Picky used car buyers...

I was selling a Mazda Protege that ran good and passed emissions for $600. I had pictures in the ad and mentioned how it had some dents and the interior was rough. Guy come down and looks it over. Mentions the dent in the front fender, trunk lid alignment issue, and a stain on the seat. He said his wife would be embarrassed to ride in it. I said he might want to save a lot more money, so he could buy a car his wife would be proud to ride in. I then deleted the ad and me and some buddies used it for some back 40 fun until we came in contact with a tree.

My avatar pick is a back 40 protege!

We had a blast! After a few laps in the little protege I was glad the guy didn't want it. Man those are tough little cars.

poopshovel wrote:

16vCorey wrote: Yeah, I recently re-sided my house and had a bunch of old cedar siding to get rid of. I figured before I let heavy trash day pick it up, I'd post it on Craigslist and Freecycle (for FREE) in case someone could use it. Here's the ad:

My Craigslist ad said: I have a very large pile of old cedar siding from my house that I've re-sided. There is also a large pile of Tongue and groove 1"x4" (not sure what kind of wood) that was used as the soffits. It's all in pretty rough shape and has several layers of white paint on it. This is from a 90 year old house, so there's a possibility that some of it has lead paint on it, so I wouldn't roast hot dogs over it. Evansville West side. I need this gone ASAP!

So one of the guys that got directions from me writes me back to tell me that he came and looked at it, and some of it was in pretty good shape, but since he was wanting it for siding on his kids tree house and there was a possibility of lead paint, he didn't take any. Now I can totally understand him not wanting to expose his kids to lead paint, but if he knew of the possibility from the beginning, why did he even bother? Then I get this email:

Craigslist reading Jackass said: Whether you are roasting hot dogs or not, it is illegal to burn or bury any wood that has been coated, stained, or treated. Please do not offer your wood waste as firewood to anyone. It must be reused or disposed of at Laubscher or Blackfoot landfill, or there is a construction/debris landfill just north of Mt. Vernon. Thanks. If you would like to discuss this further, please call. Derrick J. Ohning Compliance and Enforcement Manager Indiana Department of Environmental Management - Southwest Regional Office Phone (812) 380-2316

I wrote him back stating that I'm not trying to encourage anyone to do anything illegal, I'm just trying to help someone out that might need some of this and keep it out of the landfill, while being as upfront as possible about the chances of lead paint contamination. I thought that reusing stuff and keeping it out of the landfill was good for the environment? Plus, once it's off my property it's out of my hands. Apparently that guy takes his job REALLY seriously.

Dear Derrick J. Ohning (not to be confused with all the other Derrick Ohnings,) It's good to know that my tax dollars are paying for you to cruise craigslist all day in search of evil-doers. Whatever you're getting paid, it's clearly not enough. Please send me your boss's email address so that I may suggest a dramatic increase in your pay. You are truly a hero of the people. I admire your unwavering commitment to the cause of environmental protection. Clearly, burying this waste is far better for for dear mother earth than re-using it as siding, planing it down and building a sweet piece of rustic furniture, or using it as a renewable heat source. What the hell was I thinking? Naw, just kidding; you're as worthless a berkeleytard beuracrat as I've ever let waste 60 seconds of my life. If I knew where you lived, I'd haul this E36 M3 over to your house, dump it in your immaculately landscaped front yard, douse it in gasoline and light that E36 M3 on fire...Hmmm. I wonder how many Derrick J. Ohnings there are in the phone book. I wonder. Enforcedly, compliantly yours, Corey J. Krietenstein, taxpayer PS: If you would like to discuss this further, please call your mother and have her pass the phone back to me.

Ha! No E36 M3. I think I might just have to send this one his way too.

Cotton,

So, surely youv'e seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39LE-sJENiA&feature=channel_page

Travis_K wrote: Both buying and selling stuff is a pita. When i was buying a car, there were as many dumb people selling them as it sounds like people trying to buy them. I was selling a 71 suburban and lots of dumb people called about that too. lol as far as the oroginal post, I may be wrong, but isnt changing the alternator on a northstar caddy a pretty major job? I needed one of those alternators for something else, and looking in the junkyard it appeared you had to drop the subframe partway to get it out.

Hell no, it's easy if you know what you're doing, basically remove passenger side wheel and inner splash guard, relive tension on belt and remove (tensioner has nice 3/8" drive socket on it), unhook 1 electrical connector, remove 2 bolts, drops out from beneath OR can be pulled out the side. 1 hour job, if that (the liquid cooled alternators are more difficult but only just).

In fact, I'm going JYing Friday to replace the sunroof track that's bad, I'm replacing the alternator this weekend, and next weekend I'll replace the oil cooler lines that are leaking and the trans pan gasket that's seeping. At that point the car will basically be perfect again and I'll raise the price by the cost of parts and my labor at a normal shop rate :)

I believe it's the Starter on the Northstar that is a royal pain. It's in the intake valley beneath everything. The alternator is pretty standard.

nocones wrote: I believe it's the Starter on the Northstar that is a royal pain. It's in the intake valley beneath everything. The alternator is pretty standard.

Naw, not that bad either, disconnect fuel rails w/the tool, undo 10 intake mani bolts, easy access, but yes, intake requires removal and it's not a 30 minute job, kinda tedious, though these starters are usually dead nuts reliable because they never see the 'elements' like most starters do. They're also the smallest I've ever seen on a car...