Im normally on the side of the seller here. But if the Previous owner told them the car was running lean and he bought it anyway then its not really the previous owners fault that the car blew up. If a car is running lean you don't drive it. You fix the issue and then drive it or it blows up or parts get damaged.

 

I would also normally agree with you on that too, but running lean would not grenade your motor unless you were over 5000 RPM's. Since we were not part of the transaction or in the vehicle when it happened its hard to say who is at fault. Seller wanted to sell it and might have been deceitful in saying "you can drive it, but I would not recommend it." Or "sure you can drive it, just get it fixed soon." or "do not drive it before getting it fixed." I am sure the seller did not say the last statement, because 95% of people would walk away unless it was a steal of a price. Buyer beware is my favorite statement. I have only been burned once by a dealership but luckily it was just spark plug replacement. My current vette was running super lean when I bought it and after I did the headers/CAI/larger AFM/ and full exhaust it was worse; Before I knew it was that lean I was spinning her to 6K quite a few times trying to tune it properly. I was getting 6 degrees of knock as well at 4500 RPM's My AFR was 13.9-14 at 4000RPM's. It was real lean and I did not grenade the motor or cause any damage to it. Doug at ECS asked me a ton of questions while we played with my tune and asked if I had any knocking or ticking after any of the WOT runs I did; of course not.
I always wondered why my gas mileage was so great lol.
In summary if the car was being driven normally and the RPM's did not exceed 3500 then seller is at fault. If there is no hole in the piston which you would get from a lean spot then seller is at fault.

If buyer was burning rubber and having a grand old time buyer is at fault. If buyer was merging onto the highway and banging gears buyer at fault.

 

The saddest part of the story is having a loan on a 13 year old car.

 

That's actually the worst part. My wife's car currently if it gets totaled I will owe more then what the insurance will pay out.

 

I don't agree with this, if the buyer was informed that it wasn't running properly (which it sounds like this is the case) then it is his fault no matter what... if he knew about it and continued to drive it under his own discretion without getting it fixed first the seller can't be responsible for his negligence... now if it's the other way around and the seller never disclosed to the buyer that it was screwed up then yeah I totally blame the seller

do you have gap insurance?

 

I'm just not buying that he drove the car and cracked the block and threw a piston and rod from being lean UNLESS the piston has a hole in it. Preignition or even Knock would also throw a rod but the PCM would have pulled enough timing where that wouldn't happen. If you look at any of the drag cars that blow their motors you can clearly see how the lean condition caused a hole in the piston and scuffed/destroyed the cylinder wall. If the OP takes a picture and shows us or he sees a hole in the piston or right down the cylinder sleeve is the melt then he is definitely to blame. If there is not a single mark on the piston of melting or even on the cylinder wall then the seller knew there was a problem.

I have Gap insurance but I have not transcended the value yet hence why I would still pay out of my pocket; My next loan I will take what I pay in gap and apply it to the loan so my need for gap will no longer be.

 

More people that you would imagine are in this situation. I know a girl that bought a brand new Altima, wrecked it after owning it for less than a month and totaled it........... she is still paying off the difference.

At this point I am sure that insurance companies, dealerships , KBB, and NADA are in cahoots. They are all out to get one over on the consumers..........

 

Not sure how that happened. The girl must have seriously overpaid. I had a couple month old accord totaled (not my fault). Insurance paid out about 1~2k more than I paid for it. They just found a similar vehicle at a local Honda dealer that advertised their discounts online and paid out based on that.

 

Sorry she's barfing out on you.

I did have to mention, however, that the mental image I got from the post title of "Entering Hell With My Corvette" was pretty badass with a Snake Plisken type character driving a black vette with a flame job down a burning lava highway with some dark haired devil chick in the passenger seat waving an AR in the air.

 

Post pics so we can all go to hell with you...

 

I need some of what you have....................

 

Your friend is dumb for many reasons. She didn't put enough money down and she didn't buy gap coverage which is cheap at the dealership or with her insurance company.

 

Well look at mister never made a mistake.

How many more stones would you like to throw? She is 20 years old and bought a new car that she could afford. Her mom died several years ago, so no advice, her dad is a walking bad example or spending and credit.

How else would you like to judge this person? She is fat too, perhaps you would like to make yourself feel better by knowing that.

 

While I agree with your comment on the GAP insurance, you could have said it a little more tactfully.

 

She single? I'm another great example of a bad mistake she can make, and pay for dearly for the next few years.

My only concern is, is she So fat, or too fat?

 

I am sorry to say my friend, never buy a car that is not running right. NEVER. The price must have been drastically reduced to cover any expenses incurred when repairing the bad running car. Only a Corvette mechanic/tuner with a shop and tools should be buying bad running corvettes because they can fix them quickly. Regular guys like us need to buy great running cars with pedigree and paper work with low miles to guarantee smooth functioning car. ed ramos.

 

In fact a friend of mine who is an expert, makes a living out of buying bad running cars because the majority of the time they are small things like sensors and nik naks that make the car feel terrible but can easily be repaired and resells for large profits once he fixes them. He is very successful and can mod the hell out of these cars but its the bad running cars that he does the best with as far as resale.