Disco 3 transmission problem, now having dealer problems!

[chris_mack]

Hi all,

I bought a 2007 Disco 3 SE two weeks ago, from a Kia Dealer in Ballarat. They obviously had it as a trade in.

Its been well looked after, ex DSE with only 110k km on the clock and FSH.

Anyway within a week, I had a warning come on the display "transmission failure" or words to that effect. It still drove fine and the message disappeared. I also had noticed a vibration when under light acceleration.

So I rang the dealer and told them, and as Im in Melbourne they said I could take it to someone local to get it looked at and they would pay under the 90 day warranty. So far so good.

I took it to the Romsey LR Centre, as its near my work. Left it for the day and Daniel rang me to advise me the transfer case is stuffed, and it would be approx $5k + GST for a new box, and $1k fitting. I rang the dealer back and they then spoke to Daniel as well. Initially they suggested they might get him to fix it.

They then rang me back saying they had got a price of $3k for a box, great I said, you can supply it and then get Romsey to fit it. Nope, "because he was trying it on giving such a high price we wont agree to that" . Well I said more than likely he just gave the book price or the first price he saw, they are a reputable garage not trying to pull a fast one! But no luck, the dealer insisted it had to go back to them.

Now my issue is that they expect me to get the car back to them, in Ballarat, make my way back to Melbourne, then be car-less for a week which is how long they expect it to take to fix, and then make my own way back to Ballarat to collect.

I offered them either

1 - If they let Romsey fix it then its not an issue as its near work and I can just borrow a ute from work for the week

2 - They collect it from me and drop it back to me, again as its easy for me to borrow a ute from work.

3 - I drop it to them but they provide me with a courtesy car for the week

They won't agree to any of the above.

Am I being unreasonable here? Is there any legal grounds I have or do I just have to 'suck it up princess' and get over it?

I just think its a bit raw that having spent $45k on a new car, I then have to drive 1.5 hours out my way each way, then make my own way back to Melb, then be car-less for the week! All this came up just a week after buying the new car!

Chris

[Marty110]

I dont think any of your offers are unreasonable. Maybe have a chat to the office of business and consumer affairs and see what your rights are in this case. Maybe tell the dealer this is what you intend to do and they may change their mind? good luck

[chris_mack]

hmm, had a look on their website and found this

If your car cannot be driven due to a warranty defect, the trader must pay any towing costs. However, the trader or mechanic is not obliged to provide a replacement vehicle while your car is being repaired. If a courtesy vehicle is provided, make sure it is insured adequately.

Still sucks though. I don't think its an unreasonable request!

[Marty110]

OK, so you tell them it cant be driven so they need to get it towed and you can borrow the ute from work? I guess they wont return it to you though so you would still need to go and pick it up - as you say it sucks. I sure wont be buying a car from them - not a good recommendation that they are so unhelpful. For the small cost to them of you having a loan car (probably out of their used car lot) they could have got a good recommendation. After all you would be paying the fuel and insurance.

[Tank]

Pays to buy local, Regards Frank.

[chris_mack]

Yeh thats always an option.

I wanted to buy one with a bullbar already on Frank, so limited my choice a bit!

[Tank]

Yeh thats always an option.

I wanted to buy one with a bullbar already on Frank, so limited my choice a bit!
It's hard when you live in regional areas, I could have bought my BA GT in Canberra for a few grand cheaper, but the local dealer gave me some good deals and great servicing, Regards Frank.

[hgsuzuki]

Oh Wow,

I actually test drove this one on 27th April and was on my list before you bought it. I didn't notice any vibration tho.
Best of luck with warranty, and personally i would go for the LR Dealer 5k g'box rather than the Ballarat supplied one, seeming they are giving you a bit of a run around already.

Let us know how this turns out.

[chris_mack]

Haha, well aside from this issue it seems to be a pretty good buy...! The vibration was very minor to begin with, I only noticed it after a couple of days but it has progressively got worse. It went into limp home mode on the weekend :cool: so they are coming to pick it up tomorrow. Hopefully get it fixed by the end of the week.

Unfortunately I dont really have any say in it, if i want them to fix it they can replace it with what they want as long its fit for purpose and suitable to the age and condition of the car. They were talking about getting a 2nd hand one (which they are allowed to do) but I dont know if they managed to source one.

