whoudi

what's up fellas, I'm currently looking at an 02 WS6 M6 79k. Its a southern transplant said to be bone stock with the exception of a chip. I was hoping to get a little feedback on common red flags to look for on these cars. Other than the basics, checking door tags, oil & trans leaks, vibrations, knocks, etc is there anything I need to look out for? I've seen a couple posts about leaking valve covers but changing a gasket isn't an issue. Any advice or direction to a sticky would be greatly appreciated, love the site!

Z28/2002

iTrader: (27)

The first red flag should have been when they said it has a "chip"

You can not "chip" these cars

whoudi

yeah that would definitely constitute a "red flag". Ill dig a little deeper on that one, could the seller have have confused a chip with a plug n play program?

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

yea thats possible, ask him hows it tuned liek with what program, if he says HPtuners, hypertech, predator etc then you know what he meant.

whoudi

roger that, other than this mysterious "chip" is there anything I should be looking for? With the advent of these forums I have learned that there always seems to be an issue lurking with half of the cars that roll off the line, granted this T/As about to roll over 80k but I'm just trying to get my ducks on the wall before I start shootin, thanks again guys

JustAGoat

iTrader: (6)

If you didn't carfax spend the money and do one, i was looking at a 98 ws6 with 78,000 miles (this is what the odometer said) with a typical sun fade (which he was right that it was a cali car) otherwize it was in pretty good shape did a carfax and found out it had 146000 3 years ago before the title started reading exempt...

whoudi

oh yeah a carfax is definitely in order, I'm gonna sneak over there tomorrow n kick the tires to see what I come up with, carfax is another one of technological godsends that is a must

eseibel67

iTrader: (10)

Southern transplant, great - but when? One salty Michigan winter will start the rusting process.

Kick the tires, then get it on a lift to check the underside.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

What is it with this "chip" crap? Most cars haven't had a replaceable chip in 15+ years. How can people still be calling tuning a "chip"? I would ask the guy to double check his car and make sure it's not a '92 Trans Am rather than an '02.

00FirebirdaREV

iTrader: (3)

Look to make sure it is a real ws6 (door option codes) and look for simple mods like a lid or even see if he did any free mods like maf screen pull out. Not that it will hurt much but one lie can hide hundreds and if the guy is willing to lie once then it's very possible he could cover up small problems that could lead to your wallet hurting down the road.

whoudi

Right, door tags, lid, maf, filter, exhaust ill be sure to poke around thoroughly, if all of those check out then I'm assuming the word "chip" means a plug in tune, I doubt he had the ECM tuned. Later today I was gonna get the carfax to make sure the "Georgia car" claim checks out as well... then ill a take a look at er and see what we have fellas. appreciate the tips and hopefully ill get some pics tommorrow

TurdsOfMayhem

iTrader: (4)

When I flew upto VT to get my WS6, I made arrangements to take it to a local dealership for a really good run through. It cost me $96, and I felt that much more confident in the car I bought, and I drove it all the way home to Houston w/o any problems at all.

Ferg95 T/A

iTrader: (1)

I think that you got pretty much everything figured out...just hope you got a good price.

udienow

iTrader: (18)

I forget what it is called, but you can take the vin to a GM dealership and they can run it and show you every option that car came with. They can also show you any service records that car may have had at a GM dealership. I was looking at a 30k miled car back in 08 and after running it at a GM dealership, it came up with a bunch of work that had already been done on the car including a head replacement. I didn't want to take any chances, so I passed on it.

desertLS1

iTrader: (8)

It sounds like you know what your looking for
good luck and let us know what happens.

desertLS1

iTrader: (8)

That's exactly what goes through my head when some dumb *** says he has a chip in it... I'm like WTF...That's when you turn around and walk away..

MonmouthCtyLS7

iTrader: (6)

Yea some of the old school guys still call any type of tuning a "chip"...02's a good year...I would just look it over real well.

eseibel67

iTrader: (10)

You can do this yourself by entering the VIN at: http://compnine.com/vid.php

dhowdy

iTrader: (2)

GMVIS - GM Vehicle Inquiry Service I believe is what it stands for. Tells you everything about production such as options, build date, dealer shipped too, and all warranty work done.

Compnine won't give you the warranty work information, so it's still worth talking to a dealer or anyone you know that works for GM.

udienow

iTrader: (18)

Yes thats what it is, VIS.