Selling a car with engine problems in Tulsa

What the engine is telling you

You can narrow the problem down before you pay anyone. The Federal Trade Commission's auto repair guide sorts car trouble by what you see, smell, hear and feel. Treat it as a way to walk into a shop informed, not as a diagnosis.

• A knock. A rhythmic pounding is what the FTC calls a heavy knock, and the first cause it lists is "Worn crankshaft or connecting rod bearings." Those parts sit deep inside the engine.
• Running hot. Yellowish-green, pastel blue or fluorescent orange fluid under the car points to an overheated engine or a coolant leak from a hose, the water pump or the radiator. Steam from under the hood with a hot metallic smell means it has already overheated.
• A suspected head gasket. Coolant loss and overheating have simpler causes too, so ask the shop what test it ran before you accept a head gasket verdict.
• The check-engine light. The FTC groups a lit light with hard starting, rough idling, stalling, weak acceleration and heavy oil use as engine trouble that needs a diagnosis and a scheduled repair.
• No crank at all. Before you tell anyone the engine has seized, rule out the small stuff. The same guide warns that a starter that looks bad can turn out to be a dead battery or a poor connection.

Source: Federal Trade Commission, Auto Repair Basics.

Engine knocking: sell it or fix it?

A knock from the bottom of the engine is the hardest version of this choice, since reaching those bearings is major work. Decide on paper, not on a hunch. The FTC says a written estimate should spell out the condition being repaired, the parts and the expected labor. For expensive or complicated work it suggests a second opinion, and it tells you to ask first whether the shop charges for diagnosis if you take the car elsewhere.

Next, run the VIN through NHTSA's recall lookup. When a safety recall covers a defect, federal law has the manufacturer remedy it without charge. There is an age cutoff: the free remedy does not apply if the first purchaser bought the vehicle more than 15 calendar years before the recall notice. The clock runs from that first purchase, which may be years before yours.

With a real number in hand, compare what you would keep each way. Our repair-or-sell guide lays out that math. The short form: a repair pays only when the car's price after the work climbs by more than the bill. When the estimate comes close to what the car would bring running, the repair is hard to justify.

Source: Federal Trade Commission, Auto Repair Basics; 49 U.S.C. 30120, remedies for defects (Cornell LII); NHTSA, recalls by VIN.

Selling it as it sits: to us, or the partner offer

We buy some cars ourselves, including ones with engine trouble, and we pay by check. Call the Tulsa line at (539) 271-2021 or fill in the sell-it-to-us form and tell us what the shop found. A missing title or a lost set of keys doesn't stop us from taking a look. Not every car is one we buy, and when yours isn't, we say so plainly.

That is when the partner route comes in: an online offer from our partner, Peddle. Its page describes a free, no-obligation cash offer, a pickup it schedules and pays for, and payment at pickup: "Peddle issues payment immediately by check." It asks for the title, the registration and your driver's license or ID. A sale completed that way pays this site a referral fee.

How to answer the condition questions for a car that won't drive is on our any-condition page, and the title steps are in the paperwork guide.

Source: Peddle, Sell My Car.

Can you legally drive it until it sells?

Oklahoma makes it a misdemeanor to drive a vehicle, or let someone else drive it, when it "is known to be in such unsafe condition as to endanger any person." The law turns on what you know. Once a shop has told you the engine is failing, keep that sentence in mind before a trip across town.

Overheating is where the FTC is most direct. With steam and that hot smell, it says to pull over at once, warns "Continued driving could cause severe engine damage," and says the car should be towed for repair.

If the engine quits and the car blocks traffic, state law expects the owner or driver to make every reasonable effort to get the car off the roadway. That duty covers any public road, street or turnpike, not just the interstate. Officers may also move a disabled car to the nearest safe place. What follows a police tow in Tulsa is on our towed or impounded page.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, sections 11-1001, 11-1002 and 12-101; Federal Trade Commission, Auto Repair Basics.

Let the buyer handle the tow

A car you shouldn't drive still has to leave somehow, and that is the buyer's job. Don't pay to tow it to a shop you don't plan to use. When we buy a car, we collect it from wherever it sits, and we cover all of Tulsa. On the partner route, Peddle's page says it arranges the pickup and covers what it costs.

If you start pulling parts while you decide, keep the car on its wheels. Tulsa's Code Enforcement page sorts complaints into three priority groups, and a vehicle on blocks lands in Priority 1, the group the City says gets first attention. What a report sets in motion is on our towed or impounded page.

Source: City of Tulsa, Code Enforcement; Peddle, Sell My Car.

What to tell whoever buys it

Say what you know, in plain words: the symptoms, when they started, which lights are on, and what the shop found. Hand over the written diagnosis and the estimate. Don't count on a report to say it for you: the FTC notes that a vehicle history report typically won't list mechanical problems.

In a private sale, write the engine problem on the bill of sale and keep a copy for yourself. If a private buyer wants a mechanic to look first, let them; it settles questions before money changes hands. Our private sale page covers safe payment.

The engine doesn't change the Oklahoma paperwork. In a private sale, you or the buyer submit the pre-registration within two business days of the sale, and you keep the plate, because Oklahoma assigns plates to people rather than cars. The after-you-sell checklist picks it up from there.

Source: Federal Trade Commission, Buying a Used Car From a Dealer; Service Oklahoma, If I'm a private seller, what do I need to do?.

Two ways to sell it as it sits

Call the Tulsa line at (539) 271-2021 or use the sell-it-to-us form, and a person asks about the engine, the title and where the car is parked. If it's one we buy, we make you an offer and pay by check. If it isn't, the partner offer is free to request and you can turn it down.