Can you help with a vehicle warranty issue?

[MikeJonesOnline]

I bought a nearly new car at the beginning of the year and it came with the main dealer's 4 month or 4,000 mile warranty which they self-warranty (i.e. they cover the cost of repairs under warranty rather than pass them onto an insurer).

Just before the end of the warranty I reported an engine warning light appeared on the dashboard (amber coloured) and they took back the car and rectified the problem. However, on the return trip (a 60 mile round trip) the light came back on.

This has happened now on around 4 or 5 occasions and the garage has replaced the wiring loom and then the main computer - at some considerable cost to them as they keep reminding me (even though I point out the cost to them is not my problem).

They have been back to the manufacturer's technical department on each time and followed the recommended course of action to resolve the problem.

I reported that the problem reappeared again in September within just a few days of the last time that it had been returned from them. They said that they needed to refer back to the manufacturer again and I've called several times but they say that they and the manufacturer are scratching their heads.

They've 'assured' me that because it's an amber light (i.e. not 'red') that the vehice is safe, and that unless the manufacturer can come up with a resolution, they cannot do any more.

However, I don't want to let this rest on principle. Not only do I lose about 3.5 hours each time I have to take it back, but there's the fuel cost, the inconvenience and of course - would anyone else want to buy a car with a warning light on?

And, what if at some point in the future an underlying problem is masked which would have triggered the amber light in any case, but which we fail to take notice of because the light is always on in the first place?

Any legal eagles / motor aficionados have any views on what I can do?

Mike

 

[GBMaps]

Hi Mike,

Engine management lights are simply an indicator light on your dashboard to show that the ECU(your vehicles brain) has logged a fault. This fault could be anything from a boost pressure sensor not working correctly to a checksum error with the software inside your ecu. Has the vehicle ever been remapped(or tuned)?

Your cars ECU monitors dozens of different sensors all over your car, these are made up of pressure sensors, temperature sensors crank speed sensors, co2 sensors, diesel particulate filter status and a host of others. The ecu takes readings from all these sensors and then using the information it receives, decides how much fuel needs to be injected and how much boost your engine requires. The ecu then controls various actuators which inject fuel, control waste gates and increase boost pressure etc. etc. etc. Your vehicle is like one giant computer, but this computer has moving parts !!

Anyway, when the ecu interogates these sensors, if it gets a value returned which isn't within its range of accepted values, then it will log that input as a temporary fault(the engine management light will light up for a short while and then more than likely go out again) Depending on the make & model of your vehicle, if this happens more than 2 or 3 times, your ecu will decide that this is not a simple 'intermittent fault' and it will trigger the engine management light to stay on all the time, or until the underlying fault is fixed and the fault code is cleared from the ecu.

Your garage, may indeed know what the problem is and are just stalling until you're out of warranty - then hit you with a huge bill to fix a problem they knew about all the time.

A decent garage should be able to simple plug into your vehicles OBD(on board diagnostics) port a fault code scanner. his will tell them very acurately what the proble is that is making the light appear on your dash. They should then be able to tell you what needs to be fixed on your car to rectify this. Wiring looms and all the other stuff sounds like a hoax to me!? They may well be taking you for a ride

What kind of car is it? What year? Are there any problems with the way the car feels when driven?

I'll try to help if I can.

Cheers,
Andrew
N.B. I used to own an ECU Remaping company so i know a bit about cars.

 

[bovine]

this is not really the forum for your query, i would suggest www.honestjohn.co.uk for this kind of thing.

The problem you have now is you cannot reject the car as too much time has passed. It is also worth noting that the engine management light doesnt relate to one particular fault, it could mean anything and doesnt usually mean anything dangerous (it could be a faultly sensor, we had this with wifeys car) It really indicates that you need to get the fault codes downloaded from the car and read by an experienced mechanic. there is a common theme nowadays that dealers are quite bad at rectifying faults because they lack the mechanical knowledge - its more a case of error code = fix. if this doesnt fit the problem, they can be stumped and just keep throwing parts at it.

Best thing to do is find a reputable independent in that brand of car. Most brands have owner forums which is also a good place to go. Get your dealer to give you info about the error codes reported and post these in the relevant forums - it may be a known issue.

good luck