PPI issues prior to buying a 2008 ACR from the East Coast and shipping to No Cal

[New2Venom]

Hello VOA Team,

I am new to the Viper world and always interested in buying one. I found a 2008 ACR with 18K Miles and had it sent for PPI at dealers discretion.
The dealer requested to use car dealership only for PPI so I agreed to pay for it. The service advisor from the dealership texted me a chicken scratch inspection sheet (automatically lost trust with the way the PPI is presented so I had asked for a picture and asked to put it on the lift. I found a few leaks and OIL drips above the OIL Filter, the PPI invoice states only Oil cooler line leaking and control arm boot slinging grease. However, the inspection sheet shows transmission oil leaks and engine oil leaks. I had left a few messages and could not get a call back, dealer invoice even overcharge me $50 over verbal quote. I still want the car and my main concern now is the money I will be spending to fix all of this.
Would this be costly to fix? Dealer gave me a cost of $2800 just to fix what is written on the invoice but I am worried about the amount of OIL at the bottom of the oil pan.
Any advise would be appreciated. Sorry, I am unable to upload the inspection sheet.
Thanks in advance

[Steve-Indy]

There can be many sources for the oil leaks...some of which are common and easy to spot...and, some take more effort. Similarly, more info needed on potential leaks from the tranny. There are certainly many qualified owners who could assist you (as I have done many times for buyers)...but, ideally, an experienced Viper Tech is the way to go. There are two ways to do this...take the car to the Tech or take the Tech to the car. Sadly, both of these options are not always possible. The "East Coast" covers a lot of territory. If the Viper is close to South Salem NY, contact Chuck Tator. If said Viper is close to Wilmington NC contact Tom Sessions.

As a Viper owner with some degree of experience, I am willing to assist in this type of endeavor but I usually prefer to do so at a Dodge dealership while one of their
master techs performs a formal inspection. The dealer usually charges $300 to $400 for a full inspection. The tech will see things that I may miss and I will often see things that are Viper specific. Another Viper owner who often helps out in my area sees EVERY blemish in paint, panel fit, and all wheel imperfections. While this may not be a perfect approach, it has worked well in the past for out of state buyers.

By the way, any car that is this old will need some service/repairs/replacements at some point to be made "road reliable". I would suggest that you keep an extra several thousand dollars in your budget to address currently unknown issues.

Best of luck !!

[New2Venom]

Thank you so much for the insight. I do not have much info on the tranny due to the lack of return calls from the local dealer. After reading your response. I went search for local Viper owner and shop owner JTS Venom Performance and he was amazingly helpful and even called the dealer for me and knew who the potential owner was. WoW! I had no idea how beneficial this VOA family is.

Thank you again! I will post a picture once I get the deal closed..

[XSnake]

More than likely new oil cooler lines will fix your issues. I'd replace them, clean everything else and see if there any other leaks. If there's a trans leak it's more than likely the clutch slave, not the trans. Cheap part, trans does have to come out to replace though. $2,800 seems very high to fix.

[New2Venom]

I forgot to mention. I was looking at reputable shop in No. Cal and reached out to Dan Cragin from Specialty Performance Team and he returned my call first thing this morning. You guys rock!

[New2Venom]

Thank you Xsnake -$2800 was just to replace the left rear control arm boot (slinging grease) and fixing the leak from the oil cooler lines from the local Chrysler dealer. I thought it was high but then again I have yet to get a call back.