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Bought CTS-V, Fuel CEL popped in the dealer lot

2017 Views 39 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  02firehawkt/a
First post (of hopefully many) and unfortunately I need some help! Just pulled the trigger on an 11' A6 CTS-V. During the test drive, the car definitely felt down on power from what I would expect. For reference I've owned a C7 Z06, 17' LT1 SS, cammed f-body etc so I have a decent enough understanding of what roughly 500 whp should feel like and this was definitely not it. Looking around for any weird indications, I notice the boost gauge was at 0 under heavy throttle loads and wasn't moving at all as if the gauge was dead. Nothing I could do to the throttle would cause it to move and I assumed either the gauge was malfunctioning or the car just wasn't producing any PSI off the blower. After driving it for about 10 min, the boost gauge started working which triggered the belief cycle of "my butt dyno must be miscalibrated, it must be me" and that everything was fine. The car is pretty much impeccable everywhere else.

Well, it was not fine and I should've never second guessed the most reliable of performance instruments (Mark IV butt dyno). Literally upon going to pull out of the dealer lot, the car popped a CEL. Had the service guy scan it and he came back and said something something fuel relay. I asked for the code number and mysteriously no one knew what it was and no one wrote it down, they just cleared it out. Thought that was extremely shady because how do you as a professional service department scan a code on a car you sold 5 seconds ago and not know the code number. But I digress. Left the car at the dealer (90 day warranty and I technically haven't dropped off the check to them yet since it's the weekend and bank was closed) and they assured me they'd get to the bottom of it. While I don't doubt their intentions, if this is a fuel sending problem that's going to cost big bucks I can 100% see them being like "oh yeah we changed a spark plug and it's all good now" or some BS.

Not trying to put the cart before the horse and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt but I've bought enough cars to be able to envision how this is probably going to play out (i.e. it's in their best interest to try and say they fixed something trivial at basically 0 cost to them versus fixing the actual problem which is likely pretty expensive) and I'm just trying to be prepared. Outside of the obvious fuel pump and/or injectors, what are the common fuel issues with these cars? From what I could tell, the car looked bone stock & I don't believe it had a pulley on it. Obviously not to say the previous owner didn't have one on there and swap it back prior to the trade in.


Thanks in advance. Have wanted one of these cars forever and unfortunately stumbled upon one with some problems
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Good luck. The car is probably modded/ tuned and/or potentially de-modded - and they're just clearing codes hoping you'll go away.

I think your first suspicion on their not noting the code is pretty spot on.

Start reading the fine print on that 90-day warranty. But you can also read rhe codes at any auto store or with a $20 hand held tool.
Good luck. The car is probably modded/ tuned and/or potentially de-modded - and they're just clearing codes hoping you'll go away.

I think your first suspicion on their not noting the code is pretty spot on.

Start reading the fine print on that 90-day warranty. But you can also read rhe codes at any auto store or with a $20 hand held tool.
Thanks for the input. I do have a handheld scanner that I unfortunately didn't bring (didn't think I'd need to bring it for a 65,000mi bone stock car...). I will definitely be bringing a whole set of tools on the next trip to pick it up.

Anyone else have any input for common causes of a 0 boost/down on power + fuel check engine light?
I wouldn't bother and move on.
Keep shopping.
You don't say where this is - does your State do emissions checks? Does the car pass emissions?

Clearing the code without "remembering" what it was or doing even the most rudimentary of analysis to determine the cause is IMO a HUGE red flag. The dealership probably bought the car without realizing it was problematic and now they're just trying to get rid of it. The mechanic who "checked" the car might be the same one who's had to deal with the car a few times already... "I'll clear it and maybe it won't come back again, or if it does it'll be long enough from now we can just blame the new owner and not have to do anything".

As you say, there's no "honest" mechanic who'd have cleared the code without doing even a minimum of investigation, and then instantly forgotten what it was. Their behavior speaks volumes in terms of a "hidden agenda".

Walk away.
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You don't say where this is - does your State do emissions checks? Does the car pass emissions?

Clearing the code without "remembering" what it was or doing even the most rudimentary of analysis to determine the cause is IMO a HUGE red flag. The dealership probably bought the car without realizing it was problematic and now they're just trying to get rid of it. The mechanic who "checked" the car might be the same one who's had to deal with the car a few times already... "I'll clear it and maybe it won't come back again, or if it does it'll be long enough from now we can just blame the new owner and not have to do anything".

