I sold my 240SX, and the new owner is...Contacting Me After The Sale...Ugh.

I bought this 240SX as a flip.

It had two bad injectors and needed a fuel pump, so I spent $27 at the U-Pick-A-Part on two Altima injectors, and I happened to have a Walbro 255 that I decided to donate to the car. It ran good after about two hours worth of work.

On my final double-check drive around the block the night before a guy was scheduled to come see it, the Walbro failed. ($75 for a tow.) So I told the guy what was up, and the next day he got to stand there and watch me install a 2nd, new, fuel pump. The test drive went well, he was really excited about how clean the car was, and it got him home an hour away.

That was a couple days ago.

Today he texted me saying: "This car has serious fuel system issues."

I don't know what that means - to my way of thinking, that car's fuel system isn't complicated enough for it to have "serious" issues. I didn't hold anything back about the car. I told him I didn't drive it very much at all and never put my own plates on it. The BOS said "As-is." I know I'm not liable for anything but I'm trying to decide whether ignoring him entirely would be a dick move. There isn't much to say in response other than "gee, sorry you're having problems."

Sounds like the tank is full of crap.

"Sorry, sold as-is, per the Bill of Sale, which I have a copy of right here."

He knew it had fuel system issues because you had to fix the fuel system in front of him.  He might be upset about it...but if you said what you said you said, your conscience can be clear.

My response would be something like "I had hoped the work I did on the fuel system would have had it in good working order.  Clearly it fixed the main problem(s) as it got you safely home.  I'm sorry if there are additional issues but these were not known to me at the time of the sale."

Put yourself in "buyer of a 20+ year old Nissan" mode.  Would you be upset?  Would you expect the seller to do something about it?

Car drove well enough when I sold it. Purchaser knew what was up. End of story. 

Holy E36 M3 that thing is clean! May I ask what the flip $ numbers were?

In nicer terms I've essentially said, "sucks to be you." There's nothing I can do to help them all that much and it's always a gamble buying used things. 

Including $125 in title & tax, and the tow, I had about $1800 in it. It sold for $4300. I think I might have been able to get a bit more on BAT, but I didn't have time to properly prepare the car for listing there, and the lack of records and obvious fact that I was flipping it would have hurt me.

It's things like this that also make me a hyper-disclamatory seller.  Painfully honest.

Here's a typical conversation with a potential buyer (in person):

"I got this car with the intention of trading it or selling it.  I've told you about the issues I know it has.  I EXPECT it has other issues but I'm not aware of any.  It's an old car and the price reflects that.  If you're not comfortable with that, I understand and this probably isn't the car for you.  I don't want any hurt feelings when some problem is found with the car after the sale...it's being sold as-is."

I'm some kind of salesman, aren't I?!

You wrote, "Today he texted me saying: "This car has serious fuel system issues."

Is it possible that the buyer is just looking to you in a complimentary way?  Could he be trying to ask, "what do you think could be next to look at?"  He might see you as the Obi-Wan since you performed the magic recently that made the car drive well for a while.  

I have not heard the buyer asking for a refund as has been assumed.  

clutchsmoke said:

Holy E36 M3 that thing is clean! 

It looks like every used car south of the rust belt. It's the reason fly and drives are a thing.

In reply to John Welsh :

Yeah like John said, throw the guy a bone, you clearly have a better understanding/troubleshooting capacity for the car. I would back track for info in his position too. 

On your end I would be on the curious side, ask if it's throwing codes or whatever.

Not sure if I'd pay $4,300.  I do like that style a lot too.  But hey he knew what he was getting into or if he didn't he'll know in the future.  $4,300 is a lot to pay for an almost 30yr old car unless it's a model you've always lusted over.  For me that would be a Z32 not an S13 if I've got my 2xx gen code right. 

Well here's one that sold on BAT, comparable to mine, except this one has 187k and mine had 105k...This one sold for $5800:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1993-nissan-240sx/

It's really hard to find rust free ones that have never been modded and have a 5-speed.

OHSCrifle said:

clutchsmoke said:

Holy E36 M3 that thing is clean! 

It looks like every used car south of the rust belt. It's the reason fly and drives are a thing.

No 240 is that clean here. Drift tax, yo. 

I always found it funny how hated the 240sx was when it came out. Ever since Dorifto came stateside, you can't find an unmodded one. Weren't they called a "Secretary's car"?

In reply to JamesMcD :

Truly amazing.  I do like them a lot just not at those prices.  Oh well.  I should grab any Z32 that I can now before they take off. 

If there are any good 240 forums I'd send him a link with a "these guys are pretty good at helping people sort through issues with these cars" and leave it at that. 

Zilvia has tons of info. I lurk there.

two bad injectors and two fuel pumps........sounds like you fixed a symptom.

There is a ground on the back of the block on the drivers side and it won't run well unless it is in good shape.

In reply to mad_machine :

Yes they were.

I remember when you put that car up for sale.  If I had paid $4,300 for it, I would not be a happy camper.  I guess it depends on what you told me to my face when I bought it.  As is, means as is.  I would also tell people it has a tail light warranty.         

In reply to mad_machine :

There is a very old Top Gear review by Jeremy Clarkson labelling the MX-5 a hairdressers car complete with a brunette and some very big hair driving one which made no sense, but hey England...

I think it was a review of the MX-3 if it can be found online. 

After the fuel pump went out on my test drive, the buyer and I had a little brain-storming session over the phone regarding what may have gone wrong.

He mentioned having had a reoccurring problem with the pump in his previous 240SX grounding itself on the sender float frame, and that it always happened while going around a corner. I told him "Yeah, come to think of it, the car died after I went around a corner, so maybe that's it." He says "Yeah check the pump fuse, it will have blown." I said "Well actually, after getting back home I discovered that a previous owner had put a 40amp fuse in the 15amp fuel pump fuse slot. Bad sign, maybe. What if that caused a wire to burn up when the fuel pump grounded out, instead of blowing the fuse? I've replaced it with the correct one now, though....And another thing, now that I'm thinking about it, is that this Walbro pump had been sitting around for several years, so it may have been marginal to begin with...I guess I'll just put a new pump in there and see what happens."

I am no genius diagnostician. But everything was on the table prior to the guy showing up to view the car. 

I got in touch with him last night. I asked him to be more specific, and basically said "I told you everything I knew, the car ran and got you home. I'm sorry you're having a new problem." He responded that he's only getting 5 volts at the fuel pump connector.

Compromised ground, maybe?

That doesn't sound like a serious issue to me. Annoying issue, but not serious. In any case, I wouldn't kill conversation but I wouldn't offer to help in any way more than brainstorming through a text. 

FWIW, the only times I have ever contacted a seller of a vehicle are when I needed information about the cars history--either to know when an oil change was due, or why something was the way it was, or else to put together service history to make a case to GM to fix the car. I buy every car as is, and I know what that means. I could be screwed. It is a relatively small risk compared to the cost of a warrantied vehicle.

In reply to JamesMcD :

I would guess bad ground first also maybe the relay too with the wrong fuse in there.

The recent trend seems to be for buyers to follow up on used car deals to try and squeeze money out of the seller for help with potential repairs.  I've had this happen multiple times.  Now,  if I sell a car it's normally old, unique, and somewhat of a project, so how people expect them to be perfect I have no idea.  These days I just see the practice as a scam more than anything else.