My Evo VIII Test Drive

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Called on a for sale ad from a dealership for an '05 Evo. Has 38k miles and looks super clean from the pics. So I look it over in the parking lot, looks great and is really clean. Go for a test drive and on the freeway on-ramp I gave it the juice and it as hard as it was for me to believe.... It blew the motor. AHAHAHA. How are you going to try and sell a car from a dealership and not even check the car out before letting people test drive it? I barely reached 5500 RPM when there was a nice turbo back fire followed by a complete loss of power, and that wonderful chug as if you don't know how to drive a clutch.

Just thought it was unbelievable the motor blew while I was on a test drive. Was quite the experience.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Lol was the salesman with you in the car?

Any more to the story? What did the dealer say?

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Yeah the salesman was with me. Basically we pulled out of the dealership, all was going great. Took a right, hit second and put the pedal down and it pulled hard and seemed great, did the same through third as well. All was good, threw it in 5th and cruised a mile or two down this road then took a right to get onto the freeway on ramp. Mean while, the salesman is blowing smoke up my *** like you wouldn't believe, "This is the world's fastest 4 cylinder." I didn't say anything. lol. But we get on the freeway and I was just gonna cruise back to the dealership (Thank god I didn't) but the salesman said, "Go ahead and get on her." So I figured, yeah why not. Well I punched it in second, we were at about 2 grand or so, it got up to right around 5500 or 6 grand and that's when the sweet turbo back fire cracked. Then I was thinking, that was odd. Then the car had absolutely no power, just popped on the decel the whole time. The salesman just said, "What the hell was that?" So I told him I'd try to baby it to the dealership but that didn't work. Barely got it off the freeway and had to ride the heck out of the clutch in first just to get it up this tiny hill. If the car got above 2 grand it would just chug like you didn't know how to drive a clutch, even in neutral. That sweet, Bwap, bwap, bwap, bwap. So the guy's telling me how he'll fix it and give me a call back. I just flat out told him don't even bother. Why would I buy a car that just blew up while I was test driving it? Was quite the experience.

[chucked]

Sounds like you dont know much about buying cars.

[Canadian144]

That's why you buy an STI :D

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Originally posted by chucked
Sounds like you dont know much about buying cars.

Because it blew up while test driving it? Lol

[yellowzo3]

Originally posted by chucked
Sounds like you dont know much about buying cars.

Seems like he did just fine to me...

1. Researched online
2. Went to dealer to check the car out in person
3. Liked what he saw, took it for a test drive
4. Put it through its paces as the 20 year old who had it before surely did :p
5. The car blows up and YFZ avoids buying a POS.

I don't think he did anything wrong... That's exactly the point of a test drive.

[chucked]

What if they rebuilt it, or replaced the motor with a new one? Plus threw in a warranty so you know you wont be left with a problem you have to pay for down the road? Plus your story doest make sense, you told him you tried to baby it back to the dealer, why would you have to tell him if he was there? I bet you were red lining it and the turbo blew.

[Tommy Warren]

Originally posted by chucked
What if they rebuilt it, or replaced the motor with a new one? Plus threw in a warranty so you know you wont be left with a problem you have to pay for down the road? Plus your story doest make sense, you told him you tried to baby it back to the dealer, why would you have to tell him if he was there? I bet you were red lining it and the turbo blew.

what was he supposed to say after the motor just popped and lost all power?

"don't worry sir I'll just shove my foot into the oil pan and hold this baby wide open all the way back to the dealership.....HANG ON!!!!"

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Sorry for a typo. I typed that on my phone. I *said I would try and baby it back. It wasn't even at redline yet as I already stated. I was on my way to redline it. If i'm paying 20k for a car I would want to put it through it's paces. Especially being used. Granted I probably wouldn't have punched it right there had he not told me to because I already had it WOT through 2nd and 3rd a couple minutes ago.

[chucked]

Ok, what about my other question? Or try to get the car for cheap, if you could buy it for 10 k, put 10k in the motor, you would be at 20 k again and have a better then stock car.

[CJM]

Mitisubishi quality right there lol..

Ive driven the mazda speed 6 (back when they were still making them), Evo, and the STI. The STI was the best, the Speed 6 was nice imho for the price, the Evo felt cheap and drove like crap imho compared to the other 2.

As for buying it blown up, no way, no how, hell no unless they give you 5-7k off the price tag.

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Well that's the thing, if I wanted to buy a blown up Evo, there's 2 or 3 for sale around here. I don't want to buy a car I have to work on, I already have one sitting on the side of the house. I want something I can drive off the lot and do routine maintenance for the next 5 years. I'm going to look at another '05 Evo at a dealer tomorrow that also has an '06 STI. I'm gonna drive both and see which one I like. Hopefully neither blow up this time. Lol

[krt400ex]

buy an s2000

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Originally posted by krt400ex
buy an s2000

looking for a 4 door. Dont want a tiny slow car.

