Deal or Steal? My Mechanic Bought a Dodge Dart DOA

I almost bought a dart for my son less than a year ago. Took it to get a pre-purchase inspection and the seller went with me. The mechanic put a load test on it and the charging/battery light came on. Told me it would be about $650 to replace if it was the alternator. I didn’t even know the mechanic but he must have used his caller ID to call me and said “I’d be careful about buying that car. I didn’t want to tell you that in front of the seller but they can be very expensive to fix”. Thank God for honest people because I had the check in hand. He’s definitely earned my business. Edit: I didn’t realize that I would need to explain or write an essay for this comment. The guy wanted $8,000. I had done plenty of research and these cars were notorious for electrical issues to include the PCM going bad. They are also known to burn oil with no real fix from the dealer, and I noticed that a wheel bearing was rumbling. So with that being said the mechanic did say that it was clean, it was a nice car and appeared to have been taken care of. Then he followed up with the be careful comment. I knew from prior research that they were prone to certain issues and you either got a good one or you didn’t. It’s not like it was a $1500 car, it was $8000. Also the car sat on Marketplace for months afterwards and the asking price kept going down.

Around 2005, i bought a 2000 Sunfire 5speed coupe with 40k miles for $800. It would run for a minute or two and die. Checked the dipstick and smelled more than oil. I didnt say anything and offered to get it out of his driveway that day for the $800. Which was $700 less than what was asked. Loaded it up and on the way home i bought 4 new injectors, FPR, 10 qts of oil and two filters. Installed new injectors and fpr. Changed the oil and filter. Let it rin for 20minutes. Changed the oil again and drove it for 10 years.

The Wichita youtube mafia is getting A LOT of mileage out of this old beater

I like it when this young kid is on, he is a natural in front of the camera. And he is reasonable and understand what he is doing. Just like you and Mrs Wizard.

Geez, You know your getting old when you can remember buying a pickup for $250 and driving it home. Dang is the 1970's really 50 years ago.

One thing with the MultiAir motors is you need to change the multiair filter roughly every 40-60k miles. A clogged MA filter can cause a slew of problems as it limits oil pressure to the MA brick. These engines also suffer from burned exhaust valves for some reason. They are relatively reliable engines otherwise but for whatever reason these darts specifically seem to suffer from a lot of electrical gremlins.

The manual transmission adds special appeal.

Thank you, Wizard, for mentioning that you don't want to take advantage of the seller! ...really wonderful of you!!! The goal is to get a good deal given your risk...and for you to honor the seller. We are brothers/sisters in the world - love and care as you would want to be loved and cared! : )

I'm an Aussie and I would not call the Dart a bogan car. It seems to be a basic economical A to B transport with just a bit of fun with the turbo, six speed manual and a bit in common with Alfa. In 2012 it was considered for the Australian market but I don't know if that happened, I don't recall seeing them here. We did get the Neon for a while.

I agree with the Wizard. It's tough for me to get through my 64-year-old brain that two or three grand gets you a car that needs work.

I love the Dodge dart 1.4L DDCT but these cars are NOT for everyone! Even dealership techs can’t fix these cars. I’ve bought 3 of them now that the dealerships couldn’t fix, and I fix them very cheap every time. I just bought one with 70k miles the dealer diagnosed as a “bad transmission” that only needed a 15 min software update. There’s lots of videos on my channel about these cars and I’ll be making more to help people!

My late father had a new 1968 Dodge Dart. They don’t build them like they used to.

What is surprising to me is that the mechanics vehicle is usually the most neglected vehicle. Grimes works on cars all day and probably wouldn't be too excited on more punishment at home.

Buying a non-running car is gamble, but can be a fun challenge. Nice job Mr. Grimes. 👍

Seeing this, I guess I got a real deal. When the 400,000 mile Volvo gad to come off the road, Ma's next door neighbour had to stop driving, and suggested I buy her car. 2004 Toyota Corolla, Yoda, with 100,000 miles. She was 75 when she bought Yoda new. Always dealer serviced. Passed safety with zero issues. $2,700 Canadian is what she asked. Sold! I put a set of Haakappilliitta winter tires on, got new alloy wheels for the H rated Michelin Defenders, and away i went. Ive had to do the front wheel bearings and the cat. 40 miles to the Imperial gallon. I'm not complaining

I don't know how I feel about you sponsoring duralast coils. I have have replaced more of those on 3.6l pentastars then i have actual factory coils. Plus they always implode coming out, they are much cheaper quality then the OEM.

We just sold a near perfect 1995 Toyota Camry for $2,000. AC was cold, interior was mint exterior only had 3 small blemishes. Maybe we let it go to cheap!!

A high chance that the #3 has a burned valve. Don't fall for the parts cannon, do a compression test before buying the coils!

Congratulations on 1 million!! Thank you for keeping the sponsorship short and relevant.

I love a gamble, I bought a non running 76 XJ-S V12 hahahahha. New fuel pump, fuel lines, pressure regulators, ballast resistor and header tank got her running.