Hi everyone,
My first post.

I would like to get some advice about a 2000 Z28 6-speed Camaro I have been offered.

Issue 1;
It is for sale because the 6-speed trans is broken, the tailhousing broke when the car was doing 80-85 mph. Suddenly it started to vibrate and it popped out of gear to neutral. Driver stopped and the transmission fluid was all over the road. It was drivable in 1st and 2nd gear to the next exit. After inspection he found out the transmission tail housing had a big crack and the universal joint on the driveshaft was damaged.
What do you think could have happend?
Would it be fine just replacing the tail housing and universal joint or is it likely there be more damage to the trans?

Issue 2;
The car have this in the carfax report before being imported to Sweden;

09/16/2005 CARFAX
This vehicle was registered in a county declared a flood disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ).

04/10/2006 Damage Report TOTAL LOSS VEHICLE

04/10/2006 Mississippi
Motor Vehicle Dept. Title or registration issued
to insurance company

04/10/2006 Mississippi
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Florence, MS
Title #C41277803 NOT ACTUAL MILEAGE TITLE ISSUED
FLOOD DAMAGE TITLE ISSUED

CARFAX Advisor™
A NAM title is issued when the owner discloses to a DMV mileage fraud, a broken odometer or that the actual mileage of this vehicle is unknown.

Mileage reported after this reading is potentially unreliable.

08/12/2006 Vehicle Exporter Vehicle exported from
Miami, FL
and imported to
Sweden

How bad is this carfax report? Car looks great and show no signs of flood damage.

Sorry for long post.

Thanks Mats

 

Run away from it. It should be considered a parts car. The second happiest day buying a flood car is the day you buy it. The happiest day would be the day you are final sell it.

I was a GM Master Tech, a friend of mine bought a flood car. At the end of two years if I charged him he would have paid me twice what he paid for the car. I stopped answering his phone calls and he scraped it out. He could not bring himself to sell it to another human.

I did not realize how few things really wear out or fail in normal wear. In most cases when a 3 or 4 year old car comes into a dealership we have a pretty good idea what is wrong with the car just by the description. But a flood car it can be ANYTHING. Rust on a ground wire, corrosion inside a sealed connector, it can take hours to figure out a simple issue.

If that does not scare you off you need to assume the transmission is a total loss. If the output shaft was forced out of alignment even a small amount that would cause the counter gear and out put shaft to jump teeth. That would ruin the out put shaft and counter gear. That is about $1500 in hard parts here in the US. with labor and a normal rebuild kit you could easily run in the $2500 but that is not the worst case. It could easily have a cracked case on top of that.

Most state here in the US have stopped retitling flood cars a while ago and most insurance companies will not cover them. The states that do retitle them require extensive restoration records. My guess would be this car was dried with a Fan and sent out of the country because it is a parts car here.

 

Gorn, thanks for good advice.

I guess I need to think twice about this Camaro. If the price comes down to what would be resonable for a parts car without trans it might be worth taking a chance on it.

 

Stay away from that car unless you need a hobby fixing electrical gremlins. The only reason I can think for the tail shaft breaking is if the car was driven with a broken transmission mount, which as Gorn said turned the transmission into junk. To me indicates that the previous owner really abused the car.

 

I don´t need to think about this car anymore, it sold to someone else. Thanks guys for taking your time and give me advice.
Thanks, Mats