I Bought a "Run & Drive" Ferrari at Auction that was Secretly Mechanically Totaled
Summary
TLDRThe video documents the speaker's experience buying a used Ferrari 360 at auction that ended up having major mechanical issues. Despite the car initially seeming fine, it soon made concerning noises and was found to have a failed transmission cooler mixing coolant and gear oil, requiring a full transmission rebuild. Further inspection then revealed low engine compression and excessive bearing wear, indicating more extensive engine repairs needed. The speaker ultimately decided to cut his losses and sell it rather than pour endless money into repairs, though he expresses regret about the lack of disclosure from the seller at auction about these latent issues.
Takeaways
- π The Ferrari was supposed to fulfill a childhood dream but quickly turned into a nightmare with countless issues
- π Upon arrival, the Ferrari seemed fine visually but made concerning noises while driving due to transmission failure
- πΈ Replacing the failed transmission would cost $10k+, putting the owner immediately upside down on the car
- π Further inspection revealed additional engine issues like low compression and excessive bearing wear
- π The owner bought a rebuilt replacement engine for $10k but then lost interest due to the excessive repair costs
- π€ After waiting a while, the owner was able to sell the Ferrari at only a small loss due to collector car inflation
- β The Ferrari was listed for auction as only having 'normal wear' but clearly had undisclosed mechanical issues
- π The auction did not properly disclose the issues despite being notified, due to a new self-disclosure pilot program
- π‘ In hindsight, the owner felt he made the right decision to cut his losses and move on from the problem-plagued Ferrari
- π The owner asks viewers if they agree he made the right call to sell the car and not sink more money into repairs
Q & A
What was the initial problem with the Ferrari when it arrived?
-The Ferrari wouldn't start when it arrived. The transporter said it wouldn't run likely due to a dead battery from sitting at the auction.
What noise did the Ferrari make within the first 20 seconds of driving it?
-It made a sad string instrument-like noise upon deceleration, indicating an issue with the transmission/gearbox.
What causes the transmission gear cooler to fail in Ferrari 360s?
-The metals used inside the transmission gear cooler weaken over time and corrode, especially without routine coolant flushes. This allows coolant and gear oil to mix, leading to transmission failure.
How much does it typically cost to rebuild or replace a Ferrari 360 transmission?
-It typically costs around $10,000 at a shop to rebuild or replace a Ferrari 360 transmission due to parts and labor costs.
What issue did the compression test reveal with the Ferrari's engine?
-The compression test showed low compression readings, with the highest at 160 PSI and the lowest around 100 PSI, indicating a major engine issue.
What likely caused the engine's low compression and excessive wear?
-It was likely caused by an oil leak that went ignored, causing the engine to run hotter and with more friction, wearing down the piston rings and bearings.
How did the seller likely avoid disclosing the Ferrari's issues when listing it?
-The seller used a new auction program that allowed them to create their own limited disclosures, avoiding flagging it as mechanically damaged.
Why did the video creator decide to cut his losses and sell the Ferrari?
-With the added engine issues and high repair costs, it no longer made financial sense to keep fixing the Ferrari, so he sold it to minimize his loss.
How was the video creator able to sell the Ferrari without taking a huge loss?
-Due to collector car market inflation over time, even the junk Ferrari was worth much more, allowing him to sell it with minimal loss.
What lesson did the video creator learn from this experience?
-The importance of seller disclosures at auctions to avoid buying misrepresented, damaged vehicles.
Outlines
π The Ferrari 360 Was Supposed to Fulfill My Dreams But Turned Into a Nightmare
This paragraph introduces the Ferrari 360 coupe that the author purchased. Despite seeming like the perfect car to fulfill his childhood poster car dreams at first, it soon turned into a nightmare with countless mechanical issues. Even trying to stay optimistic, the constant problems wasted the author's sanity.
π± Discovering the Ferrari's Transmission Failure and Gearbox Contamination
After hearing concerning noises, investigation revealed a failed transmission cooler leading to contamination and failure of the gearbox. The author details the diagnosis process and the underlying cause - metal corrosion in the integrated transmission cooler leading to mixing of coolant and gear oil.
