Check engine on

[HristoM]

Hello. I bought a IS200 from a car sales. When i started the engine, the check engine light came on. The seller told me that is not major and he told me also that the problem is with the "vacuum control valve". Has anyone ever heard of this problem? By the way, the car drives fine, but i don't like to see the light on. 

[jumbojake]

take it back, expect a refund or repair.  Car traders have to abide to the rules, they can't just brush it off.

[HristoM]

1 minute ago, jumbojake said:

take it back, expect a refund or repair.  Car traders have to abide to the rules, they can't just brush it off.

My mechanic told me that the problem is not this. Told me also that if i change the spark plugs it's going to be alright. Is it possible to have the check engine on if one of the spark plugs is not working correctly? 

[jumbojake]

regardless, if you just bought it and the engine light is on, they should fix it or refund... it shouldn't be your responsibility to sort out.  The rules were brought in to stop people like that trading.

[LenT]

9 hours ago, jumbojake said:

regardless, if you just bought it and the engine light is on, they should fix it or refund... it shouldn't be your responsibility to sort out.  The rules were brought in to stop people like that trading.

Sound advice.  If this was a sale by a registered trader, then dismissing a warning light ‘as nothing major’ is ridiculous. It should be sorted before sale.

And beware of the quick fix solution: disconnecting the wire to the warning light!

[HristoM]

3 minutes ago, LenT said:

Sound advice.  If this was a sale by a registered trader, then dismissing a warning light ‘as nothing major’ is ridiculous. It should be sorted before sale.

And beware of the quick fix solution: disconnecting the wire to the warning light!

I can see myself that the problem is not major cuz the car drives fine, the engine is working smoothly. The gearbox is switching alright. I was just wondering if the light can come on because of a spark plug. The car was £1000 and they drop down the price with £100 for me to fix the problem, when i saw that the car is running alright, i just bought it, didn't think too much. Btw i know the quick fix solution😀😀

[lexus22]

So get yourself a code reader on- line for less than £30, plug it in and see what code comes up! I doubt if a dodgy spark plug would make the engine management light come on, you really need to plug a reader in to see what the fault is, not worth just trying to guess at it.

 

[LenT]

29 minutes ago, HristoM said:

I can see myself that the problem is not major cuz the car drives fine, the engine is working smoothly. The gearbox is switching alright. I was just wondering if the light can come on because of a spark plug. The car was £1000 and they drop down the price with £100 for me to fix the problem, when i saw that the car is running alright, i just bought it, didn't think too much. Btw i know the quick fix solution😀😀

So basically you bought a twenty one year-old IS200 for £900.

Yes, I can see that puts a different perspective on the sale!  

If it came with a genuine MoT, sound bodywork, interior and mechanicals, then it sounds like a good buy.  Good luck with it.

[Pielight]

On 11/4/2021 at 5:58 PM, lexus22 said:

So get yourself a code reader on- line for less than £30, plug it in and see what code comes up! I doubt if a dodgy spark plug would make the engine management light come on, you really need to plug a reader in to see what the fault is, not worth just trying to guess at it.

 

You wouldn’t think so, but my wife had a Peugeot 307 that had engine light coming up and going into limp mode. The AA put a code reader on and it had a misfire on No3 cylinder so they changed coil pack. Fault came back a few miles later. I got a code reader really cheap off eBay and realised they’d changed the wrong coil pack!! Cylinder numbering on a Peugeot is the opposite way round to most other cars where No1 is at opposite end of transmission.

I disconnected the coil pack of the offending cylinder to remove it and immediately noticed the spark plug was loose. I took it out and the threads were black and wet with unburnt fuel. I replaced and tightened the plug correctly - problem solved! The car ran sweeter than ever from then. Lesson learned is that a misfire can put the engine light and the cause of that can be a defective spark plug.

That being said, I would take it with an enormous pinch of salt if dealer claimed that was the cause of an engine light. If they knew that to be the case, they almost certainly change it as it’s usually a  cheap and simple job and it would make the car massively more sellable.

[LenT]

18 hours ago, Pielight said:

That being said, I would take it with an enormous pinch of salt if dealer claimed that was the cause of an engine light. If they knew that to be the case, they almost certainly change it as it’s usually a  cheap and simple job and it would make the car massively more sellable.

Quite right Paul..I think that’s the point we were all making.

Until….Hristo revealed that he was actually only paying £900 for the car!

The possibility then arises that the dealer was selling it ‘as seen’  with no warranty and wasn’t prepared to spend any time or money on it.  Now if ‘Hristo’ turns out to be anything like, say, Edd China, then it all makes sense!  Even better if there’s no Mike Brewer equivalent involved.

