Looking for some advise

[Gortreck]

Hi All

My first post on the forum, so hi to all of you first. My name is Tony and I have purchased a Vectra - c elegance. It is a 53 plate if I remember right and is the 2.2DTI engine. It has a full leather interior, heated front seats, full electrics and built in sat nav.

The problems I have had with it were driving home on the day of picking it up from the garage, the engine management light came on and had the loss of power into "Limp home mode." I phoned the dealer straight away, (on my hands free of course), and he said "that had never happened before so to monitor it." I carried on my drive home, the light went off after a bit and normal power resumed. That evening I took my fiancé and her father for a spin on two separate occasions, showing off the car , and the car performed fine, other than smoke coming out of the exhaust (more than what I would consider reasonable, even for a diesel).
Driving to work the following day, went into limp home mode pretty much straight away, but without the EML this time. Phoned the dealer and he said he would put the car in to get looked at, he figured it was a pipe which is common to go on these cars.
Got the car back the following evening after work and was driving the car home, doing about 60 mph in 5th gear and tried to accelerate to 70 still in 5th gear and the car starts to judder. I drop it to 4th and accelerate and it seems ok. This continues on the rest of the journey home, getting progressively worse, with considerable amounts of what looked like black smoke coming out of the exhaust at different times. I phoned the dealer again mid journey home, (on my hands free again ), and was informed that the earliest they could get it in was Tuesday (this was on Thursday). I then spoke to my fiancé, who was furious and said I should demand my money back.
I agreed that since buying the car on the Tuesday I hadn't really had it much as it was either not working or in the dealers garage. so, on the phone again I was to them and was informed that they "Don't do refunds". We kind of went tit for tat a bit saying, what trading standards would say about it, and then it went to what solicitors would say about it. It ended with him saying that the car would no longer be booked in on Tuesday to be looked at!
I researched what the law states a bit and my fiancé's father showed me an article wrote by "honest john" in the journal I think it was who explained that the car and all the documentation has to be taken down to the dealers and given to them ASAP so that the onus is on them and they cant say that I have been "thrashing the car about". So we took it down and was told by one of the guys who worked there that he would have it sorted, however Monday was the earliest they could get it booked in for. (This was on Friday), so I agreed and struggled without a car over the weekend. Phoned them Monday to be informed that Tuesday was the only day they could get it in as Monday was actually fully booked. Phoned them on Tuesday a couple of times, was informed that his colleague would be phoning me back that day, and low and behold, its now Wednesday without a phone call. So I shall be on the phone again chasing today.

I am getting increasingly annoyed over the whole situation as I am left without a car, and a 30 mile trip to work and back every day then football at the weekends etc is proving to be taxing without my car. Also, I am not fully confident about the work they will be carrying out. Will they just bodge it up? or deliberately do something to the car so x miles down the line it conks out?

Also, the CD player seems to have an issue. its the NCDC 2013. The top cd (single slot) seems to fail once the car has warmed up, which then makes it impossible to use the Sat nav as you cant use the sat nav cd in the multichanger!

So I guess what I am asking you all for is advice.

Advice on what to do regarding the car, if the advice is to take it after fixed etc, should I do anything to ensure the work they have done is ok? What could have been the cause of the juddering? and the CD problem?
If its to reject the car, what's the best way to go about it? Have any of you had problems such as this?

Well, many thanks for reading my essay, and many thanks for anyone who responds. Any help is very much greatly appreciated.

Tony

[glenboy]

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91882

[Gortreck]

Thanks for the link mate

I read that and that was the issue i had initially with the car going into limp home mode. The second time i got the car back it wasnt the same issue, it was like driving a sherman tank! I still had power, not as much as normal, but not reduced as much as the limp home mode previous.

Further to the post above, i have just spoken with the dealer and i am allegedly getting the car back today. He states it was the same pipe they repaired that was causing the issue. Would a broken/split pipe cause this kind of trouble? He assures me there is little to no smoke at all, and that "the car drives like a dream."

Many thanks again!

Tony

[Dan_BlackSRi]

Would a broken/split pipe cause this kind of trouble?

On the 2.2DTi yes, it seems the most common cause of problems for that engine.

Hopefully it will be spot on for you when you get it back bud.

[Ziggy]

Make sure you dont let them get away with the faulty HU though

[Gr4eme]

did you buy from vx dealer ??

[Gortreck]

Hi All

I got teh car back yesterday and as the dealer said, it does drive like a dream! It is how i expected the car to be when i paid for it

Nice steady 58mpg on the trip home, nice and quiet! Called the mrs as i was driving, she asked if i was parked up, couldnt believe it when i told her i was driving as she couldnt even hear the engine!

The car was not bought from a Vx dealer, am I allowed to give the name of the place I got it from on here?

Tony

[soulman]

glad they fixed it for you ..seems the first time maybe they tried to bodge it ...............did they fix the head unit for you ?
Naming a garage is fine as long as there is no slander or name calling involved .

[glenboy]

Great news m8,glad they sorted it for you............

[Gortreck]

Hi Folks

Head Unit is working fine now too, unsure what was up with that. maybe it was getting too hot perhaps?

The garage is The Tradeline in Stockton, Teeside.

Tony