I am livid to say the least. This is lengthy but want to give you full detail from the purchase of this car to what it did last night. Too many flags are going up now that began a week ago. To skip the story and go straight to the problem, the problem is in dark red.
I got my son a job, it was an hour away from home, but it was a job. With this job he was to save money to buy a car. Well he drove my van to work and the last day he worked the engine started clanging and then he had no power (did run, but no getty up and go) and then he said the oil light came on. So my husband left work and went and got him, feeling the engine was shot, put oil in it and drove it home. So I am assuming I have another van that needs an engine, this is #2 in less than 2 years with the EXACT same sound as my first van, both in the drive way. The other van does have metal in the oil, this van as far as we can tell does not.
So we loan our son $1800 to pay off a car that someone was nice enough to let him make payments on until it was paid off. I wanted my son to buy a $1000 car until he got speeding out of his system and learned how to take car of a car, much easier to walk away from a $1000 purchase than a $2600 purchase, but it was his choice. He had a signed contract on the car for the payments, not the condition, it is a 98 Bonnieville. We looked at the car and it was MINT except a rust spot we found, inside and out was dealership clean, INCLUDING the engine. No engine noise at all. It looked and sounded very well cared for. I don't remember the exact miles but I want to say about 147,000.
I then found out the DAY of purchase my son entered a contract with a 16 year old boy, just many flags being raised now. The mother and I got into it about things and I told her my son would look the car over before handing her the money (she refused to take my personal check for final payoff even though I had paid personal check for $700 of the payments to her 16 YEAR OLD SON). So I had her and her son sign that my son was buying this car with no known mechanical defects. Within 4 hours of being home my son lost that Bill of Sale (that I made up not the seller) and the title to the car. We cannot find it anywhere. I looked at it at 7:50 pm when after I put R134a in it it began to smoke, assuming all the freon was leaking out. So at 8 pm he had it, at 1 am it was gone.
He bought the car on 7/28/12 and at 2 am this morning it quit!
So this is how it went...
When we got the car the day we purchased it it had a SLIGHT tick, more like a belt tick, I have heard it before and the serpentine belt needed replaced on that vehicle, being a 98 I didn't expect to buy a quiet engine, so when we first looked at it I was really surprised the day we looked at it that the engine was quiet. When he entered the contract to purchase (they would not allow us to drive it any further than around the block (red flag now, but then they told us it had expired tags so I understood, later on I looked at the registration they gave us and it said the tags were good through July 31, so I was then confused, then they said after I handed them the money the tags were actually good through next year). So we signed a contract on a PERFECT looking and sounding car, only to pick up a car that was not what we thought we were buying, yes I should had him walk away and I even asked him 4 times if he was sure, but my son was not worried about the less than perfect condition now (though I was becoming leery, as the PERFECT paint job now showed signs of oxidation, the interior was dirty, before it was spotless, the car had old grass in it, it looked like a car you'd by from an individual not a dealer, day we looked at it it was as clean as what you'd by from a dealer, complete disappointment). So we drove it home, no problem, but got home and began to find a host of problems. My son never checked the ac and the compressor is bad. Then 2 days ago the compressor started making a loud noise and would leave silver chips of metal on the bottom of the engine. So I had been trying to get the car into our regular mechanic for the past 2 days and cannot get ahold of him.
Last night I drove the car about 1 mile, the car drove really well. Parked it and when my husband came home we went up to town, which is 20 miles from home. We drove 1/4 of mile in town the oil light dinged and went back off, my husband told him to just drive where we were going (it was less than 1 minute away) and then we headed up to Wal Mart to get some oil when it dinged again and it died (Wal Mart was less than a minute from where we were, same parking lot). My son tried to start it and it would not start. My husband checked the oil, it was low but not dangerously low on the dipstick. He just checked the oil on Saturday and it was fine, and there is no visible oil leak. So he put 2 quarts oil in it (I THINK) and then drove it up to the front of Wal Mart. Oil pressure was really low (my son said the oil pressure had been low and dropping for days, usually hanging out above the red bar but had dipped in the red bar and he said it was never to the second line, which I think is 40, not sure). Anyway, my husband went and got more oil and put either 1 or 1/2 more quarts in it.
So after putting the oil in it the rattling sound became less but now sounds just like my van but seems quieter than my van.
The temp gauge has never gone up. He has never lost any power while driving as far as I know. My sons girlfriends dad looked at the car 2 days ago and told him the spark plugs are the wrong plugs for the car, the dash lights won't work if the radio is plugged in, and the car had that tick. I took it up to Advance Auto parts after taking it to my mechanic who was not at his shop and the AAP person said the tick sounds like a vacuum leak and that the compressor is shot and the metal pieces should not be there. He said the squeal that the ac compressor was making will seize the compressor and said not to use the ac. I told him we had not used the ac since I put the R 134a in it. My son asked him if he can still use the fan, he said yes, just not the ac. So I called the mechanic the next day, still no answer.
So the car had a tick, but now my husband swears it sounds just like my van, but to me it sounds like a rattle. I will go out today and video it and post it on You Tube, and the van as well.
So do I try Seafoam in both these engines until we can get money to replace engine or what. Is his Bonnieville toast and why would it read such low oil pressure?
If the oil pump screen is clogged, if the Seafoam cleans all that and we change the oil do you think it will help lubricate any part of the engine that may in in dire straits or do I now own 3 vehicles (in less than 2 years) that need engines?
Thank you for your time.
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