π Sourcing a Good Used Transmission and Bonus LS-Swapped Ferrari Parts Engine
A used transmission was sourced for a great $2000 price after waiting patiently for one to become available. The seller also provided a bonus parts engine he LS-swapped out of his own problematic Ferrari. An initial swap attempt hit a roadblock with discovered engine issues.
π’ Extremely Low Engine Compression Readings Reveal Catastrophic Internal Damage
Before installing the transmission, a compression test shockingly revealed extremely low readings, indicating major internal engine damage. Failed attempts were made to resolve it, but glitter in the oil and excessive wear pointed to a seized, leaked out and overheated engine wiping out the rings and bearings.
πΈ The Money Pit - Cutting Losses and Moving On From the Dream
Even with a great deal on a refreshed replacement engine, tallying up the costs to fully revive the 360 became unreasonable and "money pit" status was reached. Saved from a total loss by collector car inflation, the author cut losses and parted ways with the childhood dream car.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Disclosure
π‘Transmission
π‘Engine
π‘Cost
π‘Auction
π‘Reality
π‘Loss
π‘Project Car
π‘Disclosure
π‘Cut Losses
Highlights
The Ferrari was supposed to fulfill a childhood dream, but it quickly turned into a nightmare with countless issues
The transmission cooler failed, mixing coolant with gear oil and leading to catastrophic transmission failure
Replacing the Ferrari 360 transmission costs around $10,000, making the repair upside-down financially
The auction was useless in helping with the inaccurate listing, constantly deflecting responsibility
The engine showed dangerously low compression readings, around 100-160 PSI instead of 180-200 PSI
The engine likely overheated from low oil, causing piston ring and bearing wear
A full engine rebuild with new parts would cost similar to just replacing the engine
I bought a professionally rebuilt replacement engine for $10,000, but it was just the tip of the cost iceberg
I was able to sell the Ferrari at a small loss due to collector car market inflation
The seller was likely able to avoid proper disclosure of issues due to a new auction program
Had the Ferrari been inspected at the auction, it would have been marked as mechanically damaged
I didn't want to make a big deal with the auction since I work with them sometimes
In hindsight, should I have cut my losses or kept chasing the dream with this 360?
To fix this 360 properly would have cost similar to restoring our F430 project car
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Transcripts
this Ferrari was supposed to be the
solution instead it created a new
countless amount of problems it was
supposed to fulfill a childhood dream
but it quickly turned into my nightmare
and while I tried to stay optimistic
through every one of its issues I was
only kidding myself while wasting my own
sanity this is the worst Ferrari I've
ever bought potentially one of the worst
cars I've ever bought but upon arrival
it seemed the opposite it closely
matched what I saw in the auction photos
and while there were a few cosmetic
issues inside now out they were no big
deal you see this car was listed with
just normal wear and nothing else
because of this the price was pretty
normal I can't tell you that I got it
for an absolute steal or that it was too
cheap to pass up this seemed to be the
right car at the right time my personal
poster car has always been a red Ferrari
360 Coupe and even though I have a
convertible one of these that's been a
continual project I figured it would be
cool to finally get one that was
mechanically proper so I could enjoy it
while I took my time working on any of
its little blemishes now the transporter
told me before he arrived that he
couldn't get it started so I came
prepared I figured it probably just had
a dead battery from sitting at the
auction for a while let's see they said
it wouldn't
[Music]
run didn't just lock myself in here
permanently so
immobilizer put the key
in put my foot over on the brake
started right up seems to run all right
too brought all those tools thought this
was going to be
dramatic
honestly this car is has seen better
days but it is not bad at all this is
common missing headliner simple fix
um this is an expensive fix but simple
fix leather everywhere oh these are a
little bit ratty but again stuff that we
can we could fix all this this is a nice
car and that's as long as it goes into
drive and drives off this
trailer and it drove right off the truck
perfectly without any drama it stayed
idling and so far I was very pleased but
that would all change and just a few
seconds now considering this Ferrari
traveled all the way from the opposite
side of the country the delivery process
was smooth so smooth in fact you would
have thought it was arranged on
stamps.com which is the one stop for all
your shipping Necessities whether you're
sending a steering knuckle or an
old-fashioned belt buckle all you have
to do is input the address and package
info pick your rate you can even order
supplies and schedule pickup and you can
truly do it all without leaving the
house or office with stamps.com and and
if you're used to those over-the-counter
rates you'll be amazed at the difference
