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Sister purchased car..think she got scammed

waggy

No Lifer
My sister in law has been without a car (she wrecked hers) and been using mine. she finally got 3k saved and wanted a one.

she works as a waitress at a local place. a guy over heard her how she needed one. he told her he had a 2002 chevy caviler with 122k miles he would sell her for $2500.

she took me to look at it.

the car looks amazing. no dents, no scratches new tires, new brakes, and just had a tune up. he claimed that he purchased it from a lady down the road for his wife. she didn't like it (she is pregnant and its a 2 door) and wanted a larger 4 door.

he said i couldnt drive it because no insurance (i have full covorage and yes this should was a sign) he drove it down the street and back.

then he told us the title was messed up. he signed it when he got it from the other lady but never put it in his name. so he wanted to put it in my SIL and his name.

i told my SIL lets think about it and continue to look and we went home.

he went to her work and told her she need to decide so she went and bought it. No i was not happy.

When i drive it it grinds EVERY time i put it in 2nd gear (i have been driving stick for about 20 years). i told her that was nto good. she called the guy and he came out and drove it. it didn't grind once.

i figured out how he did that this morning (haven't had the car 24 hours yet). seems he would let the RPM go down all the way before shifting to 2nd.


i also suspect it been in a wreck. should run a car fax on it bah. not happy

so could it be the clutch? gearbox?
 
Are you in MA? If so, you have an automatic 2 month warranty....


edit...looked it up....it's now only 30 days.
 
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Synchros are gone in 2nd?
Try varying the rpm when you shift until you find a spot it doesn't grind, and vary clutch position to see if there's a spot it works better.
I've driven a lot of shitty quirky cars in my day, stuff like that is the kind of thing you live with unless you want to dump a bunch more money into fixing the tranny. She probably won't like living with that.
 
lol. Maybe I shouldn't laugh but seriously you bought a used car without test-driving it and with a fvcked up title?
 
Redline Shockproof Lightweight gear oil can cure grinding in some Toyota and Subaru transmissions - I'm not sure how or if it would work in that transmission, but it may be worth looking into.
 
2002 is also the last year of the Quad motor. It made good power but is not anywhere near as good as the ecotec motor that replaced it in 2003 and up models. Some 2002 did get the ecotec motor so hope that is the one she got.

But yea sounds like aninternal trans issue.
 
2nd gear synchros are worn, find a used tranny... But before spending money on it, get the title thing fixed. 😀
 
Here in MA the RMV is pretty strict, but it filters out this kind of BS. He wouldn't have gotten legal plates on the car w/o a completed transfer of title, bill of sale, and stamps on the RMV-1 form from his insurance co. Sometimes a heavy handed gov't is a good thing. It protects us from each other, but $75 for title transfers is a bitch.

Tranny swap sounds like what's needed. Look on the bright side. There are probably more '02 Cavaliers at the pick-a-part yards than on the road. Supply exceeds demand 😉
 
Hold on. Where is your SIL's husband, i.e. your brother?

SIL could also be the wife's sister. and may not be married, hence asking her BIL.

I would have told her to run away as fast as she could from this 'deal'. no test drive, no sale, unless you know you are buying a non-running car.
 
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