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Hi,
first of all, I am not familiar with american cars. I just bought a C4 of 1990 from Germany and had it transported to Belgium. This morning the guy who did the transport called with a problem.
He wanted to change the C4 from one truck to another. The car was frozen, so he started it and let it run for a while. Suddenly there was a very loud bang, smoke coming out from the engine compartment, the engine stopped and he couldn't get it started anymore.
Do you guys have any ideas what could be the problem?
Could be a number of things, certainly don't want to jump to conclusions, but if the coolant was low or had a leak and they left it running unattended, it could have overheated and blown a head gasket or worse, if it just popped a hose., and they immediately caught it before overheated without coolant, it should restart. I would have a professional look at it before you take delivery (chain of custody) if the transport company let the car run without proper attention he COULD be liable- but I don't know the laws there. Again, this is is just speculation. It also could have had non functioning thermostat or non functioning fans, either way, the car should not have been left unattended while running.
sure, I will have a professional looked at it, but since this will still take a couple of days I wanted to get an idea of what I might be looking at because it's worrying me. I already asked the guy about of the transportation if they have an insurrance but he replied that it doens't apply for mechanical defects on the car.... so there will be no way I can proof that they did something wrong. The thing is that I already paid for the car, ad you'd be shocked how much a corvette of 1990 costs here compared to the US and making te german seller reliable in any way will take a long way in court. So it looks like I'm looking at paying for the damage myself unfortunately.
Again, get it looked at , but it would not be a mechanical defect claim, it would be a liability claim if he left the car unattended running. I don;t know what you meant by the car was frozen? A person in the business of transporting automobiles should know about these things. Did he load the car, if so, did he note in writing at the time there was any running issues?
Again, get it looked at , but it would not be a mechanical defect claim, it would be a liability claim if he left the car unattended running. I don;t know what you meant by the car was frozen? A person in the business of transporting automobiles should know about these things. Did he load the car, if so, did he note in writing at the time there was any running issues?
it was cold and windows were frozen so that's why he let it run for a while
So, I stand by my prior response. Look at it this way, a fuel pump is designed to fill your car without problem, if you leave it running it is supposed to cut off when the tank is full, if you leave the car unattended while fueling the car and the fuel cutoff doesn't work, it is YOUR fault because you are not supposed to leave the pump running unattended even though it is design to work on its on. Again assuming, it is not something else, the delivery driver should not have left the car running unattended , as he or she could have seen the temperature gauge showing overheat or other possible warning signs. Besides, if it was frozen, he had to open the door to get inside to crank it up right? Then he could have scraped the window, moved it, cut it off.
If coolant is low on antifreeze in cold weather, it could freeze in the hoses to the radiator, or in the radiator. In that case the engine will not have any cooling and could overheat before the circulation of water to the radiator is restored again.
Next step is determine the damage and the cause, then liability or not can be determined.
If the car ran well when "loaded" but not now, sure sounds like it's their responsibility.
update: The transport company, who dealed and negotiated with the seller also, came up with 3 options for the seller. Or I have the car repaired at his expense at my place, or he repairs the car on his expense in Germany, or he takes the car back and gives a full refund including transportcosts. He will answer on monday which options he takes. SO, apparently I see a big difference in approach between the US and Europe. In the US the transport company would be reliable, in Europe the warranty of the seller is what counts. Fortunately, no matter where in the EU you buy a car, the seller needs to give you 1y of warranty.
We'll see what option he chooses, it shouldn't cost me anything in either options. Thanks for all your input guys! I hope I still end up with the car because I really like it.
cause of backfire ?
