Newbie question

Hi
I’ve had a couple of Freelanders (ha) and a Discovery in the past.
Late last year I bought a 56 plate 110 County Defender. Low mileage, 2 owners and in excellent condition.
Drove the beast home and later that week it went into safe mode. Turned ignition off and it was cured. Until it happened again after 15 minutes.
Diagnostic test conpleted - fuel pump and injectors.
Dealer said “just drive it”. So I did.
Fast forward and after less than 2k miles it happens again. This time though I’m brought home on an AA low loader.......
Another test. Same thing.
Questions are these:
1. Are we missing something?
2. Is it common and is “just drive it” sufficient?
3. Is it fit for purpose? Yes I’m thinking Trading Standards and a refund.
As it happens we now have an oil leak from the bell housing.
All from a 48k mileage £20k Defender....
Thoughts welcome!

Hello and welcome

Just drive it is not a cure to a fault, sounds like they dont want to know or they know it will cost them,its there job to sort it.

Welcome to the forum

Some faults are difficult to fix if they don't happen in front of the garage or there's no known faults or error codes. You will have one hell of a fight to get it taken back if yer can't prove the fault eggsists. Get yer own diagnostic reader and see if there's any error codes. Why did it come home on a truck? Did it refuse to start?

Main forum index:
www.landyzone.co.uk/forum

Defender, 90, 110, 130 (tratters)
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/forum/defender-90-110-130.7

Hi and thank for your replies.
Still no joy - dealer has offered me £300 towards repairs. Garage says that if their diagnostic test is right - injectors, seals, loom and pump then that won't be enough. Now they're saying there's an oil leak - and there is - and that this might get expensive.... Dealer doesn't seem that interested - shame as they appear to have some credibility - although I see that their previous trading company went into administration a couple of years back.
I fear that this will end up with Trading Standards or legal action. £20k on a 48k mile 110 Defender that's not reliable and is sitting in the garage doesn't seem acceptable to me!

Is this a main dealer purchased vehicle?
Where is the oil leak?

Hi.
Not main dealer but a recognised independent based in the North West with 45 years experience between them . At the moment I'm reluctant to name them as I want them to have the opportunity of putting this right but if they refuse then who knows? They have quite a few Landys for sale at the moment and I'm sure they wouldn't be too keen on me sharing my experience but £20k on one that I cannot use with any confidence isn't acceptable to man nor beast...
Oil leak is from bell housing. I have pics that show oil on the floor from where its been stood overnight. I'm told we're looking at gearbox out and possibly new clutch if contaminated...
To answer your earlier Q about why low loader. AA diagnosed fault at the roadside and couldn't get it going/out of safe mode long enough for me to drive it home.
Now it's sat safely locked up in the garage but if the North West based dealers with 45 years experience don't play ball within the next 2 weeks it might well be gloves off...……….

How often does the fault happen. Saying you cant use it because you don't have confidence in it is difficult to prove unless you have proof it breaks down or goes into limp mode often, and you struggle to get it out.

Good points and I agree. What's influencing my thinking is this:

1. Went into limp mode within a week of driving it back from the dealer to Somerset.
2. Injector and pump fault diagnosed then - dealer said "just drive it" and "they're all like that".
3. Off the road for security items being fitted.
4. Back on and after a few weeks of occasional and normal use it happens again - this time AA low loader gets me home.
5. 2 months in and with 2k miles and with a month left of the 3 month warranty that hasn't yet arrived makes me think I need to get something sorted now rather than let them off the hook and find that bigger problems surface.

The vehicle itself is great. Everything I wanted. 56 plate, 48k miles backed by service history and MOTs. I'm the third owner - previous owner had it a few months and sold it early 2019. Was left standing - don't know why - maybe £20k was too much - until I bought it end of November. I'm not wanting to be unreasonable but £20k for any vehicle that has broken down twice in 2 months cannot be fit for purpose. Can it?

Who diagnosed injector and pump being the problem of the original limp mode? I assume AA.

Have you written to the seller by email or recorded delivery letter stating what the faults are and the history of said faults. If you want to take action against them you will need to do this as a starting point. Too many fail because they haven't gone through the steps of formally outlining the faults.

Fit for purpose is open to interpretation. It depends what is wrong and what was eggspected of the sale/vehicle. For eggsample there are a lot of disco 3/4 owners who snapped their crankshaft long before 48k miles. Cars do breakdown but ter need to get back in conversation with the garage (recorded for evidence) and discus the faults and get them looking into it. Ask them when to deliver the vehicle back to them for investigation. If the fault is intermittent then that will be difficult to find unless its a known problem or there are error codes.

Does the seller have their own garage facilities to look at it?

If as said above you ask in the tratter section on ere... more owners with that vehicle will see it and may be able to advise or help with said faults. There is also the defender2.net (tratter2) forum who specialise in the later puma (engine) tratters and will have come across similar limp mode failures between them.

One garage arguing there are faults and another who sold it disagreeing isn't enough. You ideally need proof of the problems. Search on the web for the reg plate to see if a forum member owned it and there is some history. Perhaps contact the original owner if on the log book and named.

The oil leak... what warranty did they give you? What haven't you received about the warranty? What did the sale advert say if it was on the web for sale? Does their web site generally state a warranty for all sales and what it covers? Major mechanical only or more than this? Is the warranty subcontracted out to a third party so you claim from them?

Another option is to spend about £120+vat at a main dealer for a non intrusive diagnostic and advice. It will cost a bit more if its a london garage. Get them to read codes and tell them the history so they can look over it. If they find something they will suggest what they would do to fix it.

Whatever the next step... yer need to act fast before the warranty runs out.

And get yer own diagnostic device to read error codes yerself so yer know what is going on. Ask what other peeps have got for the same vehicle. There may be someone local who will plug theirs in.

If you purchased some of the car on a credit card then you can reject the car to them, up to a certain amount. If bought with a loan yer can reject to the finance company. That's if yer want to go down the path of rejection.