So I picked up an S40 with 68,000 miles on it from Craigslist.. The seller seemed honest enough, a female college student in her mid 20's going to a nice college.

After about 40 miles of driving the oil light came on, I checked the oil and it was full, but I put a little extra in just to make sure. I spilled about a cup of oil all over the engine by mistake. Some smoke comes out from under the hood, I assume because of the oil I spilled.

Another 30 miles of driving and smoke is still coming from the engine, maybe its the oil spill, maybe not.. I suddenly lose power on the highway, can hardly accelerate. I pull off and exit the freeway and as I'm trying to find a good parking lot, I lose power completely. I glide, then jolt forward with lots of accel., then glide again, jolt forward, I swear it's acting just like I ran out of gasoline. I glide into a parking lot and the car turns itself off in a parking space. I tried to start it and the first time the engine wouldn't turn all the way over. So I waited a minute, tried again and it started up. It was just like I ran out of gas, but the tank was half full. This happened a few times.

I drove it to a mechanic and the next day they tell me I have a bad oil leak and that the turbo is broken. I looked up symptoms for a broken turbo and I didn't see anything about the car stalling and randomly failing to start. I am completely out of money and I can't risk paying him to fix something other than the cause of the problem.

Any advice??

 

Oh and this is a 2001 Volvo S40, in case the year is of importance.

 

That is very possible the turbo is bad. If the oil leak is bad enough it might have leaked most of it out and caused the motor to overheat.

 

+1 on what Tech said. He's the expert.

 

How will a bad turbo give you the hard accel / low power / hard accel? This seems like a fuel pressure regulator.

Contact the seller, if it does have a bad oil leak and she didn't disclose it you may want to try to get some of your $$ back.

You spilled "about a cup" of oil on the engine?!?!? How did you manage spilling that much? Were you pouring it from a bucket? That much oil spilled on the top of the engine, will soak the area around the plugs and make tons of smoke, nasty smells, and a real mess. So, this could be the oil leak the tech saw.

If you have some bad wires or plug coils, the oil soak could cause your spark to ground out (rough running, loss of power, possible surging).

 

Take it back and park it in their front garden. You shouldn't have to deal with this on a car you just bought, get your money back and go and buy a decent one.

 

Well there was a bad oil leak, oil in the turbo, bad turbo, bad starter, and some bad sensors. Repairs came out to be $2,200 on it, and I spent $4,000 on the car.
The seller refused to work with me at all, and basically said I'll have to sue her if I want anything. NOW she says the car was sold "AS IS".. I'm pretty sure she was supposed to say that in the listing, or maybe when I asked several times if there were any mechanical issues. Up until I showed her the repair bills, she was saying "The car has no mechanical problems and runs fine."
I guess we'll see what the judge says.

 

Print out the listing and write yourself a memo for record on the transaction. If it goes to court you want to ensure you keep the facts straight.

I suggest you contact the dealership and volvo shops in the seller's city to see if anyone has a history with the vehicle. If you are lucky you'll find a shop that gave her the bad news earlier.

Depending on how she listed it, you could take her to court locally, big pain for her so it may motivate a discussion. You have a direct loss of $2,200 + towing + additional travel + loss of use.

Best of luck.

 

Did you test drive the car before purchasing it? Did you spend the $40 to get a CarFax report on it? Did you spend the $70 to get a mechanic to do a full inspection on it? I hate to assume, but it seems like you didn't do enough research. You just saw a good deal and jumped on it. There was probably a reason she was selling it for so cheap. I did all these things to make sure my purchase was legit when I got my S40 last week.

When you make a private party purchase like this, it will always be "As is." If they knew about it and didn't disclose it, you MIGHT have something in court, but no promises. The person could always say they had no idea about the problem, and that is happened when you had the car.

Also, spilling a cup of oil on the engine probably didn't help either. Who knows, it could have exacerbated the problem.

 

I did test drive the car, I did buy the carfax, and I brought a mechanic friend to do a quick visual inspection of the car and drive it with me. I have paid for those big inspections on previous Craigslist deals, but had since decided it's not worth the trouble.
The point is that she stated several times, on the listing, email, phone, and in person that the car has no mechanical issues. I will be bringing my mechanics to court with me to basically confirm "The car could not have such severe mechanical issues within 24 hours of purchase, without the previous owner knowing."

 

I know it is a "buyer beware" world, but at what point did the greed and dishonesty of the seller become okay?

Some things do just break, it happens. But often they break over a period of time so issues are known and covered up to complete the sale.

I've known and never understood those folks that pick things apart to drive the lowest price, but when it comes time to sell they aren't honest about the condition to get the highest price. Yes, this is what you should do but some folks go well beyond the fair price boundaries.

 

Glad that you did test drive it and do some research. That is just odd for it to have all these problems now.

It is unfortunate, but the best defense someone can have is, "I didn't know about the problem." What state do you live in? When I went to Florida's DMV site when researching my car, it was specifically stating that a used car purchase does not fall under Lemon Law and is an "As-Is."

If the person did know the issue, it is more of an ethical problem on their behalf. But in court, they could always say they didn't know about the problem. Unless you have some proof that they knew of the issue and didn't tell you, you will have no case. I am going to law school right now, and am just telling you how it is. You need to have some physical evidence they knew about the car's issue...even if its something as small as the previous owner putting on facebook, "Sold my car to a real sucker! Now I don't have to worry about the mechanical problems of that P.O.S." Or something along those lines...haha.

Either way, I hope you are able to fix the problem with the car.

You stated it had a "bad oil leak." Was it not bad enough that your mechanic friend didn't see it? Also, with oil being in the turbo, it sounds like the oil you spilled got into it. I don't know how the S40 turbo's are set up...but could that be a possibility?

 

Sorry to have left this without any conclusion, I have a bad habit of doing that!

Long story short, I had the turbo replaced on this car 3 times, it never fixed the problem. car+repairs wound up costing me about $8,000 before I gave up on it. I wound up selling it to a mechanic for $1,000. Never sued the seller, but probably should have. Oh well. I currently have a beautiful 1984 Volvo 244 GL!! Nothing beats the classic Volvo's, built like a tank.

Thanks for the advice and information.

 

court cost would be more than actually repairing the car. also it makes YOU look like the ***.