As you say, there's no "honest" mechanic who'd have cleared the code without doing even a minimum of investigation, and then instantly forgotten what it was. Their behavior speaks volumes in terms of a "hidden agenda".

Walk away.
It's in a state without emissions checks, I didn't include a location because I don't want to throw the dealership under the bus (until if/when they deserve it). I do absolutely despise that they didn't want to tell me the code they pulled, I'm insanely pissed about that. And also at myself because if I had just brought my scanner I would've just done it myself and had all the info I need. But this is the game and I'm not new to it. Their objective is to move the car with the minimum amount of dollars put into it to max profit. It is what it is.

The car was a super new trade and they've only had it a couple days. I saw it online before they even had a chance to upload the pictures on the website. I'm very confident that they weren't aware of any issues the car had because of the short time they've had it and upon visual inspection it does look flawless and drives fine. Unless someone who's familiar with high HP cars (specifically of the GM variety) gets in the seat and butt dynos it, the car drives fine and shifts smooth. I mean it even almost fooled me because it seems like the boost is coming on at certain points and then it's not. But it is 100% down on power, it felt like a stock LS3 5th gen Camaro to me. I had driven my baby cam'd bolt on f-body all day prior to this V and it would've absolutely gapped this car. My guess is the ECU is protecting the engine by not boosting when realizing there's not enough fuel.

I realize the easy answer is to just walk away but I'm not going to give up on the car yet for something that could be as simple as a couple fuel injectors. After I hear from them regarding what they did/changed out I'll re-assess and take it from there. The car is simply too clean and too low mileage for me to walk away from it given what some of these crackhead dealerships are asking for 90K+ mile V's right now
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Without doing a lot of work, verifying to see if the fuel pump assembly is stock (pull the rear sear and see if there's an access hatch cut in), checking the engine tune, potentially doing a leak down or compression test as well as pulling the fuel rails (or blower) to verify OEM parts and cam is a big task- at which point you own it....

Returning the car and moving on is the best path, unless you got such a good deal it covers a potential motor rebuild. Sure, it could be a clogged filter, a dead pump or bad injectors - or it could be much, much worse. 🤔
Without doing a lot of work, verifying to see if the fuel pump assembly is stock (pull the rear sear and see if there's an access hatch cut in), checking the engine tune, potentially doing a leak down or compression test as well as pulling the fuel rails (or blower) to verify OEM parts and cam is a big task- at which point you own it....

Returning the car and moving on is the best path, unless you got such a good deal it covers a potential motor rebuild. Sure, it could be a clogged filter, a dead pump or bad injectors - or it could be much, much worse. 🤔
Thanks for the advice; appreciate you experienced V guys giving your input. I recently swapped a cam and springs on my LS1 car so I know how much work that could be to pull the cam and would rather not. Plans for the car were to do headers, CAI and maybe a pulley/tune. Trying to PM you on the details of the bolded but don't think I can since I'm super new
Post it here - getting multiple opinions is what you're after, but with inflation, nothing will be cheap should you have to do maintenance. I'm sure it's a Dream Car for you, and I love my wagon, but IF it was modded and "returned to stock" by someone who traded it in, it could be a real nightmare for you.

Then there's the whole "what did the dealer know?" side of it. Ugh.
Post it here - getting multiple opinions is what you're after, but with inflation, nothing will be cheap should you have to do maintenance. I'm sure it's a Dream Car for you, and I love my wagon, but IF it was modded and "returned to stock" by someone who traded it in, it could be a real nightmare for you.

Then there's the whole "what did the dealer know?" side of it. Ugh.
$34.5K, clean as can be 2011 Sedan (A6). 65,xxx miles, no Recaros. Was kind of bummed about the no Recaros since I plan on doing HPDEs and the stock seats SUCK lol but for that amount I wasn't going to say no. 2 owner clean carfax, no accidents clean title

Well gents, the plot thickens. The carfax says that the car was issued a junk title "by mistake (carfax is guaranteeing it's a clear title)." So I ran an autocheck report for $25 that says the car does indeed have a junk title. This was never disclosed to me by the dealer and now I have no idea if it does actually have a junk title or not. There are 0 accidents on both reports so I'm thinking maybe flood or hail? Only thing I can think of. Would explain how it's so clean if it was newly rebuilt and painted.

