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Buyer Beware: Tdadd

10K views 90 replies 30 participants last post by  Tdadd 
#1 · (Edited)
Sold me a 98 2.5RS with a EJ25 engine that was suppose to be in "pristine" condition, it turned out to be a EJ20 with bad lifter noise. I should have checked the engine code before i bought it but i never thought that i would have to until i started doing some research about the car. Car also was suppose to have HID's installed and they were just plain super white bulbs. There have been a few other issues i have with Tdadd but these are the most important. Part of it is my fault for checking out a car 10min after having minor surgery.

Original Thread:
http://www.rs25.com/forums/f171/t150808-buy-my-rs-tonight-tomorrow-4-995-a.html
 
#3 ·
I sold a car to Convoy advertising as a 2.5 engine. The person who did the swap for me, bought the engine and advised me the whole time that it was a direct replacement to what I had. As far as engine goes, I was scammed. The lifter tick was audible at the time of convoy checking the car out, and we both had talked about it.

As far as the HID's, I bought them from Top Speed in chicago, and they were advertised as 6000k HID bulbs.
 
#7 ·
I sold a car to Convoy advertising as a 2.5 engine. The person who did the swap for me, bought the engine and advised me the whole time that it was a direct replacement to what I had. As far as engine goes, I was scammed. The lifter tick was audible at the time of convoy checking the car out, and we both had talked about it.
So because you were scammed means its ok to scam someone else and tell them its a 2.5 and not a 2.0? Did I miss something there?
 
#5 ·
When I spotted this FS ad the very 1st day it looked suspicous.Shall we say, it looked like it was being 'oversold' and the bad 'glossed over'. Original post said it was a 'super low' price at $4,995. Which simply is not the case. Banks, insurance companies & dealerships consider 'true value' of a marked title 50% of 'wholesale value'.

Thinking this guy was very young (and it turns out seller is 17) I thought he might not know the impact a salvage title had on value.

So, I sent this PM and subscribed to watch the progress of the sale...


Tdadd said:
NW OBS said:
A salavaged or 'marked' title is worth 50% of Kelley Private Party, no matter what the reason...

Just soos ya knows!

Michael
Good thing KBB is just an estimate :).
 
#8 ·
I'm not sure quite what to think about this one yet.
It's a pretty fine line between scamming and ignorance.

It's totally possible the seller didn't know what an HID bulb was.
I know plenty of people who don't.

As for the motor mixup... I need way more info before I can make a judgement. Like, the evidence it's a 2.0 and not a 2.5. I'm not calling the OP a liar, I just want to know were this information has come from.
 
#10 ·
Annndd upon further reading I did miss something. The seller never stated the car had a 2.5 anywhere. I think that checking the car out and verifying the engine would be the buyers duty. Also the noise should have been noticed when you went to check the car out.

On the other hand, if the seller knew he was "scammed" out of a 2.5.. I would think you would mention that to potential buyers.

Sounds to me like the seller realized the engine was an ej20 and not an ej25 and wanted to dump the car... just my .02.

I think both sides are wrong on this one. I would cut your losses and go boost your ej20!
 
#11 · (Edited)
#18 ·
part of it looks like ignorance on the sellers part, in his member journal he states several times its a 2.5


but also INGORES everyone trying to say something about the motor.


the valve covers certainly do NOT look like the SOHC 2.5


i think that motor is some crazy hybrid of left over parts, 1.8 heads on 2.0 block halves.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Ok... I'm beginning to piece bits together now.. I think...

Tdadd's thread
http://www.rs25.com/forums/f145/t145038-tdadds-98-rs.html#post2265658
shows this is the new motor going in.. Clearly an SOHC.


Which means that the motor that came out must have also been an SOHC, because I'm pretty sure the DOHC ECU isn't able to run an SOHC motor.
Something someone else noticed in that thread
http://www.rs25.com/forums/f145/t145038-tdadds-98-rs.html#post2277129

This hinges on if the 1998 RS was indeed a SOHC EJ25. If the original is an SOHC, then that's a 99RS, not a 98RS.
Or, this is a 98 EJ22 with a bunch of RS bits bolted on.
Someone needs to do a VIN lookup on that car.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Which means that the motor that came out must have also been an SOHC, because I'm pretty sure the DOHC ECU isn't able to run an SOHC motor.
Argghhhh.

Yes, a DOHC ecu CAN run an SOHC motor, but a Phase 1 ECU can't run a Phase 2 motor, and vice versa.

He replaced his PHASE 1 USDM DOHC EJ25D with a PHASE 1 JDM SOHC EJ20E

They are perfectly compatible in all ways.

It is NOT a phase 2 car, never was and isn't now because the phase 2 SOHC engines look NOTHING like that, at all.

You guys are making this way more complicated than it is!

Dude needed a replacement motor for his car, didn't know much about it, contacted a supplier, they sold him a motor that would work, and either did or didn't tell him it wasn't exactly the same motor, he installed it, then sold it to the next guy. He either lied about it being a 2.5 or didn't know because of what he was told when he bought the motor.

He's either ignorant or a liar.
 
#26 ·
It was sold as an RS, and those only came with the 2.5 so I wouldn't blame the buyer on that one. The HID thing shouldn't be a big issue, HID's in regular housings suck anyway. Many of the cheap super white bulbs sold by autoparts stores are labeled as, "HID!" so the seller could be ignorant on that one. But the 2.0 vs 2.5 thing is definitely on the seller.

Up For Sale is a 1998 Subaru Impreza RS 2.5.
 
#28 · (Edited)
I happily stand corrected.
I just love how it's everyone else who are having to "piece" together all this info, instead of the OP and the Seller. :bonk:

And just to clarify, the blanket statement "DOHC ECU can run a SOHC motor" is false.
The WRX EJ255 ECU DOHC cannot run a EJ251 SOHC motor.
The crank sensor is at an angle, and the triggers on the cam gear are not the same.
I however was not aware this was not the case with Phase1 EJs.
 
#29 ·
His original interior pics show checkerboard fabric rear seats and side panels.....not the lighter grey 98 fabric. This is looking like a 99 RS shell. Is it possible TopSpeed told him the engine was a EJ25 and he just did not know?? I am in Chicagoland but have no experience with TopSpeed.
 
#31 ·
More fuel for the fire...
I can't imagine someone with enough skill to re-and-re a motor wouldn't notice that the motor going into the car (SOHC) was totally different looking than the motor comming out of the car (DOHC). They look very very different. The seller MUST Have known something was not quite right.
 
#34 · (Edited)
ok guys here is the picture that i sent tdadd when i noticed that it was a 20



As far as ignorance in my part, there def is some but im not disputing the the condition of the motor (lifter noise) or the fact that it doesnt have HIDs. what i am upset about the transaction is the matter of which how he tried to make the car seem far superior to its the actual condition on his FS thread. I recently sold my 05 sti and i would never list things that aren't actually on the car or the actual condition of a certain item. How is someone going to post their car up for sale and state false information? That's the whole matter at hand. False information by the seller. If he would have posted that it the engine was a 2.0 and that it has lifter noise then things would be different. The bottom line is that i have to deal with the consequences of my own mistakes. I just hope that whomever thinks about buying anything from him will second and third guess all the info giving about the item. Makes me wondering if it actually has the exedy stage 3 clutch that he said he put in?
 
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