A month or so ago I did a friend a favor and did the suspension on her OBS, after test driving the car to make sure everything was gravy, I remembered what I loved about Subarus again, and decided to get back in one. The search began. A week or so ago I started finding cars and talking to people about them, making offers and trying to find something within reason and close to home to go pick up. Now, as a handful of you know, I was trading my Saab Aero for a swapped GC with a bunch of other appeal upgrades. Started the trek down to Iowa yesterday with the Saab with all the spares and bunchs o' tires loaded up in the back. Fast forward past me waiting for the doucher for about an hour beyond when we were supposed to be meeting. He finally rolls into our meeting spot. It is at this point, that I refer to Bill's comment to me last night first, "hindsight is always 20/20". He tests my car out, everything clears (duh) and he is pleased with my car quite a bit. And thus I begin to inspect everything with the GC8. After a few immediate concerns (like I said, hindsight) I hopped on the phone with Eli and then FujiK. Talking it all out with FujiK kind of calmed me and I put some things aside that bothered me, ie him not having the paper work I asked for and the other turbo. So, like a tard, I did the trade with the dude thinking I was leaving happy with a car that needed a little love (some oil burning, some smoke, and a catch can to fix his PCV valve delete job), but nothing real big or bad. Fast forward a few hours again, I was taking my sweet time coming home with my new toy, stopping every 60 miles or less (I was in no rush to get home) just to check everything and make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. The second to last stop made, in some small, random town was the one that did the car in I believe, as the odd old woman working said, "have a safe journey home kid". Pretty sure she cast a spell on me for buying oil and propel and nothing else. :laugh: One more quick jaunt ahead in time meow, as I am rolling up towards Clearwater, IA on 35N, the car is just crusing at 3200rpm and going roughly 65-70mph, all of the sudden the rpms drop and the car shutters, yeah that was an un easy feeling... I let my foot off the gas and roll it back on, everything seems fine, wtf. about 20 minutes later, it does it again, but more frequently, and with more violence. So, here I am, in a car I just traded for that is now dropping rpm, smoking with increasing amounts, now burning more and more oil and then started to pop flames bigger than anything I have ever seen out of an exhaust. I pull it over on a sketchy wayside and call the dude I got it from. Needless to say, I proposed to trade back with me even reimbursing for his time and travel, explaining the **** that was happening and the things that were never disclosed. He more or less tells me no, and that it didn't do this to him, ect... that will need to be continued later on, I have every intent to peruse him legally and hold him responsible for whatever has to be done, and hopefully get his "mechanic" father canned who did the work. I call in favors, and after hours of waiting, bored out of my mind at TA in Albert Lea, the car is picked up on a car trailer flat bed, and driven back to Mankato. Now I get to try and rip it apart with my limited tools, and try and figure out what all grenade'd itself, just so I have something to get around in again. Needless to say, I will never trust an Iowan ever again, and I am no longer overly enthusiastic about getting back into a subaru. For those uninterested in reading it all, briefs: `go to iowa to trade saab for swapped gc `guy is douche and way late to meet, i excuse this `trade cars `start driving back `issues happen `new car go boom, boom, pop, SMOKE SCREENZ N' FLAMES!!! `car towed home like supra on FnF movie `i type rant about it
Sorry to hear that man. Even though the paperwork for the turbo is missing, I hope he provided other paperwork for the pre-sale inspection. I hope everything turns out for ya.
We started tearing into it a bit, intercooler, intake mani, ect... are all clean and oil free. so now I am hoping that its still potentially just the turbo, not off to an enjoyable ownership with the car; especially considering I never even broke 3500 rpm or saw boost.
Haha. This all sounded so bad from the start and just got worse. Any CELs on the thing? Flames typically mean lots of fuel (bad injector dumping fuel?) Cutting power can be lots of things too, bad/dirty MAF, sensor going out, poor ground, things like that. I'm not really sure what "a little love" means in your world, but I am seeing a full engine rebuild as the "love" this car needs. Maybe that was your goal. That's not a bad goal if you have specific intentions for the car. My car needs a little "love" these days too, and yes that means engine rebuild, lol.
That is some bs man. Hope everything works out in your favor and your glad to be in a Subie again. Best of luck!
It'll take what it takes to get it all gravy I guess, I also plan to talk to a legal advisor about my options about it all as well... I would have no problem paying Matt to go over it all and send the douchers the bill. for what its worth, heres the car that is a giant waste of time and money at this point
I hate to buy modded Subaru's and not knowing what's going to happen next. Working on modded Subarus can be mind blowing because of who ever touched it last, now I have to fix it.... *sigh* GL and keep us updated!!!
yeah, finding some of the options they went with on things is interesting so far... I'll be pulling the turbo, coil packs, plugs, ect... tomorrow hopefully and seeing where everything is at. I'm really still hoping its just the turbo, but I am not getting overly optimistic at this point. Just as a further slap in the face, the truck I was lent to use for the week from my buddy, is broken as well, with cracked rear brake lines. I am leaning towards not touching anything with an engine for a week and walking to and from campus. haha
The way things are going you'll have to do it barefoot on hot, vinegar covered broken glass to appease the car gods.