[FHKracingZ]

i have an 08 sti for sale! low miles and a few mods. message me if interested

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

If I go STI I'm looking for an '06 or '07.

[bens250ex]

so the car ran back to the dealership?? thats how i take it, if it did it sounds like it blew the turbo or something??? not really sure but i know when the turbo goes on a diesel itll run.....but itll run like complete chit...usually when a engine blows it will not keep runnin

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

No they had to get the tow truck to come get it. I got it off the freeway, it wasn't going any further. It wasn't the turbo, I could have drove it to the dealership if it had.

[250R-Dee]

What the heck is a turbo backfire? :confused:

[bens250ex]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8gMb03IwP8

[250R-Dee]

bwahahahaha... turbo backfire! There is no such thing as turbo backfire. You either have exhaust backfire or intake backfire which can occur on both naturally aspirated and boosted (turbo/super charger) applications.

Hmmmm.... was there lots of smoke when the engine failed?
Was it oily smelling?

Why? That would be a blown motor and not 'turbo' backfire.

Was there any fluid spillage after the loud noise?
Why? Rod through the block would be the noise and the fluids (oil/coolant) would seep through the hole.

No fluid spillage and no smoke with a loud noise would most likely mean there was a valve train issue. Car most likely would not start again if the timing snapped or if the engine dropped some valves.

More than likely the problem was something as simple as a blown intercooler hose. The motor would fall flat on its face as soon as the turbo tried to build boost.

Even if the turbo takes a crap while you are driving you will still be able to drive the car AS LONG AS broken parts from the compressor side of the turbo do not enter the intake and destroy a piston(s).

Seems like the overly eager buyer plus a misinformed salesman in a car with a questionable maintenance record was a really bad combo.

Next time you test drive a car do a serious visual inspection before pulling a FNF test session.

Check the oil, smell the oil.
On turbo car check the IC piping.
Ask to see the maintenance record.
Check for visible fluid leaks.

WARM up the car before you drop the lead foot!

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

People on this forum are genuine wannabe know it all's. There IS such thing as turbo backfire. Sounds like a forum troll that's mad he failed shop class. Please bro. Save your fingers..... Moron.

[FHKracingZ]

You would think 250rdee would know that turbo'd cars run best when not warm due to heat soaking pulling timing from the engine. tisk tisk rookie. heat soaking is a common problem with the subis due to the top mount intercooler ;)

[buck440]

Originally posted by YFZ-FoFiddy-TC
People on this forum are genuine wannabe know it all's. There IS such thing as turbo backfire. Sounds like a forum troll that's mad he failed shop class. Please bro. Save your fingers..... Moron.

you know i hear a lot of people talking about turbo backfire and i use to think it was real until i looked into it. i can't find a single bit of information explaining what it is. i'm not saying it isn't real but i can't find proof it is.

[Tommy Warren]

Originally posted by YFZ-FoFiddy-TC
People on this forum are genuine wannabe know it all's. There IS such thing as turbo backfire. Sounds like a forum troll that's mad he failed shop class. Please bro. Save your fingers..... Moron.

hes from japan...he probably makes this stuff:D

[250R-Dee]

100% American supporting the US troops in Japan/Asia. Semper Fi!

Exhaust backfires are commonly caused by raw fuel being ignited as it exits the tail pipe. This occurs on cars with and WITHOUT turbos. It's the by-product of a rich tune. That has nothing to do with a turbo.

FHKracingZ - what the heck are you talking about? Heatsoak has nothing to do with getting the engine to its normal operating temps before doing hard driving. Your comments prove you know absolutely nothing.

YFZ-FoFiddy-TC - be careful with your words because I do not like trolls!! :blah:

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

I know what a backfire is, and your post sounds like a troll to me. I was just telling people my experience and you come in saying, "An over eager buyer doing FNF runs." How am I "over eager" for driving the car like I stole it before buying? I don't know about you but if I'm spending 20k I've worked hard for, I'm not going to grandma it on the test drive. The car ran for about 15-20 minutes before we even starting driving so it had already warmed up. Either way, when you go look at a car you can grandma it all you want, when I go, it's going to be put through it's paces before I buy. However I do baby my vehicles, but I want to be sure it's not going to do what this Evo did when I do want to get on it.

Now, good day.

[250R-Dee]

Didn't say anything about grandma'ing during the test drive.

Maybe you should read what I wrote a little closer instead of getting your panties all bunched in a wad.

I actually have quite a bit of experience with EVO's, STi's and many other Japanese turbo cars so I was merely trying to give a little insight on what could have happened with the motor and how to check a car before you plunk down your precious pocket change.

I guess I'll go find another troll to upset now :D