yes. i know not to buy a car off of eBay. yes.. i know the risks of buying a car sight-unseen but rolled the dice anyway.
keep in mind this is not a bitching thread LOL
anyway.. i guess i'm posting in the right section? so. here's the deal. here is the ad i bought the car from:
Buick : Grand National - eBay (item 290541965296 end time Mar-05-11 23:30:02 PST)
notice it says NO rust and mentions it just needs paint and a heater core.
well. i get the car and this is what i find after about 30mins of looking the car over in the garage, at night:
leaking trans fluid to the rate of a nice-sized puddle after driving. (despite being "rebuilt")
leaking oil (expected, but would have been nice to know about)
broken rear license plate surround (not sure what the piece of plastic is called)
rust on rear bumper
front bumper rusted
front bumper strip stuck on using bubble gum?
paint missing and rust on passenger-side bumper under gum.
surface rust driver's side rear quarter
rust eaten holes along with rust bubbles on both doors. (though i asked a million times about it having rust)
front bumper crooked (looked crooked in one of the pictures. he assured me it was "good to go bro. it's perfect).
driver side headlight broken/loose
driver side headlight surround broken/loose
grill broken/loose
silicone used on t-top/windshield seals
t-tops leak (expected. that's why i hate t-tops)
engine hesitates on freeway. (he said it runs smooth and perfect)
car wants to stall while pulling into driveway
fuel pressure regulator (possibly has aftermarket parts which may be responsible for poorly running engine)
aftermarket injectors? (possibly has aftermarket parts which may be responsible for poorly running engine)
passenger headlight filler broken
i haven't been UNDER the car yet. so, yeah.. it kinda sucks that they guy swore up and down that the car only needed paint. it also sucks that, apparently, cars over 20yrs old aren't covered under eBay's buyer protection. also, i sent him two payments, so i was unable to send them as payment for "goods", so i'm not covered under PayPal's buyer protection either.
live and learn LOL
so.. no i'm down to selling the car and losing a ton, or being into the car for far more than it's worth, which i've done many times and didn't mind as long i love the car.
thing is.. i had a specific budget. with the car at the price i got it for, in the condition i was promised, my left over cash would have been enough. as of now, i can get started, but the car will sit in the garage until......?
i'm disappointed. mad at myself for not taking my own advice. it's kinda funny, but i'm still not happy about being out all the money i paid. not really so much that i got burned by buying form ebay.. just that i was VERY specific about my questions and he outright lied to me. he lied to me about the mileage, the rust, and that the car was in running condition. well. okay.. the car runs and drives, just not very well. it doesn't smoke, but i do smell burning oil from a leak somewhere. the turbo does sounds great. it's just that the car tends to cut power from time to time while cruising at constant RPM. while accellerating with a decent amount of gas, it seems just fine. i actually drove it pretty hard the night i got it and wasn't too disappointed to be honest. only after getting on the freeway did i have issues. now, it kinda seems to be getting worse. not sure if it's because of the strange switches i flipped around LOL. how knows, man. i'm waiting to have a day off of work so i can dig into it a bit.
right now my biggest challenge is figuring out what on the car is OEM and what is aftermarket. IF i keep the car, i'll probably just take everything out/off and start over. that's always easier than figuring out someone else's mess, IMO.
i believe the engine may have mods and be running the wrong ECU, which would explain the car running poorly. i have a box of them and the seller is not sure which was installed in the car. i do see a fuel pressure regulator, a green stripe on the injectors, some vacuum lines that aren't stock, and some strange box mounted in the dash that i've never seen before. here are the pictures:
anyone know what this is? it lights up when i flick on the first dipswitch. changing positions of the three switches seems to have no effect on car's performance:
aftermarket FPR? i believe i recently bought one just like it:
are these injectors stock?:
this appears to have a harness in between the male and female plugs??
stock turbo, i'm assuming?
so that's it. man. what a disappointment, considering the impression i was placed under by the seller.
so.. what would you guys do? sell it and cut your losses or bring her back from the dead? votes?
