Sorry for the second thread - I just found this car and didn't want to put in in another thread with an inaccurate title.
I just found this FRS - https://www.ibuycars.org/autos/2013-SCION-FR-S-Houston-Texas-11253
However, I am very unsure about it. it has no description info, and when I called and asked about it the dealer gave me zero information besides telling me that the engine was blown and he had it swapped and it was driven from the shop back to his dealership. He said he hasn't driven it since and doesn't know how it runs in drives or if it has problems. That strikes me as incredibly shady and suspicious for a dealer not to know if his engine swapped car drives well. He told me I could come look at it or have someone come look at it. It all fell a bit unscrupulous.
Should I avoid it? Anyone wanna look at it? Any advice on having a PPI done from out of state?
I goggled up the 17 digit vin number (taken from your posting) and he had the car up for $6,999 three months ago.
https://offerup.com/item/detail/219e02a8-e3bd-3e86-ac0a-5050511d78f1?cid=5.1
In reply to John Welsh :
I checked the vin as well. Was listed for 2799 in september. About 2 months ago it went up to 7000 and now it's down to 6000. He said he had the engine replaced and just dropped the price to get rid of it. it all seems very suspsicious and my gut says run away because it's very suspcisious. But I have zero experience so I figured I'd ask advice from those who might.
Nah, you don't need to walk away... you need to sprint away
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
Copy that - I also asked a friend on facebook who said he knows the dealership and they are completely unscrupulous liars who sell crap. Glad I asked. Running away lol
I seem to remember 2013 is not the best year for an FR-S. Not 100% sure though.
In reply to Evanuel9 :
Since you are now shopping Scion/Toyotas, here's a tidbit.
https://www.toyota.com/owners/
Over at this section for Toyota Owners you can set up an account and then by putting in a vin you can see things like every dealer service the car has ever had. Best part, you do not need to own or prove that you own the car. Put in a vin and get info. All of this is free. I use this on potential Prius purchases.
The site is a bit clunky but play around with it and you can get all dealer visit history.
Scion used to have same section on their website but with it gone, enter Scion vins to the Toyota site. Lexus info can be gotten from Lexus site.
In reply to Slippery :
worst year due to the valve spring issues and the mistakes with recalls. However usually once they hit higher miles they end up being the ones without the issues. They also had coil pack issues at high heat soak conditions until the 2017 models which fixed it
In reply to John Welsh :
thank you so much - this is really helpful! Appreciate it!
I wouldn't come near a frisbee...too much Subaru in it.
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
I just can't get over it. I drove it and LOVED it. It was just so fun. My favorite car I've test driven so far by a lot. I LOVE it.
Yeah, that'll fade quickly when it blows up on you
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
Yeah, I loved mine until it blew up the engine at Summit Point, and the next time I took it there with a new used engine it developed a brake issue. Between that and a nagging feeling that even with me throwing all the goodies at the replacement engine that supposedly would fix the oiling issue, it was probably going to blow up again at some point.
Nice car, execution needs to be improved.
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
when or if?
If I upgrade the oil pickup and baffle the pan, change the oil with a high quality 30 cold weight, how do we know it will blow?
In reply to BoxheadTim :
See other comment but if I upgrade the oiling system properly, shouldn't I be fine? From some other people on here and some research it looks like i should be.
In reply to Evanuel9 :
You'll want 30 hot weight oil, for cold weight 0 or 5 is good for cold climates, 10 can work if it only sees hot weather.
All the oiling system mods should keep it alive but you can't be 100% sure...BoxheadTim's old Toyobaru is probably the unluckiest one in existence. It's the only one I know of that had all the survivability mods and still suffered an engine failure...and it was driving on the street when it happened.
Put 35k trouble free miles on '15 BRZ (never burned oil but I made sure I did some nice hard pulls very early on once the car was warmed up) before I stupidly traded it for the '13 135i. My '23 BRZ doesn't really count since it's only got like 3400 miles on it.
I know there are a few shops that, with actual data, have shown even with a bit of RTV in the oil pickup, they aren't showing pressure drops. And 1/2-3/4 qt overfill is mostly taking care of the right hand pressure drop some are seeing.
Personally I'd run away based just on the dealer.
And remember when people talk about the excessive RTV on the oil pan and dropping to replace it. That's an opportunity to bend the pan getting it off (apparently they are feeble) and the opportunity to put too much on again, or not enough and have it not seal properly and leak. Then have to pull it again.
GameboyRMH said:
In reply to Evanuel9 :
You'll want 30 hot weight oil, for cold weight 0 or 5 is good for cold climates, 10 can work if it only sees hot weather.
All the oiling system mods should keep it alive but you can't be 100% sure...BoxheadTim's old Toyobaru is probably the unluckiest one in existence. It's the only one I know of that had all the survivability mods and still suffered an engine failure...and it was driving on the street when it happened.
I'm guessing because of how my car is modded, the dealer (according to the paperwork) just goes ahead and puts 5w-30 in mine.
In reply to z31maniac :
Do you live somewhere warm or cold?
In reply to z31maniac :
Definitely running away from this one - but still considering an early model 86. Plan to immediately give it a baffle and oil pickup - will add an oil coller before my first time on track.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
yep planning 0w30 for now because it still gets decently cold. If I dont buy something til summer hits I'll go with 5w30 until fall rolls around. If I buy an 86 that is.
In reply to z31maniac :
Yeah I've heard of dealers choosing to put in 5W30 on their own before, maybe they just see it as a safer choice these days. After seeing the results of some testing done with measuring oil pressures and temperatures with different viscosities in an FA20, I'm planning to move from 5W30 to 5W40 in the future, it seems that 30 hot viscosity is a bit on the lower side of what would be ideal for track use and 50 for a dedicated track car actually makes a lot of sense.
Evanuel9 said:
In reply to z31maniac :
Do you live somewhere warm or cold?
I'm in OKC, so it's all over the place. Just since December we've had lows around 10 and highs in the upper 80s. June/July/Sept, won't be uncommon to have highs above 100..............even if I was tracking the car. I wouldn't in those temps because it's just miserable.
Unless you're routinely starting the below freezing, I wouldn't worry about running 5w. The 0w-20 is really about fuel economy. When I had my '13 Mustang GT track pack, exact same engine as the non track pack, but called for fancy 5w-50 vs 5w-20.
