Topic: i got screwed! please help.

[airborne_w]

so I'm new to the whole world of crawling and i was told to just buy a built yota instead of building one from scratch. so that's what i did. i bought an 85 pickup 22re and when i get it home i find out all emissions equipment is gone. now I'm out 4500 and cant drive the truck. the guy who sold it to me said all i need to do is weld in a cat and it will pass smog.

so my question is, WHAT SHOULD I DO? i am so f-ing stressed out, i cant find the parts i need online. i just need some advice, or help on locating the parts. i live in the east bay of California.

[bryanrz]

dont quote me but I believe in Cali where you are it is illegal so sell a truck like that....

[daniresch]

Did you open the hood before buying the truck?
I don't live in east bay, or cali, but i would check what the regulations are first before stressing out, maybe all you really do need is a cat.
I know where i live all you need is a cat to pass smog.

My first resort would be to find someone parting out a truck, or junkyard, if you end up needing all the EVAP parts.

[jrock]

Post a picture of the engine. What's missing exactly? Those 22REs don't have much in the way of emissions stuff. Not like a v6.

[airborne_w [OP]]

i would love to post pictures but i cant yet. too new of a member. the guy i bought it from left for vacation right after i bought it. so i cant contact him for another few days.

im pretty sure he did a complete emissions delete on it. i basically need all of this   

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w66/MrGeniusA/EmissionControlSchematic3VZE.jpg


 

[1985CRAWLER]

that doesnt look like a 22re diagram to me. i have an 85 22re and recently just did a complete rebuild and passed smog first try and there really is no smog stuff on it like in that picture. i have a 22rec which i was told was for the sale in the state of CA and it didnt come with much but a egr canister and diaphragm and alot of vacuum lines and some senors that plug into the exhaust like the 02 sensor, sensor for the intake air box and some that plug into things on top of the valve cover and a heavy cat. really simple motor..

he most likely did a egr delete which is easy to reverse and got rid of the stock air box and its sensors and cut the cat out, A PIC OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT OF THIS TRUCK WOULD REALLY BE HELPFUL. U CAN SEND ONE TO MY EMAIL AND ILL POST IT. IF NOT GET A PHOTOBUCKET ACCOUNT,UPLOAD IT AND POST A LINK TO IT ON HERE.

there is no smog pump on a 22re like a 22r. just mainly sensors and the egr system and alot of vacuum lines and a cat , the parts to make that thing pass smog arnt hard to find and are easy to install if u know how to use a socket set and wrenches.

also i believe it is illegal to sell a vehicle like that with all the emissions removed. 

[Dingman.]

Take some pictures of what you have going on under the hood and let us see it!

[airborne_w [OP]]

after researching and having 3 friends come look at the truck it turns out that the guy put a efi manifold on the motor. so its a  22r. i feel stupid. still screwed tho. now i have a rig that cant be driven on the street and i dont own a trailer or a truck to tow it to the trail. FML

[89 runner]

Did you sign a bill of sale stating its a parts truck. If not seller is responsible for smog, take that guy down its the + about living in cali, The smog police will rape that guy

[airborne_w [OP]]

Did you sign a bill of sale stating its a parts truck. If not seller is responsible for smog, take that guy down its the + about living in cali, The smog police will rape that guy

I'm going to contact the guy ASAP and see if he will be willing to take it back.  If he says no how would i go about legal action? And no no bill of sale about parts truck was signed

[89 runner]

Yes there will be legal action, search ?'s on the DMV website, trust me it sucks when u sell a vehicle that cant pass smog, i ended up paying out almost 1300 to get a subaru to pass smog that i sold. Even my wife's car i would sell as a  parts car and its an 2009. This state sucks to live in but the DMV is on your side.( And always build you own rig, if your on the trial and it breaks you better carry cash to pay people to fix it)

[airborne_w [OP]]

So I paid 4500 for the truck but dude put down on the pink that he sold it to me for 300. I'm guessing that if I take legal action that I won't see more that 300. Or am I wrong?

