"Singhjr96" (singhjr96)
01/04/2014 at 15:10 • Filed to: None
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"Singhjr96" (singhjr96)
01/04/2014 at 15:10 • Filed to: None | 1
| 17 |
Once we test drove an Audi A4 that we found on craigslist. We heard a pinging noise from the engine, and after looking up what it might be, the most commonly thing that was reported a camshaft problem. Yeah we passed on that vehicle. Well what about you guys? Ever encounter a vehicle with a "slight noise coming from somewhere under the hood", or some slight "body damage", etc, etc. What's you craigslist horror story?
KB Garage
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 15:15 |
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Been waiting on this all day. You did not disappoint.
2004 BMW 325i "runs good, no problems, no accidents"
I show up and the valve cover is leaking. The oil pan is leaking. There is a huge puddle of oil under the car. The level of dust on it indicated it hadn't been moved in months. The front bumper was semi detached. Probably due to "no accidents." Oh wait. I left after taking it for a test drive and watching smoke roll from under the hood at a red light.
davedave1111
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 15:15 |
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I once went to view a Jag XJ I found on Gumtree - UK equivalent - and the driver's door handle fell off in my hand when I was about to take a test drive. But it was an XJ, so that's more like fair warning than a horror story.
Worst car I ever encountered that way was an Audi coupe that looked really nice but was completely dead - wobbly steering, way down on power, suspension shot, the works. The seller had claimed it was in good repair, which was sort of reasonable because it did start, run, and drive, just not very well.
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 15:19 |
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Went to look at a Cherokee once. Put my fist through the rocker panel while checking for rust. Someone fixed it by applying a layer of bondo over a sheet of paper.
Milky
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 15:26 |
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When I was trying to sell my SC400 that I crashed for $500 in Detroit I had multiple scrapper places come to check it out only to offer half & they were completely stupid.
They ALWAYS said something dumb like "ohh well I didn't know it had this much damage". Yea BS because I linked a video of me doing a walk around showing all the damage. As soon as that happened I just got rude because I had a ton of offers.
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Singhjr96
> davedave1111
01/04/2014 at 15:27 |
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"But it was an XJ, so that's more like fair warning than a horror story."
lmfao, that's an awesome way to put it.
Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 15:28 |
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Not CL, but the Norwegian equivalent.. Went to see and test a '87 Golf GTi 16v, it sounded.. well, not quite right, and it felt weak. So I stopped at a service station and popped the bonnet. What I saw was something like this.
The car was registered as a 16v, it had 16v badges, and in the ad it said it was a "all original GTi 16v, never restored, never crashed." Yeah right.. The seller claimed he didn't know the car had the wrong engine, and told me that he would not lower the price.. I told him he'd better change the ad rather quick, before I got him banned from that website. He got mad at me and told me in a not so nice way to act like a tree..
If some of you don't know what it SHOULD look like under the bonnet of a GTi 16v.. Here's a picture..
SpeedSix
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 15:43 |
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Awesome picture!
Pixel
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 16:06 |
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I have a pile of them.
This 1948 Chrysler New Yorker looked good and the guy said it ran & drove well. On the test drive the transmission slipped like crazy, the brakes went out, and the engine died on a blind corner halfway up a steep hill.
This 1959 Pontiac Star Chief was advertised as nearly rust free. The seller told me there was a minor spot behind the rear window, and another on the driver's floor. After I drove 2 hours to see it, I discovered *everything* was roted. From the trunk floor to the windshield pillars, from the radiator support to the rear decklid. There wasn't one part of the car that was solid.
Lastly was a 1950 Desoto that was advertised as running & driving well with new parts. When we showed up they hadn't actually gotten it running since buying it, and the "new" parts were installed three years earlier before the prior owner parked it under a tree. The point at which the two guys selling it started expounding on how they prior owner was " a flaming faggot " was when we left in disgust.
desertdog5051
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 16:27 |
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Nissan with claimed "lifter tick". It sounded more like a rod to me.
