint gone, but from your description I think the UJ is more likely candidate.

Cheers,
Robin

[tut]

Have you been away on holiday Robin?

Noticed the lack of your flowing prose and problem solving over the past three weeks.

tut

[kenny]

http://www.arnoldclark.150m.com/

[gorrie]

^^^^^^^
I've had a few bad AC experiences myself, which is why I'd actually be happy for them to stump up for the part and for me to pay for my own labour elsewhere. I vowed not to use AC again for work through choice a number of years ago after they severely ripped the sh1t out of my wife and I on a pretty bog standard car/issue. I hear where everyone is coming from about the fact the car should not have left like that, and totally agree. If AC insist on fixing it at their own garage then I'll go with that... but seeing as JJ posted another thread about a glasgow garage he used to change a radiator for £80 (inc clam off/on) then I'd be actually more happy to pay that labour to someone else and make sure the job is done right.

I'll let you know how I get on...

[Shug]

Why buy a car from them then? There's been plenty of S2s about onthe private market and I'd rather buy one from a bloke I'd never met than deal with The Shark and his dedicated rip-off network..

[gorrie]

Shug.... 2003 '03' plate with 2 owners & 32K miles, with hardtop... for £9495.... that's why I bought from them. If I could have gotten a deal like that elsewhere, then, sure... I'd have bought elsewhere.

I don't have to like their service though......

[gorrie]

Aftersales Specialist has taken it on the chin and said that this is their issue to sort and that it clearly shouldn't have been provided to me like that.
Spoken to the workshop & have the car booked in to look at it on Monday. They have apparantly taken the clam from a VX220 recently so feel confident they can do this. I have offered details of a non-main dealer specialist if they decide to outsource.

They want to have a look before ordering a new radiator.. as they need to confirm before encountering the expense. That's fair enough, most businesses would do the same. I've asked them to call me once they have confirmed and advised them that I would prefer to fit an upgraded radiator and that if they let me know how much the standard part is, I will pay the difference....

At least it's progress, PITA that I've not really been able to use the thing though... I've resorted to getting busy with stripes and sorting out the private plate in the meantime.