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IT & Cars - Problems

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by now left tr

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I recently bough a new car (UK) however after 1 week it has developed a fault ? the engine now runs at about 1/3 of it?s normal power. The car knows about the fault and displays a check engine message when you start it up.

On checking the owners manual it recommends that it is taken to a dealer ASAP and any problems found by the on board computer are stored for the engineers to look at.

The dealer now says that they can?t fid the problem, despite the car still displaying the error message.

I want to know how this is possible as the car stores and relays the problem when the diagnostic laptop is hooked up!!!

Do you think I should ask for a full refund if the error cant be found & resolved in the next few days???

Typo.

5 replies

by why me worry?

I don't know how things are in the UK, but here in the states, an owner of a new or used vehicle is protected against such nonsense by lemon laws. You may be able to return that crappy car for a full refund, or seek legal action against the seller/dealer if they balk at giving you a full refund.

by now left tr

They now (after 10 phone calls) say it needs a new EMS (Engine Management System) - should be in by Thursday.

Wait and see I guess - however with all this IT in our cars these days, are they now less reliable for it?

Should it go again then they will be re-stumping up the ready's I gave them.

EDIT - the EMS is free of charge via Warranty

by jamesrl

Sometimes the check engine light indicates a particular condition, which may have more than one casue. For example my recent one indicates a misfire on cylinder 4. This could be caused by a faulty wire, plug, valve spring or other issues.

I might suggest wtalking to the service manager and if you don't get satisfaction, write off that dealer and taking it to another dealer. You might want to pay them a nominal fee for some diagnostic time. But in general a CEL is a pretty straightforward hint and a good troubleshooter should be able to run with it from there.

James

by now left tr

Get the car back this evening - new EMS included. Thanks for the posts, may have to return the car should it not be to my 100% satisfaction. May take the return letter with me just in case!

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