I think I’m screwed?

yea, they did a compression test, cylinder 3 held only 60lbs. sprayed wd40 (some oil too) down the cylinder, started it up and went to 150lbs (where it should be). he also did a leak down test and came to the conclusion that the short block needs to be replaced.

 

Alright, just throw a new mill in there. Yeah I've been in the situation where I've sold something before that the buyer had issues with (although they were probably just unhappy with their purchase since it was sight unseen and they might have buyer's remorse). They came pissing and moaning back to me about "issues" that didn't really exist and that they were completely wrong about, but I refunded the buyer all his money including shipping since I'd rather not deal with that sort of thing and come out a little behind in financial standing rather than have an unhappy "customer." Not many people are like that though. Hopefully you can get your money back. Other than that just swap the whole engine. Watch this to see what you're getting yourself into if you only want to swap in a short block on top of your basic engine swap:



Grab some popcorn - 3 hour 6 part series.

 

Right on, thanks for all the help man!

 

Great advice, just what I would do.

 

all this equates to one thing. the seller had no clue about the vehicle other than they drove it and thought they replaced the problem (not a car/truck person by any means).

you got it inspected/looked at after talking with the seller and then still decided to buy it. the seller has no further interaction with you or the vehicle.

unless your bill of sale states about a refund or warranty (doubtful) then the seller will give/owes you nothing.

if you decide to confront the seller you can (and based on the seller's attitude) be sued for harassment. not worth it for your sanity or wallet.

as you said @fholl29 lesson learned. any used vehicle is not 100% perfect and there will always be things that "could" go wrong.

one thing you never stated is how long you had it before you decided to take it to Toyota for "maintenance", days, weeks, months?


plenty of people on here can/will assist you if you ask for it. most times it takes food and beer and the feeling they've helped another Toyota owner stay in a Toyota.

best of luck OP, I hope things work out for the best for you.

 

Thanks for sharing more details. Sounds like the seller sold you a bill of goods and knew the engine had major issues.

I'm glad you're not going to just take it in the shorts like a few guys on this thread are suggesting. Easy for them to say since they're not the ones being screwed out of big money. The person who said you could be sued for harassment doesn't know what they're talking about. With the circumstances you just defined, you are fully within your right to go back to this guy and let him know the problem with the misfire that he said was fixed wasn't true and you're looking at a very expensive repair. For someone to have a case for harassment, you have to show repeated acts.

If the guy blows you off, I'd suggest taking him to small claims court. I don't know what the maximum settlement is currently for small claims but it might be the most affordable instead of hiring lawyers. Maybe just the threat of legal action will get the guy to do the right thing.

Anyway, I'm glad you're not going to take this lying down. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.

 

I helped my ex restore her 79 VW Westfalia: Body/Paint/Interior/Head/Transmission. Buyer paid $16K for it and attempted to drive it from LA to Seattle in a single shot on 105 degree day. We suggested that they trailer it as VW's often breakdown- its just the nature of classic VW's. They made it to Chico before the transmission seal went out. They called us from the road and asked if we had any idea what it might be. We didnt. It left a bad taste in our mouth as we put a lot of work into restoring it and were 100% honest about everything. While they might have thought we were dishonest (though they never confronted us), that fact was they were just new to owning a classic VW and treated it like it was a new car.

So this can go both ways...

 

The guy "seemed" to be very friendly so I'm hoping he didn't know and understands the difficulty of the situation. Hopefully get some money back for repairs at the very least.

Anyways, thanks for the support man

 

You sell a car to someone. 6 months later, the engine needs to rebuilt. The buyer comes back to you for compensation and you are telling me you would give them back some money. It's not morals, it's stupidity. Every used car I have sold has been maintained to the best of my abilities but the bill of sale always states, "as is". I have no control what happens after the car leaves my hands, nor should I be responsible for it, either. You should know better than to go through life thinking there is a warranty or that the seller's responsibility lies past a sale on a used car purchased through a private party.

 

You had a mechanic look it over and he didn't find anything and it is still the seller's fault? Am I missing something?

 

You don't have a case on a "as is" buyer beware purchase. It is time to move on. The thing that floors me is you took it to a "well respected" mechanic who gave his blessing and you still think you are owed something.

 

You're a little late to the debate on this. I stated my opinion on this matter and explained why I felt the OP got screwed on the deal. The OP already has a plan of action in place. Go look for an argument elsewhere.

 

Not an argument. It's just a pointing out a lack of realism on your part.

 

So @fholl29 where are we on repair or replacement of the 3.4L? Did you also switch where your truck was being serviced?

Too much arguing about getting money back from the seller I didn't want to sift through that to find out.