w211 coolant loss problem

[abc_nottingham1]

I travelled to Surrey, to a car garage in a small village to view a
Merc E220 cdi, 2003, manual saloon, classic.

the car salesman/owner told me he will be honest and tell me the truth...
that he noticed the water coolant level to be quiet low, and to as he was topping it up ... it took two bottles, (2litres bottles)..
he said, its quiet strange .. he thinks there might be a small leak somewhere or worst case scenario.. head gasket problem....
he was selling it for 9400 pounds and i offered him 9000 pounds and he said if you buy it, then please dont come back to me complaining if there was a problem...
so i reduced a further 200 pounds....

ANYWAY .. driving it home ... after 20 miles - it says STOP .. coolent level low... then i stopped luckily at services .. and topped it up...
then drove another 70 - 80 miles at 65mph .. and it was fine ...
as i went faster .. about 100mph just to test the car ... it suddenly lost a lot of water .. and starts saying .. collent level low.... so i topped it up ..
and got home safely ...
heater works perfect when the water in level is full and doesn't when it has lost a bit of water ..

CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP AS TO WHAT I SHOULD DO???
JUST BOUGHT THE CAR YESTERDAY ..... !!!!!!
WHAT IS POSSIBLY WRONG WITH IT .. AND WHERE SHOULD I TAKE IT??

 

[Dieselman]

CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP AS TO WHAT I SHOULD DO???
JUST BOUGHT THE CAR YESTERDAY ..... !!!!!!
WHAT IS POSSIBLY WRONG WITH IT .. AND WHERE SHOULD I TAKE IT??

Sell it quick..I'll give you £5k right now if you deliver it.

 

[Dieselman]

Only joking....

Start from scratch.

Run the engine at idle with the filler cap off with the heater on full heat and keep adding water. Keep the engine running and keep squeezing the bottom hose to expel air.

Eventually (like upto an hour) the air will all be out and the expansion tank will be full.

Drive the car and see what happens. It may need a top up but if the water keeps going down check fro leaks, if no leaks there is an internal leak, probably head gasket.

Hopefully the head hasn't been damaged by the heat.

What version of car is it, at 2003 it should be a W211

**Moderators, can someone please move this post to Engine section for better visbility. Thanks**
?

 

[panason1c]

Seems to me that you might have short changed yourself.
The loss of coolant could range from a simple leak (though i think the salesman would have diagnosed and cured the problem if that was the case) to a head problem which could cost you a lot more than the £600 reduction that you negotiated on the purchase price..........

The saving grace, in my opinion, is that though you purchased the car with a known fault (ie..coolant loss) the dealer may still, legally, be liable to rectify any faults under the trades description act and is a route that you can pursue if the dealer will not negotiate a solution as 'sold as seen' from a registered trader (rather than a private seller) is not a legal disclaimer as far as i believe.

Good luck.

 

[glojo]

the car salesman/owner told me he will be honest and tell me the truth...

I nearly choked when I read that. I would be very concerned and fear the worse, but I hpe I'm wrong. This honest salesperson will no doubt be either Mr Jekyll or Mr Hyde depending on whether you want to give him money or take it from him.

I like Panason1c's advice and hopefully you are able to do what he is suggesting? Dieselman is extremely knowledgeabe, but also check the coolant for traces of oil. Did the coolant look like it still contained anti-freeze? I'm asking this because if it has a serious leak then I doubt your honest salesperson would bother to add any. If this is only a minor leak then hopefully it will still have the additive in the coolant?

Fingers crossed that you have not bought a pig in a poke.

John

 

[GrahamC230K]

I think you'd need some front to go back to the dealer after coming to a fair and square agreement. You bought car you were told was faulty for a very low price and the fault which you have concern is the very one you were told about before agreeing the price based on the car having this fault.

It does sound like you were some what under prepared if not bold entering into such a deal, but the best of luck resolving this.

 

[Dieselman]

Although traders can't sell the public cars on a "sold as seen" basis, I think Graham is probably correct. The dealer made it quite clear there was an exisiting fault and made a financial allowance to compensate.

 

[abc_nottingham1]

What version of car is it, at 2003 it should be a W211

Thankyou very much for the advice, i will definately do as you have said, at some point tommorow.
the car is registered in oct 2006, and is the new shape .. im NOT too good with
numbers e.g. w211 ...

what could the potential cost be if it was the worst case scenario .. e.g head gasket ...???

MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO ARE ADVISING ME !!! THANKS GUYS

 

[Dieselman]

I would've thought £500 would cover the job at an indy.

try
http://www.hacservicecentre.co.uk/

The car is a W211. The first characters of the VIN number tell you this.

 

[abc_nottingham1]

DieselMan, thank you so much for your help.

the link you have sent is excellent, the garage is in nottingham too

do you think i should take it to them, and let them tell me ...
or try working out whats wrong, by using the method you told me earlier??

 

[panason1c]

I travelled to Surrey, to a car garage in a small village to view a
Merc E220 cdi, 2003, manual saloon, classic.

Thankyou very much for the advice, i will definately do as you have said, at some point tommorow.
the car is registered in oct 2006, and is the new shape .. im NOT too good with
numbers e.g. w211 ...

So...............is it 2003 or 2006??

PS........I think that what the salesman meant to say to you was........well sir, looks like i bought a lemon at the auctions last week whilst replenishing my stock........how about unloading it off me for..................£

 

[abc_nottingham1]

Soryy To All Who Have Been Confused.
It Is A 2003 Model !!!!!!!!

Will Be Checking To See What The Fault Is Today, Will Keep Everyone Posted Tonight !!!!

 

[Dieselman]

You said it was 2003 in your first post, I for one understood that.

Just as a side note, if you do find it's a head gasket problem and the head has to come off, get the glowplugs done at the same time, because if one snaps during removal it's usually a head off job anyway.

I'll be interested to see what pans out on this one.

Two quick ways to check for head gasket.
Compression/leak down test, have an MOT garage waft teh emissions pickup over the expansion tank filler with the cap off. The sampler SHOULD detect combustion gasses, although I'm not sure it'll be sensetive enough on for a diesel.

 

[Dieselman]

PS........I think that what the salesman meant to say to you was........well sir, looks like i bought a lemon at the auctions last week whilst replenishing my stock........how about unloading it off me for..................£

Almost certainly. He wouldn't have mentioned it if he thought it was going to be Ok.

 

[panason1c]

You said it was 2003 in your first post, I for one understood that.

I think most on this board understood that!........it was his later post where he then specifically stated it was a October 2006 model that was confusing the issue ..for me for one.........

 

[panason1c]

Almost certainly. He wouldn't have mentioned it if he thought it was going to be Ok.

A rather naive comment methinks.......anyway...we will see what abc reports back later as he said he would..


Edit....Dont you mean "if he thought it WASNT going to be ok.....?

 

[Dieselman]

I think most on this board understood that!........it was his later post where he then specifically stated it was a October 2006 model that was confusing the issue ..for me for one.........

For under £9k?

Also if it was 2006 he wouldn't be bovvered about the water loss, it'd be MB of Nottingham here I come.

 

[Dieselman]

A rather naive comment methinks.......anyway...we will see what abc reports back later as he said he would..


Edit....Dont you mean "if he thought it WASNT going to be ok.....?

If the trader thought it would have been Ok he wouldn't have mentioned it.

He almost certainly said it because he knew there was a fault that he didn't want to fix.

Or am I just being naive?
Personally i would have thought that would have been seen as cynical.

 

[panason1c]

Lets not be under any illusions....The 'honest' salesman knew that there was a pretty serious coolant leak and was fully aware that if he didnt mention it the customer would have been on the telephone within the hour..or banging on the office door!

abc said it took 2 litres BEFORE he even left the dealer and travelled ONLY 20 miles before he had to stop to fill up again!!....then he went on to say it 'suddenly lost a lot of water'........and had to fill up once again before he made it home!..

The dealer, in my opinion, is well aware of what might be a major repair or otherwise he would have repaired it and sold for more money...

 

[Dieselman]

Panasonic.

I obviously didn't make myself clear. We are on the same side of the table..

I agree with you...