ok so here's the deal. about two months ago i sold my truck and bought a 96 gsr for gas prices. the car ran fairly well and we had to replace a few things to make it run right...but lately it died on me and so my mechanic dove into it and found that the previous owner was a backyard mechanic and yanked all of the emission's equipment off of the car and used a 4x4 off road wiring harness to wire in the new ecu. i don't know how this car worked for as long as it did, made up that way. but my real question is, is that is there any legal things i can take on the previous owner for doing that to the car? because i know that if a company is found tampering with the emissions equipment on a car or removing it, it is a $20,000 fine in WA. any help is great.

Thanks
Scott

 

Removing youe emissions equipment in a lot of states is illegal. You might be able to go after him for 'lemon' laws (for selling you a lemon). Pay a small consulting fee and talk to a lawyer. Honda-tech is not your best source for legal help.

 

Check you stattes BMV site. They sometimes have information on emissions tampering and vehicle sales.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check you stattes BMV site. They sometimes have information on emissions tampering and vehicle sales.</TD></TR></TABLE>

DMV site

 

alright well i will check that out for sure cause i want my damn money back...and i know that this isn't the best place for legal help but i figured if anyone knew about cars and what was on them and what you can and can't do to a car...you guys would.

 

the correct wire harness and the correct ECU might be a step in the right direction if the original wires have been cut.
good luck

 

So running no cat is illegal. Eh I've been stopped so much I don't think anyone here cares. Half the tractors we have in this state wouldnt pass.

 

Lemon laws only apply to new vehicles sold from a dealership and cover vehicles that are in a shop for a certain amount of times or labor hours on the same repair (varies by state). This instance has nothing to do with "lemon laws."

Laws governing private party automotive sales are minimal. The only one that comes to mind is misrepresentation of goods.. i.e. if the seller sold the vehicle to you as having built forged internals and if you tore the engine down they were all stock components.

Good luck going after him for the emissions. Private individuals can do just about whatever they like to their vehicle as long as they stay off of public roads. You'll have a hard time proving anything about what the previous owner did and didn't do with the car after the modifications, what his/her intentions were and if the previous owner was even the one who performed those modifications and really knew about them in the first place. Not to mention the fact that any legal action regarding those issues would be between the state and him/her and have absolutely nothing to do with you.

When selling a car, a person is not required by law to divulge any information about the physical or mechanical condition of a car if you do not ask it. For instance, if the car was wrecked, they are not required to just tell you unless you ask them. And just incase you're wondering, a private party deal that was not specified as being "as is" puts no liability on the previous owner. The title was transferred, it is now yours and only yours. Only dealerships are required to specify whether a vehicle is "as is" or with a "warranty."

If you really, really want to pursue this to make yourself feel better for whatever reason, the thing for you to do is avoid the courts because you'll be eaten up in there. IF you can do anything, take it to arbitration. You can also talk to the guy and say you're prepared to take legal actions, but if he looks into it at all and calls your bluff, then you're done. If he doesn't call your bluff and gets scared, you may be able to settle.

The best thing to do though man is just suck it up and save your money, time and headaches. You purchased the car from a private party. It's in your name, it's yours now. You failed to have a suitable enough inspection done to find these issues before purchase. You've also been driving without this emission equipment on public roads for some time, so you risk crap coming back on you too. The courts don't care who did the modification and ignorance does not get your out of the law. The court will say, "you should have known."

Learn from your mistakes because you'll never let this happen again. Don't waste your money and move on. Good luck whatever happens though. Keep us updated.

 

thanks for all the advice. i'm not sure what is going on though. my mechanic supposedly called the previous owner while i was away at work tonight and i'll find out what he got out of him tomorrow. the nice thing is that my dad's company lawyer is right by our side on it too ready if we need him and able to let us threaten the previous owner a little. i hope that is enough for him to caugh up some money or something helpful. thanks again.