I must agree. And I really appreciate it. You guys are a solid bunch and I am glad you are telling me like it is.

In a few months I might chuckle at this thread. I hope so.

 

Don't despair and don't give up! My '82 was an eBay purchase as well. I lucked out - the car is basically solid but lots of small to medium things to sort out. No PPI but in hindsight it would have been wise even though I ended up lucky. If you haven't done mechanical work before, now is a great time to start. You will learn a bundle and save a bundle.

Many small issues that took 15 minutes to fix. Others that took months to figure out. Still have some issues but nothing truly major, much now is cosmetic. Just looked at my "What I've done" list - totals 97 items from cleaning grounds to adjusting the timing belt. To do list right now sits at 55 more things to be done! I'm sure that with each thing I do, 2 new ones will surface.

Good luck and once you have the little things sorted out, enjoy it! It's like any 30 year old car - there will always be something that needs or wants attention. That's the fun of owning these cars (at least that is what I keep telling myself).

 

To answer your question, in my opinion giving him a shot before invoking the Ebay process is a decent approach. If it doesn't go well, perhaps letting him know you've done homework with a prior customer will help.

However, the problem is getting to a point where both parties are engaged, especially given your priority of the trans and an absence of a neutral, professional assessment of it. I don't think you can have anything but an opening conversation absent greater clarity about what is needed. Unless you are coming from the binary replace it or nothing perspective, in which case I guess you might get to a 'final answer'.

For the other stuff- yes, it can be an endless project...depending on your final goal and degree of self restraint/discipline. There is limited but *just enough* aftermarket support for these cars that there is always one more new/cool thing to post up to the want/need list.

I think your best course of action, just my opinion, is to let him know your 'opinion' and then before getting into discussion of rebate/refund/punitive action, get a professional assessment. The list will be long and scary, but the top tier items that pertain to safety and mechanical soundness may or may not be that big of a deal and/or expense. But you need that baseline set.

PS- I don't think it was stupid to trust. But I'm naive like that. In the short term the sting when it doesn't work out always does outweigh the validation from the times that it does.

 

idf is the car crunching in to reverse also? if it is this could be a very easy fix.(clutch peddle adjustment)i had the same issue.the oil leak and possible charging problems are most likely easy repairs.you are always going to have things like this coming up on a 30 year old car. hope it works out for you.

 

Based on my own experience, I can tell you that Paypal probably will not give you much support. Hopefully you used a credit card through Paypal. Dont waste your time with Paypal. If you want a refund, contact the bank/credit card company directly. They wont entertain any partial refunds though.

You will need to return the car to the seller before they might give you a refund. They would most likely give you a full refund, but you will need to get the car back to the seller first. He probably wont help you with that.

 

Hi, What a sharp looking car. Would luv to see some pics of the interior.

Firstly, get the alternator checked out. It is simple to do and acces and most likely be the regulator/brushes. My understanding is that if the electronivcs are not getting the appropriate voltage levels and reference voltage then this will affect performance and driveability.

Secondly, find local/nearby 928 specialist and get a post PPI performance so that you have a baseline of issues from which to work on. This will become your a priority list of things to fix.

Thirdly, please tap into the resources of this list. The car looks great and these are such a rewarding driving experience when they are running well.

Here in Australia we usually say these are a $50,000 car irrespective of what price you buy at. Now this doesn't mean you spend all of this in the first 12 months but over time. Condition is everything in these cars when purchasing and always encourage prospective owners to either view and drive the car or have a friend/Rennlister in the area view/drive the car and ALWAYS have a PPI performed.

Anyway, do not despair, on the surface the car looks like a great buy at $5,000 and sound like another $5000 to $10,000 should get you a nice drivers car.

Good luck and make sure you get the post PPI completed.

Cheers

 

In terms of how to proceed with the seller....definitely don't file the negative feedback until you give him a chance to remedy the situation. Let him know specifically what you found and that you believe those issues should have been disclosed. He may just claim it was fine when he shipped it, and that is remotely possible but unlikely. Anyway, I think he knows there is not much you can do about it. No one here is expecting much satisfaction from the seller, but you need to give him a chance.

It's always buyer beware. I can understand how you felt you could trust this guy after spending an hour on the phone with him, but it's just wrong to do so with a long distance car purchase. You didn't feel you could do a PPI long distance, but it can be done. If you sell this car, NEXT time post some information and questions here before you buy. A 928 owner local to the car will probably volunteer to go look at it. If the seller would not allow that, run.

 

Looks like a $3000 car or so, maybe less. Depends on the condition of the other mechanicals (MM, TB/WP and pulleys, pan gasket, brakes, TT, etc).

Get an opinion as to whether its a good solid base car -- that's the type of PPI you need now --- and if so, do some wrenching and have some fun.

Either go for the seller or not, all or nothing. Else fix it and drive it. To buy a 928 with no research and not lose $2000 is unusual. Many of us have lost much, much more on the first play.

 

5 speeds are in high demand and low supply. $3,000 is pretty conservative....had the trans been good.

 

Car looks great. You got a deal. And just remember, in an '82, it's not about power, it's about the driving experience. As long as it goes into gear, bleed and adjust the clutch as best you can, put in some AMSOIL and go rowing! You'll get used to it, and you will love it! Once it won't row anymore, then deal with it. It will last longer than you'd imagine.

 

That car is local to me as well, and not having seen it, I agree, $6,900 is a bit much for less than nice, but not much lower and it's going to need some serious hair on its legs not to be a great deal.

I really don't want to think what a cash offer of $5k might do now that you have educated the seller. The more I think about it the more I know I don't want to think about it either, but 90% of that is due to how rare an 85 sun roof delete is. Sheesh, now I thought about it again.

 

Thats a good question, let me check. I have used reverse once or twice, dont recall a crunch but will check.

 

Does it crunch if you shift very slowly, pausing before putting it into the next gear?

 

Much less so. If I am very deliberate and slow, the crunching has only happened a couple of times.

 

There is a lot of rotating mass with these cars, meaning you have to pause for a second before grabbing reverse. The transmission, torque tube, and clutch all have to stop rotating or it will crunch.

If you push in the clutch pedal, wait a few seconds and it doesn't crunch.....then the clutch is fully releasing. There is no synchro in reverse which is why you have to wait for everything to stop rotating.

I test my clutch on a regular basis at stop lights by grabbing reverse. It's an "early warning system" that tells me something is up if I can start to feel the gears mashing together.

Most early 928's have synchro issues due to users who kept driving with clutches that were not fully releasing, and taking them to shops that had no clue how to diagnose or adjust them. Since first and second are the most used gears, they wear out first and that is why they are grinding.