m actually posting this in behalf of my gf because its her car. 10 days ago we thought we had a decent buy after trading in my gf's rsx for a black 05 evo 8. Come to find out this saturday cruising 60mph in the rain on i5 all 4 wheels suddenly locked up cause the car to go into a skid. I controlled the vehicle twards the sholder as much as possible and called AAA. Seems some kinda issue with the t-case, ring & pinion or spider gears im really not too sure. What I do know is it wouldnt come out of 5th when I was trying to bring the car out of the skid and neither would depressing the clutch. After we came to a stop I finally got it out of gear and the car would only stay running with the clutch depressed otherwise it would stall out and the vehicle would not move. Now that its monday we are trying to see what our options are as far as the dealership even tho we bought the vehical "as is" im pretty sure with huge drivietrain failure like we expirenced there's laws to waive any "as is" contracts.

Thanks to any advice you guys might have for us and take in mind id like to buy a sheptrans or t-case but this car after the down payment has left us with very few options and money...

 

if its the t-case probably wrong fluids were put in it. 2 be safe use diaqueen lsd fuilds for the t-case and rear diff.

 

Just because you bought it "as is" doesn't mean they can sell you a lemon, period. I'd go back to the dealership.

 

It'll probably take a bit of searching on your part for your particular state laws, but there are sometimes laws out there to protect you from just this sort of thing. Definitely play hardball but be courteous.

If they do try to blow you off and are a larger dealership then call up the local news. They always like to talk about shady local businesses.

I had a dodge neon I bought used a long time ago and it had a bad head gasket. The dealer replaced the head gasket for free and ended up having to replace the whole head cause it wasn't machinable.

 

welcome to the wonder world of evos!

I experienced the same thing with my evo, same exact thing! purchased the car as is with no warranty but I got a really good deal because I knew what was wrong (transmission). all 4 wheels locked up on me while going 40. it's a scary situation, except the transmission is what failed not the tc. are you sure that's what failed? were there any noises coming from tranny/tc? rattling?

If you can, I would return the car or have them fix it. unless of course you got a super good deal because they knew what was wrong in which case I would take it somewhere and have them check the entire drivetrain (rear diff, tranny, tc) and make sure everything is up to spec.

again, welcome. you will love/hate this car every day

 

You are pretty much SOL if you bought car without warranty. "as is" means just that. the only exception is in cases where you can show they deliberately tried to hide something wrong with car. like if car was salvage title and it wasnt disclosed during sale. a failing t-case is unfortunate. but it is up to the buyer to have car checked out by your own mechanic. if you failed that you failed yourself.

These cases are on court shows all the time.

 

"as is" doesn't justify them selling a nonoperational car. That could be considered a scam which does void "as is" contracts, but what do i know.. im stupid :P

 

I not sure 100% its the t-case. Could be the tranny for all I know.. And "94awdcoupe" im not SOL. There is laws that protect me as a consumer especially after 9 days. These are 2 laws saying so in the state of WA http://www.atg.wa.gov/uploadedfiles/...onusedcars.pdf
They hung up on me twice today and now im looking into hiring a civil attorney. They think because its "as is" they're in the clear but little do they know its not true.

 

^do hire an attorney and make them fix that sh*t. did you not get a pre-purchase inspection upon the trade? just out of curiosity, private party or small dealer?

 

I looked over the car and did a compression test and made sure the clutch was in good shape, 73k miles and it ran fine. Did my own car fax and checked all the vin# on the fenders, trunk, doors, dash ect... Things like the tranny or t-case is hard to notice unless its shifting funny or making the death whine which it wasn't... It's a decent size used car dealer that always has evo's and higher end cars. Only thing is they're russians but I never expected the car to break down this fast. I knew these cars have issues with the t-case and trans but it drove great and looked really nice. We love the car and want to fix it I even told them we don't want to return it. They were nice to give us 2k more than the trade in value of her rsx but still 17,999 for this to happen...

 

"Only thing is they're russians" dont trust em ever!... lol jk, but when i got my car from a private party, I had it checked out by mitsubishi for the inspection. Never know whats wrong, saved me from the previous evo i almost bought. inpection came out to a 1k or so in damages and the guy wouldn't lower the price, so i got a different evo.

but since it was a decent sized dealer with high end cars, i expect better. maybe you were just unlucky =(

 

Hey I am not gaining anything telling it like it is. My wife watches court shows all day. I pay special attention to the cases involving autos. I have sold a couple hundred cars over the years. I know the business well. I hope you get them to pay for it. I really do.. But thats not gonna happen by threatening them with law suit. Cars break all the time. especially high performance ones. You have the burden of proof that they knew the t-case was bad and they sold it to you that way without disclosure. If you can do that you have a case. I just dont see that happening at all. just because it broke nine days after you got it doesnt mean squat.

I have a powerful car that shattered 4 transmissions. None of which broke during hard pulls. It was always just driving normally when the trans let go.
when gear teeth get fractures in them they work normally right up to the moment they let go. It can happen anytime. If you yourself admit car drove fine how the heck was the dealer supposed to notice????

Your in a bad spot. I wish you luck.

 

In my state, dealers are not allowed to sell a car "as is". If they sell a car, it is protected by the lemon law unless it explicitly stated as a parts car only or with exact details of what is wrong. (It does not specifically state in the statute whether this is also the case with private sales.)

There are bureaus that deal with dealerships specifically. (similar to the better business bureau) I forget what they are called. They may not have these in every state. You could probably get this info from google or if you called the better business bureau for your state. If you ask them, they will call the dealership (for free) and have a talk with them about the law and how it applies to your specific situation. They have a lot of leverage, and the dealer should listen to them without any problems. They have these because the public can not afford to pay for legal counsel every time something like this happens.

 

Dang Jeff sorry to hear that this happened. Do you know if the 60,000 mile service was ever performed on this car? Good luck. I hope the dealership takes care of you. 18,000 seems a little high for an VIII...but I guess it is worth what you want to way for it. Are you looking into the Tcase and/or tranny to see what is actually wrong or are you waiting to see if the dealership will fix it? (I'm the guy with the silver IX from a week ago) take care

 

$17,999 for an VIII with 73k miles is pretty effing steep man. I paid $10,9 for my 03 with 66k miles. bust tranny but still.

that's neither here nor there, but good luck with the civil suit man. keep us posted, I know how it feels and what it's like.