Glad you walked, sorry you had to travel so far for such treatment. Is the Car and Van market that bad in Florida? I would think less rust down there, but I am guessing more miles.
Probably not really bad. Just hit and miss on quality and price. Also options. The Transit I bought last yr fit the bill and checked all the boxes. Had been an A/C service truck down south and probably traded in by a larger company for a newer van. On the surface all I needed to do was letter it, get in and start making money. Maybe if the van had the 3.7 ecoboost gas engine it wouldnt be having the issues it has now.
Tony . Rust is still an issue if the vehicle is anywhere near the coast . Daily concentrations of Salt water lased DEW spreads rust too . Almost just as bad as us up north get driving in the salt on winter roads .
Yes, I was told years ago that even California coast cars tended to get rust higher up in seems and trim areas unlike here where our cars waste away from the bottom up. I also have noticed the driver side rust is usually worse. and believe that's because of splash from oncoming traffic and snowplows.
Been stewing on this for a few days. Only part that really gets me the fact they knew that this van was less than advertised and tried to push it off on me. Now the discript has changed to read not legal to drive on Va. roads, Mech Special. Found a link on their web site that says " Speak to the owner" Filled out the form. we'll see where that goes. I'm thinking I am entitled to be compensated for my additional expenses. The trip up was on my but the trip home was not part of the deal. Side note, dropped by the Ford dealer where my transit has been setting for weeks and they have it in the shop. Old converter on the floor. Front engine cradle on a stand. stupid how much of the stuff had to be removed to access the transmission. Hope it will be done soon.Next will be to find a guy to drive it and then I'm pressured to sell enough work to keep that guy busy for the rest of the summer.
Briz I have a (tall) Mercedes 2012 that we are not going to spend the money on to get it back on the road. The last estimate was for $10,655 to fix everything. $611 in belts, $200 cooling system flush, $170 brake fluid, $4261 P/A ESP control unit (Something do do with the brakes), $3052 for AC compressor, belt, dryer, plus flush, and $1600 for a power steering pump and fluid. PM me if you are at all interested. Maybe with this one you could keep yours on the road a few more years. Cliff
Thanks Cliff for the offer. Probably not going to take ya up on this as I really dont have the time or patience to take that on. Have a few different scenarios in my head but what makes the most since is to just move my stuff over to the Ford and hop for the best. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll find a shop that wants to take on the challenge. Contacted the dealer that used to work on it 10 yrs ago. The Sprinter trained guy they had retired and the computer will only work on stuff 10 yrs and newer. Cannot get a Mercedes dealer to answer the phone or return a call
Best advice regarding buying any vehicle came our resident "Crack spider" Chris years ago when I was hot for a 67 GS convertible being sold by a small rural Arkansas dealer. He told me it was better to regret NOT buying a vehicle than to regret buying it. I've never forgotten that. Also got a great opinion from RACEBUICKS after sending him several photos. Couldn't make a personal trip down, so hired a professional appraiser which was worth twice the cost. You'll find a replacement soon enough, it will probably fall into your lap.
Don’t waste your time. That’s water under the bridge, just be sure you get your deposit back and chalk it up to lessons learned.
Here’s what I believe generally happens more and more. A vehicle enters in to its twilight years, an owner is either faced with weird problems that no one can fix or there is a costly laundry list of obvious stuff that needs to be fixed, or both. They trade the vehicle in, it goes to auction and ends up on the corner lot where it gets sold with an aftermarket warranty, either gratis or rolled into the payment. Then the fun begins. All of the weird problems rear their ugly head in short order, the oversold aftermarket warranty doesn't cover squat (the seller of these policies should be drawn and quartered) and the owner is left holding the bag. The A/M warranty policy sellers embellish what’s covered and conveniently skip over the exclusion’s page. The seller of these policies should be forced to be the only one to administer and make “warranty” repairs on a vehicle they sell with said policy. Many Indy repair shops who don’t sell vehicles such as mine won’t even consider working with one of these polices. We advise our clients to self-insure, and use the proceeds when the time comes for repairs and maintenance. Steve, you did a good thing by plugging in a scan tool. Permanent codes are ones “left behind” either when a code is cleared when a problem is fixed, or when a problem is not fixed. In other words, you have no idea whether the NOX sensor issues are resolved or not. The PCM will eventually clear the permanent codes when it’s good and ready, aka once it’s sure the system is operating properly. A used car dealer lol. I bet I can tell you which option they took. And always look for monitor readiness status in OBDII. Another little helpful nugget.
IMO, aftermarket "warranty's" aren't worth the paper you wipe your ass with. Bought a used 96 Chevy Z/71 truck 20 years ago which the seller proudly proclaimed had a Lubrico Warranty. He also claimed it was "one owner". Up to that point I'd always performed my own oil changes, which I soon learned invalidated the "warranty". Had to start patronizing a local quick oil change specialist shop, which turned out to be quite good. Didn't take long to learn that "warranty" covered essentially nothing. When I registered (titled) the truck before picking it up, I learned the truck had FOUR previous owners. Seller seemed "surprised", then he told me it came from an auction. Thankfully it was a good truck which I kept for 10 years.
If you purchase a new car and decide to buy the extended warranty, ask politely that the seller show you where it says in print that it is the manufacturer issuing the warranty. The bride bought our minivan and the warranty. At no point did the salesman (the dealer had one dedicated person who handled the warrantees tell us that the warranty was not issued by Chrysler- note: spell-check gave me three options on the word warrantees,; I didn't like any of them). As it happens, we never used it, the only issue that we had were needing two batteries (the van has two) which was specifically excluded from the warranty. I blame the stop/start "feature" for the batteries.
Speaking about warranties. When I purchased the Transit in may of 2023 I picked up the Ford ESP.(Extended Service Plan) Van was sold certified used which i now know means squat. Anyway its been in the shop for 6+ weeks. I get a call Sat while I was at the track and service writer says your van has been done since Thursday but I didnt know how to write up the 3 separate issues on the work order. The Trans / converter was 100% covered as I'd just had it repaired less than a yr ago and that repair has a 2 yr guarantee. The DPF issue will be billed as a deductible only . Dont know why as I paid 400$ 2 months prior to get it cleaned and drivable again. The kicker is the intercooler. Warranty will only cover 1/2 the cost. Have no idea why but thinking I'll fight that one. Turns out the intercooler problem was causing the DPF issues.
Well I just hope that it works… if it turns into a reliable vehicle you’ll still be rightly annoyed but it will eventually pay its own way… best of luck that this saga is over!
