Coolant levels

Now, however, I get intermitant coolant level warnings (usually when the car is cold), I'm guessing this is because the cowboy Vauxhall dealers where I live didn't put quite enough in. I've checked the level and it looks ok. Is it ok to just chuck a little water in? Should I mix the water with antifreeze? Or do I have to get some special coolant from somewhere?

(My car is a Vauxhall Vectra 2.5 SRI, not that that really matters)!

P.S. Anyone know how much a 99V 4dr Saloon Vauxhall Vectra 2.5 SRI (Good condition, 50K on the clock and FSH) should fetch part exchange (against a 9K car). I got an offer from a garage at the weekend that (had I been drinking coffee I would have spat it all over him) caused me just to walk out in disgust. It might well be that he was correct and I was wrong so it would be nice if someone could enlighten me!!!!!

A small top up of plain water would be fine and may well cure a cold condition low level light. A larger topup (say a litre or so) should be a mix of antifreeze and water or ready mix coolant.

As for the value, any seven year old car especially a large engined one such as yours is unlikely to get any decent offer from a dealer, they will just put it straight in an auction. If they offer a lot it is because they really want to move the one they are selling (or it is very overpriced. At a guess an offer of a thousand would be a likely maximum offer for yours on a part ex. from a dealer.

mrcheerful

As MrCheerful states with the coolant, normal water ok

The car is worth £2000 p/ex & £2300 private

autotrader has that model and year from a thousand upwards, so that is a realistic figure for a dealer to offer, the 'guide' price is a load of cobblers, real world is what counts.

A 2.5 v6 vectra is not a very nice car to own, so many things fail in an expensive manner, the second hand saleability must be very low. I wouldn't keep one as a gift. (sorry for the reality check)

Out of interest can the OP tell us the offer the dealer made, please?

mrcheerful

The message from "mrcheerful ." contains these words:

Have a look at "completed" items on eBay. An amazing number of 2.5 Vectras fail to reach their reserve.

=A31400.

Like I said I can live with it if all I am going to get part ex is =A31400 I was just expecting something up near the =A32000 mark. I asked if the part ex price or the price on the new car was negotiable and he said no so I just walked out. They were clowns anyway, it was like a car supermarket run by chavs!

The message from "Mario Lanza" contains these words:

Quite right too. Trouble is there's plenty who won't so they're not likely to suffer.

Mario Lanza ( snipped-for-privacy@accessplus.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

HFM? Sounds good to me for something so utterly undesirable - especially with an iffy HG. You *did* tell 'em about that, right?

Ah. That'll be why they gave you such a good trade-in price - because they were about to ream you rotten on selling some overpriced tat to you...

Surely the desirability of a car is a thing of personal choice (I happen to like my car, hence the reason I've kept an utterly undesirable car for 7 years)!

What is an iffy HG? (When selling I don't tell garages about anything unless they ask (they are the experts after all)).

It's precisley the reason they are selling "some overpriced tat" that means they should be prepared to drop their hideous profit margins on a part-ex. If you're going to sit on 1000 overpriced tat cars and not even negotiate with customers then you're going to miss out on a lot of potential sales. I'm no car industry expert but I'm also no mug, we all know what a rip off cars are, these guy's are just being greedy though!

Mario Lanza ( snipped-for-privacy@accessplus.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Well, quite. But the fact YOU might happen to like it doesn't mean anybody else will - which is, let's be perfectly frank, how the value is set...

Head Gasket. Y'know, the reason that you're posting about it in a thread entitled "Coolant levels"...

The only thing that matters is "cost to change". If they make you want to buy from them by making you think they'll give you more than your car's worth, they'll charge you a similar premium on what they're trying to sell.

Fair point that I accept but it also means that your earlier assumption that it is "utterly undesirable" is incorrect because just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people won't!

My Coolant was right on the min because the lovely people at my local Vauxhall dealership couldn't be bothered to put the correct amount in when replacing it. It's been saying low when cold every now and then for 2 months, I have kept an eye on it and it hasn't dropped, I got the warning the other day and thought I would ask the question on google. Half a cup of water and it's fine now. I am not losing coolant and there is nothing wrong with my head gaskett!

Very true but imagine how good I'd of felt if they had let me walk out with their "overpriced tat" after getting over =A32000 part ex? They would have made a tidy profit out of me and I'd have thought I was a genius at negotiating (everyone is happy). Their unwillingness to work on that "basic human psychology" has cost them the sale of a =A39000 car. Who's the winner and who's the loser? No one that's who (I suppose you could cast me as the loser as I wasted an hour of my Sunday when I could have been at home doing nothing)!

Fair point that I accept but it also means that your earlier assumption that it is "utterly undesirable" is incorrect because just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people won't!

My Coolant was right on the min because the lovely people at my local Vauxhall dealership couldn't be bothered to put the correct amount in when replacing it. It's been saying low when cold every now and then for 2 months, I have kept an eye on it and it hasn't dropped, I got the warning the other day and thought I would ask the question on google. Half a cup of water and it's fine now. I am not losing coolant and there is nothing wrong with my head gaskett!

Very true but imagine how good I'd of felt if they had let me walk out with their "overpriced tat" after getting over £2000 part ex? They would have made a tidy profit out of me and I'd have thought I was a genius at negotiating (everyone is happy). Their unwillingness to work on that "basic human psychology" has cost them the sale of a £9000 car. Who's the winner and who's the loser? No one that's who (I suppose you could cast me as the loser as I wasted an hour of my Sunday when I could have been at home doing nothing)!

you went to carland didn't you?

mrcheerful

Wish I had they might have been more professional :-)