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So a few weeks ago i purchased Agner's black 1994 300zx twin turbo 5spd with 143k on the odometer. Wanting to avoid any unforseen problems and make sure i was paying a fair price for the car, i brought the car to an experienced performance shop that i trusted (who's name i am not disclosing publicly) but they have some impressive builds, but they focus primarily on the VQ engines. The "Inspection" Agner drove out to Long Island and met me at the shop to have the car inspected (this shop was MY choice, not Agner's). They looked at all the obvious mechanical things one would look at when inspecting ANY car, and as far as the engine was concerened, they supposedly performed a smoke test and a compression test. I never actually GOT compression numbers from them however, so whether or not it was actually performed is debatable. For some reason i had it in my head that they said a compression test was not necessary and it was not performed, however they insist it was, so maybe i just have a poor memory. Either way, i was never given any numbers. They did give the car clean bill of health and i was told there were no issues with the motor. The issues they did find with the car were a bad drivers side turbo (leaking oil), oil filter housing leaking, torn passenger side steering rack boot, and i needed a new power steering pump, and it needed a 120k, it had last been done at 90k) Agner's original asking price was 9500 for the car. Considering the issues above, we agreed on a price of 8000 for the car. Fast forward 3 weeks: i had MAYBE put 200-250 miles on the car and never ran the boost past 12psi, which i did maybe a handful of times. i knew the car needed a 120k so i was kind of paranoid about driving it I found some local Z32 guys who i felt comfortable having perform the 120k. They did the prudent thing and compression tested the motor before starting any work, because, like i mentioned earlier, i had it in my head that the shop DID NOT compression test the motor, and i was stupid enough to just say "ok sure sounds good" The very first cylinder they tested was #6, and right away it was obvious something wasn't right. The spark plug was covered in oil. (the guys working on the car said it appeared that someone had put oil in the cylinder to help temporarily seal it to boost the PSI above its abysmal level in that cylinder) They compression tested it and it was around 100-110 PSI. They did several times, then moved on. The rest of the motor was in the 140-155 range. It was apparent this was not a healthy motor, and the car was not in the condition i was told it was in by the shop. the compression test was repeated 2 times on all cylinders and probably 5-6 readings were taken on the 6th cylinder. A wet test was performed and the PSI increased to about 120. At this point it was pretty apparent they did not compression test the motor. How could this motor have actually been in 'great shape' 250 miles ago and then be in this condition now. So i called the shop and i asked them what tests they performed. They insisted they performed a compression test and a smoke test, and did not perform a leak down test because the compression was fine. He asked why? well i told him i'm not looking at a rebuild because the motor is NOT in the condition they indicated. I paid them to perform a thorough inspection on the car to avoid EXACTLY this situation, and here i am. He insisted the tests were performed and that this issue must have happened since the inspection. So, i ask what could have possibly caused this to occur in the past 250 miles. the shop told me that the bad drivers side turbo could have forced oil into the cylinder, or possibly have caused a blown headgasket. So the shop that inspected my car maintains it was in perfect working order 250 miles ago, and this issue MUST have presented itself subsequent to their thorough inspection. So i ask you all, does this make any sense whatsoever? or is it more likely that they simply skipped the compression test. If they did perform a compression test, then they should produce the numbers for me, and they should be more or less inline with the readings i have written down, and by inline, i mean PER cylinder. If they just BS some numbers in the 140-150 psi range on random cylinders, it will be pretty obvious. I'm not saying i wouldn't have bought the car if i knew it had this issue, however, the engine NEEDING to be rebuilt is a big factor when negotiating price, and i paid this shop to look over the car, and it seems apparent that they did not perform what they said they did.
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