I Bought a "Run & Drive" Ferrari at Auction that was Secretly Mechanically Totaled

Summary

The 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

• 😟 The Ferrari was supposed to fulfill a childhood dream but quickly turned into a nightmare with countless issues
• 🛠 Upon arrival, the Ferrari seemed fine visually but made concerning noises while driving due to transmission failure
• 💸 Replacing the failed transmission would cost $10k+, putting the owner immediately upside down on the car
• 🔍 Further inspection revealed additional engine issues like low compression and excessive bearing wear
• 🚗 The owner bought a rebuilt replacement engine for $10k but then lost interest due to the excessive repair costs
• 🤝 After waiting a while, the owner was able to sell the Ferrari at only a small loss due to collector car inflation
• ❌ The Ferrari was listed for auction as only having 'normal wear' but clearly had undisclosed mechanical issues
• 📝 The auction did not properly disclose the issues despite being notified, due to a new self-disclosure pilot program
• 💡 In hindsight, the owner felt he made the right decision to cut his losses and move on from the problem-plagued Ferrari
• 👍 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

00:00

😞 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.

05:00

😱 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.

10:02

😌 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.

15:02

😢 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.

💸 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.

Keywords

💡Disclosure

Disclosure refers to the seller being transparent about any issues or problems with a vehicle they are selling. The video emphasizes the importance of proper disclosure, as the Ferrari was listed as only having 'normal wear' when it actually had major mechanical problems. This lack of disclosure led to difficulties for the video creator.

💡Transmission

The transmission is a key component in any vehicle which transfers power from the engine to the wheels. The main mechanical issue highlighted in the video is the failed transmission cooler which mixed coolant with transmission fluid, damaging the transmission.

💡Engine

In addition to transmission problems, later in the video it's discovered the Ferrari's engine has low compression, indicating loss of performance and potential engine failure down the line. This adds another complex and expensive issue to the car.

💡Cost

With luxury vehicles like Ferraris, repair and restoration costs are very high. As more problems compound on this car, the video creator determines the cost to properly fix it could exceed the value of the car, leading them to cut their losses.

💡Auction

The creator originally purchased this used Ferrari from an automobile auction. Auctions should provide disclosures on vehicle condition, but a lack of disclosure here contributed to the issues.

💡Reality

The video theme shows the contrast between the creator's hopes and dreams for this Ferrari, versus the disappointing reality of all the mechanical problems plaguing the car.

💡Loss

In the end, the video creator sells the Ferrari at a loss, unable to justify investing massive amounts of additional money to restore the car.

💡Project Car

The video refers to this Ferrari, along with other problematic auction vehicles, as 'project cars'. This refers to cars purchased cheaply that require extensive mechanical repairs and restoration.

💡Disclosure

Proper disclosure from sellers makes buyers aware of existing problems with cars. Lack of disclosure here contributed to difficulties and financial loss for the buyer.

💡Cut Losses

After sinking money into the initial purchase and some repairs, the creator 'cuts his losses' and sells the car rather than investing exponentially more money fixing all issues.

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

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old-fashioned belt buckle all you have

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house or office with stamps.com and and

if you're used to those over-the-counter

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bypass that line of the post office you

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samrack they're going to give you the

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when you visit stamps.com

samrack there is no reason to stand in

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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]