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California98Civic 12-16-2017 02:37 PM

Brainstorm a dealer's logic with me?
 
So, I am looking at a carfax for a used car. When it was 4 years old, the first of three owners traded it back to the original dealership (I guess for a new car). The dealer put it up for sale with 62,000 miles on it, having done this to it:

"Cabin air filter replaced/cleaned
Vehicle washed/detailed
Air filter replaced
Oil and filter changed
Oil pan replaced/repaired
Accessory removed
Stabilizer bar links replaced
Safety inspection performed"

Why remove an accessory (which one, I wonder)? And why replace stabilizer bar links at 62,000 miles? Also, after selling it the same dealer then replaced the valve cover for the new owner just a couple months later, at 64,000 miles. Am I crazy or is it possible the car had been in some sort of unreported accident before the sale and these are pop-up problems getting fixed?

Just wondering what I don't know yet.

Xist 12-16-2017 03:24 PM

How common is it to replace oil pans? I have done two, my aluminum pan was stripped, and a lady ripped out hers.

How close is the stabilizer bar to the oil pan?

Xist 12-16-2017 03:39 PM

2 Attachment(s)
Otherwise, it sounds like this:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1513457551
http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1513456696

freebeard 12-16-2017 03:42 PM

Quote:

Why remove an accessory (which one, I wonder)?
....
Just wondering what I don't know yet.
Well, there're your known unknowns and your unknown unknowns. According to Rumsfeld.

California98Civic 12-16-2017 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebeard (Post 556664)
Well, there're your known unknowns and your unknown unknowns. According to Rumsfeld.

:)

California98Civic 12-16-2017 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xist (Post 556661)
How common is it to replace oil pans? I have done two, my aluminum pan was stripped, and a lady ripped out hers.

How close is the stabilizer bar to the oil pan?

Dunno. But did your car have just 62,000 miles when u replaced the pan. I dunno... Maybe it is totally normal... Consequence of the designor something... Maybe the mechanic damaged the pan...

Fat Charlie 12-16-2017 09:30 PM

The oil pan? Maybe some Quickie Lube stripped the threads on the drain plug. Maybe the gasket had a leak- a lot of them aren't even gaskets, just a bead of RTV, and it happens. R&R means remove and replace, you've got to do that to replace the gasket. I wouldn't read too much into that.

Remove accessory? They do that all the time. Tow hitch? Joe Customer is going to worry about the transmission. Wal Mart backup camera, ricer gauges on the A pillar or chrome sidesteps that are scratched up? Get rid of them before you park it out front.

Sway bar links? Potholes. Add to that the fact that many used car departments will automatically approve repairs up to a certain amount of money, and techs will recommend lots of innocuous sounding stuff that doesn't cost much per car but adds up in their paychecks at the end of the week. Say you get paid 1.0 hours to check out a car. If you have to R&R a filter to inspect it, do you want to put the old, okay one back in for free, or since you already have to talk to Parts and tell the service writer what the car needs, why wouldn't you want to throw a filter on the List Of Things To Do and get paid an extra 0.1 hours to put in a new filter?

I can't explain the valve cover. Maybe it just happened, maybe they overfilled the oil when they did the change and it pushed past the gasket, maybe they pulled it off to check out a noise and decided to slap a new one on for some reason. None of it strikes me as hidden collision damage, though.

Xist 12-16-2017 10:07 PM

My experience selling a car is that people do not want to know that it has required repairs. That seemed to cause more questions than it answered. The buyer did not ask if it had recent repairs.

California98Civic 12-17-2017 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie (Post 556683)
... None of it strikes me as hidden collision damage, though.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I know too that you have lots of experience in this regard with shops, which is helpful. I'd be getting like a 35 percent discount on the car (so I'm double checking everything). If the car checks out when I see it and take it to a dealership for an inspection, I'm gonna buy it. If I do I'll post here about it.

ksa8907 12-17-2017 02:25 PM

Possibly removed a lowering kit which had damaged the stabilizer bar links. Maybe rubbed on the oil pan or, as previously mentioned, some macho man stripped the threads on the drain plug.

freebeard 12-17-2017 11:26 PM

If you don't see rust erupting from spot-welded seams and it passes a wheel alignment it would pass my inspection.

redpoint5 12-17-2017 11:51 PM

Among the many reasons I prefer buying private party over a dealership is that the owner knows the vehicle history, and the dealer does not.

Xist 12-18-2017 12:50 AM

How often do dealers allow you to take the car to a mechanic for an inspection?

freebeard 12-18-2017 02:33 PM

I like to purchase cars out of farmer's fields next to the highway. I got the '56 sunroof Oval-window that way
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...4-11-26-01.png

and the Shantung Gold Superbeetle was in a pasture behind a white fence, right across from the saddle shop in downtown Walterville.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...down-flood.jpg

Quote:

Among the many reasons I prefer buying private party over a dealership is that the owner knows the vehicle history, and the dealer does not.
The Dasher I bought from the [mechanic/shop owner] that had owned it for 14 years:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...684-dasher.jpg

(Those wheels on the Oval-window are the ones I traded for the Dasher thirty years later)

California98Civic 12-18-2017 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksa8907 (Post 556721)
Possibly removed a lowering kit which had damaged the stabilizer bar links. Maybe rubbed on the oil pan or, as previously mentioned, some macho man stripped the threads on the drain plug.

That would explain it, wouldn't it? Could be... This will go into the category of known unknowns. :thumbup:

California98Civic 12-19-2017 12:54 AM

Went, saw, and inspected the car in question today. It was a good example of a 2012 Sonic with the 1.4 liter turbo and the super tall 6 speed manual transmission. The price point was really great. But I was of course suspicious that it might be too good to be true.

It was too good to be true. The check engine light even came on while we were test driving the car. The trouble codes (two of them) were for problems in the vacuum management system. One was a valve in the intake manifold that can't be fixed without replacing the entire intake manifold. And then there were numerous other little problems that you would expect with a car that has 88000 miles and hasn't really been thoroughly maintained. The other problems like a warped rotor brake rotor and a minor coolant leak I would easily fixed myself. But the intake manifold and the check engine light coming on during the test drive were just bad signs. Total dealbreaker.

What I would really love is to find one of those examples of the sonic out there that has the 6 speed manual transmission and the 1.8 liter naturally aspirated engine. A car like that at the right price could have 6 different problems even problems that the kid didn't disclose to me and I'd fix it.

Stubby79 12-19-2017 01:29 AM

Bit late for a reply, but...Could have run over a rock or a brick or something, damaging the oil pan and the swaybar, assuming it hangs low. At least, I cant think of many reasons to replace an oil pan, other than physical damage or possibly rust.

Piotrsko 12-19-2017 09:22 AM

You pulled codes on a test drive? Incredible for 2 reasons: the car threw a code, somebody shared the codes. I showed up once with ELM25 and torque on my phone and the dealer had a hissy fit.

Xist 12-19-2017 11:22 AM

Piotrsko, they had something to hide? :)


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