in price because stamps.com offers an up
to 89% discount through ups and USPS to
bypass that line of the post office you
really don't need a lot just to scale
and a printer and to visit stamps.com
samrack they're going to give you the
scale for free along with a 4-week trial
and some free postage to get you started
when you visit stamps.com
samrack there is no reason to stand in
line to pay more for the same exact
services that you'll find over at
stamps.com
samrack after a quick once over
everything looked pretty clean but
almost too clean the engine bay was
clearly freshly detailed areas that
would usually just be a little dirty
were spotless in the frun I found the
leather headliner and of course it was
missing the original Ferrari tool kit
but like I said earlier I was just
excited to drive this car and so I did
and the noise I heard within the first
20 seconds in killed any of that
excitement
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
listen
this noise which happens upon
deceleration sounds like an extremely
sad string instrument now the truth is I
knew darn well what was wrong here as
there's a light on the dashboard for low
coolant which goes along with a common
failure item on these cars that causes
complete transmission failure but I just
didn't want to believe it to be the case
so I checked everything else beforehand
I started by putting the rear end up off
the ground and drove it to see if the
noise continued this was really just a
waste of time then I checked the
transmission mount because if it were
collapsed it would rub against the frame
and create a bit of noise and harshness
but it wouldn't really sound anything
like this so now it's time to face
reality and check the gear oil to do
this you remove the rear bumper which
allows you access to the transmission
drain hole keeping with the theme of
Ferrari being a pain the under tray is
in the way of the drain plug which is
right here we're just going to kind of
hold this down and guide it right into
our drain pan
here oh yeah yeah yeah yeah that's what
happened
look it has to be the source of our wine
there somebody decided to put gravy in
the gearbox that is uh not the
appropriate color there what's happening
is that the oil cooler or I should say
the transmission gear cooler has broken
and it's mixing coolant with the gear
oil and of course you know the viscosity
changes and I would also
imagine that I don't know what's going
to be in this overflow tank but yeah you
see it's Mucky in there it's the problem
so you can actually visualize what is
going on here I've got the spare Ferrari
360 engine with the manifold stripped
off of it and you can see directly on
top of the block sits this little
canister which is your transmission
cooler now the outlet from the water
pump and thermostat hous runs straight
to this cooler and if we look inside of
it you can see kind of this honeycomb
pattern here those open passages is
where your coolant is going to flow and
all that closed off area well that's
where the gear oil is going to be sent
through these lines that run off the
gearbox the metals used inside this
cooler are known to weaken over time and
they will corrode especially if you
don't do routine coolant services on
your Ferrari and when they break apart
that allows the coolant and the gear oil
to mix the second that mixture enters
your gearbox it is a very short period
of time before you'll experience a
catastrophic failure every single failed
transmission cooler I've ever heard of
on this car has led to a failed
transmission and well the only way you
really discover this is through that
noise we just heard now the cost to a
build or replace a Ferrari 360
transmission is roughly 10 grand at a
shop the price can well exceed this but
just figure that once you pull the
transmission you're likely going to
replace all the wear items the clutch
bearings and seals there's an expensive
sensor in here so it's hard to find a
way around that price a $10,000 repair
bill will put me immediately upside down
on this car so it was tough to justify
now I'm used to buying project cars with
problems at the auction but generally at
a steep discount like I mentioned this
car was listed with just normal wear and
the price reflected that so my first
thought was to notify the auction and
let them know that this car was just not
as described I'll expand on this part a
bit later but the auction ended up being
worse than useless they constantly
deflected sending me to different people
and different departments they told me
they'd follow up they never really did
it was clear their motive was to keep
the sale in place after sending video
clips of what we all just saw and heard
the last auction representative I spoke
to literally asked how do you know it's
not supposed to sound like that since I
knew I was stuck with it I started with
the path of lease resistance all right
let me show you what we got going on
here all the old Mucky gear oil is out I
fitted a brand new filter here this
lists for about 100 and A4 at the dealer
I paid 75 online took a couple days to
get here and then right here this is the
recirculation tube and then that is the
fill hole where I have a funnel up there
and it is buried all the way in the
engine bay there I'm going to put some
