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Originally posted by LaserSVT
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Well here is a craigslist horror story. Bit of a read.
For several months I have been hunting for a 2000-2003 Bonneville SSEi for a daily driver. Every one I went to see was garbage so I figured I would get a 2000-2004 Audi A6 2.7 turbo instead. Ad pops up on craigslist for a silver on black SSEi for only $2300. I talk to the guy and the problems he lists are: Driver window is inop, front motor mount is bad, exhaust is very loud and has a CEL for rear O2, clear on hood is bad and there is a blemish on the bumper. I can see in the ad it has an Intense modular pulley system, Intense computer, Intense CAI and that was all stuff I wanted to do and with 120k miles the car seemed like a winner. Told him I would buy it, didn't even ask for a dollar off. Said I had $1700 on me and when the bank opens tomorrow I will get the rest. He calls back a few hours latter and says bring the $1700 and if I like the car I can have it for that. Blown away by that I hop in the Lincoln and make the 120 mile drive.
I get there and the car looks to be what he said it was. Then I find the other stuff. Hook up my scanner (he wasn't expecting that) and pull current codes, history codes and pending codes. Well the code is for a bad refrence signal to the FTP sensor or AC pressure sensor. No biggie. I try the sunroof and it don't work. I did specifically ask if it worked because when they don't you have to buy a new one. He acts dumbfounded and says "Well it was working". Yeah, sure. So I turn on the AC which is another part I specifically asked about and was informed it was cold but find out nope, dead. Again he says it was just working and must just need a charge. I say I have to find the leak and he says it does not leak...... yeah, I will just leave that alone.
I decide at $1700 car is still a good deal even though its loud as hell because he hacked off the mufflers. Car feels alright and he even says for me to punch it. I declined. Good thing because the car ran out of gas and we coasted into a gas station. He goes to throw $5 in it and grabs 87 octane. I remind him its a "Premium Only" car and with the extra 50 HP in mods that it REALLY needs super. he informs me he always ran regular. Ugh.
Pull out of the gas station and the steering feels funny. Get to his house and now the steering clunks really bad. He of course says it has never done that before. I look under it and see a mounting bolt has somehow fallen out of the steering rack. Luckily I had one so I threw it in. Looking at the body and interior and how well the motor ran I went ahead and bought it anyway.
Big Mistake.
Fill it with 93 octane and start the drive home. 30 miles latter I don't like the temperature (am running my scanner in datastream) and see 248* so I pull over. Yup, intake gasket breach. Having been through this before I don't chance it and try for a tow. 2am approaches and my roadside assistance cant get a truck and now companies want the job so I leave it at the VFW post in Waxahachi. Got ahold of my tow guy in the morning and he picked it up and brought it to me for only $200. Good deal.
Start working on the car yesterday and both upper and lower gaskets blew so I flush out the engine and slap in a couple heat range cooler plugs. Fix the roof, replace the window motor, change out the engine mount (wish someone in Waco sold hockey pucks as that would have been a better fix), fix the numerous broken vac lines and then proceed to pull a vac on the AC. Only I cant, gotta be a huge leak. Get the car up and see he threw in a junk yard Grand Prix compressor and those do not mate to the AC manifold ports on a Bonneville. High pressure line on the SSEi is apx 4mm larger. I call him and ask how the hell could the AC EVER have worked when there were no seals or high pressure line connections at the compressor. He of course responds with "Well it was working." Lying POS. So I install a brand new compressor and drier and the system charges fine and blows ice cold.... out of the passenger side. Driver side is hot as hell, 122* to be exact. So it also has a bad blend door actuator and those fuggers are $150.
Then see the rear shocks he said were a year old are in fact the OEM shocks and the air boot is gone on both so they don't work at all. Plus the tie rods are toast as are the "new" brake pads.
Little Mexican dude just lied his ass off on this fuggin car. I am in it over $2700 now and still need to perform another $500 in repairs.
On the upside is its solid as hell now but if all that stuff was not broken I wouldn't have paid 3k for a car with paint damage and a bad headliner. Wanna kick him in his teeth.