[Pielight]

10 hours ago, LenT said:

Quite right Paul..I think that’s the point we were all making.

Until….Hristo revealed that he was actually only paying £900 for the car!

The possibility then arises that the dealer was selling it ‘as seen’  with no warranty and wasn’t prepared to spend any time or money on it.  Now if ‘Hristo’ turns out to be anything like, say, Edd China, then it all makes sense!  Even better if there’s no Mike Brewer equivalent involved.

Indeed Len...Ed invariably made easy work out of engine management faults for little money which rescued Mike's credibility after buying would be duffers! With Eds skills you could save a load on such cars....hopefully Hristo can pull it off with his.

As an aside, I know Ed has done quite a lot on YouTube,  but I thought he'd have been doing higher profile TV programmes with his talent. 

[lexus22]

What don't you like about Mike Brewer?

[LenT]

20 hours ago, lexus22 said:

What don't you like about Mike Brewer?

I have assumed that you're addressing me, Chris. Well, it's a bit of a digression but I'm happy to explain.

I should emphasise that I can only comment on Mike Brewer's TV persona.

1.  So, firstly what is a 'Wheeler Dealer'?  Well in common parlance it's someone who, while engaging in a commercial or political transaction, is prepared to employ unscrupulous, unsavoury, deceptive, amoral and even dishonest practices to achieve their ends.  Typically, the used car salesman is cited as the architype.  So it's a pejorative term - but one that Mike Brewer uses to define himself!  I would have thought that would answer your question!

2.  The premise of the show is that Brewer uses his 'skills' as a self-defined wheeler-dealer to buy cars at the lowest possible price and then resell for the highest possible price after "my mechanic" has worked to restore them to pristine condition.

In doing so he will often appear to be less than forthright with the seller and then gloat after the purchase at having bought the vehicle for 'silly money'.  I often wonder how the Seller must feel when they finally see the programme?  I do wonder if the agreement is that they will accept a low offer from Brewer - to make any eventual sale that much more attractive - with the sweetener of an 'appearance fee' to make their actual sale acceptable?

Equally, when selling he is not above claiming that he has other buyers ready to pounce, when he has already revealed that there's not actually been that much interest!  Again, do those Buyers feel themselves to be a little bit duped when they watch the programme?

Ultimately, as such factors as the costs of labour, workshop overheads and such like, were never included, it's unlikely that any project even broke even!  But of course, it didn't have too.  The buying and selling components were simply a vehicle to give Brewer a reason for being there.  In that respect I actually prefer an alternative car show called 'Car SOS',. which presents the restoration not as a commercial venture but as an altruistic endeavour.

3.  I find his attitude to Edd China patronising.  He is introduced as 'my mechanic' and often berated for not doing what he, Brewer, has instructed.  Now this may all be for dramatic effect, but it's uncomfortable viewing.

The irony is that Brewer is credited only as a Presenter; Edd China is an Associate Producer.  In the hierarchy of production companies, it's Brewer who works for China!

4.  I only speak for myself, but the buying and selling are irrelevant to me.  The real skills are demonstrated by Edd China - the diagnostics, the mechanical demonstrations, the automotive insights, the ultimate restoration - all supplied by Edd China. (Although in reality he is also aided by Paul Brackley, technical advisor for the series, and occasionally one or two other mechanics off camera).  Brewer became increasing conscious of how relatively insignificant his contribution was, and this can be seen in the later US produced shows when he would be shown, for example, changing the spark plugs or 'supervising' the machining of a cylinder head!

5.  Another reason for Brewer's 'expanded' role was because the American production company, Velocity, which had bought the show, realised that the most expensive part was the workshop section and they decided to save money by reducing it.  This is what prompted Edd China to leave.

 

[jumbojake]

13 minutes ago, LenT said:

I have assumed that you're addressing me, Chris. Well, it's a bit of a digression but I'm happy to explain.

I should emphasise that I can only comment on Mike Brewer's TV persona.

1.  So, firstly what is a 'Wheeler Dealer'?  Well in common parlance it's someone who, while engaging in a commercial or political transaction, is prepared to employ unscrupulous, unsavoury, deceptive, amoral and even dishonest practices to achieve their ends.  Typically, the used car salesman is cited as the architype.  So it's a pejorative term - but one that Mike Brewer uses to define himself!  I would have thought that would answer your question!

2.  The premise of the show is that Brewer uses his 'skills' as a self-defined wheeler-dealer to buy cars at the lowest possible price and then resell for the highest possible price after "my mechanic" has worked to restore them to pristine condition.

In doing so he will often appear to be less than forthright with the seller and then gloat after the purchase at having bought the vehicle for 'silly money'.  I often wonder how the Seller must feel when they finally see the programme?  I do wonder if the agreement is that they will accept a low offer from Brewer - to make any eventual sale that much more attractive - with the sweetener of an 'appearance fee' to make their actual sale acceptable?

Equally, when selling he is not above claiming that he has other buyers ready to pounce, when he has already revealed that there's not actually been that much interest!  Again, do those Buyers feel themselves to be a little bit duped when they watch the programme?

Ultimately, as such factors as the costs of labour, workshop overheads and such like, were never included, it's unlikely that any project even broke even!  But of course, it didn't have too.  The buying and selling components were simply a vehicle to give Brewer a reason for being there.  In that respect I actually prefer an alternative car show called 'Car SOS',. which presents the restoration not as a commercial venture but as an altruistic endeavour.

3.  I find his attitude to Edd China patronising.  He is introduced as 'my mechanic' and often berated for not doing what he, Brewer, has instructed.  Now this may all be for dramatic effect, but it's uncomfortable viewing.

The irony is that Brewer is credited only as a Presenter; Edd China is an Associate Producer.  In the hierarchy of production companies, it's Brewer who works for China!

4.  I only speak for myself, but the buying and selling are irrelevant to me.  The real skills are demonstrated by Edd China - the diagnostics, the mechanical demonstrations, the automotive insights, the ultimate restoration - all supplied by Edd China. (Although in reality he is also aided by Paul Brackley, technical advisor for the series, and occasionally one or two other mechanics off camera).  Brewer became increasing conscious of how relatively insignificant his contribution was, and this can be seen in the later US produced shows when he would be shown, for example, changing the spark plugs or 'supervising' the machining of a cylinder head!

5.  Another reason for Brewer's 'expanded' role was because the American production company, Velocity, which had bought the show, realised that the most expensive part was the workshop section and they decided to save money by reducing it.  This is what prompted Edd China to leave.

 

I suspect you haven’t seen the show for a very long time. Edd left the show many years ago, been to the US with Ant and now back in the UK with Elvis.  
 

IMO, the first two mechanics did jobs you could DIY, and good interesting consumer telly… the new one is going beyond what a DIY could do, but still interesting.

In the real world, my IS200d was sold to me from a main  dealer, with some very sketchy repairs … I would have more trust buying off Mike Brewer that the Lexus dealer I bought my IS from!

[LenT]

1 hour ago, jumbojake said:

I suspect you haven’t seen the show for a very long time. Edd left the show many years ago, been to the US with Ant and now back in the UK with Elvis.  
 

IMO, the first two mechanics did jobs you could DIY, and good interesting consumer telly… the new one is going beyond what a DIY could do, but still interesting.

In the real world, my IS200d was sold to me from a main  dealer, with some very sketchy repairs … I would have more trust buying off Mike Brewer that the Lexus dealer I bought my IS from!

Edd China left the show in 2017 after, I believe, one series in the States.  Ant Anstead replaced him for the next three series until leaving to do his own show.  I started to lose interest for the same reason that China gave: namely the workshop content was reduced in order to increase the cheaper, Brewer-oriented content in which he demonstrated that he was no mechanic.

Also I have to admit that I was less interested in the American vehicles that now tended to predominate.  I thought that Anstead seemed perfectly competent but the change in focus was less appealing.  I’ve no idea what the new mechanic will do for the show, but, for me, more Brewer is not compelling viewing.  Or even my reason for watching in the first place.

I can’t comment on your Lexus dealer.  Mine has been excellent.  Were I to buy another Lexus, it would be from them.

[lexus22]

It's always come across as a 'tounge in cheek' Show, Mr B gives the impression that he is a bit of a half witted Arthur daily type of dodgy car dealer, but he clearly knows a thing or two about cars, good ol' Edd is a top notch mechanic, but he can only spend he's given amount to get the vehicle ready for sale. How many times do you see him putting restored wheels back on to corroded calipers! Not a show to be taken that seriously. An aquantance of mine bought the "bullit" Mustang from him, yes the basic work was done to get it through an mot, but cost him a hell of a lot more to get the car properly road worthy.

[lexus22]

Infact, the thing that really pisses me off with Wheeler Dealers, is that Brewer never washes his hair, let alone has never bushed his hair in his life!💩