Always have your mechanic inspect a car before you buy

[TravelingBethelite]

Recently as in <3 weeks ago I bought a "new" car, as in one within my college student budget (03 Honda Civic with 114k miles, I think hey this looks like a good buy - compared to my old car, an 04 Elantra with 189k, and the guy would even take my old car off my hands). Well last Friday the engine overheated, and at first I thought it would be just a head gasket (the engine in these cars are known to have these kind of problems). My mechanic gets to taking the engine apart and he says the whole thing is full of stop leak and that it's basically toast. The guy sold me a car with a bum engine. Now I have to find a new engine and have it installed.

What a fucking headache. I'm an idiot. 

[kphoger]

How would a mechanic have discovered that ahead of time?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I understand many don't have this privilege, but this is why I will never buy a car from a non-certified entity.

[TravelingBethelite]

How would a mechanic have discovered that ahead of time?

That's what crossed my mind when writing this, admittedly. I take some solace in the fact.

[jeffandnicole]

I would hope a good mechanic knows what he normally would find under the hood.  Someone trying to cover up a problem probably left clues behind that a good mechanic would see when looking up at the engine compartment from down below.

The sales person for this car probably knew the issue as well.  He ain't gonna tell you that though.

There's a reason used car salesmen have the reputation they have.

[Max Rockatansky]

Really there isn't a ton you can do in the used car world to mitigate this other than having some mechanical knowledge yourself and how to look for indicators of deferred/neglected maintenance.  It would probably be safe to assume if you're in the plus 100,000 mile car market that the car might be a basket case in waiting.  Most people don't follow the owner's manual with even recommended maintenance or will slack off when they are about to unload a car.  I used car lot isn't going to money into fixing deferred maintenance if they can sell to a new buyer. 

[kphoger]

Really there isn't a ton you can do in the used car world to mitigate this other than having some mechanical knowledge yourself and how to look for indicators of deferred/neglected maintenance.  It would probably be safe to assume if you're in the plus 100,000 mile car market that the car might be a basket case in waiting.  Most people don't follow the owner's manual with even recommended maintenance or will slack off when they are about to unload a car.  I used car lot isn't going to money into fixing deferred maintenance if they can sell to a new buyer. 

The dealer we bought our current vehicle from cleared the CEL code while we were buying it without telling us what it was.  Supposedly it came up blank on his scanner but, knowing now what the codes were, I highly doubt it.  But we were ready to pay cash on the spot, and he was already basically giving another buyer the shaft in selling it to us that day.  So he must have lied.  Fortunately, they're codes I'm not concerned about–but he didn't know that at the time, I'm sure.

[jeffandnicole]

But we were ready to pay cash on the spot, and he was already basically giving another buyer the shaft in selling it to us that day.

Is that what he told you?

I'm totally amazed that a car can sit on the lot for weeks, and the day someone goes to buy it, he has multiple people looking at that very same car.

Also...

There's a reason used car salesmen have the reputation they have.

[JayhawkCO]

I understand many don't have this privilege, but this is why I will never buy a car from a non-certified entity.

Agreed.  Certified pre-owned is the only way I'll get a used car from here forward.  Just bought a 2019 Wrangler this way.

Chris

[SectorZ]

Recently as in <3 weeks ago I bought a "new" car, as in one within my college student budget (03 Honda Civic with 114k miles, I think hey this looks like a good buy - compared to my old car, an 04 Elantra with 189k, and the guy would even take my old car off my hands). Well last Friday the engine overheated, and at first I thought it would be just a head gasket (the engine in these cars are known to have these kind of problems). My mechanic gets to taking the engine apart and he says the whole thing is full of stop leak and that it's basically toast. The guy sold me a car with a bum engine. Now I have to find a new engine and have it installed.

What a fucking headache. I'm an idiot. 

You're no idiot. You live and learn. So sorry you've got to go thru that outlay. I've felt that pain before.

Someone must have beaten the hell out of that engine to blow it with that little mileage. You are right that the head gaskets are the only engine issues they typically have. I bet it blew a while ago and the owner just kept trying to band-aid the problem until they made a small problem an irrecoverable problem.

[interstatefan990]

Recently as in <3 weeks ago I bought a "new" car, as in one within my college student budget (03 Honda Civic with 114k miles, I think hey this looks like a good buy - compared to my old car, an 04 Elantra with 189k, and the guy would even take my old car off my hands). Well last Friday the engine overheated, and at first I thought it would be just a head gasket (the engine in these cars are known to have these kind of problems). My mechanic gets to taking the engine apart and he says the whole thing is full of stop leak and that it's basically toast. The guy sold me a car with a bum engine. Now I have to find a new engine and have it installed.

What a fucking headache. I'm an idiot. 

For an 03' Honda Civic, or any Honda for that matter, 114K miles is awfully early for an engine to go even with known problems. You're more likely run into transmission or suspension issues before that. Guy must've treated the car like crap.

[kphoger]

But we were ready to pay cash on the spot, and he was already basically giving another buyer the shaft in selling it to us that day.

Is that what he told you?

I'm totally amazed that a car can sit on the lot for weeks, and the day someone goes to buy it, he has multiple people looking at that very same car.

Another couple had already put a deposit down on the vehicle, and he asked if there were any other vehicles we might be interested in.  We told him we had come up from Wichita to Kansas City to buy a Pathfinder, we weren't leaving town until we had bought one–whether from his dealership or another one–and we were prepared to write a check for the full amount.  The other couple's financing hadn't come through yet, but it was Saturday and his financial officer was off for the week-end.  He called him anyway, bothered him during his son's football game, to ask what could be done.  I didn't hear the phone conversation (he took it out to the parking lot while we waited inside), but I imagine his end of the conversation went something like Is there any way you could please deny that other couple's financing?  He came in and told us they were denied, but I strongly suspect they didn't actually know yet if that was true.  We wrote him a check and drove away in our new car.

At some point during our visit to the dealership, during our test drive, we did go to a nearby park, where our friends were waiting for us.  We parked the car, and my mechanically-inclined friend crawled underneath to inspect various things.  He gave it the thumbs-up.