Lots of questions here. First off was the vehicle from a trader? If so a warranty must be provided, as a vehicle sold by a trader should be of merchantable quality, and be deemed to last a "reasonable" time. Any faults within 6 months are considered in law to be pre-existing, therefore the responsibility of the trader to fix them.
If it was a private sale, then there's little you can do.
As to the noisy components. Both the PTU and rear diff are known to suffer bearing failure resulting in noise. Both units can be rebuilt and are available as exchange units at reasonable prices.
I've not done a PTU, but have rebuilt my own diff.
Unless you're skilled at rebuilding such units, and have the special tools available, I'd just get reconditioned units.
Before condemning a PTU or diff, it's best to extract an oil sample from the units, so you can gauge the condition of them.
A syringe with a 12" long thin tube can used to draw a sample of oil out for a look. Basically if there's any kind of silvery particles in the oil, then that unit needs to be reconditioned.
The Haldex pump is sealed with a replaceable O ring, which comes with a service kit, so there's no need to be replacing the whole pump. The Haldex needs servicing much more often that the 150k miles LR recommended, 30 to 50k being much more sensible.
The oils in the PTU and diff also need oil changes, again best done at Haldex service time.
It's possible to save a lot of money by replacing the PTU or rear diff yourself, however it helps to have some experience in replacing such items.
The PTU replacement requires stripping the RH front suspension, as the drive shaft needs to come out.
The rest is pretty straightforward, providing the spline drive from the gearbox comes apart ok. There have been instances where the splines have literally welded themselves to the gearbox output, requiring ingenuity and considerable effort to remove.
The spline drive also need replacing with the PTU, and greasing correctly if later issues are to be avoided.
The rear diff isn't too bad to replace, but again it's easier if you have experience in removing such items.
Hi! Thanks for the reply!
I bought the car end of Feb from a trader in Wales, I live in the midlands..! On the test drive I noticed the noise and mentioned it when I got back, the salesman told me it was the tyres, which seemed plausible because they were worn (not illegal though). I had a good luck over the car as best a none mechanic can on a garage forecourt! I noticed the discs and pads where pretty worn, there where a few small scuffs, the blower wasn’t working, but the salesman told me his mechanic thought it was just the relay. Also it hadn’t had a cambelt done yet and service history wasn’t the best… but it did only have one owner from new and was in very good condition over all and had 100k miles.
I negotiated the price to £8.5k taking into account the amount I would need to spend on it to service and fix the blower. They accepted my offer but only gave me 2 month’s warranty.
As it turns out, after driving the car back, the bonnet sensor was knackered and thought the bonnet was open! Because of this the wipers didn’t work! So pretty dangerous to drive in the cold and wet! I fitted a new sensor which sorted the bonnet issue, then I installed a new blower relay, but of course! That didn’t fix the problem! I ended up buying a blower motor and the special tool and replacing the whole unit, no easy job I can tell you! But it did fix the problem.
Gradually the drone noise got worse so we decided to have the tyre done at a cost of £600! Hoping it would cure this horrible drone noise, but no, it remained. So after this I took the car to a 4x4 garage in Rugby to have the problem diagnosed at a cost of £90! They told me the PTU needed replacing along with the driveshaft and the Haldex pump. They said they couldn’t properly check the rear diff? Because the Haldex wasn’t working properly? And they advised me not to even drive the car to avoid further damage.
At this point I then contacted the garage who basically ignored me for a couple of weeks (owner was away apparently), eventually I received an email to say I was out of warranty tough ****… So I read up that under the consumer right act. If you noticed the problem with the car at the point of sale and mentioned this to the garage, and they lied about the fault knowingly then it is down to the garage to replace the car or have it repaired. I passed on this info to the garage and they eventually replied to say that because I bought it cheap it was tough **** and that’s the end of it as far as they are concerned! I checked if they were a member of the motor ombudsman association and of course they are not! Which means I can’t get help from the motor ombudsman!
I have since pointed out I’m within my right to get the car fixed and then take them to court, but they are just ignoring all correspondence.
My wife got pretty stressed by the whole thing, and I must admit I’ve had enough myself, which is why I was thinking of just fixing the car myself to keep costs down! We’re not millionaires and spent all the money we had on the car, so the thought of having to pay a garage over 2k to fix the issues, then £250 for court and with no guarantee of getting awarded our money back, it seems like a gamble. If I was 100% sure I would get my money back and the garage is 100% in the wrong then I would go for it, but I don’t know where to go for some kind of mediation to help get it sorted….
,. Hope you get it sorted, all the best.
