Sold my car and now the motor is blown

[NR92]

As im sure some of you know i recently sold my Grand prix, it was an 04 Comp G, the motor had right around 15k miles on it and the rest of the car had 135k, had an overkill tune, and then had it street tuned by a guy on here to cover the a/f ratio and any KR issues, it also had a 3.4 inch pulley on a gen5, yeah as everyone knows its an aggressive pulley but we were able to tune for it and make it safe anyway a few weeks ago me and a buddy scanned it for kr while running down the highway while it was about 30ish degrees outside and it came up with a consistent 2* kr while making 14psi of boost.

now on to last week, guy came and looked at the car and decided he wanted to buy it, due to some issues i ended up driving an hour to his house to deliver it on Saturday, not an issue at all, fast forward to Monday morning and i get a text from him asking, do you have any idea why there's oil coming out of the front of the motor and the car is burning oil out the tail pipes, so i call him and he told me it looked like the oil was coming out from under the T-stat housing so i kinda started to think maybe it blew out the LIM gasket some how and was dumping oil everywhere, well he ended up getting it to the shop, pulled the spark plugs and the motor ate two of them as well as chipped two pistons

the story he told me is sunday night he went out to eat with some friends, he went out and started the car and let it warm up for about half an hour (temps dropped to -5 that night) he then headed home, he told me he was going about 60mph down the highway when it all happened. Is my thinking right when i say with a properly tuned car, with no mechanical issues, you can not get KR without boost and lots of it? or am i wrong, lastly he told me he was running 87 octane fuel becuse thats all the gas staion had

what do you guys think

hes not "blaming" me but he is commenting that he paid 8 grand for a car with a blown motor

[crbquist]

The fact that he put 87 in it when 93 is required per GM is enough evidence that this is all on him. He could of got on it just a tad and at such a cold temperature causing the air to be more dense it could have caused some serious KR especially with that 3.4 on there. I'm assuming that you had supporting mods for the pulley? Regardless, you can blow a stock motor running 87 in these cars..

[2003 SSEi]

Im thinking he went out with "friends" and was trying to show off his new car.....

[NR92]

Yep all supporting mods from headers to plugs, and yeah I think he could have been showing off lol

[87IROCZOWNER69]

Not sure about Iowa but here in Nebraska we have that whole three day lemon law thing where if a car blows up three days after purchase they can pretty much take you to court and get the money back for the car and then the blown car gets dumped on you. However, if it is proven that he was showing off or neglecting it in anyway (wrong gas, burnouts, etc) then he is stuck with the car.

[DEMonte1997]

Im thinking he went out with "friends" and was trying to show off his new car.....

I agree with this. Anything is possible but it is highly improbable that he blew the motor driving it normally down the interstate at 60 mph.

Throwing 87 octane in it doesn't help.

[Elite6]

When I sold my last GTP it was pretty much stock, I only run the highest octane but the buyer decided to snatch up some gas from his local indian reserve. Well he decided to put some "87" in on a damn hot day & start thrashing the car. Next thing was an email to me saying the motor blew up. I said thank the 87 now F off. He wasn't going 60mph either.

[Scottydoggs]

sounds like he didn't believe you when you told him to use 93 octane. he killed it with the 87 and his right foot. i would lose no sleep over it. he fvcked up.

im sure the real -5 deg cold air didn't help any either.

[EJOUIE]

So, 2* of Kr at 30*F on 93 octane.

Guy puts in 87 octane at -5*F.


Perfect recipe for enough knock that Mr. Valve got so annoyed that he answered the door and flat out punched Mr. Piston.

[schollianmj]

So, 2* of Kr at 30*F on 93 octane.

Guy puts in 87 octane at -5*F.


Perfect recipe for enough knock that Mr. Valve got so annoyed that he answered the door and flat out punched Mr. Piston.

I love this explanation.

[Bio248]

the valve and piston most likely never met. KR causes high combustion chamber tempertures, which causes the piston rings to expand. then the gap in the ring closes it lops off the corner of the piston. chipped pistons all look the same because the same thing always happens.

however, if there was a hole in the block it's because he broke the rod somewhere.

