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.

 

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

 

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.

 

$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.

 

Thoughts? Junk or no?

 

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.

 

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

 

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! " 😁

 

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

 

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.

 

Yeah man I agree with random on this one, I’d walk away while you can and find another one. It’s already a problem and you technically don’t even own it

 

You lost me at “they accidentally didn’t happen to notice or record the code(s) before clearing them and saying ‘it’ll be fine, see ya!’.
They IMHO are displaying sketchy at best (or dishonest) practices and I would run run run.
Back out, nullify the deal. IF they can get the car sorted and fixed in a week or two, you can STILL buy it then.

 

If you go through with the sale, ask for a longer warranty.

 

100%. They have of course offered me extended warranties but I think they wanted $4500 which I thought was kind of a lot but I could be off on that. At the very least I don't think it would be a problem to extend the 90 day 50/50 warranty out to the day I pickup the car versus Saturday when I signed. I would think that would be the bear minimum. Of course I'm going to drive the piss out of it for the first couple months to help persuade any potential issues arise during that period, should the deal continue

As arca stated above, for a car with no recaros, and what seems to be already a problematic car, I’d absolutely walk away and be patient. There’s nothing more frustrating than buying a car that you’re super excited about only to have to deal with headaches of issues right out of the gate. It took me months to find my coupe and I passed on at least 3 V’s before buying my current one. Either way, keep us posted

Will do. My thought process as of now (assuming the title is clean) is to give them the opportunity to make it right and fix the car. Like stated previously, if their answer is to replace a spark plug and an oil filter and call it a day it's going to be a no from me. If they come out and say hey we found the car did actually have a few problems, we replaced a few injectors and put the tune back to stock or whatever and it runs great then I'll go back, drive it, scan it myself, probably pull some plugs and borescope a couple cylinders and do a much more in-depth look at it. If all looks to be in order given that it'll still be under a 90 day warranty then I'll probably move forward with it. I have to keep in mind too that they've had the car for literally a week and they wouldn't have even had the chance to do anything with it other than a basic visual inspection and the detailing. Will keep you guys updated either way, seriously appreciate all the input

 

They can deal on the extended warranty. Guaranteed the first price they give you isn't the final price. Back when I bought my 85 SVO Mustang (in 85), it only came with a 12mo/12K warranty from Ford (because they expected people to race them, not drive them on the street), so the dealership suggested I buy an extended warranty, but they wanted $2K (which at the time was a lot, I don't think the car was more than $20K). I hit 'em with "if you really think this is a good car, then any money I pay you for the extended warranty is money in your pocket, you don't need to charge me a lot" and that was good for a $500 reduction in the policy cost. Turned out the car sucked and it cost the insurance company about 5x what I paid in premiums before I got rid of it after about 1.5 years. But I digress... nothing in the car buying process is fixed-cost, everything is negotiable. If they can't do it by taking money off the top, they can do it with "comps" like free oil changes for a few years or something like that. Never hurts to push for a better deal.

 

Update: they called back and said they drove it around and couldn't duplicate the code (so effectively exactly what I said would happen). Except I was wrong, I said they'd probably change a spark plug or something and they didn't even do that 😅

They did offer $1000 off the original agreed upon price. I told him to ask about an extended warranty out to a year in addition to the $1000.

My gut is telling me that previous homie had a pulley on it, maxxed out the stock injectors and put the stock pulley back on for the trade in. If it's just injectors, well, I was going to upgrade those anyway to put a pulley on 😅 if it needs a fuel pump too I'll be pissed because those are kind of a bitch to replace from what I understand. I've torn LS's apart but haven't yet had to do a fuel pump

 

I think it's plain that you want the car and won't be dissuaded by our nay-saying. That's fine, it's your money, your call, we can respect that (we aren't there to even SEE the car , much less drive it), so congrats, I'll say!
As far as the fuel pump; you should know that regardless the condition of the pump, one of the quirks of the Gen2 Vs is a fuel fitting on top of the fuel module that cracks, leaks fuel and WILL need to be repaired at some point or maybe HAS BEEN replaced already. If you have a chance, please look under the car, at the bottom of the fuel tank (passenger side) and look for wetness or staining on the bottom of the tank. If it is wet or 'moist', try to get the selling dealer to fix it. If the tank is bone dry underneath, it has probably already been fixed. If you lift the rear seat cushion, you'll likely find a patch panel added to the floorboard for pump access.
See the thread, here called "Fuel Hat Repair" ... but before ordering the pieces, be sure to read the follow-up comments by the OP on the last page (he eventually opted to just buy the ALM piece.)
General question: are you one who does your own car repair or do you usually have things done at a shop?
Back to the car that you are looking at, we're all curious about what mods may have been done. post up some pics if you can, under the hood, the blower/exhaust/heat exchanger/undercar etc so we can help you spot the usual upgrades if they are there.

 

You sir are correct! 😅 Based on what these cars are going for right now I decided with the extra $1000 off that I can deal with (some) problems that I may have to fix myself. The powertrain is under warranty for the next 3 months so I'm not super worried there.

