murphy's law - cars!

My '01 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP has been sitting in the driveway for over a year. Had it for sale for awhile with no bites. Year ago winter killed the battery due to sitting idle. Wife has been bugging me to sell it all that time. She even kept putting the For Sale sign in the window and I'd take it down. Secretly, I was hoping that I'd use it in retirement (several years out) and it'd be a good "drive to the store" kind of vehicle. Neighbor across the street has similar story with his 94 Mustang and we'd joke about them just trading driveways. :lol:

So, yesterday he washed his and put a sign on it. Guy stopped and said "oh, you want too much but wasn't that silver car across the street for sale at one time? Is it still for sale?"

Neighbor walked over with him as I was leaving for dinner with the wife. He said "how much?" I gave him a number. Wife RAN back into the house to get the keys. :lol:

After dickering some, I told him I didn't really want to sell it. Wife was hopping from one foot to the other (she REALLY wants it out of our driveway). Guy REALLY wanted the car and even offered to get a new battery and come back today with cash. A little more dickering and we made a deal AS IS without him ever seeing it run (on condition it ran when we put the battery in). Wife was doing her "happy dance" all night. I had mixed feelings.

He came today with the battery and I popped it in. Started right up and purred like a kitten. I noticed a drip at the radiator neck from a new radiator coolant return hose that I put in and evidently never tightened the clamp. Went and got a socket, tightened it up, restarted it, said "see, no leaks". That's when he and I noticed what looked like oil pouring onto the ground from the radiator.

Looked for anything obvious, scratching my head because it wasn't coolant and too far from the engine for oil. Finally told him I'd look at it later and give him a call with the promise I'd either fix it myself or have it fixed because obviously I couldn't sell it to him that way. After he left, I checked the oil, level was good. Figured it had to be trans fluid, so I was hoping it was NOT the radiator and just a line.

I took off a plastic shield so I could see where it was coming from and found it was a pinhole at the bend of a rusted trans cooler line going into the radiator. :roll: Just rusted out sitting idle for the last year or so.

Website of Advanced Auto said local store had the line in stock, ran over there and "nope", had to order it. Called the buyer, told him I should have the part tomorrow and he said "ok, take good care of my car". :lol:

Got my fingers crossed that the swap will be as easy as it should be since no fittings need to be removed, just the spring clips. We'll see.

If you couldn't tell the oil from tranny fluid I would think a transmission fluid change may be overdue.

(quoted from post at 08:40:50 04/14/15) If you couldn't tell the oil from tranny fluid I would think a transmission fluid change may be overdue.

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:lol: You're right. I was kind of thinking the same thing when I was looking at the puddle. It was not that shiny pink color. I changed the line and put 3.5 qts of tranny fluid in, the guy brought the cash tonite and he's got himself a car. Wife is thrilled. And if she's happy, I guess I'm happy. :wink:

I miss Pontiac . They had some great cars over the years.

Yup, GM really screwed up, IMO, when they dropped it. The amazing thing is that John DeLorean took it from an old lady's brand to a sporty, younger generation car, then GM drops it in favor of Buick, an old man's car. The main reason GM kept Buick is because it's a hot seller in China. Tells you what GM thinks about the American consumer. Needless to say, I no longer buy new cars made by GM (or Ford or Chrysler).

(quoted from post at 11:55:00 04/15/15)
Yup, GM really screwed up, IMO, when they dropped it. The amazing thing is that John DeLorean took it from an old lady's brand to a sporty, younger generation car, then GM drops it in favor of Buick, an old man's car. The main reason GM kept Buick is because it's a hot seller in China. Tells you what GM thinks about the American consumer. Needless to say, I no longer buy new cars made by GM (or Ford or Chrysler).

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Pontiac was to only car ( except GMC truck) that GM didn't buy from another company.

Well, I do remember having a good old indian head car. A 1960 Bonneville. That car would go like a scalded cat, ran all week on $5.00 worth of gas, and held together for 10 years after I bought it off the back lot of the Pontiac dealer in town. Put a water pump, 2 fan belts on it, and drove it for what seemed at the time like forever. Great car!