WWGRM: Sold a “good” engine that definitely isn’t

WWGRM do? I picked up a 4.8 LS engine complete with harness and computer for $225. Drove 1.5 hours to get it. Seller said it was good and ran well with no issues.

Fast forward to this weekend and I take the valve cover gaskets off and it's packed with hard sludge. Oil pan is full of sludge. Last straw is the thrust bearing is wiped and the crank shaft is scored.  See photos below:

Granted, I only paid $225 for the complete setup, but the long block is a boat anchor.   I would have never bought this thing knowing the issues it has.  I'm sure I can sell off but by bit and get close to what I paid, but I really don't want to deal with that hassle. 
 

WWGRM do? Should I ask the seller for money back? Cut my losses and move on? I did pay with PayPal so if I want to be a real jerk I could file a claim. I haven't talked to the seller yet but going to later today. Right now I'm leaning towards asking for $100 back and see what the seller says. 

I'd at least call and talk to him and see if you can work something out.  If he didn't crack it open, he might not have known it was absolute scrap iron. It's an LS motor after all, they'll run bad when most other engines ought not run at all.

Call and explain, ask for at least a partial refund.  If he balks and says 'buyer beware', take it to Paypal because he sold it under false pretenses.  Did you buy it through an ebay sale?

If he didn't pull the tins and you didn't pull the tins, just move on.

Neither of you did your due diligence.  

It can't hurt to reach out to the seller as long as you keep your expectations low.  If I had sold something and it wound up like that, I'd offer to refund the cash if you brought the motor back to me.  As a seller, having somebody asking for a partial refund smells a little bit like try to negotiate after the sale, and I might be reluctant to do that from a distance.  If we were both standing over the motor with the valve covers off and you were showing me the sludge and all that, it'd be a lot different from you sending me pictures of an engine that I can't really identify from a hundred miles away. 

The seller really doesn't have any obligation, though.  You might be able to get him through paypal, but I don't know how those dispute resolutions turn out.  If you were talking about what a small claims court might do, though, my guess is that they'd say you bought it from an individual which means as-is and you declined the opportunity to inspect it before purchase.  So it would be on you to prove that the seller gave you fraudulent information which would be pretty hard to do even if that is the case.  Paypal might be a little more generous, though, if you didn't send the money as a gift.

If the seller says tough luck then that's where this dies and I move on. 

It likely ran fine.

the harness, pcm, and ancillaries are worth more than what you paid.  Now that you have all that stuff you can snag one without it, and i bet you can still get $100 for the sludged up long block.

i think not having pulled anything to look you'd be a jerk to ask for money back.  Lesson learned, do more due diligence next time.  

Learning experience. Move forward.

I've been in that position, too. I bought a "ran when pulled" SBC, that clearly couldn't have been, after I got it home and open it up. 

I've also recently been on the other side of the sale, with a guy that had buyer's remorse, though. He claimed the set of wheels and tires I sold him: a) wouldn't fit his truck (came off my Yukon, he had a Chevy pickup) and b) were full of nails and wouldn't hold air (had been on my truck until an hour before he came).

So, while you have an honest gripe, seller might think you're trying to pull a fast one. I'd let it go as a learning experience. You didn't do due diligence and open anything up to inspect. You did get a good deal on the rest of the goods, though.

Clean it up and throw some new bearings in it, and send it. 

The tribe has spoken. Moving on. Listed the long block on FB marketplace for $150 to sell for $100. 

Pat - what is a fair price for the harness and PCM? 

Kicking myself because if I'd shelled out a few more bucks in the first place I wouldn't have had to deal with this. Oh well. As you all have said. Live, laugh, love. I mean live and learn. 

If I was the seller I'd offer some money back for that.

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

I paid $140 for my last truck harness and $30 for pcm and was happy.  Did you get any accessories?  Intake is maybe $50 complete, exhaust manifolds used to be giveaways but have some value to people doing turbos, coil packs with their brackets and plugs should be $100ish.   Accessories and brackets add something to the value.  

In reply to Patrick :

This is what I was given for $225. 

Starter another $50.  I'd have given 225 even if it had a rod hanging out the block.  If i were going through Pittsburgh anytime soon i'd offer your money back for it just to have the extras.  

What he said.  $225 is a pretty good price for all the extra stuff minus the engine.

It probably DID run fine, although the wiped out thrust means the shortblock is cheaper to pitch and replace than it is to repair.  But that's fine, because now you're free to buy a fire damaged engine for pennies that everything plastic and rubber on the engine was wrecked.

I have been on both sides of situations like this.  It's crummy, but it happens.

I see 4.8 with harness and ecm and accessories and wish there was anything around here that cheap. Around here you'd give $800 for just the engine and if it ran you'd be lucky. 
I'd give you more for it right now if I was closer. 

If I were the seller I'd be offering money back, or 12 quarts of ATF, a pair of oil filters, valve cover gaskets and oil pan gasket.

Buyers choice. 

Cooter said:

If he didn't pull the tins and you didn't pull the tins, just move on.

Neither of you did your due diligence.  

Sellers almost NEVER do due diligence. 

$225 is cheap for a buildable core.

Resell it for $250 with honesty and score one for a learning experience.

You could also part it out and maybe make $500.  Clean up and sell the heads for $250, longblock for $150, and the ECM/harness for $100.  You still have the intake worth about $75 and injectors for $50.

In reply to captdownshift :

Doubt ATF is going to do much for a lunched thrust bearing. 

barefootskater said:

I see 4.8 with harness and ecm and accessories and wish there was anything around here that cheap. Around here you'd give $800 for just the engine and if it ran you'd be lucky. 
I'd give you more for it right now if I was closer. 

Like I've said before, the only thing good about living in salt country is the abundance of cheap LS power plants thanks to rotted out chevys. 

Boat motors were known to run in the barrel when purchasing then crap out on the lake.  
 

Another bright side:  You know those heads don't have the coolant porosity issue that some had.  There'd be clean spots where the coolant was seeping out.

Curtis73 said:

$225 is cheap for a buildable core.

Resell it for $250 with honesty and score one for a learning experience.

You could also part it out and maybe make $500.  Clean up and sell the heads for $250, longblock for $150, and the ECM/harness for $100.  You still have the intake worth about $75 and injectors for $50.

I should start driving truck loads of 4.8 and 5.3 motors down south.

I paid 200$ for my last 4.8 fully dressed minus alternator w/harness and ecu.

The two previous motors I paid 100 for. Both late model 24x 4.8s.

Really thought I overpaid on the last one. 
 

Benefits of living where 15 year old trucks can't pass provincial inspections.