I think I bought a lemon. Not the fruit, but a shitty car. A lemon, for those who don't know, is a car that is found to be a smelly piece of shit after it's bought. I was really wanting a car for around $3000. I wasn't finding any I liked around my town. I knew next to nothing about cars at the time (like four days ago) so I really had no idea what to look for. I visited a used car dealership that had a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT. Cracked front bumper and rust on the truck, but everything else looked good to me. Leather interior, sunroof, it felt really good. I test drove it and fell in love. So the next day I buy it for $2700, as-is, no warranty. Because I'm an idiot. I get it home and my roommate points out that I'm leaking fluid. Pop the hood, and see a huge 4 inch crack in the top of the radiator. So I go to autozone to get coolant to keep it full so I don't overheat, and I take it to a shop. The guy informs me that the engine is misfiring. So i order a new radiator, new spark plugs, pretty much everything to do a full tuneup. It's throwing a code (when the check engine light is on, you can plug a little computer up to it to see what's wrong, it's "throwing a code") for a cylinder misfire, but the check engine light doesn't ever come on, even when the key is turned to position one or two, when all dash lights should come on. I'm thinking maybe someone tampered with the CEL. Oh and it died while driving the other day and won't even start now. Haven't done the tuneup yet, hoping it fixes my problems.
All-in-all, I'm using this as a learning experience. I've learned more about cars in the past four days than I have in my life. Learning to replace parts, what to buy, and what causes problems. If any of you are looking to buy a used car (tax season and all), please get it checked out by a mechanic. Run a carfax report. If the dealer won't do it like mine wouldn't, you can do it yourself, costs about $40. I did mine after i bought it and found out my car was abused by its previous owners. If you can't afford the $40, PM me. Carfax emailed me and I'm now in a beta program thing and I guess I get unlimited history reports.
Just don't make the mistake I made.
All-in-all, I'm using this as a learning experience. I've learned more about cars in the past four days than I have in my life. Learning to replace parts, what to buy, and what causes problems. If any of you are looking to buy a used car (tax season and all), please get it checked out by a mechanic. Run a carfax report. If the dealer won't do it like mine wouldn't, you can do it yourself, costs about $40. I did mine after i bought it and found out my car was abused by its previous owners. If you can't afford the $40, PM me. Carfax emailed me and I'm now in a beta program thing and I guess I get unlimited history reports.
Just don't make the mistake I made.
