i have heard that the dealer has a responsibilty for 6 months after they sell it... but does that pass on to me as the new owner of the car??

No,the chap you bought the car from had a contract with the dealer, you do not. Buying private leaves you with little comeback on the seller.

Sorry but unless you take out a case in court against the seller and can prove he knowingly sold you a faulty car you are going to have to repair the car yourself. Even if you won how would you propose to force him to give you money when he is no longer in the country.

A non-Suzuki garage may be able to do a less costly repair but as you already probably know things are cheap for a reason.

You have my sympathies, but the fact is that buying privately is cheaper than buying from a dealer for a reason - which is that you have virtually no come-back. Effectively you are buying "as seen".

My suggestion would be to do as Tony says - shop around and preferably get a personal recommendation for a good independent place that will do the job for a decent price. Now you have the car it would be worth your while to sort it out.

If you would like to give us a general idea of your location maybe someone here could point you in the right direction.

Your only other option is to sell it and hope to get what you paid, but personally I couldn't do that if I knew the car had faults and had to lie about them to get the car sold.