[89 runner]

wrong IT HAS TO PASS SMOG, SELLER HAS TO SMOG BEFORE ITS SOLD. THEN ITS GOOD FOR 90 DAYS AFTER THAT SELLER HAS TO SMOG AGAIN.    http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm#BM2537    copy and paste. It doesn't  matter about the 300. you payed put a 5 before it.

[jrock]

If he put the 300 then he'll be in trouble when you say you actually payed 4500. That's if he's a richard and won't help you out. Definitely get in contact with him and see what he says first

[toyodaaddict]

If he put the 300 then he'll be in trouble when you say you actually payed 4500. That's if he's a richard and won't help you out. Definitely get in contact with him and see what he says first

im curious about this, i was straight scammed years ago. i got all ready to take the guy to court, i felt i had bullet proof case untill the guy called me and left a message  laughing at me telling me to F off and that i only paid $500 for the truck and that i was the one trying to scam him! i in reality paid $3700 but because he suggested we put $500 on the bill of sale (for obvious reasons) i assumed i was SOL and gave up.  i was young and had worked hard and been saving that $$$$ for2-3 years and getting screwed out of it still pisses me off. it took another $2000 or so and alot of frustration to get that stock toyota drivable and reliable. sorry for the rant

[Rocksurfer]

Not so screwed yet even though yes you may have an issue with the amount that you agreed to write on the bill of sale. I would not try to give it back unless he agrees to refund the full amount due to the smog issues. If he says no I would advise him that you are going to report this incident to a DMV investigator and a B.A.R. investigator since by law he is required to smog the vehicle before selling it, unless he sold it to you as a parts vehicle and has documentation proving such. The trick here and is how you need to play your cards, find out how much it will cost to replace all smog controls since it will be as much if not more than the cost of the vehicle in the 1st place because he will be responsible for the actual costs. Also check at a muffler shop on the federal level as who would handle the removal of the devices since it is a serious violation of federal law to remove them from a vehicle especially the CAT. California also looks at the removal of the CAT very seriously. They actually have cameras mounted throughout the state monitoring the heat signatures of vehicles as they pass them, and if you ever pass a plain white van sitting at the on ramp of a metered ramp they are doing the same plus they get the plate since they will be sending you a nice invitation to the ball.

Beyond this you may have to take it to a STAR shop since they have replaced the Gold Shield shops and have them bring it back to code.

[84Flatbed]

First of all did he tell you it was smog legal? Why didn't you have him smog it before you bought it? I see a lot of crawlers for sale that are not smog legal and there really isn't any thing wrong with that as long as the buyer is aware of that. Also a bill of sale doesn't mean much, the dmv only cares about a title and release of liability.

If he told that it smogs then you should get him to smog it, if he told you it won't smog now but will with a new cat then you knew it needed some work to smog.  The efi swap isn't a big deal and is actually a bonus, better then a carb and less smog stuff. I wouldn't worry too much yet if you like everything else about the truck. There really isn't very much smog stuff on an Ca 85 22re, charcoal canister, egr, dash pot, pcv and cat of coarse. Does yours have all of that? I also remember reading a thread where a smog tech was talking about efi swaps and said that if the efi was available on your vehicle (it was in 85) and all the parts for your year are installed that it doesn't even have to be reffed.

I'm kinda in your same shoes except mine is an 84 with an efi swap, efi wasn't available on the 4x4 in 84. Even though the guy I bought it from and the guy before him had it smoged I'm aware that I could potentially run into problems smoging it, but I knew that when I bought it.  So even if you buy something smoged it doesn't always mean its smog legal. What bothers me more is that I had to find out after buying that the frame was cracked, windshield was loose, radiator leaked and quite a few other things that the po didn't mention. I wouldn't have paid as much if I knew about these issues. I have noticed a lot of sub $6000 crawlers have issues in some way or another it comes down to what your comfortable dealing with.

