Test driver broke my car
#1
Test driver broke my car
So I recently listen my auto 03 sedan on multiple sites for sale and a potential buyer messaged me this morning to see the car.I daily drive my sedan with no problem and really don’t redline my car much and I see no reason to as I take city streets to work.Anyways we met up and the buyer was very interested in the car and wanted to test drive it.During the test drive,the buyer drove it aggressively going at least 60mph in small streets and kept flooring it the whole drive.But during the drive he had it in manual mode and I noticed he kept it in upshift and didn’t shift any gears and I heard a loud bang on the hood.We parked at a nearby mall and popped the hood and now my pulley is poppped out which also damaged my radiator fan and radiator as well as my serpentine belt which is completely shredded.My daily driver is now undriveable and is leaking coolant along with a brake and battery light on my dash.The driver then used that as an excuse to knock down the price and supposedly was offering to buy it still as is tomorrow but I doubt he’s coming back.Anyways I called the tow and had it towed to my house and now I’m stuck as to what to do.I really don’t want to drop anymore money on the car as I was trying to get rid of it to buy a more economical car.now it’s uber trips to work. 😠 should I junk it?
#2
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Washington State
Posts: 14,799
Received 2,462 Likes
on
2,154 Posts
Coupe 6MT Premium RAS
What exactly broke? Take a pic and post it.
Even under the stress of redline the motor shouldn't kaboom unless something was worn and on the way out in the first place, mechanically the non-rev can hold 7500 before oil starvation blows out a bearing. 7k sustained is not going to kill the motor and the AT model shouldn't be seeing anything over 6800 anyways due to rev limiters.
Are you sure it was a pulley that went first or did the belt blow and then wind itself around a pulley and take it out?
Even under the stress of redline the motor shouldn't kaboom unless something was worn and on the way out in the first place, mechanically the non-rev can hold 7500 before oil starvation blows out a bearing. 7k sustained is not going to kill the motor and the AT model shouldn't be seeing anything over 6800 anyways due to rev limiters.
Are you sure it was a pulley that went first or did the belt blow and then wind itself around a pulley and take it out?
#3
#4
I drove ttrank's car solo
iTrader: (50)
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: By the sea, Tx
Posts: 18,301
Received 1,486 Likes
on
1,221 Posts
G35 sedan w/ too much money in mods
There's virtually no way the test driver did anything that would cause your pulley to fly off, shred the belt and hurt the radiator and fans but it is a case of bad timing. It's clear to me you don't know a lot about how cars work based on this and other posts/threads of yours and that's cool because you're here asking for help. This is a great place to learn which in turn will make you a more knowledgeable owner and you can save a lot of $$$ learning to fix common issues on your own down the road.
Flooring a car in first isn't an idiotic thing to do but it's not cool IMHO to do it on a test drive in a car that isn't yours. As long as your car has plenty of oil and other fluids this sounds like a mechanical failure of some kind that has nothing to do with the test drive, it's just ironic it happened then. No need to scrap the car, get what's messed up fixed and hopefully the mechanic that does the work can tell you what caused the issue. If the test driver does show up and wants to negotiate price listen to his offer and decide if you want to negotiate a better or take what he offers you. He'll probably try to lowball you but it doesn't hurt to hear what he has to say.
Flooring a car in first isn't an idiotic thing to do but it's not cool IMHO to do it on a test drive in a car that isn't yours. As long as your car has plenty of oil and other fluids this sounds like a mechanical failure of some kind that has nothing to do with the test drive, it's just ironic it happened then. No need to scrap the car, get what's messed up fixed and hopefully the mechanic that does the work can tell you what caused the issue. If the test driver does show up and wants to negotiate price listen to his offer and decide if you want to negotiate a better or take what he offers you. He'll probably try to lowball you but it doesn't hurt to hear what he has to say.
#7
Trending Topics
#8
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Washington State
Posts: 14,799
Received 2,462 Likes
on
2,154 Posts
Coupe 6MT Premium RAS
Yep, fan clutch pulley died a horrible death, fortunately it's not an expensive component.
$50 fan clutch pulley
$50 new fan blade
Reuse existing fan clutch
$10 new drive belt
$60 new 2003 radiator
$20 Nissan green coolant 1 gallon
Less than $200 worth of parts to repair, hardest part sometimes is getting that fan clutch pulley bracket out, sometimes it just pops out, other times you have to beat it out with a hammer and drift.
EDIT: Hardest part is bleeding air from the system, biggest tip I can give you is to ADD COOLANT SLOWLY!!!! If you just dump in a bunch and fill the radiator you may as well just drain it out and start over again, 1 gallon per minute max so pour it in VERY SLOOOOOOWLY.
$50 fan clutch pulley
$50 new fan blade
Reuse existing fan clutch
$10 new drive belt
$60 new 2003 radiator
$20 Nissan green coolant 1 gallon
Less than $200 worth of parts to repair, hardest part sometimes is getting that fan clutch pulley bracket out, sometimes it just pops out, other times you have to beat it out with a hammer and drift.
EDIT: Hardest part is bleeding air from the system, biggest tip I can give you is to ADD COOLANT SLOWLY!!!! If you just dump in a bunch and fill the radiator you may as well just drain it out and start over again, 1 gallon per minute max so pour it in VERY SLOOOOOOWLY.
#9
Update guys:Turns out my car is on its last legs it has 250k miles and my mechanic told me that my car isn’t worth my money to fix because the engine is about to give out soon 😪 I daily drove my car for 2 years and now she’s about to rip it’s a good thing I guess...she was eating up my paychecks month by month on maintenance I should of seen it coming.Thankgod I have my new 6mt in my garage waiting for me to use it in the summertime.Now I have to find a $1000 beater to get me to work
#10
#11
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Washington State
Posts: 14,799
Received 2,462 Likes
on
2,154 Posts
Coupe 6MT Premium RAS
#12
#15