Either way, fingers crossed by the weekend itl be fixed and sorted and hopefully no more trouble with the car!

[101RRS]

So you getting a complete gearbox/tfr case unit or just a tfr case? If the complete unit I would be getting them to put on a steel sump. If just the tfr case make sure they grease the splines - apparently not done when built (well maybe) and can cause issue later. Ask Tote.

Garry

[chris_mack]

I believe its just the transfer case, however they are just taking Romsey LRs diagnosis at the moment, no doubt they will no more once they have it there and stripped.

[Mike_S]

Removing / replacing a transfer case is only a few hours work, officially 5 if I recall correctly. I had the drive flange changed on mine when it started leaking, LR main dealer had it out, fixed & back in again inside of a day.

5 days for them to swap it over sounds like they're lining you up for a "we've not found anything wrong with it mate, oh and by the way, here's the bill for our time"

Ask your local LR dealer what the book says for the required number of hours on the job.

[chris_mack]

I hope not, I think more of an issue is they won't have ordered any parts yet til the have diagnosed the problem themselves, and being a Kia dealer and what with the disco3 being a bigger, more expensive more complex car than they are used too, they are erring on the side of caution! Hope so anyway, I dont expect it will take til the weekend.

Really they can't argue that there is something wrong, the vibration is getting worse, and even though the warning message only showed once I definitely saw it!

[dullbird]

the warning message will be logged in the cars ECU anyway and once hooked u to the computer they should see that a warning light had been on

[loanrangie]

the warning message will be logged in the cars ECU anyway and once hooked u to the computer they should see that a warning light had been on

Thats if they have the gear /software to read the LR ecu, probably only need a 286 and dos for a Kia :p.

[chris_mack]

So it was picked up last Tuesday 29.06.12, and without my knowledge taken to a mechanics in Geelong... not sure who.

The Kia dealer than rang me on Thursday and said "good news its just the control module on the side of the transfer case"... well that doesnt explain the vibration I said, so I got the number of the garage it was at and spoke to them .

Well the guy gives me a 5 minute speel of what is wrong and what hes doing, water corrosion in the module etc. "Yeh, what about the vibration?" "what vibration, nobody told me about that i was just told it had gone into limp mode with a fault". So I explained the vibration and he said he would look into it.

Friday, the Kia dealer rings me and offers me a courtesy car (id been hassling them for days). So Saturday I get two trains and a taxi to get there, and am met with a load of attitude from the salesman who is there (same one who sold me the car) telling me how lucky I am to get a car!

Yesterday I rang the garage in Geelong again, and they said they are waiting on a part should arrive today (wednesday) , said they took it for a test and found no vibration?! Well thats bull I said, Im not making up that its got a vibration! If it is just an electrical problem and the new module fixes it then brilliant, but If it comes back to me still vibrating it will go straight back to them.

Im seriously worried that even if they have diagnosed it as a stuffed transfer box, they are doing a cheap fix and hoping it will last out the 90 days... I do have an extended 3 year warranty which is basically an insurance policy but I dont see why I should have to use it, the salesman told me when I bought the that If i have any problems in the first 90 days to use the statutory warranty.

I spoke to Daniel at Romsey again, and he said the vibration under acceleration, coupled with the warning message, and he said the main bearing in the rear of the case sounded stuffed... = blown transfer box. But cant confirm 100% without stripping it.


Car dealers, dont you just love em! :mad:

[chris_mack]

So I spoke to the garage again today.

They said they put in the new module, but the vibration coupled with the nasty sound from the rear bearing means the transfer case is stuffed. WELL DONE! I told them that 2 weeks ago!

So basically they have had my car for almost two weeks now and still havn't fixed the main problem!

On the plus, at least they are going to now, and I SHOULD be getting my car back on Tuesday.. better late than never (or still broken)

[Andrew D]

Sounds like a good outcome...finally. I'm up to 39 days without my car and counting. (I'm still feeling the frustration). Im' forecasting 51 days and hopefully back....but not holding my breath.

Regards
Andrew

[Stuck]

It's small consolation but the warranty clock stops ticking for as long as the dealer has the car for warranty work. I know it can be frustrating, my dealer had my Disco for a month out of my first 3 months of ownership so I asked them to make a payment on it :). They didn't pay :D.

Cheers,
Anthony.