This absolutely sucks
At least it isn't stolen. Yeah, probably a drowning victim.
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I would walk/run from this. If you do decide to buy it, don't ever complain about it again. That isn't to say you shouldn't start a new thread on what it took to fix it, for entertainment.
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At the very least I'm going to demand to see a clean title before I proceed to send them any money. Still not opposed to buying it with the junk title, but they're not getting anywhere near the ask price if it is in fact a junk title. I have the ability to fix what needs to be fixed even if that includes rebuilding the motor
The title can never be changed from a branded one back to clear. It will either be salvaged or rebuilt. If it’s not branded you should be ok as far as title goes. I’d imagine it’s very possible it was labeled that in error
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I'm definitely not smart on the differences between branded/salvage/junk etc titles. Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow when they send a copy
Will either say salvage and or rebuilt/reconstructed, if it doesn’t it’s clear
Rub, don't walk, away from that car.

Go get your Recaros, Bother - they're worth it! And you now have three or four BIG RED FLAGS on this car.

It's called "a mother fucking hint! " 😁
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The dealership of mention, above, is where I bought my 2014 Coupe (in 2014. Still driving it). They're definitely not a fly-by-night dealership. Norwood Cadillac got the car on 5/24 with only 4 miles on the odometer. They ran it through MA inspection (which includes emissions), car was sold on 5/27, also the date of the erroneous junk title notice. They probably had to reinspect it after fixing the title issue, which is why it was tested again on 5/31. It wouldn't have gotten flooded in Norwood, MA unless someone drove it in to a pond or river. It couldn't have been wrecked, declared an insurance loss and then repaired in just a few days. So the junk title doesn't look like a real issue.

But it is a 12 year old car.

I'd buy it, but only with a written commitment on the part of the dealership to deal with the issue whatever the cause should it recur. And since they didn't record the code before clearing it, that'd have to include any code. In fact, I'd demand a 3 month "no code left unturned" guarantee from them.
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Rub, don't walk, away from that car.

Go get your Recaros, Bother - they're worth it! And you now have three or four BIG RED FLAGS on this car.

It's called "a mother fucking hint! " 😁
Yeah this one's really screaming at me to run isn't it 😅 Technically I already signed and bought the car but I haven't paid for it yet; they just asked for a letter of approval from my bank and were willing to give me the keys because it was a Saturday and the bank couldn't get them the funds in time. I told them I was 100% willing to wait until they were made whole to pick up the car (I'm like 3 hrs away) but they were nice enough to let me have the keys that day. But the bank check is still coming to me and I have to sign it soooo...

I'm going to get more info from the dealer about the title before I do anything. Also going to ask them if they can reach out to the previous owner to see what the F is going on with the car because he obviously knew something was up. He traded it in on a Scat pack Charger, lmao. I don't know the guys motivation but who in their right mind trades in a pristine V for a scat pack unless they know something's up with it and are trying to dump and run

The dealership of mention, above, is where I bought my 2014 Coupe (in 2014. Still driving it). They're definitely not a fly-by-night dealership. Norwood Cadillac got the car on 5/24 with only 4 miles on the odometer. They ran it through MA inspection (which includes emissions), car was sold on 5/27, also the date of the erroneous junk title notice. They probably had to reinspect it after fixing the title issue, which is why it was tested again on 5/31. It wouldn't have gotten flooded in Norwood, MA unless someone drove it in to a pond or river. It couldn't have been wrecked, declared an insurance loss and then repaired in just a few days. So the junk title doesn't look like a real issue.

But it is a 12 year old car.

I'd buy it, but only with a written commitment on the part of the dealership to deal with the issue whatever the cause should it recur. And since they didn't record the code before clearing it, that'd have to include any code. In fact, I'd demand a 3 month "no code left unturned" guarantee from them.
Thanks for your input. I'm pretty confident that the title is clean as well (carfax guarantees that it is, that's a pretty expensive guarantee if they weren't 120% sure). Even if it is a junk title that doesn't scare me, I've torn LS motors apart before and I have all the tools/garage space to do it. I don't care a whole lot about resale as I plan to keep the car. I hate all the new stuff that's out right now and plan to keep this as long as I can being that it's a sedan that I can daily drive.

The dealership you mentioned is not the dealership I'm dealing with at the moment. Totally different part of the country but it's nice to know at least the car was probably properly taken care of early in its life
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