vlone

Hey all! I'm new to the Ralliart community and this is my first forum post on here. I'm looking into a 2010 Ralliart with about 80k miles to purchase. The trans was upgraded by Jacks Transmissions in CO, and about $6k was put into that job by the previous owner. He has the service records for that, but nothing else on the car. He said the work was done due to an issue with one of the shift forks. Carfax is clean, and I was ready to schedule a test drive until he told me the car has a check engine light. The code that comes back is P0017, which after a little research comes back as a camshaft sensor. According to the owner, this light has been on for 2.5 years, since he purchased the car. He says the timing chain has been checked, the oil control valve was replaced, and he has swapped sensors, all to no avail. This car is the perfect bargain and seems to have the catastrophic failures pre-fixed for me. Should I stay away from this car, or try to get it? I'm in a diff state so i'd have to get the code cleared for inspection, because according to a used car salesman friend, you can't get a vehicle inspected with a check engine light. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks in advance!

CrAnSwIcK

iTrader: (5)

Get the owner to take it to the dealer if they are unable to fix it, and eat that cost from the asking price, if not then low ball em'.

I don't have any experience on this engine at all, I just picked up my 2011 ralliart a few weeks ago, but generally, if you get that code, and it's not the sensor, you would expect a wiring fault, or some kind of mechanical problem...ECUs are generally pretty good at fault finding. It's a risky buy, especially since the owner has confirmed they bought it with the check engine light on and drove it around for 2 and a half years without ever fixing it...however the engine shouldn't start with a faulted camshaft sensor...that or crank sensor...at least I'm pretty sure the last gen didn't, so its potentially a mechanical issue, and the sensor is working fine and telling you there's a problem...did you plan on driving the car back and using it daily, or is it a project?

vlone

Ended up scrapping the idea of buying that one. Found a newer model, 2014 with some evo x mods, (attatchment included) s-sport, and basically all the cosmetic mods i'd have done myself. not to mention it's only got 106k. seems like a decent amount of miles for the year but this car's a decent deal. also, this is going to be the new daily for school / work.

Raikiri

iTrader: (21)

I'm assuming he's probably running the GST map on that car based on those mods. I'd ask last time SST fluid was changed/how often and what fluid was used.

Raikiri

iTrader: (21)

Oh and even though you're not buying the car with the Jacks' trans.... typically I'd stay away from them especially if it was one of their earlier works. Years ago they were kinda shady with the SST trans builds. It's only recently they've gotten better. However the BEST people you'd want to send the SST trans to would be Kozmic in Texas.

CrAnSwIcK

iTrader: (5)

Good to know

Raikiri

iTrader: (21)

If you're up in Canada there's a new shop that's been doing fairly good work with trans rebuilds called SJL Custom Auto. They're in Ontario somewhere so its easier on you guys up north with the shipping and seems his prices are very competitive. If you had a FB I could direct you to their business page but someone seems to want to be stubborn

CrAnSwIcK

iTrader: (5)

Lol, I just googled it...It looks like they're in Barrie, about 2.5 hour drive...I could drop the tranny off...that's where I bought my 11 RA, actually...I'll give then a call, would be nice having peace of mind that I'm not totally hooped if I break it... I'd like to get the 06 RA running again before I even start to push this thing, but I already ordered a boost pill ...and reflashing is just time...