538awhp

I finally bought one of my dream cars, a black on black 1999 C2. Once I saw the car and test-drove it, I fell in love. During the test drive, the car ran great. I did not suspect anything wrong with it. The owner seamed trustworthy and honest so I took his word for it when he claimed the car never gave him any problems. I made him an offer and he said he would sleep on it. The next day he called me and accepted my offer.

Two days later I went out for a drive and my temp gauge started blinking. I immediately pulled over and checked the coolant reservoir and found a chocolate milk looking substance. I am suspecting the problem is the infamous cracked head. The car does have 129k miles so I think it would be best to rebuild the engine.

Fortunately the previous owner gave me the option of buying the car back or pay a portion of the rebuild cost. Since he gave me a really good deal on the car I accepted his offer to pay a portion of the rebuild cost.

Anyone have any recommendations for reputable shops that rebuild engines in the Southern California area?

kromdom

Welcome and bummer about your experience. But at least looks like a "happy ending."

Lots of good shops, pretty sure the SoCal peeps will chime in soon. here's one that I have read/heard a lot of good things about: http://www.callasrennsport.com/

P.S. Curious if there is a written/binding document that legally obligates the seller to pay a "portion" of the rebuild cost?

Ahsai

Sorry to see this and hope you get it sorted out relatively painlessly. The story is quite interesting though. If the car was truly ok before and you broke it in two days, there is really no moral or legal obligation of the seller albeit quite a coincidence. If the car was bad before and the seller knew it, I would not expect hime to offer any help now that you'vebought the car. So perhaps it's truly a coincidence the car broke in 2 days.

Ahsai

Btw, any coolant in the oil? I hope not. Also whatever you do, you have to act fast as the oil will start eating all the rubber parts it touches. Are you sure it'll still be a good deal after the rebuild? It can range from a few k's to $15k full rebuild depending on what they find.

I would seriously think about getting my money back and start over unless he sold you the car for the price of a roller ($3-5k).

Ck986

I don't know if its too late, but I would try and get my money back in your situation. Rebuilding that motor is going to cost you half or more of the cost of the car. Whatever you decide good luck.

Ahsai

Exactly. Still sounds too good to be true the seller will just take the car back and fork over the money already in his pocket. The net to the seller will be someone drove his car for 2 days and made it a roller!

bcrdukes

The guys at Callas Rennsport are awesome. I had Tony and his team help with an E46 M3 PPI. Extremely thorough. In the end, a good deal turned out too good to be true. I ended up with a 996.

538awhp

I did get the car for what a roller cost so even with a rebuild it would not hurt the pocket too bad. I checked the oil and luckily there is no water in it. The reason he was willing to buy the car back is because he had another buyer that wanted the shell and aftermarket parts. I hope to find a shop and tow it there by this weekend.

I will give Callas Rennsport tomorrow see what they say.

Thanks everyone for the advice and shop recommendations.

Anyone have other shop recommendations?

Hurdigurdiman

Could this be something as simple as the air/oil separator gone kaput and not a cracked head as you suspect? I mean would a failed aos produce a chocolate coolant color? I don't know but just asking...

Barn996

Sounds to me like you won't be hurt $ wise either way and that's a good position to be in. Perhaps the seller di in fact know that there was a problem, at least he's stepping up to help resolve it. GL

FRUNKenstein

+1 Not saying it is the AOS, but there have been plenty of incidents of people on here posting "Oh crap, my engine needs a rebuild" only to find out it is something much less sinister. So, take it to a competent shop and cross your fingers. It's easy to default to the 1,001 modes of complete engine failure paranoia. Maybe it is a CEF, but maybe not. Keep us updated. And, if you got it for the price of roller yet the seller is going to kick back some of the purchase price . . .

mcipseric

Vision in Laguna Hills has a high quality engine shop.

http://www.visionmotorsports.com/shop_rebuilding.php

Imo000

Dignose the problem so you are 100% sure what caused this. Don't assume it needs a rebuild.

Ahsai

Then you should be fine money wise and you will know you have a good motor after repair. Good luck with the rebuild. Hopefully it's no worse than a cracked head (sounds like so).

538awhp

After reading the posts on intermix problems especially on 99-01 I'm just suspecting it would be a cracked head. I have called a few shop and more than one tech told me since my car does not smoke it is less likely a bad AOS.

Also the previous owner does not remember if he ever changed the clutch or IMS either so I'm guessing it was never done. The owner didn't really know much about the car after 5 years of ownership.

I'll give them a call thanks