Crown Mitsubishi My car was not inspected before purchase, now needs the engine rebuilt! St. Petersburg Florida

I purchased a used Chevrolet from Crown last fall. The car had "just been taken in on trade" and had been "thoroughly inspected". I was in need of a car at that time and the car was within my budget, so I bought it. No more than 3 days after I took delivery, I was having to refill the coolant every day, so I took it back to the dealer for them to check it. It was then discovered that not only did the Lower Intake Manifold gasket need to be replaced, which was losing all of the coolant, but also that the front rotors were too thin and also needed to be replaced. It was also discovered that while the car had been cleaned and prepared for delivery, the safety and mechanical inspection had never been done. They were nice enough to give me a loaner car for 3 days, and I then got my car back.


Since the repair was done, the car had always had a tapping noise coming from the engine. It was driving fine, so it didn't concern me until New Year's Eve, when the car starting losing a lot of power and giving off all kinds of trouble codes. After replacing all possible options (fuel filter, spark plugs and wires - which were all bad, and checking everything else that I could see), I was advised to take the car back to the dealer.

I wasted three hours and $96 on Friday for them to tell me that they couldn't find anything wrong, and that they would need additional funds to tear down the engine. I took it to another independent mechanic this morning and found that the engine will need to be taken apart and rebuilt due to bad bearings, and coolant mixing in with the oil. If this car had been inspected as they stated before they sold it to me, they would have found the problem and realized that the car was not fit for sale. They refuse to fix it as they claim it had nothing to do with them. Now I'm stuck either paying out $1,200 for another engine or a rebuild, or looking for a new car.

Long story short, I would not recommend this dealer to anyone, even my worst enemy. While the salesmen were very nice and professional (I have nothing against them), the dealer as a whole has failed to deliver.

Mark
Oldsmar, Florida
U.S.A.