Complaint Review: Wild Rose Motors Anaheim - Anaheim California

I was sold a a complete lemon

Read this whole story if you're considering buying a car from them. 

I bought a car from him in  "           " with 73,000 miles on it. I was told the whole sales routine of these cars are tanks and are very easy and cheap to repair, and generally run to 300k miles. I bought it for $8000 cash with 73,000 miles on it. Seemed like a good deal. 

I drove the car 17k miles and very moderately over the course of 3 years. I took very good care of the car as well, and repaired and serviced it regularly. The whole engine died at 90,000 miles. After I only drove 17,000 miles! Ill get more to that.

1. Systematically the car started falling apart the day I drove it away. It completely died the next day after purchase. Turns out the battery was completely bad and wouldn't even hold a charge. They sold me a car with an old dead battery. I had to buy a new battery, put it in the car, drive an hour back to Anehiem where they're located,  get a newish battery from them, then return the one I just bought. Took a whole day. 

1. The AC condenser and compressor broke within a year of having the car. I had to redo the whole AC system and hoses ($800-$1000)
2. The car had a radiator leak when sold to me. Turns out the leak was really bad and I had to have the whole intake manifold replaced because of it, as well as the leak fixed. ($800)
3. Drivers window harness broke ($125).
4. Window switches start going bad, left them alone.
5. It was sold with bald tires, add tires and all the other tune ups and spark plugs and oil changes over time Ive done to the car, also had it painted ($2000)

With all that and maintenance, $4000 extra after I bought the car. All on a car that cost $8000. Total of $12000 spent.

So one day out of nowhere the car just doesn't start at 90,000 miles. I have it towed to the closest mechanic because Im far from home. They can't figure it out. Waste $400 in several tows and diagnostic expenses. I get Desperate and call "Wild Rose Motors" where I bought the car from. Im sitting on a dead car that Ive spent $12000 on. He says he'll take care of it and have it towed to him, I do that. 

Im then told the "timing chain broke" and the pistons weren't firing correctly and got damaged because of that. Replace pistons for $1800 or whole engine for $1900. I went with the engine. After the engine, labor and the diagnostic fees to determine I need a new engine from Wild Rose, $3200. 

After I pay that and I go to pick it up, the check engine light is on. Im then told 3 out of 4 of my "Oxygen sensors are bad." $650 to replace all 4. I pay that. $3850 total. I couldn't believe I went to go pick my car up with a newer engine, and the check engine light is still on, then he charges me more to fix it. 

$15,850 total on the car at this point.

Over the course of the next few days with the "newer" engine, the car keeps dying over and over while driving it. I take it back to him. He said the "idle air sensor is bad." He replaced it with an old used one from another car, I was shocked he didn't charge me and actually took some responsibility for the car. 

Im driving away and the car dies again. I take it right back, he then tells me its my alternator is going bad and he can replace that "for a fee." I opted not to. Mind the car never randomly died before they put the newer engine in. 

The "newer" engine then starts leaking oil so bad I had to take it back to him again. They told me they replaced all the seals in the engine, but its still leaking. I live an hour away and getting rides back and forth to my car is very hard. 

I finally took the car to a ford specialist. He told me the problem of the car without him even looking at it, "Your car probably had the intake manifold break and leaked into a piston." Spot on he was!

 He said it generally doesn't mean your "whole engine is bad." Normally you can suck the fluid out and replace the seal/piston and you're good to go. If that doesn't work, you don't need to replace the whole engine and shouldn't be so expensive. And a timing chain shouldn't break at 90,000 miles. He said the person who sold me the car and who was working on it has probably been lying to me. And they way over charged for everything.

He inspects the "newer engine" and tells me it looks a lot older then a 50k mile engine (Wild rose told me it had 50,000 miles on it). He showed me where the engine was opened up, where the timing cap is. He then said, "Nobody ever opens an engine with 50,000 miles on it. Theres no reason to. You only do that to engines with 150,000 miles or more on them." Of course it looks like its been opened up right where its leaking oil.

He also shows me how the car is running a little rough because of a timing chain issue. The thing that "broke" on the old engine and what I paid $3200 to have fixed!

The newer engine only came with 6 month warranty which seems very short and suspect. 

I Paid the specialist to fix the alternator.  The car just keeps dying. I take it back to Wild Rose for about the 4th time. Over $16,000 total on the car at this point. 

To sum all this up, when you have to spend as much $ on a car as the worth of the car, its considered a lemon. The newer engine they put in doesn't seem to be living up to what he said it was either. Wild Rose couldn't  fix it unless I threw more $ at random problems that don't seem to fix it. He mis diagnosed the alternator, I wasn't going to give him more $ now.  I should of scrapped the car when the "engine went bad."  I was told my car was a "senior detectives car and special care was taken of it, and its in great shape." That was not true. 

In my opinion, they're fixing their cars just enough to sell them, and they're not reliable at all. Cop cars are driven very aggressive over the years and take beatings, way more then any other used car. They also have tons of added electronics which are hard to diagnose when problems arise. These problems are expensive to fix. Wild Rose doesn't assume any responsibility once you leave and I can guarantee you, you will encounter expensive problems because these cars require specialist. Wild Rose was nothing but trouble and a $ pit with fixing the engine.  

Everyone there is really nice and dis arming, they'll probably say none of this story is true if someone was to ask and say I did something wrong. I have no reason to lie though. Ive had more trouble with the car I bought from them then any other car Ive owned, including two cars from the 60's. Ive never known anyone to have this much trouble with any car. It costed me $16,000 total on the car and probably over 100 hours of wasted time in driving to Anaheim and tows.