Yeah I knew that was coming right after I posted it, too tired to argue…
He'syour mate do the right thing. Just accept the hit and move on. For mne ny freinds are worth any sum of money. If you keep your account positive with your mate it will come back in spades.

toys19- when do you stop? what if a wheel bearing went next week or the gearbox failed a week on Monday?

It's a Landrover, what did he expect?

If you keep your account positive with your mate it will come back in spades

Hopefully – although if he's basically asking you to fix his car, how good of a mate is he? I'd never dream of asking my mate for this.

If you'd sold it to a stranger they would have no recourse. You didn't know and more than he did what was going to go wrong, so why should you stump up? As others have said – at what point in the future do you stop accepting responsibility? If he's a friend worth keeping, he wouldn't be trying to get you to pay for it.

I'd never dream of asking my mate for this.

Agree. I wouldnt. I'd just think 'oh ffs, trust my luck'.

My first thought would be 'would there have been a pre-warning sign'? but if the first sign was engine light then really its pretty shitty to expect your mate to pay out when its not his fault. Unless the OP said 'its been bombproof and dont worry it'll give you zero problems'. If he just said 'well since I've owned it its been fine'- then thats fair enough.

You're scaring me now hora!

He's a mate, not a really close friend; I'd cough up 50% for me, not for him if you see what I mean. Concern, guilt, nice guy, stupid… call it what you will. Any more than 50% and I would feel that he is jeopardising our friendship, not me. It's been interesting to get other people's take on the situation because when you're actually involved it's not so easy to step back and look at it unemotionally.

Sold one of our TD5's a while ago with 'water issues' stated, but not investigated, recommended he collected it on a trailer so could be an easy fix. Instead he turned up with a gallon of water, got half way across Wales before blowing it big time.

Anyway, to the point – it's probably coming back to us on a trailer, if we can't be arsed to re-engine it (4 cracks in block now!), it will be broken for bits most likely, 110 hi-cap. Still worth as much as it was sold for.

Balls! – just remembered, no ABS on our trucks as they are basic work horses, sorry for any glimmer of hope

I recently bought a car and within a week the fuel/air sensor went with the engine light on. The car didnt give any indication before. Cost me £400- I chalked that upto 'its one of those things that CAN go wrong 🙂

psling- ask him to speak to the garage for them to say if you'd have an inclining that this part was on its way out through the way the car drove etc. If they say no to him- then speak to him again (this time on your terms). 🙂

It is true that if it was the other way round I too wouldn't dream of asking. It would be my hard luck.

toys19- when do you stop? what if a wheel bearing went next week or the gearbox failed a week on Monday?

Yeah well if you cannot decide thats a measure of how good a mate he is. Look you make your own choices I amnot here too argue. I, as in me, my personal choice, the self, would bail my mate out. Any of the rest of you can do what ya **** like. But the OP did ask. My opinion here isn't up for discussion or defence as it would only be my money I'm spending. I don't believe in using the law to defend myself agaisnt karma, I would feel responsible if it was so close tot he date of sale.

toys19 agree and understand where you are coming from 🙂

I really don't believe in Karma on such things unless you deliberately set out to hoodwink or cover up a problem. If that was the case you wouldnt sell to a mate would you?

I know what you're saying toys19 and may be more that way inclined if it wasn't such a big lump of money 😳 To be honest, putting my hand in my pocket for 50% is a stretch, any more would require the wife's permission… 😉

2/3's for something you couldn't have forseen on a car thats no longer your responsibility.

Hes asking for a mates-Warranty-service.

Pop on a few Landy forums with this product failure- someone somewhere has the part in a salvage/reclamation sale on a shelf…

If Landrovers are such big business for used parts etc surely theres a recon-part of thus out there or a recently stolen Td5 with this part about to broken off 😉

Its where I normally find ALL my Subaru parts 😀

IF you find one point him in that direction and offer 50% off the cost of that part (not the labour).

