Vauxhall Astra 1.7 diesel

[Pollypeptide]

Recently my daughter purchased the above car from a garage. It had done 50,000 miles. Within two months it seized up at the roadside. The warranty inspectors said that the coolant by-pass hose from the thermostat housing had burst and the engine had overheated. The engine needs to be replaced and they would not pay for this under the warranty

My daughter said the overheating indicator light came on when the engine seized and not before. OK, so she could have missed it but has anyone else had a similar experience with the Astra instrument lights?

Could the garage be responsible for selling the car with the hose in that condition?

[chas2008]

Its impossible to check everything 100% its only a visual check and unless its glaringly obvious unlikely to be picked up.
Even if an egine overheats you really have to go some to get it to seize, in theory the managment light would have come on and the red stop light long before it would have seized. Engines dont just get hot and seize immediately theres usually some warning or indication 1st.
If there are any issues with Astra warning lights it usually because they come on at the slightest problem and are over sensitive.

[Andyvon]

Surely the car has a temperature gauge Polly? They give a basic indication of any engine problems - when the gauge starts to rise then switch off immediately. Wasn't your daughter watching it Polly?

As soon as the hose went the temperature gauge would have steadily risen from mid-range to the red section and then stayed there for some time before the engine seized. Also, the engine would probably have given plenty of warnings of a problem such as steam, smells and various alarming noises. Why did your daughter ignore all the warning signs?

[Pollypeptide]

Many thanks for your replies - that's more or less what we thought.

[chas2008]

Andyvon
actually you would be surprised how many vehicles dont have temp guages any more. Astra being one of them