Upside-down 13k in a vehicle. (Serious input only please)

[Hey Julian!]

@jerrynuevo
There are no good legal options here, absolutely none. If you give it back to the bank. They will sell it at auction for nothing and you'll still owe the difference. The best option has already been stated. Get the cheapest used engine and replace it for the best price you can then try to sell it because even with a replacement engine, you still probably don't want those potential future headaches.

You should be able to get a used engine and installation for $5K. LKQ has the engine for these around $1500, shipped probably $2k with a 6 month warranty. So maybe ask what the labor would be so you can separate that cost and find the cheapest engine. I can't imagine why a competent shop would cost you more than $3k to install an engine.

LKQ Used Buick Encore Engines

 

[phanatic]

Exactly. And he never answered the question.
Throw a rod? Siezed up? Blow a gasket? Stripped cams? What?
Top it off he's getting third-hand info from the girlfriend - who is obviously an ASE-certified mechanic - and the situation looks dire.

Cars have too many safeguards to accidentally destroy them. With these advanced computers, the car thinks it's a living being and will alert the user when something doesn't work right. Unless young bul totally ignored CELs, OP was sold a lemon or the ECU was modified to not throw off a certain code. By the time you blow an engine, the car would have been riding really fucked up for days, and the dashboard would look like Times Square at night. My sister went almost 10K miles without an oil change, and when I forced her to bring the car to my house so I could work on it, the oil came out of the pan like asphalt.

 

[knightmelodic]

Cars have too many safeguards to accidentally destroy them. With these advanced computers, the car thinks it's a living being and will alert the user when something doesn't work right. Unless young bul totally ignored CELs, OP was sold a lemon or the ECU was modified to not throw off a certain code. By the time you blow an engine, the car would have been riding really fucked up for days, and the dashboard would look like Times Square at night. My sister went almost 10K miles without an oil change, and when I forced her to bring the car to my house so I could work on it, the oil came out of the pan like asphalt.

And we still don't have an answer.

 

[REDLINE]

How did he blow the engine? What is the exact damage? Was the car insured?

Yeah I'd like to know too. Driving like a dickhead doesn't destroy an engine that quickly. You'll crash the car or fuck up the transaxle first, but Buick isn't really programming their ECUs to be race forward. I'm thinking he didn't keep up on maintenance.

Exactly. And he never answered the question.
Throw a rod? Siezed up? Blow a gasket? Stripped cams? What?
Top it off he's getting third-hand info from the girlfriend - who is obviously an ASE-certified mechanic - and the situation looks dire.

And we still don't have an answer.

Most likely dude was driving like a speed demon, gunning the engine and driving like this

 

[Lexx Diamond]

What would be the best advice?

Donate the car to Cars4Kids. Then buy another hoopty.

 

[REDLINE]

Donate the car to Cars4Kids. Then buy another hoopty.

 

[Lexx Diamond]

That's what I would do.

 

[knightmelodic]

Most likely dude was driving like a speed demon, gunning the engine and driving like this

lol. I hear ya but driving like that won't grenade no engine. Those ECUs put you into limp mode before they let you kill the plant.

What's odd to me is that myself and a few other cats have asked what's the exact damage and the OP has avoided answering the question.

So if I got this right the son's girlfriend said the engine is blown and that's that. Homie taking that as gospel.

Better him than me.

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

Put it on Ebay.com slightly used A.I. buick encore with all the bells and whistles.

 

[jerrynuevo]

Most likely dude was driving like a speed demon, gunning the engine and driving like this

That's exactly what happened...according to my sources.

 

[REDLINE]

That's exactly what happened...according to my sources.

Yeah man, other than not putting fluids in the engine and driving it into the ground.

There's not many ways that I can think of to "Blow" an engine, other than gunning it when you drive while driving like a demon.

 

[BGLR1212000]

My truck blew its engine in 2020, I probably had that shit 3 months. The mechanic told me to get rid of it. I put in a low mileage engine and 6 years later have not had 1 problem out of it since(knock on wood). I don't know shit about Buicks but I don't think its a good idea to just write the car off as a loss, you owe too much on it, and its also not a guarantee that it will continue to have problems.

 

[BGLR1212000]

Yeah man, other than not putting fluids in the engine and driving it into the ground.

There's not many ways that I can think of to "Blow" an engine, other than gunning it when you drive while driving like a demon.

A manufacturers defect could cause it to blow. Well, in my case it was a spun bearing that caused it to blow. I babied that truck from day 1. You'd be shocked, sometimes the manufacturer won't do their due diligence and they'll find a reason to deny responsibility.