Hey folks-
Well, I finally got the car I thought, key word, thought, I always wanted. A '95 Legend L coupe black/tan, for $1,900 no less! It even had newer 16" TL wheels on it and a sic carbon-fiber hood. The thing is, it had 255k on the odometer, which I knew was a lot, and I knew about the dreaded head gasket issue these cars have. But, the guy told me that the engine had recently been rebuilt, and the transmission was rebuilt like 70k ago, and it drove buttery smooth and powerful I swear...still does...which is why what I'm about to tell you is tough to wrap my head around.
Anyways, so I bought the car just four days ago. And have had an awesome time driving it around, putting it through its paces, and thinking I got the best damn used car ever ($1,900 bucks!) . However, naturally, I had to take it to get smogged, which I would soon learn was something that the previous owner was required to do within the past 90 days before selling it to me. Of course, he did not do this, and I did not know about this before the smog place just now told me about it.
Anyways, to cut to the chase....my car is a gross polluter! It's apparently burning all sorts of engine oil, as evidenced by the white smoke coming out it's tailpipe. Smoke that I never noticed at all before, despite letting it idle in front of me for upwards of 15 minutes. I damn near shat my pants when as I'm watching the smog guy do his thing, my beautiful Ack starts puffing like a chimey. I'm thinking...what the hell did you guys do to my car?!?!? It never did this before I swear! So my heart drops when the smog guys explain to me that it's a serious polluter, and is more than likely gonna require thousands of dollars in repairs to make it right again.
So, the weird thing is, it still seems to run just fine, pull plenty strong, idle fine, etc. But the "check engine" light had started to come on intermittently earlier today before taking it to the smog place. Oh, and the "D4" light had started to blink here 'n there too, both things that went off if I turned the car off and then on again.
I had just seen the local Acura repair guy right before the smog guys, and have an appointment tomorrow for him to check everything out, particularly the "D4" blinking light, which may or may not be the infamous "mil" light that I kept hearing about from the smog guys and him, which if on, automatically fails smog or something.
So this all leaves me in a precarious position of course. The smog folks told me that because it is CA law that the seller must smog it right before selling it to me, and he didn't, that I would have a case for him being "forced" to take the car back and return my $1,900. If he refuses, then I take him to small claims court presumably. Which I think my lawyer friend would help me with, but hopefully it doesn't come to that.
Still, I love this car regardless! It's phucking sic, the black color, carbon hood, TL wheels, nice interior, I want to keep it if possible because I know how rare nice 2nd gen coupes are, and I bought it for $1,900 afterall, I knew I was gonna have room to spend to fix her up nice 'n proper. Of course, if this involves totally rebuilding the engine, tranny, replacing catalytic converter, etc.etc.etc., then who knows what I should do. I still want to see what my mechanic tomorrow tells me is actually wrong with it of course, and I'll go from there most likely. Like maybe the famed head gasket is blown, who knows, and the engine was never rebuilt afterall (most likely)...I just got suckered into taking it off this guy's hands who knew it was gonna die soon.
So fellow Legend lovers, any advice? tips? This is all such a bummer, 'cause I thought I'd found the car I was gonna drive for the "rest of my life" more or less hah hah The thing looks so sweet and drives so well still....why me God....whyyyyy?!?!?!? :bash:
Well, I finally got the car I thought, key word, thought, I always wanted. A '95 Legend L coupe black/tan, for $1,900 no less! It even had newer 16" TL wheels on it and a sic carbon-fiber hood. The thing is, it had 255k on the odometer, which I knew was a lot, and I knew about the dreaded head gasket issue these cars have. But, the guy told me that the engine had recently been rebuilt, and the transmission was rebuilt like 70k ago, and it drove buttery smooth and powerful I swear...still does...which is why what I'm about to tell you is tough to wrap my head around.
Anyways, so I bought the car just four days ago. And have had an awesome time driving it around, putting it through its paces, and thinking I got the best damn used car ever ($1,900 bucks!) . However, naturally, I had to take it to get smogged, which I would soon learn was something that the previous owner was required to do within the past 90 days before selling it to me. Of course, he did not do this, and I did not know about this before the smog place just now told me about it.
Anyways, to cut to the chase....my car is a gross polluter! It's apparently burning all sorts of engine oil, as evidenced by the white smoke coming out it's tailpipe. Smoke that I never noticed at all before, despite letting it idle in front of me for upwards of 15 minutes. I damn near shat my pants when as I'm watching the smog guy do his thing, my beautiful Ack starts puffing like a chimey. I'm thinking...what the hell did you guys do to my car?!?!? It never did this before I swear! So my heart drops when the smog guys explain to me that it's a serious polluter, and is more than likely gonna require thousands of dollars in repairs to make it right again.
So, the weird thing is, it still seems to run just fine, pull plenty strong, idle fine, etc. But the "check engine" light had started to come on intermittently earlier today before taking it to the smog place. Oh, and the "D4" light had started to blink here 'n there too, both things that went off if I turned the car off and then on again.
I had just seen the local Acura repair guy right before the smog guys, and have an appointment tomorrow for him to check everything out, particularly the "D4" blinking light, which may or may not be the infamous "mil" light that I kept hearing about from the smog guys and him, which if on, automatically fails smog or something.
So this all leaves me in a precarious position of course. The smog folks told me that because it is CA law that the seller must smog it right before selling it to me, and he didn't, that I would have a case for him being "forced" to take the car back and return my $1,900. If he refuses, then I take him to small claims court presumably. Which I think my lawyer friend would help me with, but hopefully it doesn't come to that.
Still, I love this car regardless! It's phucking sic, the black color, carbon hood, TL wheels, nice interior, I want to keep it if possible because I know how rare nice 2nd gen coupes are, and I bought it for $1,900 afterall, I knew I was gonna have room to spend to fix her up nice 'n proper. Of course, if this involves totally rebuilding the engine, tranny, replacing catalytic converter, etc.etc.etc., then who knows what I should do. I still want to see what my mechanic tomorrow tells me is actually wrong with it of course, and I'll go from there most likely. Like maybe the famed head gasket is blown, who knows, and the engine was never rebuilt afterall (most likely)...I just got suckered into taking it off this guy's hands who knew it was gonna die soon.
So fellow Legend lovers, any advice? tips? This is all such a bummer, 'cause I thought I'd found the car I was gonna drive for the "rest of my life" more or less hah hah The thing looks so sweet and drives so well still....why me God....whyyyyy?!?!?!? :bash:
