8 months - 5k spent !!

[CDTI500]

Bought a high mileage CDTI Elite 8 months ago, the price was right and I was seduced by all the equipment, little did I know what was ahead.....
First off battery failed on a sleety, dark,winter's afternoon. Got to motor factors and bought replacement, fitting it by torchlight. When i started it up I noticed the AFL light was on and the LH headlight wasn't working on the Xenon part. Brought it to main deal who diagnosed a 1k replacement headlight (I still haven't replaced it !!), next off was a radiator leak so back to dealer who replaced it, but not 24hrs later I spotted a/t oil leak under rad, so decided to drive home to check if dealer had tightened pipes but an innocuous 'Service Transmission' light came on and I lost drive so it was a recovery truck to the dealer. 'Technician' said to me 'Seal, maybe I should have fitted new one with rad' Back on the road briefly but light on again and back to dealer, 'A/T gone, we'll have to send it to specialist'.... came back but 3 weeks later another smaller oil leak , dealer said 'Not us, A/T specialist' , A/T specialist said 'Connecting pipes 'tween A/T and rad, get pipes and we'll fit free if dealer won't accept responsibility' On collecting car A/T specialist said they found sealer used on rad/pipe join when proper seal should have been used (Dealer ).
Next up is loss of power and smoke, not trusting dealer I bring to local mechanic beside dealer 'Turbo going, replace it', get car back from him , still not going right, return it and rev it to find smoke source, leaking i/cooler pipe. Order one from m/factor...WRONG one listed by manufacturer on website so lucky dealer had correct one which more or less popped on. 2 days later a/c fails, bring to specialist 'New compressor', get car back 24hrs later a/c fails, '4p seal gone, thought it looked ok.....'
Neither dealers nor independent specialists seem to be able to cope with modern stuff that's getting more complex and 'exclusive', I saw a feature where a motoring journalist waxed lyrical about the AFLheadlights....he'll never have to fork out 1k on a replacement unit
AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A CHEAP WAY OF FIXING THE AFL HEADLIGHT

[marko301]

But other than that you're happy with it?

I'm afraid sometimes a car comes along like this. It's the risk you take when you buy someone else's previously loved car (or in this case, not so loved) I hope you can get it all sorted.

[WHIPPY-WOOLLEY]

Hi Mate,

Cant the AFL light be recharged??? I don't see how you need a new one if it's just the bulb has 'gone'

[exclusiv.]

A bulb failure in these headlights can cause the afl message,, normally the cornering bulb

[0011728]

I don't understand thead. Is the OP looking for advice or just venting off

Perhaps he should have asked for advice on here before buying. If this is one of the early ones, and it's not been done already the next thing probably to go is the crank bearings seizing due to the oil pickup seal. There's not that much more that can go wrong with that many repairs

[big b]

I have a 59 plate elite reading other threads there is a particular way of changing these batteries try dis-connecting neutral lead for couple of hours see if it resets I had trouble with service afl coming on every now and then all my lights working but not doing full left to right sweep cleared all fault codes lights been perfect since it's worth a try good luck