Improved 'Failed Head Gasket' Scam

[E55BOF]

Read this thread first, then you'll know what I'm on about:

ML420 - Head Gasket? Definitely Sod's Law, Anyway... | Engine

Well, the ML 420 let me down today. Perhaps it knew it was being sold... I took the buyer, who had come quite a way, for a test drive, and on the way back on the motorway gave it full wellie. Oh S**T!! What's all that bluish-white smoke? Clears when I ease off, smokes a little on the overrun...

forums.mbclub.co.uk

Up at crack of sparrows, I thought I'd take a look at it. Siphoned out the oil from on top of the coolant in the expansion tank, and it looked fine beneath, so I took it for a run. No smoke until it was hot, then some smoke for a while, then it cleared. Full throttle, no smoke. No oil in the expansion tank.

As well as putting oil in the expansion tank, the supposed buyer's accomplice must have squirted some oil up the exhaust pipes when I wasn't looking, and once the exhaust was hot, it began burning off. Crafty bastards...

(It's fine now, and I have another buyer coming to see it. Fingers crossed...)

 

[pmcgsmurf]

I'm curious how they could do this.
Did you let them look around the car without you by their side?

Best to assume that every potential buyer is out to rip you off, just think of them exactly the same as car salesmen.

 

[ChipChop]

Did the buyer offer you a derisory amount for the car after the hgf symptoms?

 

[GeeJayW]

Naughty indeed... I hope you get an honest buyer.

 

[KennyN]

Does the rear end of the exhaust actually get warm enough to burn off oil . at the front yes but i dont think it will at the back.

Single or twin turbo ?

If it is a single turbo then does both side of the engine go through the turbo , if it does then this would cause both sides of the system to get oily so it maybe a turbo problem as opposed to HG failure.

How is the oil level in the engine as if it is low then you know where it is going.

K

 

[E55BOF]

I'm curious how they could do this. Did you let them look around the car without you by their side?

Clever distraction; the 'buyer' insisted on trying to fit the detachable towbar, leaving his accomplice out of sight for a short time.

Did the buyer offer you a derisory amount for the car after the hgf symptoms?

Oh yes, but I wasn't prepared to sell it as it then appeared to be, so I declined.

Does the rear end of the exhaust actually get warm enough to burn off oil . at the front yes but i dont think it will at the back.

Single or twin turbo ?

If it is a single turbo then does both side of the engine go through the turbo , if it does then this would cause both sides of the system to get oily so it maybe a turbo problem as opposed to HG failure.

How is the oil level in the engine as if it is low then you know where it is going.

You're right about the rear of the exhaust not being hot enough to burn off oil, I think, which would explain why it was oily after the test drive. The oil level isn't going anywhere. After a short drive this morning, the oil level is fine, the car drives perfectly, and miraculously, it doesn't smoke at all any more. There are no fault codes.

Twin turbo. It is neither a HG nor a turbo failure; it was an attempted scam.

 

[ChipChop]

There really are some cheeky b*****d's out there. Glad you twigged what they were up to.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Gumtree per chance?

 

[W1ghty]

Seems like a solution would be to film the interaction , at least they could be arrested then for squirting oil into the coolant

 

[E55BOF]

Gumtree per chance?

It was indeed Gumtree. I've never had any problems selling low-value cars on there, other than tossers (whose first language is rarely English, unless our schools are much worse than I thought...) looking to make a quick buck, whose first question is usually "what's your best price?", but those blighters infest eBay as well.

Seems like a solution would be to film the interaction, at least they could be arrested then for squirting oil into the coolant.

I do wish I'd had a security camera recording... I sent the crook a text anyway: "I know what you did; it's all recorded; the police have asked me to make a statement on Monday", but in practice the police mostly don't have the resources to investigate this sort of low-level criminal behaviour even if it is successful.

 

[Will]

Where is the smoke coming from though?

 

[markjay]

Sorry to hear that.

Too common, sadly:

Squirting oil into exhaust:

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'Dad Catches Car Scammers With Oil Trick

A dad-of-two has warned private car sellers to be on the lookout after ‘Eastern European car scammers’ allegedly tried to swindle him out of £1,100 by squirting oil up his exhaust – for the second time.

Sam Mangera, from Blackburn, Lancs, claims the duo took his 11-year-old BMW for a test drive last Friday however the car began billowing black smoke during the run.

After arriving back at his house, the pair tried to knock £1,100 off the £2,500 asking price for the BMW 320 diesel on account of the smoke, despite Sam claiming there was no known damage to the car.

Suspicious because a similar incident happened while selling another car, the 27-year-old checked his CCTV footage and caught the moment one of the men appears to spray oil up the exhaust.'

Pouring oil into coolant reservoir (and doing other stuff)

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[E55BOF]

I knew about the oil in coolant scam, but I hadn't heard of the oil up the exhaust trick until now. Logical next step once people know about the first one, though.

 

[John]

Does the rear end of the exhaust actually get warm enough to burn off oil . at the front yes but i dont think it will at the back.

On an older car where the rear end of the exhaust is connected, I think it would.

I remember how hot my E55 exhausts got right at the tips.

It used to bake on the burnt carbon and was a nightmare to clean off.

 

[zipdip]

Well thats what happens with low value motors,it attracts the bottom feeders who want a bargain on a bargain and for crap like this,best way to stop it is to have a couple of friends with you and one to stand guard at the front one on the end then you can talk to whoever wants to buy,other than that if they turn up mod handed just say who's buying the rest stay in the your car don't want to do that then on your way.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

It was indeed Gumtree. I've never had any problems selling low-value cars on there, other than tossers (whose first language is rarely English, unless our schools are much worse than I thought...) looking to make a quick buck, whose first question is usually "what's your best price?", but those blighters infest eBay as well.

When faced with the proverbial “best price” tossers, I simply respond with “what’s the most you’ll pay?”

Tends to sort the wheat from the chaff.

 

[ChipChop]

It was indeed Gumtree. I've never had any problems selling low-value cars on there, other than tossers (whose first language is rarely English, unless our schools are much worse than I thought...) looking to make a quick buck, whose first question is usually "what's your best price?", but those blighters infest eBay as well.




I do wish I'd had a security camera recording... I sent the crook a text anyway: "I know what you did; it's all recorded; the police have asked me to make a statement on Monday", but in practice the police mostly don't have the resources to investigate this sort of low-level criminal behaviour even if it is successful.

Would you not be better off trying to sell it on here first?

Gumtree is just one step away from Facebook in the worst places to sell a car stakes imho.

 

[markjay]

Well thats what happens with low value motors,it attracts the bottom feeders who want a bargain on a bargain and for crap like this,best way to stop it is to have a couple of friends with you and one to stand guard at the front one on the end then you can talk to whoever wants to buy,other than that if they turn up mod handed just say who's buying the rest stay in the your car don't want to do that then on your way.

They then tell you that A is the one buying the car, B is the one he is buying the car for (brother, son, nephew), and C is the mechanic who needs to check it over..... they all need to see the car to make a decision.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Perhaps take the car out and blow the head gasket then go for the sale again.

 

[John N]

Would you not be better off trying to sell it on here first?

Gumtree is just one step away from Facebook in the worst places to sell a car stakes imho.

A bit dodgy, there has been Oil in the Coolant and some Oil up the Exhaust and he's letting on that "Some Big Boys did it and Ran Away" ????