Skoda Estelle For Sale On eBay.

[tik]

If someone had sold me a 'bucket' like that, he wouldn't get to do it again put it that way. The accident that you have had sounds horrific, just glad that you are okay. Did you drive the car any distance before you bought it?

I've just bought a 120L from someone through Ebay and couldn't have bought the car from a nicer guy, who was a real Skoda enthusiast. The only problem I have got with the car is water ingress in the driver's footwell, whcih will be getting attended to this week. Just shows you that there are some really untrustworthy people out there.

[surprising_skod]

Originally Posted by anewman

My understanding is that it is illegal to knowingly sell an unroadworthy car, private sale or not. Problem is when it comes to getting the money out of the seller, when they are private it is likely to be more difficult.

In the law there is some responsibility on the driver to check the roadworthiness of the vehicle, but I imagine that usually ends with ensuring the MOT certificate is current and present.

there is indeed legislation. this man needs to get himself down to the citizens advice bureau and get some proper info, stat.

[auroan]

By all means visit CAB.... but you may be disappointed.

[surprising_skod]

why? sure there's a certain amount of caveat emptor, but that applies to the engine spluttering and finding a dead fish under the seat. when a car is sold there are certain requirements of what standard it should be at, even in private sales and even if you declare 'spares or repair'. haven't you noticed the huge drop in old heaps being sold, and the way no scrappy will sell a car even no matter why its in, because they simply stand to lose too much?

[auroan]

Originally Posted by surprising_skod

why? sure there's a certain amount of caveat emptor, but that applies to the engine spluttering and finding a dead fish under the seat. when a car is sold there are certain requirements of what standard it should be at, even in private sales and even if you declare 'spares or repair'. haven't you noticed the huge drop in old heaps being sold, and the way no scrappy will sell a car even no matter why its in, because they simply stand to lose too much?

I'm sorry but IMHO there isn't much he can do... the only reason I say this is because in the past I've been in a similar situation, with a private sale.

[Skoda932byVW]

Well to be honest im not going to pursue it. The lad is 18 years old. I have informed him what he has done so hopefully he will learn from it.
Back to the car It really does need a lot of work now. The inner wing,outer wing and suspension components are now mullered. However I have decided to get it done. Im going to start cutting the old inner wing off next week and hopefully have the bodywork sorted within 3 weeks. Then just the suspension to replace. It took me ages to find a 120L5 so it seems silly not to save it.

[daverapid]

Originally Posted by Skoda932byVW

Well to be honest im not going to pursue it. The lad is 18 years old. I have informed him what he has done so hopefully he will learn from it.
Back to the car It really does need a lot of work now. The inner wing,outer wing and suspension components are now mullered. However I have decided to get it done. Im going to start cutting the old inner wing off next week and hopefully have the bodywork sorted within 3 weeks. Then just the suspension to replace. It took me ages to find a 120L5 so it seems silly not to save it.

I love proper dedication like this towards Skodas that most people throw away.

[Barclay120]

Hello, I am very sorry this has happened to you, the suspension has actually been like that since last september/october, the wishbone hasnt been cut in any way and the aluminium was just for added rigidity.
The car has been driven to the south of france and back in this condition and provided nothing but fun.
It was advised by a qualified mechanic to use gasket sealant as well as the gasket to ensure longer gasket life.
It was strongly recommeded not drive it away and a trailer was even offered.

[rigsby]

Originally Posted by Barclay120

Hello, I am very sorry this has happened to you, the suspension has actually been like that since last september/october, the wishbone hasnt been cut in any way and the aluminium was just for added rigidity.
The car has been driven to the south of france and back in this condition and provided nothing but fun.
It was advised by a qualified mechanic to use gasket sealant as well as the gasket to ensure longer gasket life.
It was strongly recommeded not drive it away and a trailer was even offered.

IMHO i dont know what sort of qualifications the mechanic has , but ive been on the spanners for over 25 years working for skoda, mercedes and many other manufactures and ive never used or have known anybody use any type of sealant when fitting a head gasket. it is a procedure that is just asking for problems. In other areas of the engine the use of something like welseal is ok, but the use of hylomar and silicone sealer shouts bodge

[Barclay120]

The sealant used was specifically for use with gaskets. Thats exactly what the packet said to do. Generally when you buy a car you view it or test it before you buy it. This guy didnt even have a proper look even after buying it. Driving a car at 60 that you haven't even looked at is bound to cause problems.
I think almost all the rules of buying a used car have been broken here.

[Skoda932byVW]

Erm Barclay. Yes the rules were broken because YOU was in a rush to leave by 5, not me. I was working around you. You said it was trailer away, but that is because the car wasnt running right. Not because it was dangerous. It actually ran lovely once we put the ht leads in the right order. You had already received negative feedback from one e-bayer when you messed up doing the first headgasket and accused his gasket for tarnishing your oil????
This weekend Im taking a photo of the one side of the suspension that hasnt collapsed and will post it on here.
As for driving it at 60mph, im not really sure what speed im supposed to be driving at on a dual carriageway. Bearing in mind the car is Taxed and Mot'd (However doesnt have as much as what you have advertised) I should be able to drive it surely??????