Bad Idea Hat
> Milky
01/04/2014 at 16:29 |
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Haha holy shit, the dent of shame!
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Milky
> Bad Idea Hat
01/04/2014 at 16:48 |
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Or the dent of fun!! …. nah you're right. But I did get 2 years of sideways fun out of it before I got what I had coming.
liquid_popcorn
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 16:58 |
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Only one horror story so far - others have been minor.
Test drove an '05 Jetta, I think 1.8T, and immediately noticed massive transmission slippage, brakes nonexistent, and very rough idle. Also, cleanest engine I've ever seen, somehow, in a car with the grimiest interior I've ever been in. I passed.
Also, test drove my current Volvo 240DL (83), didn't notice the vents were all sealed off. Discovered later that it was due to a significant exhaust leak, which was a bitch to fix because I snapped a stud on cylinder 4 while pulling off the manifold.
Other than that, I've dealt with a lot of weirdos, but have had mostly good experiences notwithstanding. Sold two cars, some furniture, and random shit with no issues. I haven't even been stabbed once.
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davedave1111
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 22:14 |
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It's so true, though. All the best mechanic-porn I've read involves other people's pain, and the XJ12s are as good as it gets. Even the regular ones are bad, but the V12s are ridiculous.
There's a whole article on 'accessing the vee' on Jag V12s:
http://www.brianschreurs.org/neptune.spaceb…
Lancias are pretty bad - http://www.eddinsmoto.com/id93.htm - but at least they stay fixed once you do all the work.
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Singhjr96
> davedave1111
01/04/2014 at 22:22 |
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GOD DAMN. If accessing the V on this Jag is so damn hard, no wonder why it's nearly impossible on women. The person who designed must've gotten cut off in traffic by a mechanic or something, cause that is quite a challenge. It is a v12 though.
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davedave1111
> Singhjr96
01/04/2014 at 22:39 |
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It's a lot less work, and a lot less expensive, when it comes to women. You can;t fix a Jag with foliage.
The Jag V12s are the pinnacle of BL awful wonderfulness, in a way. They're pretty much the ultimate in cars designed with no thought whatsoever for servicing requirements - the final heyday of no-longer-cheap labour.
Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
> Singhjr96
01/05/2014 at 13:28 |
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About 5.5 years ago I put my 99 Grand Prix 3.8 SE on the CL with an asking price of $2000 with the full realization that I only wanted to get $1500 out of it. It was a New York car but had been rustproofed all to hell so there was a thick layer of tar-like substance on the undercarriage. The rockers had some bubbling but all in all it was a solid car and parked at my mom's house because I only had one parking space at my apartment.
After fielding calls from all manner of assholes who wanted to offer me $500 sight unseen to take it off my hands, I actually had what I thought was a serious buyer.
We arranged to meet at my mom's place (her next soor neighbor is a cop) on a Saturday morning at around 10. I called her neighbor to see if he would be home. He was and had his cruiser parked at home that day.
Dude showed up and he looked to be about 20 or so and like he really enjoyed dance clubs. He had his dad with him. He asked if he could test drive it so I took him out and let him and his dad drive it with me.
During the test drive, he slammed the after from reverse into drive and peeled out of my mom's neighborhood, slammed on the brakes every time he stopped, dropped it into first at around 50 mph and generally abused the car.
I told him he needed to go back. We got back and I stepped out of the car. He still had the keys in his hand at this point. Then he reached into his wallet and produced $700. He put it in my hand and tried to put the keys in his pocket.
I told him, "This isn't going to cut it. Give me the keys and take back the money."
He started to cuss and fuss and so on so I looked at his dad and said, "you need to put a leash on that puppy."
Then I grabbed the keys. He reared back like he was about to throw a punch so I got right in his face. Told him to take his money and get the fuck out. His dad grabbed him by the shirt and led him back to the truck.
I sold the car a week later to a friend for $1200 after his civic died.
J. Drew Silvers
> Singhjr96
01/13/2014 at 23:27 |
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I'm pretty sure I win the internet with my answer:
http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/how-an-explore…
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