2008 Subaru WRX

I found this car while browsing Copart’s inventory of clean title vehicles. The only listed damage for the vehicle was “mechanical”; which is a pretty broad designation.  It was not labeled “run & drive” so I knew the engine was not currently operable.  It was located in Davenport, IA and I didn’t have plans to be in that area in the foreseeable future.  If I was going to bid on it it would be sight unseen.  Kelly Blue Book put the private party value at $7,700 so I figured out what I’d be willing to bid based on those conditions.

$2,600 winning bid, $628 in buyer fees, $66 for the uhaul = $3,294 and it was mine.

The body and interior of the car were in good shape, I just needed to figure out the mechanical issues.  I checked the fluids and found that the oil was low and so was the coolant.  I topped up the oil and cranked the engine; it turned over fine. Good, not seized.  I added coolant and just as it was nearing full I heard splashing on the ground.  The coolant was leaking from somewhere?  

I tore down the top pf the engine to find that the coolant crossover pipe had fractured.  Easy enough fix right.  Well, I keep looking and asking myself how the coolant crossover pipe had fractured.  Turned out that the engine had thrown a rod; the engine was junk.

After doing some more figuring I decided the car would likely cost me more to fix than I wanted to invest into it.  I had bought the car cheap enough that I could still sell it as-is without loosing money.  I posted it for sale and found a guy that was more willing than me to do a motor swap.

After factoring in all the costs (purchase, fees, uhaul, tax title & license, insurance, a few parts, etc) I sold the car and made $567.

It was a bit of a bummer to not get the car road worthy again but my goal isn’t to resurrect every vehicle if it doesn’t make sense.  It made the most sense, in this case, to halt the project and pass it down the road.

Deal done, onto the next one.