Yes, I wrench on all my own stuff. I'm by no means an ASE mechanic but I can get by due to the unbelievable LS community and knowledgeable folks like yourself; I've done long tube headers, cams, valvetrain, suspension etc all basically from forum advice and YouTube. I recently got brave and did custom chassis brake lines and flared them myself on my 2002 f-body for a Gen 1 CTS-V Brembo caliper/C6Z rotor conversion; Those 4 piston calipers grab pretty good on a 3500 lb car! Unfortunately, I've got basically no experience messing with boosted applications though; I left my C7Z bone stock because it was still under warranty during the time I owned it.

The car should be dropped off tomorrow at which point I'll take the beauty covers off and take a bunch of pics for you guys to tell me what exactly I've got that I may not be aware of. Again, I'm 95% certain it's bone stock. Upper pulley, exhaust, lid and intake are all definitely stock.

 

If it is wet or 'moist'...
Don't want to derail the thread but the above phrase sparked a memory of a true story that was really funny. A group from the company I work for went out after work to a local sports bar to celebrate the CEO's birthday. The place was known for good Buffalo wings and if you wanted them with extra sauce you would get them "wet". One of the engineers wanted to order some, but English was not his first language.

Engineer: I'd like to order the wings, moist.

Waitress: You mean wet?

Engineer: What's the difference between moist and wet?

VP (50 yo woman): About 5 minutes.

 

If it is wet or 'moist'...
Don't want to derail the thread but the above phrase sparked a memory of a true story that was really funny. A group from the company I work for went out after work to a local sports bar to celebrate the CEO's birthday. The place was known for good Buffalo wings and if you wanted them with extra sauce you would get them "wet". One of the engineers wanted to order some, but English was not his first language.

Engineer: I'd like to order the wings, moist.

Waitress: You mean wet?

Engineer: What's the difference between moist and wet?

VP (50 yo woman): About 5 minutes.

Now that's funny 😂

 

Good start!
(now, wipe the mung off of your phone's lens and give 'er another click.)











(We like SHARP pitchas...)

 

Well, she got dropped off yesterday AM and I've probably put around 60 miles on her. No check engine codes yet, and I scanned it with 2 different code readers and I couldn't get it to fail a test if I tried.

She is making a slight ticking sound coming from the drivers side head, but nothing I can identify visually. Driving completely normal and boosting when it's supposed to. I don't know if they replaced something in the couple days they were looking at it, but I can't find anything wrong with it right now (and I'm trying)! I was going to pull a couple plugs to check condition and borescope the cylinders but then I forgot how much of a bitch it is to pull those stock metal sleeves off the plug side, so we'll save that for another day

I can't mod it for a couple months or it'll void the powertrain warranty, but in the fall I'm at a minimum doing CAI + headers and a tune. Will probably also do injectors and a pulley at the same time just to avoid paying for 2 tunes because I know I'll want even more. I'm amazed at how quiet and low-key this car is but then again it's been about 15 years since my T/A was stock and it was pretty similar.

 

Congrats! Does look stock.

 

Update - After a month so far, luckily everything has been perfect. These cars are definitely up there on the GM greatest hits playlist just because of how unique of a driving experience it is. It's not as raw as anything else in the lineup past/present, but once you really put your foot down it reminds you it belongs in that group. And it's easily the most refined that I've owned thus far. Also blown away by how much attention these still get; against my wishes 2 different kids guarding the gate at work have held up traffic for miles to ask about it These young kids know what they are and were jaws on floor when they saw it in person. That's what the WS6 was to me growing up and it would make sense that these now fill that spot for the current generation.

In the short time I've had it I've put a ton of work (and wallet weight reduction) into it to include some track prepping:

• Recaros went in yesterday! Fully functional with new module. Still working on getting them dialed in for me but the rave reviews for them are accurate
• Corsa CAI
• Mamo ported LSA TB
• Carbon wheel with paddles
• Hawk HP+ pads (the stock Brembo pads were about 40% and the dusting on those is horrible)
• Motul DOT 5.1 fluid
• Valvoline 75W150 Rear Diff fluid

Still on the to-do list:

• Redline 5W40
• ZL1 lid/reinforced brick from DMS ordered today. Debated on this for a while because the prices on these are fucking outrageous now but I really wanted the peace of mind of having a brand new reinforced brick for track days versus stressing the stock 65K mile one
• Goodridge SS lines
• Solid isolator; what I initially thought was a ticking sound at idle is actually the GM TSB issue with the supercharger

and then as long as she doesn't overheat during the next couple of HPDEs and once this mini powertrain warranty is done:

- Tune, 2.5 upper, injectors. Due to its weight this car needs probably another 50 hp and a transmission tune to be seriously fun. In typical GM fashion the stock mapping of the 6L90 is heinous. In "sport" it lives in 6th gear all day and is content to just downshift to 4th on heavy throttle. If I ram my foot to the floor and it decides the mood is right sometimes it'll take 3rd. We'll fix that..

Making progress to get her into prime V territory..