EJ20K block with EJ20G heads, intake manifold, ect... the turbo that I am hoping is blown, is a TD04 off an 07 WRX. The block was all rebuilt recently supposedly as well (new bearings, seals, ect...), and all the compression was +/- 8 across the board or so Right? I'm almost afraid to buy another DD or borrow my father's HHR. haha
Here you go Curly2k3, the thread to the guy's car you traded your Saab for. I am sorry to hear about your trade result. I have seen this car for a while on Iowa's CL. I hope this helps you. http://www.rs25.com/forums/f171/t137490-freshly-rebuild-ej20g-swapped-l.html
oh that sucks, hopefully it turns out to be fairly minor. might not make you feel any better but i know the feeling. broke down coming out of chicago just into wi onetime. I had just picked up a used car. car basically shutdown on interstate- turned out being some fuses but needless to say i later learned transmission was leaking fluid, and a few other little issues not disclosed. --> despite tons of paperwork on rebuilt motor/transmission i got screwed. I ended up fixing the mess ,donated the car, and just walked away from it. I just couldn't deal with it after that, I hated it every-time i looked at it sitting there mocking me. i won't even go into the trip back and how bad that sucked. too many asshats out there, hopefully you can get it sorted out and the rest of the car is in good shape.
you should of bought my legacy and boosted it. lol sorry to hear about all this... hope it pans out for you. if you need any help let me know and I will do what I can.
I didn't even know you were selling the Leggy. I'll let you know if theres anything, at this point I'm just pacing myself and taking it as it comes, the Impreza then the truck within 24 hours was a bit much (on top of my insanely high school load besides).
Good luck man, if you ever want help I could lend a hand on a weekend sometime after I'm done with my project. I've had a few bad purchases before. Once I bought a modded DSM (long story why I ended up buying it, other than being young and stupid) and piston #1 was bad. To make a long story short, I wrote them a personal check and canceled it. Went to drive it back and it caught on fire at a gas station. After that I put it on a flat bed and had to pay out of my pocket like $500 to tow it back. They weren't happy, but I learned my lesson as I'm sure you'll learn from this mistake. People are douches, can't trust them... I hope you figure out your car man, like I said I'm happy to lend a hand, I hate seeing other people getting effed like this, brings back too many memories.
ProTip: Refrain from publicaly documenting the fact that your car smokes like a chimney and probably has head/gasket issues if you intend to later claim the car was in tip top shape prior to a private sale. I'm curious to see how that plays out, legally.
it is always for sale as I would love to get back into a boosted car. but practicality says to stick with the leggy until its paid off or I get a work rig.... then the fun can begin.!
thanks man, I'll let you know as well. I honestly don't understand how someone could put decency aside and screw someone over, but I guess my moral compass points in a bit different direction than his did. I even offered compensation for him to come get his car and bring mine back... then he more or less told me to eff off. yeah, i need to get in and talk to the legal advisor, if need be... i'll talk to our family lawyer friend and sue the piss out of him (the american way) and send him some nice bills to cover my time, money, and things that needed to happen/be replaced. If the legal advisor tells me I could make him legally have to cover all costs, I have every intent to trailer it up to RS and let Ron and Matt do what they have to, and stuff him with every cent of the cost. I honestly wanted a subaru because of the conditions, climates, and elevations down here in kato, awd is just waaaaay more effective for my situation.
It'd probably be a good idea to contact the mods on that site and keep him from editing or changing that post. What a bastard. Hope this works out for you.
did either of you write up any bill of sale or anything like that? yeah, lots of shadyness that goes on with people, unfortunate, but it happens. you'll learn to trust your gut more. not everyone is out to get you. on the bright side you'll know your car better.
I already had screen cap'd the ad I got it from, and kept all of his PM's stating the condition of the car.
well between Sean (my younger brother) and I, we had time today at different times to pull the turbo and what not... yeah... not what I was hoping to see, at all. here's an idea of the build up in the exhaust side of the turbo here's the downpipe, also coated in a thick layer of crap and the part I was worried about most, the insane build up in the up pipe so I stuck and gently swabbed a piece of paper in there and got this with no effort at all and now we can see the build up a bit better and we can see all of it in the turbo from the up pipe nothing like a wet oil spot in the build up to let you know theres an issue down there soooo, yeah, I was really, really hoping to see more of a turbo issue, but with this kind of build up, oil loss, and smoke... guessing something in the heads is toast. good times, boy oh boy am I glad I did this transaction.
no lights were popping up. the block was SUPPOSEDLY all freshly rebuilt, but at this point, I'm taking every single thing he said with a grain of salt at most.
lol carl. but yeah, and this was all supposedly rebuilt 2k miles before I picked it up... so 2200 miles on it or so? YIKES yeah, we'll see what happens. I've definitely lost faith in people and the trust I had in people after this crap
I don't blame you man. I just don't understand how people can do $hit like that and not feel guilty about it.
no clue man, no clue. hopefully tomorrow I can get the brakes sorted out on my buddy's truck, so I can drive it over and snag a compression checker to rent from autozone... if that does or doesn't check out could dictate what happens next entirely.
Damn that sucks. Sorry to hear about your nightmare. Let us know if you need any specific parts. We all have treasures hidden away in our garages that we might just donate for a good cause
Yeah, once I do a compression check and start tearing it apart, I'm sure my WTB List will increase in size and specificity. I suppose when it's all said and done, I SHOULD be happy with it, assuming nothing else was poorly done or ignored (besides the clutch set up which is retarded)
i think the guy that bought my car still have the close deck ej20g motor. i can check lmk. i think i still have some ej20g parts you can have if i can find them. good luck