Try a fitter from SHB, amazing what they have kicking around their vans and are up for a bit of home work, well ours is any way, may be doing our hi-cap. They do a lot of land rovers and know them well.

The clincher for me was him asking you for more than the meet-you-halfway offer you made. That would be my well-you-can-sing-for-it moment. I assume he got a good deal on the motor in the first place?

I assume he got a good deal on the motor in the first place?

You assume rightly; I let it go for about 1k under market value 🙄 And he knows that.

It's easy to tell someone else on a forum to be a ruthless cock. But, really, you're being way too nice here…especially if you've done him a good deal on the price.

I want to be your friend now…just in case anything goes wrong with anything I own 🙂

This is very simple. Your "mate" is taking the piss. You need to tell him to go forth and multiply.

50% of the part cost max and frankly I'd not do that if it were me. Sold as seen fella, sold as seen.

Cursory search shows http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SRD000110-Defender-ABS-control-module-/180535831800?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM#ht_583wt_706

He needs to MTFU and take responsibility. He bought it under market value and if something goes wrong post sale HE owns it not you. If you had sold it with a warning light on he still would have bought it knowing that. But you didn't and sh1t happens – his risk. I'd be staunch on this one as the week after he might get a puncture, is that your problem as well. As soon as he transfers ownership its his issue. You didn't know, you don't pick up the tab or a %age of it. IMO.

not read all the posts but never, ever engage in financial transactions with a friend, unless you don't like them.

What the hell is ABS and traction control doing on a Defender anyway?!
That's like putting a roof rack on a spitfire.

Anyway,
He bought it (it's his now, unless you're still driving it half the time?)
He broke it (you have no idea what crap he's been putting it through since he bought it)
He got it cheap (so if he fixes it with a recon/used part it'll still be cheaper than if he'd bought one on the open market!)
If you want to be a good mate buy him a Haynes manual and let him learn something useful from the experience. Sticking your head under a broken Landy with your mates is the true Land Rover owning experience! 🙂

Oh whell some you win some you lose.

caveat empor – buyer beware
Never sell a car to a friend ….stuff like this happens an dyou feel guilty but how could you have known what would happen. Shrug apologetically and tell him to fix the car as it is not your problem.
Very harsh but it is just the bad luck of owning a landy they need to get used to this….and never sell a car to a friend.

Yeah well if you cannot decide thats a measure of how good a mate he is.

Just don't get it. You owe him nothing, it's a second hand car – things go wrong with them, it could happen to anyone. If he even THOUGHT I should pay part of it I'd consider him no longer a friend. Where do you stop, 2 weeks, 2 months? 2 years? Help him out on fuel as he didn't really think to check the economy of it?

I'd not feel guilty at all, I'd feel sorry for him, but not guilty. And because I felt sorry I'd try to help him fit one on the cheap, I'd even help him find one, but it's his car now now mine.

If you bought it off him would you expect him to pay? Money and friends should never cross, some people get some strange loyalty/value placing tendencies when it comes to friends.

Each to his own, but it's still stupid IMO – its not "using the law", its a simple fact that it's now his car.

Series 2 disco td5? Sheeet.
I once had one but 3.9 with a light on the dash but the abs/ tc still worked fine.
Got Martin at Landranger to put it on the testbook, it would put the light out till you restarted the engine and drove the 10 yard in self test. light back on.
There are two relays under the fuse box next to the ECU, yellow and black i seem to recall.
check these first. in my case these were fine. obviously the ecu was fine. The wheel sensors where also fine, so **** knows. The relays are there to set the dash light, on when you turn the ignition, i think it flashed while in self test mode, then once the car sensed the all the wheel sensors where picking up induction after a few yards it turns off the light. my fault must have been in the wiring between the relays.
In the end i simply broke the dash bulb.

Christ help you when leaked oil seeps in to the diesel injection loom, as it inevitably will. He'll be at your door with the begging bowl again when the engine shuts down for no apparent reason.