[Tuner-Extraordinaire]

As im sure some of you know i recently sold my Grand prix, it was an 04 Comp G, the motor had right around 15k miles on it and the rest of the car had 135k, had an overkill tune, and then had it street tuned by a guy on here to cover the a/f ratio and any KR issues, it also had a 3.4 inch pulley on a gen5, yeah as everyone knows its an aggressive pulley but we were able to tune for it and make it safe anyway a few weeks ago me and a buddy scanned it for kr while running down the highway while it was about 30ish degrees outside and it came up with a consistent 2* kr while making 14psi of boost.

now on to last week, guy came and looked at the car and decided he wanted to buy it, due to some issues i ended up driving an hour to his house to deliver it on Saturday, not an issue at all, fast forward to Monday morning and i get a text from him asking, do you have any idea why there's oil coming out of the front of the motor and the car is burning oil out the tail pipes, so i call him and he told me it looked like the oil was coming out from under the T-stat housing so i kinda started to think maybe it blew out the LIM gasket some how and was dumping oil everywhere, well he ended up getting it to the shop, pulled the spark plugs and the motor ate two of them as well as chipped two pistons

the story he told me is sunday night he went out to eat with some friends, he went out and started the car and let it warm up for about half an hour (temps dropped to -5 that night) he then headed home, he told me he was going about 60mph down the highway when it all happened. Is my thinking right when i say with a properly tuned car, with no mechanical issues, you can not get KR without boost and lots of it? or am i wrong, lastly he told me he was running 87 octane fuel becuse thats all the gas staion had

what do you guys think

hes not "blaming" me but he is commenting that he paid 8 grand for a car with a blown motor

If you were seeing 2* KR from 93....
87 octane probably spiked 10* KR. -- car probably blew up on it's way to 60, from 0.

It's both your fault honestly. You should have never sold him the car with a tune on the thin line between Max Power and Risky.

He should have heeded your warning to only use 93.

[Oxfire]

You're absolved of any responsibility the second the car leaves your possession. If the new owner didn't do his due diligence on the platform he was moving on to, then that's his bad.

If you didn't disclose the condition of the car (tune, etc, etc) then if I were him I'd break your legs.

[Neil98gt]

It's both your fault honestly. You should have never sold him the car with a tune on the thin line between Max Power and Risky.

This is what I was thinking, why would you even run this kind of tune on your own car? Much less if you are selling it.

[goochman]

When I had a '99 GTP and gas prices were going up I was tempted to use 87 vs 93 to save money. Then listening to the radio they had engineers from GM, Ford, and Chrysler talking about the *real* need for high octane gas in superchargers. All 3 guys agreed that you could use 87 safely *except* the GM guy indicated the 3.8 Supercharged engine *required* 91+ due to the combustion timing - he indicted the control modules were not fast enough to modify the combustion to avoid damage running 87 in that particular model - other Supercharged engines were ok.

So right from the horses mouth dont use anything below 91.

[coolone]

Was the buyer knowledgeable to the modifications to the vehicle? Was the buyer aware of the octane requirement of the engine? If YES to both, then HE is the only culpable person. Fact is Razecars break, they are all on edge of what works and making it not work. The three day lemon law applies to private sales? I don't think so... But is why you need a signed receipt of sale "as is" with no warranty implied or offered! That covers your butt!



I agree though that this fool (buyer) and his money were parted due to over excited machoism!

[Grimsin]

he admitted to putting 87 octane in a car modded AND tuned for 91+ octane, his own stupid fault.

[dsmuts]

buy it back from him for $1000 now and replace motor and resell

[TLSheff]

the story he told me is sunday night he went out to eat with some friends, he went out and started the car and let it warm up for about half an hour (temps dropped to -5 that night) he then headed home, he told me he was going about 60mph down the highway when it all happened. Is my thinking right when i say with a properly tuned car, with no mechanical issues, you can not get KR without boost and lots of it? or am i wrong, lastly he told me he was running 87 octane fuel becuse thats all the gas staion had

hes not "blaming" me but he is commenting that he paid 8 grand for a car with a blown motor

"I was going 60" ALWAYS means I had it floored and was booking down the highway. Especially in regards to "I broke it" or "I don't want to go to jail". Even more so when you have a new modified car and friends in the car with you.

I would like to know where this POS fill-up station is that only has 87 octane. I have driven 30 miles on empty praying to make it back to town to ensure I run the proper octane in the car. Motors are too complicated to replace over saving $2-$4 per tank.

IF you did disclose the mods to the car, the aggressive tune, and the need to run 91+ octane. I would tell him its his fault he blew the motor. He knew what it needed and what it had in it. He should have used his head. Any business would say the same, you broke it, you bought it. Tell em to call his insurance and explain he blew the motor on a test drive and they need to cover it, that'll be good for a laugh.
IF you didn't disclose the info, you really should have and I would say half your fault. 90% of all my friends drive cars that use 87 octane, few actually run 91+ just because its better fuel. I don't let anyone pump gas into mine for fear that they would default to 87 not knowing the requirement. You gotta save your ass.

[txslow6]

hes not "blaming" me but he is commenting that he paid 8 grand for a car with a blown motor

No he's still blaming you otherwise he would have never texted you to begin with. I would have responded with I'm not a dealership and your a ****ing idiot putting in 87 when the gas door/cap and or owners manual tells you premium. Your problem not mine **** off. But maybe that's because I'm an asshole and the dude deserved what was coming to him.