For future referance, Silicone sealant should not be used on the gaskets of a Skoda. I didnt need to do an oil change on the car as by the time i had got home the oil had been blown out of the sump, through the rocker cover and into the road. Saves me a job of draining the oil
The good news is the car will be sorted hopefully within a month or 2. Im considering a full respray and hopefully make it look as nice as Daverapids on here

[Barclay120]

You left of your own accord at 4.30, I have been driving it in this condition daily and was planning to carry on doing so before I sold it. The gasket that I got bad feedback for was due to a partly compressed gasket so water came straight out the side of the block after torqueing with a freshly calibrated wrench. The mot date was a mistake on the listing and if you had have inspected it before buying it you may have noticed it. I am only 18 and not a quailified engineer. Obviously the suspension could have been better by far but I am not here to make an argument. I am just trying to defend myself.
I thought that this forum was supposed to be helpful and friendly but I was wrong. I have tried to ring you and sort this out like civilized humans but you will not pick up your phone.
I therefore resign as a lover of skodas.
Yours sincerely
Barclay(120)

[daverapid]

Barclay120...this forum is friendly and helpful which is why a lot of us have shown concern towards the buyers well being as the evidence obtained from this thread does suggest that the car you sold wasn't quite as good as the description in your ebay advert suggests. Remember the poor guy had what must been a very frightening accident as a result of poorly repaired front suspension.

However...without meaning to sound patronising I always tend to try and give people the benefit of the doubt. When I look back [18 years ago] to when I was 18 I certainly didn't have enough experience really to be doing major engine and suspension repairs, but I still did it anyway! I made mistakes, some pretty bad ones! I'll always remember replacing a clutch on a Mk3 Escort in my driveway when I was 18, I road tested it afterwards only for the suspension ball joint that I'd re-fitted wrongly to pop out mid corner!

I think the answer here is to accept that mistakes have been made and more importantly to learn from them.

I find it hard to believe that a genuine Skoda enthusiast would stop being an enthusiast just because of this. Stick around Barclay120 if you want to, but I would recommend getting proffesional advice from Skoda forums [and the Skoda Owners' Club] when tackling big, and especially safety related jobs.

You'll find we are all a very friendly and helpful group of people.

Most importantly, no-one has died or been hurt and the car is being saved. Given the circumstances I reckon the buyer has been pretty fair and restrained. He's a personal friend of mine and I know he's fair.

Best regards to you both.

[rigsby]

Here Here

[Skoda932byVW]

Just an update. Ive been working on the car since 7 am this morning. Through the rain
Anyway ive got it sitting back upright now on all 4 wheels, but to be honest ive only really bodged it as much as to make it towable to Daverapids to get sorted properly.
The wing pushed back into shape quite nicely, but the inner wing will have to be cut out/replaced.
Just from running the engine for 2 mins this oil leak splatted out


Oh well i thought. As I was on my hands and knees i put my hand on the tyre and cut it with the metal banding from the tyre
All 4 tyres bald. This one was the best and still only 1mm


This is the side that hasnt collapsed, but as you can see the erm reinforcing plate??? has been damaged and the plate the alumumium plate the shock absobers were bolted to have stretched badly. Obviously the other side just split. Im amazed it lasted as long as it did.



Rather than messing about with it im going to have to put new wishbones and shocks on the front. From what ive been told not an easy job as the front subframe has to come out?????
Also done a compression test and the headgasket is already failing. Blowing between cylinders 2 and 3. Hopefully a nice Temac gasket will sort it when the weather warms up a bit. Hopefully the head isnt cracked.
Very tired now so early night i think.

[Richard Black]

Taking a front subframe off an Estelle isn't too bad. As far as I can remember from when I did it - some years ago now - the hardest parts were undoing some predictably rusty bolts and getting the steering column apart so that the frame was free to drop, without knackering the steering box. Yes, it's quite a lot of bolts to undo, but the car was designed to be serviced easily and they succeeded!

i put my hand on the tyre and cut it with the metal banding from the tyre

Ah, er, I don't think that's supposed to happen....

And the aluminium plate really is bodgetastic. I've seen - indeed in my dafter moments I've done - some pretty scary stuff on cars but that takes the biscuit. If it was steel, at least twice as thick, it might have been almost acceptable.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Well , having read this thread I can see that there's a pair of muppets involved.

One that sold a clearly dangerous car and misrepresented it's condition , and another that bought a car and didn't bother to see if it was even vaguely roadworthy before driving home.

[daverapid]

One of the "muppets" you mention is a mate of mine doing the same as me, saving rare old Skodas. I don't think name calling is helping the situation at all. We are here to help each other aren't we?

[Skoda932byVW]

Thanks Dave.
Yep very harsh. I admit the paperwork side was silly on my part, however the lad was in a rush and I wanted to get the car back home before it got dark. As for the tyres etc, you dont obviously know what a very lowered RWD Skoda is like to check. The inner part of the tyres are not visible and the front valence comes down low so you cant really see anything. Lets face it how often have you bought a car and checked to see if someone had thrown away its original suspension and made something new up? Not exactly what anyone suspects.
I checked the basics, ie braking ability, handling felt fine etc etc. What more am I supposed to do? The car was only 25 miles from my house so it wasnt as if im driving it across the country. It was also in daily use with tax and MOT. Not eaxctly a project or barn find.
At the end of the day I dont actually mind whats wrong with the car. I just feel deceived in the way the description was put. I put a lot of trust in the person selling the car as he was supposadly an enthusiast and fellow SCS member, but I was wrong. There lies my mistake. However that is really for me to deal with and not this forum as thats not what Briskoda is about, its about the cars.

What im hoping is people will come back to this thread as and when I update it with new pics and updates as and when I get it sorted. By July the car will be stunning and I will be proud to take it to shows.

[rigsby]

I think we have all done it, rushed into something, and basicaly bought the first thing that comes to hand. Im sure Barkley120 and skoda932byVW both have regrets about the car, but life is too short, Shake hands and move on. Perhaps Barclay could go and help to bring the car back into shape and learn a few skills in the process. We all have to learn somehow,and making a mistake or two along the way is part of that process