generic gear oil that I have in it
currently to kind of mix around we're
going to drive it we're going to warm
things up and I am dying to know what
this is going to sound like just with
the gear oil change now remember of
course we did not fix the cooler that's
in there so I don't know how quickly
it's mixing but we should get a few
miles of you know pretty well
concentrated gear oil driving I imagine
it's not going to change things much but
here we
go
oh yeah it's still there real
bad yeah you can hear a grinding and
Jing as you're shifting too if I'm going
to fix this right I would just need a
good transmission to swap in at the time
there were a few used gear boxes
available for around 6 to 8,000 but I
waited as I knew these trade hands
pretty frequently and the chance that I
could save a few thousand being paid
patient would likely happen and it did
several months later just a few hours
away from me someone listed a
transmission with a starting bid around
2,000 bucks and nobody bid but me well
it never met Reserve I connected with
this seller and was able to buy it from
him for the $2,000 it was an incredible
deal and I ended up becoming good
friends with the seller Andrew at the
same time he gave me the parts engine
out of this same Ferrari you see he had
a similar situation where he bought the
same Ferrari in just a little while into
his ownership the engine started running
funny and the local repair shop quoted
him tens of thousands of dollars for a
replacement engine so he did the most
logical thing he ripped it all out and
just stuck an LS in its
place this kicks a little harder than
the stock one man I got to tell
you
W so with the replacement transmission
in tow I was eager to swap things over
I've done this job once before and I
figured it shouldn't take but a day or
two to complete but since I just heard
about Andrews Ferrari engine Fiasco and
I spent a little bit of time going over
it and taking it apart for some reason I
thought it might be a good idea to
compression test the engine in this car
before we spend any more time and money
swapping over the gearbox now I had no
reason to believe this had anything
majorly wrong with its engine it always
fired right over it idled pretty good
and the few times I drove it it always
revved nice and sounded healthy but what
I was about to find would make my
transmission issues almost
[Music]
irrelevant
150 that sounds a bit low um I'll have
to compare it with my other readings for
good measure I just put the compression
tester over to the passenger side on a
random cylinder over there cuz I'm not
liking the numbers I'm getting from the
driver's
side see what we
got 120 what the heck is going on a
healthy Ferrari 360 engine will read
anywhere from around 180 to 200 PSI
we're well below that threshold and
that's just on the first three cylinders
after checking all of them the highest
number I got was 160 with the lowest
being around 100 now when this car
arrived the check engine light was on
when I scanned it it just had some
random misfire codes which I never
minded much attention because these
codes are pretty common and even though
everything continued to snowball I just
didn't want to believe it so I tried one
last hail Mar solution first I focused
on our lowest compression cylinder and
did a wet test
a wet compression test is when you take
a little bit of oil and dump it down the
cylinder before cranking the engine if
your number stays the same lets you know
that the compression is escaping
somewhere in the cylinder head or the
top end but if the number goes up it
points to an issue with the piston rings
they're not sealing against the cylinder
like they should causing compression to
escape through the bottom end when I did
the wet test the numbers immediately
jumped and remember at this point I'm
still fighting reality but I have never
heard of a piston ring wearing on one of
these engines especially not at 30,000
Mi but in general an engine that sits
for a long time can develop a sticky
piston ring which can give you a low
compression reading even though it just
needs to be unstuck usually running an
engine getting it warm will unstick a
ring but in some cases I've heard of
using injector cleaner poured directly
into the cylinder so it can break down
any buildup around the ring and unstick
it now generally when you hear of a case
like this it's usually just a single
cylinder that's your outlier in our case
we obviously have multiple bad numbers
numbers so this is an extreme long shot
but I poured solvent into each cylinder
and let them sit overnight and you
guessed it nothing really changed well
except for the viscosity of our oil with
all the addition of the cleaner I put in
the engine so I didn't create any
additional problems here I immediately
dumped the oil so we could start fresh
in the second I got my catch pan into
the sunlight it lit up it looked like
someone mixed a cup of glitter with this
oil now remember this car came with a
pretty exceptionally clean engine base
so I can only guess that somewhere
inside there was a pretty severe oil
leak and the owner of the car just
continued driving it and completely
ignored it as your engine runs lower on
oil it runs hotter because that oil
isn't there to displace the heat with
more heat becomes more friction and with