[jssgbsn]

Get a CAT welded in and see if it passes smog before feeling you got screwed.

If it doesn't then worry about all the other stuff.

[IronClad]

Can you post pics of the engine and stuff please ?  Quite honestly i dont think you have a clue as to what you have.. And i dont know about anyone else but my crystal ball is in the shop at the moment.

[airborne_w [OP]]

http://s70.photobucket.com/user/scarfacewojcik/library/yota


here are some pics i can take more. from researching its a 22r with a efi swap and no smog equipment.

[airborne_w [OP]]

im getting to the point where i am so stressed that i cant sleep and even eat, almost to the point where im going to start drinking again. i haven't been this stressed since i was in iraq. does anyone want to buy a parts vehicle for 3500?

[IronClad]

Your pictures dont really tell squat other than someone pulled a ton of vacuum lines off..  Can we see the whole thing ?

[airborne_w [OP]]

here is some more pics hope thees one work. if lot let me know exactly what you want pics of.


http://s70.photobucket.com/user/scarfacewojcik/library/toyota

[84Flatbed]

im getting to the point where i am so stressed that i cant sleep and even eat, almost to the point where im going to start drinking again. i haven't been this stressed since i was in iraq. does anyone want to buy a parts vehicle for 3500?

I know how you feel, I've lost many hours of sleep over vehicle related stress, including the 84 I have now. I thought I was the only one lol. Most of the time I'm imagining the worst case scenario or I just don't have the time, money or know how to deal with it so it seems overwhelming. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist so that doesn't help. The reality of it though is that it's usually not as major as it seems. In your case I think the parts you need could be sourced for a relatively small amount of money. From the picture it looks like you do have a pcv valve and the dash pot but would need a egr valve and modulator, and a charcoal canister. I can't tell from the picture if it's a smog legal header. If you had to pay someone to install the parts I don't see to many hours in labor. Also if you decided not to deal with it there are people out there that don't care about smog and hold more value in the build and running gear.

So, did the seller tell you all it needed was a cat? If he did then that's BS and he should at least give you a partial refund.

[airborne_w [OP]]

he was selling it for 5500 and told me he would let it go for 4500 if i took care of the smog and all it needed was a cat to pass. so i thought i was getting a good deal. it runs fine a little high on idle. iv tried to call him and he wont answer his phone. hes not too smart tho, i bought it from his house so i know where he lives.

[toyodaaddict]

yeah, op try and calm down. there isnt all that much to emissions on a 22re and the parts shouldnt be to hard to find, my guess is your looking at maybe $100 + the cat.  i think the trick here is to figure out what you have and what you need  to pass. i dont know much about emissions because i dont have to do it where im at but i know there's alot of guys here that can help. getting to stressed about it will lead to irrational decisions

[1985CRAWLER]

 
dont start drinking again over this,lol its all fixable. can be smogged easy with some parts and a little work.

but the real question is do you plan on keeping it after all this?do u want to resell it for 3500 like u said?or do u just want all your money back?

like everyone including myself has already stated, the seller is responsible for smog before the sale, he is in deep with the dmv if u want to involve them which is smart choice if he decides not to refund u or at least give u a half refund to get all the parts u need to get that ride smogged and ready to rock. but thats all depending if u really want to keep it.

[airborne_w [OP]]

so i got into contact with the guy. i basically told him he had to either buy it back from me or i was going to report him to DMV and BAR. he said he would see how fast he can get the cash back together. not sure he was serious or just freakin' with me again..... but i think i have learned my lesson and will hopefully find another rig and make sure it has all the smog equipment and currently smoged.

[airborne_w [OP]]

ooh and thanks everyone for your help. i really appreciate it. hopefully tonight i can actually sleep. lol

[tyes]

sorry dude, my comment will not help, but, YOU never buy a built rig. the person who built it, beat the hell out of it because thats what its built to do...