[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Thank you Aravind for sharing your experience of purchasing a used car, which was unused for prolonged period like in my case. From your signature I am assuming it was a Fiesta 1.6S.

Could you please share over here for the benefit of myself and other members, how much time and money you spent on it (of course with the break-up) to get it back in shape? Also even after repairing it to your satisfaction did you face any break-downs or minor issues/niggles?

Yes AutoIndian, I am talking about my Fiesta 1.6S only.

The service centre guys had no clue on where to start from, and they somehow believed I am an expert ( looks are deceptive )and asked me to give them a list of things that needs to be checked / inspected / replaced.

IIRC, I wrote the following -
- Engine oil, Oil filter, Coolant, Brake Oil ( Same is used for the clutch ), Transmission oil ( which they said is not required ), Battery, Key barrels, Inspection of underbody for rusts & damages, Air-filter replacement (read somewhere that is becomes useless after it ages for many years), complete inspection of the electrical wiring, Antenna ( someone had stolen it ) Wiper blades, windshield washer fluid tank ( was leaking upon filling ) weather strips on the door ( they were almost completely brittle ) spark plugs and then some more ( will try and post the bill tonight )

Upon completing the Fluid replacements, car had a terribly unsettled idle and we narrowed it down to the fuel lines and injectors. The fuel had expired long back and whatever was left inside the lines had damaged the injectors beyond repair, thus ended up 'cleaning' the tank and 'replacing' the lines and the injectors - service centre guys wanted to replace tank too!

Then car was idling fine, so other works were completed and upon taking delivery, brakes were terrible, and ended up changing brake pads the following week - they might have sufficient thickness ( only checkpoint for service centre guys! ) but with age, the pads become harder, and thus - ineffective.

Then the car always had a constant, mild wobbling, which the service centre guys in Chennai could do nothing about - they just added one more 900 Rs. for wheel alignment the outside tyre alignment centres couldn't solve it either! but the guys at Rajshree Ford Coimbatore took 20 minutes to narrow it down on the tyres. Same case like the brake pads, they had full tread on them ( 433 kms was all the car had been driven for! ) but they had developed flat spots, being parked for 4 years.

A word of caution - before bidding for the car, I spent quite sometime analyzing the rat menace - thankfully my car had no rat menace.. but if you do see traces then electrical wiring and sensors might need work!

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Is this due to no movement of the car and the shock absorbers goes kaput since the car is standing still for 4 years where the weight of the car is borne by the shock absorbers and tyres. Am I right?

Anurag.

Hi Anurag, the ride was stiff, but I did not bother much, as I assumed the 1.6S had a stiffer ride compared to the normal Fiesta, but over rubbled roads, I could hear a constant moaning sound from the rear. As per the mechanics at the service centre - in a vehicle that had been standing for years at one location, there is absolutely no lubrication / circulation of the fluid inside, and hence will fail much faster it seems.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by vijay_rodie

Double samepinch. I am in same company too

Anyway, one of my friend was also interested in one of the other vehicle. I just guided him yesterday. Today I just discovered this link and shared with him immediately.

I do not know who this employer is, but can't imagine that the company is directly involved in this kind of shady deals.
More likely reason would be that there are some shady blokes in your facilities department who are making some "side income" by conning employees.

The whole point of an internal auction - which implicitly brings in a trust based transaction - is lost isn't it?

In addition, how on earth did this end up in your companies parking lot ??
The security aspect, of the same should also be highlighted in the best interest of your colleagues.

You ought to escalate this to your employer!

[AutoIndian]

Hey folks, just thought of letting you now that I did get hold of a pre-worshipped Innova last year in Nov. My hunt and then the complete ownership experience can be found at this thread ----> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...workhorse.html

Do contribute with you comments, suggestions in the above thread, whenever you get some spare time.