02 Passat

[shipmant]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia

I purchased a used vehicle form an individual on 7/31/08.
Upon checking the fluid levels and kind of getting to know the car in a manner of speaking, i found a couple of freightening things:
1) When i removed the oil cap, the oil on the inside of the cap was burnt or cooked to the underside of the cap as well as the inside of the cover.
2) When i removed the coolant resovoir cap, there was corrsion bulidup on the underside of the cap as well as on the inside of the resovoir. the water/coolant on the inside of the resovoir was dark orange or burnt looking and smelled of rust.
These 2 obvservations lead me to believe that the car had been overheated pretty badly and driven that way to cause this damage.
My questions are:

1) Is the previous owner required to disclose this kind of information?
2) If there is major damage to the car, do I have a right to request a refund for the purchase of the car?
3) If I don't have a right to a refund for the car, do I have the right to request the previous owner to pay for or reimburse me for the cost of the repairs?

This car on the outside is extermely clean and only has 34,000 miles on it.

I would appreciate any advice that you have.

Regards,

Tracy

[TOMINTROUBLE]

you have no recourse whatsoever, you had all opportunities to check out vehicle before the purchase, lemon law is for new vehicles only

[xylene]

Originally Posted by shipmant

I would appreciate any advice that you have.

1) When i removed the oil cap, the oil on the inside of the cap was burnt or cooked to the underside of the cap as well as the inside of the cover.

This is called coking. It may suggest the car was driven hard, but it is hardly abnormal. My VW's oil cap probably has this same residue. I like to drive 80 mph...

If you want it off, spray the cap down with degreaser and give it a good wipe.

2) When i removed the coolant resovoir cap, there was corrsion bulidup on the underside of the cap as well as on the inside of the resovoir. the water/coolant on the inside of the resovoir was dark orange or burnt looking and smelled of rust.

VW cars use Pink formula anti-freeze, not the Green (Prestone) formula, which is much more common. These anti-freezes should not be mixed as they protect in different ways and are not fully compatible. The color and smell you describe clearly suggest that the anti-freeze was topped up using Prestone style antifreeze. Never mix different antifreeze colors.

I would suggest you go to a proffesional oil change shop that offers a motor vacuum service and and have the engine power flushed, then put a new heavy duty oil filter on it and refill the oil with a good quality FULL SYNTHETIC oil.

While there have them drain and flush the engine coolant system. Have them refill the system with GREEN coolant so topping up is easier. Ask them to put a new cap on to ensure proper functioning of the cap (which is made to allow pressure equalization / relief and may be compromised if all corrodedy...)

Enjoy your car, nothing is seriously wrong at all.

[lenny71]

Originally Posted by xylene

Enjoy your car, nothing is seriously wrong at all.

It is rare that the seller responds to the buyer in the lemon law forum


Your quote is exactly why so many people end up coming to this forum...the only person who can adequately make that statement is a mechanic who has actually looked at the vehicle in question.


Before buying it is always a good idea to take the prospective vehicle to a 3rd party mechanic and have it checked out - usually around $100 well spent.

[xylene]

Originally Posted by lenny71

Your quote is exactly why so many people end up coming to this forum...the only person who can adequately make that statement is a mechanic who has actually looked at the vehicle in question.

Discolored anti-freeze and a gunky cruddy oil cap are NOT serious problems in a used car.

Unless you read some other information the OP presented that suggested a serious problem.

[teflon_jones]

Originally Posted by xylene

VW cars use Pink formula anti-freeze, not the Green (Prestone) formula, which is much more common. These anti-freezes should not be mixed as they protect in different ways and are not fully compatible. The color and smell you describe clearly suggest that the anti-freeze was topped up using Prestone style antifreeze. Never mix different antifreeze colors.

While there have them drain and flush the engine coolant system. Have them refill the system with GREEN coolant so topping up is easier. Ask them to put a new cap on to ensure proper functioning of the cap (which is made to allow pressure equalization / relief and may be compromised if all corrodedy...)

Sorry, but this information is incorrect. Orange or red antifreeze is normally long-life antifreeze which has a lifetime of 10 years or 100k miles. Green or blue antifreeze is short life antifreeze and has a lifetime of 3 years or 30k miles. This is a generalization. I recently bought green antifreeze that is long life so you really need to read the label rather than simply paying attention to the color.

All newer cars can use either type of antifreeze. Only older cars generally prior to 1990 (or even older) can't use long life antifreeze because the additives that make it long life can deteriorate the cooling system components that were not designed for those additives.

It is perfectly fine to mix either type. However, if you put short life antifreeze in a car that already has long life antifreeze in it, you've now effectively reduced your coolant lifetime to the lesser of the two products or 3 years/30k miles. Hence, you should only put short life antifreeze in a car that already has it. If in doubt. you have to assume it's short life.

At this point, I do agree that a coolant system flush is in order, but I would use long-life antifreeze since that will save money in the long run since you won't have to pay to replace it again in 3 years/30k miles.

[xylene]

Originally Posted by teflon_jones

Sorry, but this information is incorrect.

The VW service manual says you are incorrect; that the OEM coolant is not compatible with green Prestone formula coolant, hence why it turned off color brown with a metallic smell... the exact condition the manual describes to diagnosis incorrectly added coolant.