So that's my horror story of craigslist for this week.
For several months I have been hunting for a 2000-2003 Bonneville SSEi for a daily driver. Every one I went to see was garbage so I figured I would get a 2000-2004 Audi A6 2.7 turbo instead. Ad pops up on craigslist for a silver on black SSEi for only $2300. I talk to the guy and the problems he lists are: Driver window is inop, front motor mount is bad, exhaust is very loud and has a CEL for rear O2, clear on hood is bad and there is a blemish on the bumper. I can see in the ad it has an Intense modular pulley system, Intense computer, Intense CAI and that was all stuff I wanted to do and with 120k miles the car seemed like a winner. Told him I would buy it, didn't even ask for a dollar off. Said I had $1700 on me and when the bank opens tomorrow I will get the rest. He calls back a few hours latter and says bring the $1700 and if I like the car I can have it for that. Blown away by that I hop in the Lincoln and make the 120 mile drive.
I get there and the car looks to be what he said it was. Then I find the other stuff. Hook up my scanner (he wasn't expecting that) and pull current codes, history codes and pending codes. Well the code is for a bad refrence signal to the FTP sensor or AC pressure sensor. No biggie. I try the sunroof and it don't work. I did specifically ask if it worked because when they don't you have to buy a new one. He acts dumbfounded and says "Well it was working". Yeah, sure. So I turn on the AC which is another part I specifically asked about and was informed it was cold but find out nope, dead. Again he says it was just working and must just need a charge. I say I have to find the leak and he says it does not leak...... yeah, I will just leave that alone.
I decide at $1700 car is still a good deal even though its loud as hell because he hacked off the mufflers. Car feels alright and he even says for me to punch it. I declined. Good thing because the car ran out of gas and we coasted into a gas station. He goes to throw $5 in it and grabs 87 octane. I remind him its a "Premium Only" car and with the extra 50 HP in mods that it REALLY needs super. he informs me he always ran regular. Ugh.
Pull out of the gas station and the steering feels funny. Get to his house and now the steering clunks really bad. He of course says it has never done that before. I look under it and see a mounting bolt has somehow fallen out of the steering rack. Luckily I had one so I threw it in. Looking at the body and interior and how well the motor ran I went ahead and bought it anyway.
Big Mistake.
Fill it with 93 octane and start the drive home. 30 miles latter I don't like the temperature (am running my scanner in datastream) and see 248* so I pull over. Yup, intake gasket breach. Having been through this before I don't chance it and try for a tow. 2am approaches and my roadside assistance cant get a truck and now companies want the job so I leave it at the VFW post in Waxahachi. Got ahold of my tow guy in the morning and he picked it up and brought it to me for only $200. Good deal.
Start working on the car yesterday and both upper and lower gaskets blew so I flush out the engine and slap in a couple heat range cooler plugs. Fix the roof, replace the window motor, change out the engine mount (wish someone in Waco sold hockey pucks as that would have been a better fix), fix the numerous broken vac lines and then proceed to pull a vac on the AC. Only I cant, gotta be a huge leak. Get the car up and see he threw in a junk yard Grand Prix compressor and those do not mate to the AC manifold ports on a Bonneville. High pressure line on the SSEi is apx 4mm larger. I call him and ask how the hell could the AC EVER have worked when there were no seals or high pressure line connections at the compressor. He of course responds with "Well it was working." Lying POS. So I install a brand new compressor and drier and the system charges fine and blows ice cold.... out of the passenger side. Driver side is hot as hell, 122* to be exact. So it also has a bad blend door actuator and those fuggers are $150.
Then see the rear shocks he said were a year old are in fact the OEM shocks and the air boot is gone on both so they don't work at all. Plus the tie rods are toast as are the "new" brake pads.
Little Mexican dude just lied his ass off on this fuggin car. I am in it over $2700 now and still need to perform another $500 in repairs.
On the upside is its solid as hell now but if all that stuff was not broken I wouldn't have paid 3k for a car with paint damage and a bad headliner. Wanna kick him in his teeth.
So that's my horror story of craigslist for this week.
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