Have I bought a lemon? Help wanted please!😢

Sorry for your inconvenience. The simple answer is yes you have bought a lemon. I mean no disrespect whatsoever saying the following. The owner may or may not have known the head gasket was shot. In any case the screw driver you found and his explanation told you immediately that " his baby....maintained every 5k etc" was a load of baloney.
A quick look here would have told you immediately what you now know the hard way. You unfortunately have been just as naive as the owner to part with the cash. But this is all hindsight now, where to from here? Again not meaning to be the Christmas grinch, Expect at least $4 to fix the first obvious problem. You may do it for less but unlikely. The next thing will be then how many more thousand you will have to throw at it to have the vehicle you were expecting. IMO for a poor maintainedD2 add another $4k without the auto trans, again, less if you can DIY. Commiserations, try have a good Christmas.

Point taken.
To be fair to 60 minutes and ACA, I have never watched either.
Anyway, this isn't helping the guy out.
I hope I am wrong, and it works out well.
Merry Christmas to all.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Chris.
There are more things to a car than a head. Yes, more things to go wrong. Count your lucky stars you didn't buy an old Mercedes.
Having said that, look at what is right with the car. I'm sure you didn't look at just the head and say "That head looks ok. I'll buy it."
Chances are it's just the head gasket, Maybe head as well. Many people on this forum have changed the head on these motors before. You've got great advice and resources here on this site. Once you've sorted out all the issues, it may be a great car.
About a year ago, I bought a Landrover from a fellow known on this site. It was an old Landrover. Since buying it, a number of little issues have surfaced. Things like losing coolant (I thought it may have been blown head gasket), fuel pump dying, finding cross threaded bolts. In no way do I think I have bought a lemon. I bought an old Landrover that requires the usual maintenance.
My advice: Fix the thing and get out and enjoy it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vnx205

I have no idea whether he will find it easy to get his money back.

That wasn't my point.

I wasn't giving the seller a character reference.

In fact, I said:


I was just commenting on how common it seems to be for people to see the worst in others. I think ACA etc encourage that attitude.

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I understand exactly where you are coming from there. That is why I don't watch trash TV.

Get it back to Newcastle where you can deal with the repairs locally.
As Mick said - you probably had other reasons for buying it. I'm guessing maybe low mileage, price etc to make it worthwhile buying interstate.

Find out whats actually wrong with it, then make a decision from there.
Yes, its going to cost you some dollars to do it, but if the rest of the vehicle is in good condition you'll likely have a reliable vehicle that will serve you well for many years to come. One failure doesn't make a lemon :)

Edit: Don't make the things worse by hooking up a hired car trailer behind a mate's commodore and towing it home. Illegal, unsafe and unless the tow vehicle is in good condition you'll likely end up with 2 dead vehicles at this time of year. Get someone to do it properly.

Steve

My little story doesn't help solve your immediate problem, but it does illustrate the point that SteveG is making. If the rest of the vehicle is good, it may be worth spending some money on it.

Years ago I bought a second hand FC Holden from a dealer on Parramatta Road. The body was in great shape and it seemed mechanically sound.

A couple of days later, I was investigating a tapping noise that suddenly started just as i was about the switch off the engine. I could see a bit of broken ring sitting on top of one piston.

When I pulled the head off, I found that there had been broken rings in five cylinders. :eek: Yet the engine blew no smoke and used almost no oil if driven sensibly. The gaps in the ring lands had carboned up enough that there was no significant blowby.

When I contacted the company to express my disappointment, I managed to get a reconditioned motor at cost price. I fitted the motor myself and apart from tyres, fuel, oil changes and a battery, that was all the money I spent on it for the next few years.

At the end of that time, the vehicle was still running so well that my father bought it from me and got several more years of trouble free motoring out of it.

It is possible that you have bought a lemon, but it is also possible that with a bit of money spent on it, you will have the vehicle you thought you were buying.

It may be worth getting someone you trust who does not share your emotional attachment to the vehicle or who doesn't share your disappointment at what happened, to have a good look to help you decide rationally what the best course of action is.

Lemon no, Landrover yes !!!

My own MY2005 Defender is up for sale, its just shy of 200,000 km , in the past 50,000 km I'v easily spent over 10 grand on it , apart from all new hoses and thermostat the cooling system has never been touched. The head has never been off, It never uses coolant , I never add coolant, however the coolant level sits 1" below the cold fill line shown on the reservoir. Always had since I've owned it. Any prospective owner will be made aware of this.

So if the head gasket blows on the new owners first trip , has he purchased a Lemon .. I dont think so. its a Landrover thing .

(uh oh, Ive probably mozzed it for the new owner now.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vnx205

I have no idea whether he will find it easy to get his money back.

That wasn't my point.

I wasn't giving the seller a character reference.

In fact, I said:


I was just commenting on how common it seems to be for people to see the worst in others. I think ACA etc encourage that attitude.

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I think it is a self protection mechanism to assume the worst which is not a symptom of watching too much ACA. By assuming the worst we start to mentally prepare ourselves for the worst possible outcome, we don't get our hopes up in case later they are slashed down. This way if things turn out better we feel positive about the outcome. If you assume the best and it turns out worse you just feel naive and gullible.

Hey sames1972
That's a rotten story and right before Christmas. I agree with the idea that you need to get the car back to Newcastle. Here you can get it properly assessed and a plan put in place to repair it. Hopefully it is just a slipped head. Your best bet is to contact Ben at Modern motors Dungog, or All four by four at Kotara.
Best of luck and don't hesitate to PM me if you need any help.
Regards
Robbo

That is A bit of bad luck. Probably first party is to get a Land Rover specialist to check it out and give you an assessment. Then take if from there.

I think you have a point about there being an element of self preservation and wanting to avoid appearing naive and gullible.

However, I think there is a danger in having that as your default position. It has the potential to destroy any chance of an amicable resolution to problems.

If you start your attempt at a resolution by making it clear that you think you are dealing with a crook, then you significantly reduce the chances of a compromise.

That is one reason I had in the back of my mind when I made my original comments about assuming the seller was a crook. I thought we would be doing the purchaser a disservice if we encouraged him to start any possible negotiations with the seller by suggesting that he was a crook.

He might get nothing more than sympathy from the seller, but he would be unlikely to get even that if he started with an aggressive attitude.