apexi957

iTrader: (1)

Sup guys, my dad recently purchased a 2009 G37S 6mt less than a week ago. I checked out the car and the car drives fine and clean. CarFax and Autocheck came out clean, so we decided to buy it. It was $24k after taxes for 35,xxx miles, nuff said. Seems like a good deal right?

We took it to the Infiniti dealership for an oil change today and we get this picture below us. Dealership says that this was a lease car and has NO service history. They even said that the oil filter was the original one. Motor is sludged up from the previous owners negligence/ignorance. Infiniti said that it's reccomended to either do a engine flush which might not flush the problem or complete engine overhaul with NO warranty. I understand that the dealership MIGHT be selling us a service, but even a car noob will tell you 35,xxx miles with no oil change is a bad thing.

Dad called the original dealership we purchased it from and they say that they will do a engine flush for us. The salesman said that he would bring it to their sister dealership (Mitsubishi) to get an engine flush and everything done. We even had him admit that he knew the motor had a sludging "issue". He is also a personal friend of mine, so with that said salesman are scum aha. In the end, he said that he would do the flush and if we didn't like it we can return the car.

My stand.
Return the car.

Dad's stand.
Flush it and if nothing happens we return the car.

So guys with that said, WHAT DO NOW?


For the people who don't care about reading here's the summary.

Salesman sold us a car that had a sludge up engine that went without an oil change for 35,xxx miles. We even had him admit to the problem. What would you do in our situation? Let them have a chance or return the car?

Can'tGme

iTrader: (1)

I would return it and walk away. If they are giving you the option to return it with no questions asked then I'd say go for it.

TwoThree

iTrader: (4)

If the dealer said that they will return the car, take them up on that offer. The sludge will leave a hard coating on essential components and will lead to issues down the road. You don't want to be stuck with this later on. Even if a flush made everything seem fine, there may be some sludge left behind and may eventually dislodge, clogging the oil pick up line and causing major issues. All in all, return the vehicle, get your money back from the vehicle with all taxes and anything else you paid. Also make sure the reimburse your for your fuel expenses with this vehicle.

DashKid

iTrader: (2)

Have you taken it to multiple shops or just one? Take it to another shop and see if they say the same thing. If so then take the car back and tell them about the problems they saw.

If not then its not typical of the dealership over exaggerate on problems because they want to pay for the service.

So take it to multiple shops and see what they say. If they say its fine then take the car and do your oil changes.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

How long is your pop planning to keep this car? Have him take $2500 off the price and throw in an extended powertrain warranty. Call it a win.

The $2500 is enough to buy another complete engine if this one fails beyond the extended warranty period. It very likely won't.

Rad_Slinger

iTrader: (12)

I wouldn't even waste the time. Return it.

As someone said before...this will lead to problems down the road. Engine flush or not.

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

Every used car I look at, i pull the dipstick and examine the air filters. There were a few that were below the low level, and 1 that had no reading at all. I pointed it out the salesperson, thanked them for their time and walked.

If you can get rid of the car, do it! If something as basic as oil changes were not done, chances are no other maintenance was done either.

This car is pandora's box waiting to spring open.

apexi957

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for reassuring me on my choice guys.

We only took it to the Infiniti dealership. I't not typical for them to exaggerate, but here's the thing. They confirmed the problem to us and told us that it had no oil changes EVER and it even had the original filter it rolled out with from factory. When we brought it up to the salesman's attention he even admitted that it had issues. I respect the fact that he's "trying" to fix the issue, but he did not disclose the problem until the whole transaction ended.

It was supposed to be a weekend/fun car for him for a few years.

DashKid

iTrader: (2)

Oh well return the car and tell him what kind of condition it is in.

apexi957

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE

In attempt to save his face, the salesman offered to take the car to a dealership of my choice. I said Infiniti of Gwinnett and he immediately agreed. I told him straight up that we want to return it and he agreed. He only wants to get the motor checked to "clear" his name and prove he doesn't sell poor products. It's funny because he already admitted to lying to me.


One of his managers tried to tell me that some cars don't sludge up or even need a oil change for that long! I quickly told him to go die in a fire.

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

The car wouldn't need an oil change for 35K miles only if it leaked/burned oil at an alarming rate. To keep the motor from seizing, you'd have to keep adding oil regularly. Reminds me of my car. I'd go for 12+ months w/out an oil change. Had to add a quart of oil every 400 miles.

jmann

What kind of crap dealership wouldn't have already at least changed the oil on a turned in lease car? Really they should have flushed it too. This kind of thing is exactly why I decided to lease instead of buying used. You really never know what you are getting into with a used car. I plan to purchase at lease end so I'll be getting a used car that I know exactly how well it was cared for and driven. Of course if any problems come up during the lease period I can turn it in at the end and move on.

apexi957

iTrader: (1)

I'm thinking he topped off oil without even touching the filter.

Sadly, there are a lot of people you can't trust out there. Looks like we're back on the hunt.

blackvr4tt

iTrader: (2)

Wow, unbelievable! The same thing happened at the Nissan dealer in my area. A chick bought a Pathfinder then drove it for over 30k miles with no oil changes until eventually stopped. Then wondered why it wasn't covered under warranty!

I would WALK AWAY, the engine definitely will have long term issues.

blackvr4tt

iTrader: (2)

Best buying scenario IMO, buy a car around 2-3 yrs old WITH service records at the dealer. It's still under FULL factory warranty and you get it at about 2/3 the price, since a car depreciates so steeply the first 2 yrs (saves you $15k or more).