Sorry, only just woke up when i read this, are we talking abs ecu, or the modulator / accumulator sphere and pump assembly under the bonnet?
Not of these parts are "coded" to the BCEM so its just a simple battery off terminal plug undone and swap, with a brake fluid bleed if its the pump, mod, or accumulator.

Well under a couple hundred s/h from a breaker…

Hora.. the wheel bearings on these are £300 a pop plus fitting… they come as a hub unit only, after countless back street and home mechanics not having a 20 tonne press to hand, snapped the ABS ring stators in an attempt to get the inner race out of the hub… So hope for the OP sake this never happens!

Out of interest, if it hadn't broken and for some reason he sold it, would he offer you more than 50% of the profit without being asked?

Personally, although I think I would probably do the same as you, I really do think the mate is being unreasonable. If he wanted warranty he should have paid the higher prices that include warranty.

I paid about 1.5K under the going rate for my VW van, 6 months in and it needed £2K spending on it. Buy 2nd hand and the risk is there.

When I've bought from acquaintances/friends before, they've both explicitly said "look – you're buying a used car so it could blow up tomorrow – ok?". Seems like the right approach on reflection/in hindsight. (Not a criticism of the OP).

– You sold it to him 1k under book and he knows this?
– Im assuming his only gotten one quote for full whack and hes not had the conscience to at least make a few phone calls or go onto a specialist forum or two?

As I've said and others multiple breakers/specialist salvage etc can sell you the part AND alot I've encountered offer 30days money back if it fails (well they do on Subaru ones I use).

TBH- then you've helped him out after its nothing to do with you. You've found him the resource/part and at a much lower price.

If he insists on a NEW part on a old car in this situation hes not really a friend at all. As you say yourself psling I'd feel uncomfortable asking (I'd hope my friend would offer to help in someway) but I most certainly wouldnt ask.

buy it back and ask him to pay 2 thirds of the cost for the repair for you. You buy a 2nd hand car it breaks down week after you bought it you repair it shit bust.

parkesie, hes already spent the money on a new car otherwise that'd have been a good idea (especially considering he'd sold the car undervalue so could claw it back).

i agree with the consensus here, especially following the revelation that he got it at well below book value. i know he's a mate and putting myself in the same position it would be hard, but i'd politely remind him that the grand he saved on book value is in his pocket, not yours. if you must go 50:50 but if he persists for 2/3 cut your losses on this guy and tell him to sort it himself.

a dilemma indeed.

davidrussell succinctly put.

also, if you do end up stumping up for it make sure he knows in no uncertain terms that he better take a good look at the car and find whatever else might be wrong with it now so he can save for the repair bills later, because you are finished with helping him on it. in fact reflecting on it a bit more i'd find it hard to speak to the guy again for a long time after something like this…

Hang on…

ABS and TC on a defender? What's the world coming to? I thought you were lucky if the handbrake worked and the diffs stayed locked over bumps…

If he's a close enough mate that you trust each other, then it's a case of "well, it was fine when I had it, sorry mate, bad timing for you but pretty good timing for me."

If he's not a close enough mate that he'd take your word for it that it was fine, then can you trust his word that there's anything wrong with it now?

Either way, you need to tell him to roll it tightly and grease it lightly. Offering to pay 50% is over-generous by about 50%, and for the cheeky cunnott to then come back and ask for more money, what he really needs there is a good solid punch in the face.

In fact, the more I think about this, the more I think that your "mate's" actions are driven by a thought of "**** me, he's soft in the head, I wonder how much more I can bleed out of him?"

so you sold it a grand less than you could off and he want more than50% of the cost of repairing his own car when he could repair it for less tna the 50% cost by getting second hand.in that case
1. Ask for thefull list price give them the 50% pocket the difference
2. Go on holiday with the money you save to console yourself for loosing a "friend"

Seems lie a one way street to me
50% was very fair and I would tell them to do one personally if all the above is correct.
Mate had a similiar situation with a landy to which his response to his mate was
Of course it isold and sh1t Why do you think i sold it and of course it is a M reg Landy get used to this experience.