Alright, here's the story. I drive an 05 6MT Coupe. I bought the car used, still under manufacturer's warranty (powertrain, not basic, but in California powertrain can still be used as a basis for lemon law). I looked at the service records, and thought nothing of it at the time, but the previous owner had it in at 8,500 miles to Riverside Infiniti for a rattle between 2K and 4K RPM. Diagnosis: engine oil level low (surprised? I'm not). No other problems reported for the time that he had it (until 37K). When I got the car, about 1K miles later I noticed a lot of spark knock coming from the engine, but thought it was some bad gas so I didn't do anything about it.

At 38K, my rear axles were pulled off and lubricated because of the rear axle click. I also brought up that my clutch pedal sticks but of course they found nothing wrong with that.

At 39K, I had a check engine light, brought it to Sacramento Infiniti, and it turns out my throttle body went bad.

About 1K miles later, I brought it to Team Infiniti in Oxnard for the spark knock. The first thing they did is recommend the de-carb for $280. I was out of other options so I said fine. They told me the problem was fixed. I took the car back from them, left the lot and noticed it as I pulled out of the lot. I turned around and brought it right back. They said my timing was fine, and the service manager basically just told me to drive the car harder to get the noise to go away. I brought up the clutch also, they found nothing wrong.

A few hundred miles later, I decided that didn't fly with me, so I brought it back about a week later. They adjusted my timing, I assume they pulled it back by about a degree. Not sure if this is related, but I drove it home, and noticed that when I would let off the gas I could feel a lot of vibration coming through the shift **** like that felt like the engine was dying out.

- OIL CHANGE AT 40,500 MILES

I was in Sacramento at about 41K miles so I brought the car in there for the vibration through the shift **** and also for a high RPM whine. The ASM at Sacramento Infiniti verified the noise and took the car in. First thing they did was reset the timing and idle and told me that Team Infiniti should not have changed it in the first place. I specifically told them about the spark knock, and that the timing helped but caused other problems. When I got the car back, the spark knock was back. They searched and searched for the sound but told me they could do no more until my stereo and amplifier were disconnected because they thought it might be electrical noise (it clearly is not). Again, I brought up the clutch, which of course they found nothing wrong with.

I took it to Oxnard Infiniti afterward, and none of the technicians there could hear the noise. Let me describe it this way, it sounds like a mild supercharger at high RPMs. But either way, I brought that up and let them look at it. Nothing. At this point I called Infiniti Consumer Affairs.

They told me I would have to go to another dealer for another opinion, so I drove an hour out of my way to Thousand Oaks. They could hear nothing abnormal either.

- At this point, I have 42,300 on the odometer. I decided to pull my dipstick, and I'm over halfway down on the dipstick (measured 17mm) since my oil change, which was at 40,500 miles as you can see above. 17mm in 1800 miles, which clearly falls in the no-good range on the chart.

I brought the car back to Oxnard to have them begin the oil consumption test. Service manager informed me that I am likely going to need a new engine. I said nothing about my clutch, but they performed the vehicle diagnostic when they topped off the oil level. Only one problem was found: the clutch pedal sticks. WTF?

So now I'm going to be stuck with a new engine and a car with a substantially lowered value that will most likely continue to have other problems. Noises were brought up as early as 8,500 miles by the previous owner and multiple times by me. Do you think I have a case here for Lemon Law or will I have to let them replace the engine first?

P.S.: For what it's worth, driving the car is fun. Just need it to run right.

 

with a 2005, time is not on your side...but you might have a case if the car has been out of service for a cumulative 30 days.

 

I know time isn't helping, but in California as long as you're still covered by warranty you can still file a case. I think I'm probably looking around 20 days in the shop.

 

unfortunately 20 days won't do it. The other condition is that the car has had to have been returned for repairs at least 4 times for the same item. In either case, make sure your record keeping of all your dealer visits, diagnostics, and corrections are impeccable.

 

I know 20 days won't cut it, I was just talking about the number of times it has been in for spark knock/pinging and then the number of problems overall. If they want me to get a new engine, I think I will try.

 

Do lemon laws apply when a vehicle is bought used?

 

yes. For example, a two-year old used car sold with the remaining one year portion of a manufacturer's three-year new car warranty would be treated as a new motor vehicle.

 

intersting