What do you think abou tthis car I accidentally won on ebay?

Question

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=120129040028&rd=1,1

I thought that it sounded like a good deal and a few major parts have been repaired (or so he says). But a blown head gasket? I thought I could drive it home and have it repaired, but will that be possible? Is it hard to replace these things yourself?

Answer 1

The seller was very upfront about the condition of the vehicle. He seem to have pictures showing the flaws, and said that there was a problem with the head gasket.

You bid on the car and won it. Bidding on ebay is a contract!! You gave your word when you bid that if you were the high bidder, you would buy the vehicle!!!

You do not say how far you live from the seller, but you may want to look into a trailer to bring the car a distance. I would not want to take a chance driving the car a long distance with the head gasket problem.

If you do not want to buy the vehicle, you might contact the seller to see if you can work out a deal where you pay his expenses, and the difference between what he sells the car for and your bid, but it is up to the seller to agree or not.

Live up to your word. Someone who's word is no good is not a good person! You bid on the car, pay for it!!

Good luck!!

Answer 2

Well, the seller seems honest about the various issues that it has, however, never smart to buy a vehicle with that many miles and that many issues without actually test-driving it and having a mechanic take a look at it to evaluate if there are other things wrong with it. This is not a car you'd be able to resell, other than maybe to a junkyard for parts. The head gasket can be expensive and you would probably not be able to replace it yourself unless you are a mechanic, which then you would know if you could replace it yourself, so I'm guessing you are not. Driving with a bad head gasket, especially on a over 300k car could seize the engine, especially if it is locking it up - then you would waste your gas money and your valueable time picking it up + you would have totaled it in that case, since a new engine would cost way more than the car is worth. Overall, not a good choice and you bid way too much for it! It's risky buying a car on ebay that is not in pretty great shape or rare and you're willing to take these risks for.

Answer 3

You can't drive a car with a blown head gasket. Even if it were possible, it would blow the heads themselves. You have to tow it to a mechanic to replace the gasket. It will cost hundreds because the mechanic has to dismantle most of the engine to get to the head gasket, but that's the only way to make it driveable. You really can't get a car for under $600 without risking something like this, so I wouldn't be surprised. Since this car has more than 300,000 miles, something major was bound to be needed.

Answer 4

My husband replaced a head gasket once; just takes time and patience. You could get a quote from a local garage. and you CAN drive it that way, as they say in the posting, but not aggressively or for a great distance. For $590, if it will pass state inspection, it's probably worth a $1000 repair, but that is your decision.

As someone above said...how do you "accidentally" win on ebay? I'm guessing you bid, but never expected to win because the bid was low. If so, you knowingly risked the $590 so must have felt it would be worth it to get the car for that amount.

Good luck; hope it goes another 50K for you!

Answer 5

Drive that car until it dies. You will not be able to replace the headgasket, nor is it a smart idea to do so. The guy played down the whole headgasket thing. Maybe the part costs $50, but to replace it you have to tear down the engine, and it'll cost over $1000 if a shop does it.

Learn how to change your own oil, and change it OFTEN! That is the best way to prolong this cars life. If you do a lot of city driving change it every 500 miles, if you do highway driving change it every 1000 miles. And check your coolant lever weekly and refill.

What a headgasket does is prevent oil and coolant from mixing. A broken one will cause coolant to seep into your oil. It waters down your oil and damages your engine, because coolant isnt good at protecting an engine.

Good luck, I bet you feel stupid, but dont worry, I know people who buy cars like this all the time, just not this many miles and a broken headgasket!

Answer 6

Whoa, it's a little late to be asking the question now. That car is scrap. It was meant to be purchased by someone looking to sell the parts. Maybe you can make your money back that way.. The engine already has too many miles on it for it to be efficient, and the head gasket is blown? Pfft, forget about it. I'm almost positive you'll need a new engine.

Answer 7

You can't drive a car with a blown head gasket and it's expensive to repair. Your main problem will be finding an honest grease monkey.

Answer 8

If you cannot do the work yourself, a blown head gasket (or worse) can be a very costly procedure. You need to be more selective on your ebay purchases.

With 321,000 miles, uses oil, and has a major mechanical problem, I suggest you take the hit on your buyer rating and don't complete the sale. What is going to break down next if you do fix it??

Answer 9

blown head gasket is very expensive to repair, if it can be repaired. ($1000 +). Sometimes the entire engine must be replaced ($whooooeee!) Good luck.

Answer 10

get rid of it, number one the mileage is over the limit and it will fail on u in the future and it will cost u around 800 to 1000 dollar to have the engine rebuilt, that what explain the blown out gasket because the past owner probably forgot to add oil when it was in used. and it will cost u every parts that need inside the engine , ( pistons, piston rings, cranshaft, gasket, friss plugs, etc...)