more friction there's just more wear all
that Glitter is the bearings really just
experiencing more friction than they
should and heck that's probably the same
thing that happened to our RI Rings they
got worn and now we've got low
compression so even though this engine
was bad it could have been much worse it
hadn't spun a bearing there was no
scoring on the cylinder walls I mean it
was in rebuildable condition but these
Ferrari Parts aren't cheap once you
dismantle the entire engine to put on
your new Rings well you're going to want
a new set of bearings of course and then
every other little piece of Hardware
that goes along with an engine rebuild
you'll be right around the price just
going and buying a used engine and this
is something I actually did at the time
this all played out I was a lot more
tenacious a lot more excited and well
just a lot dumber and that's a dangerous
combo because you'll spend unnecessary
sorts of money to chase a dream now I
didn't just buy any ordinary used engine
I bought the nicest used rebuilt engine
I could find it looked brand new it was
done by the guys over at fur parts so it
came with a guarantee there was brand
new cam belts and seals and literally
everything had been redone on this
engine and when it showed up instead of
looking at this engine for what it was a
beautiful refresh Ferrari engine I
looked at it as one giant pile of cash
and that's when I really lost interest
in ever fixing this car because I
started considering how much that engine
cost it was about 10 grand even though I
got the transmission for a steel how
much is everything else going to cost to
make that right and well the engine was
just the short block so how many new
parts am I going to throw at it one of
those transmission coolers I showed you
earlier cost about 1,000 bucks by itself
so there's a lot of little pieces and
parts that add a th000 here and there to
a Ferrari build and it started to get to
the point where I might as well just go
out and buy a new Ferrari it was getting
ridiculous now all this happened a while
back over a pretty long span of time it
was this time that helped diminish my
interest in this project but also this
time helped buy me out of the car with
all the recent inflation in collector
car boom even junk specialty cars were
worth way more than they were just a few
years ago so I was able to sell this
Ferrari to a wholesaler with the
disclosure for just a small loss if I
would have sold this directly after I
got it it would have probably been a
major disaster but disclosure is the
important word here because if there was
a disclosure in the first place it would
have changed the whole entire outcome of
this car you see when you sell something
at auction you have to give a closure
now it doesn't have to be super specific
you don't have to say low compression on
cylinders one and two there just has to
be some sort of disclosure whether it be
in the form of pictures or whether it be
verbal to let someone know what they're
buying and in the case of this Ferrari
like I told you earlier it was listed
with normal wear I'm pretty sure the
seller was able to get away with this is
because this car was listed on a new
pilot program with this auction where
sellers were able to create their own
disclosures it used to be that you'd
have to bring the the car into the
auction and an independent person within
the auction would create the disclosure
for you after looking over the car if
this Ferrari would have drove into the
auction with that check engine light on
the dashboard they would have
immediately marked it as a mechanically
damaged car and if I would have seen
that I would have either paid way less
for it or I wouldn't have picked it up
at all at the time I really tried to
make it clear to this auction what I
think had gone on here and they pretty
much ignored me now I have heard over
time that if you are not accurately
disclosing issues with your cars they
will penalize you for it which is good
but I was the guinea pig here I didn't
want to make a big fuss about it
especially because I work with these
auctions sometimes I video at them and I
didn't want to ruffle any feathers
especially when I just thought we had a
failed transmission and we are going to
fix the car now that all this is in the
past I want to hear from you guys did I
make the right decision in cutting my
losses and getting rid of this burgundy
Ferrari 360 let me know down in the
comments just to give you an either or
price comparison
to make this burgundy 360 a good driver
would it cost me about the same amount
of money we sunk into our ferari F430
project the car with the big burn hole
in the side that we brought pretty much
back to life that car has lower miles it
does contain a branded title something
the 360 didn't but it is a much more
desirable model that will cost you much
more at a dealership I know which car
I'd rather have but you guys let me know
also if you're not already following me
on Instagram where I'm posting updates
to current projects like what's up there
on that lift before anything goes live
here just follow me or hit that link
down in the description guys I can't
thank each and every one of you enough
for watching today I'll catch you very
[Music]
soon
[Music]
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