thanks to all for reading, and thanks in advance for opinions and info!
jason
keep in mind this is not a bitching thread LOL
anyway.. i guess i'm posting in the right section? so. here's the deal. here is the ad i bought the car from:
Buick : Grand National - eBay (item 290541965296 end time Mar-05-11 23:30:02 PST)
notice it says NO rust and mentions it just needs paint and a heater core.
well. i get the car and this is what i find after about 30mins of looking the car over in the garage, at night:
leaking trans fluid to the rate of a nice-sized puddle after driving. (despite being "rebuilt")
leaking oil (expected, but would have been nice to know about)
broken rear license plate surround (not sure what the piece of plastic is called)
rust on rear bumper
front bumper rusted
front bumper strip stuck on using bubble gum?
paint missing and rust on passenger-side bumper under gum.
surface rust driver's side rear quarter
rust eaten holes along with rust bubbles on both doors. (though i asked a million times about it having rust)
front bumper crooked (looked crooked in one of the pictures. he assured me it was "good to go bro. it's perfect).
driver side headlight broken/loose
driver side headlight surround broken/loose
grill broken/loose
silicone used on t-top/windshield seals
t-tops leak (expected. that's why i hate t-tops)
engine hesitates on freeway. (he said it runs smooth and perfect)
car wants to stall while pulling into driveway
fuel pressure regulator (possibly has aftermarket parts which may be responsible for poorly running engine)
aftermarket injectors? (possibly has aftermarket parts which may be responsible for poorly running engine)
passenger headlight filler broken
i haven't been UNDER the car yet. so, yeah.. it kinda sucks that they guy swore up and down that the car only needed paint. it also sucks that, apparently, cars over 20yrs old aren't covered under eBay's buyer protection. also, i sent him two payments, so i was unable to send them as payment for "goods", so i'm not covered under PayPal's buyer protection either.
live and learn LOL
so.. no i'm down to selling the car and losing a ton, or being into the car for far more than it's worth, which i've done many times and didn't mind as long i love the car.
thing is.. i had a specific budget. with the car at the price i got it for, in the condition i was promised, my left over cash would have been enough. as of now, i can get started, but the car will sit in the garage until......?
i'm disappointed. mad at myself for not taking my own advice. it's kinda funny, but i'm still not happy about being out all the money i paid. not really so much that i got burned by buying form ebay.. just that i was VERY specific about my questions and he outright lied to me. he lied to me about the mileage, the rust, and that the car was in running condition. well. okay.. the car runs and drives, just not very well. it doesn't smoke, but i do smell burning oil from a leak somewhere. the turbo does sounds great. it's just that the car tends to cut power from time to time while cruising at constant RPM. while accellerating with a decent amount of gas, it seems just fine. i actually drove it pretty hard the night i got it and wasn't too disappointed to be honest. only after getting on the freeway did i have issues. now, it kinda seems to be getting worse. not sure if it's because of the strange switches i flipped around LOL. how knows, man. i'm waiting to have a day off of work so i can dig into it a bit.
right now my biggest challenge is figuring out what on the car is OEM and what is aftermarket. IF i keep the car, i'll probably just take everything out/off and start over. that's always easier than figuring out someone else's mess, IMO.
i believe the engine may have mods and be running the wrong ECU, which would explain the car running poorly. i have a box of them and the seller is not sure which was installed in the car. i do see a fuel pressure regulator, a green stripe on the injectors, some vacuum lines that aren't stock, and some strange box mounted in the dash that i've never seen before. here are the pictures:
anyone know what this is? it lights up when i flick on the first dipswitch. changing positions of the three switches seems to have no effect on car's performance:
aftermarket FPR? i believe i recently bought one just like it:
are these injectors stock?:
this appears to have a harness in between the male and female plugs??
stock turbo, i'm assuming?
so that's it. man. what a disappointment, considering the impression i was placed under by the seller.
so.. what would you guys do? sell it and cut your losses or bring her back from the dead? votes?
thanks to all for reading, and thanks in advance for opinions and info!
jason
