I bought a used truck from an out of state dealer. Researching the vehicle on line, looking at the various photos and talking to the salesman who said there were no problems he knew of with the vehicle. I bought it and had it delivered.
I replaced alternator, shocks, water pump, mufflers, catalytic converters and a host of other things. The parts were failed or about to. I was happy to replace the failed torque converter and put in a performance part.
The salesman called me sheepishly one day asking how the truck was running. I told him it was running great. He was befuddled and started to ask what about the... and caught himself. He did some stuttering and after some small talk we ended the conversation.
I was looking for a c ar for my teenage son to use at college. One car I test drove was as quiet as a mouse, but after twenty or so miles, I returned it with smoke coming from under the hood. When the hood was lifted, the smoke was coming out around the head gasket. Removed the cover and found a T-shirt sitting on top of the rocker arms. After removing the t-SHIRT THE ENGINE DID NOT RUN QUIETLY ...