After purchasing the Proton on ebay, and tracking my her from NY to FL on the DAS auto shipper website, I finally took possession today. Cut out of work early, caught the Tri-Rail (another first for me!) from MIA to Fort Lauderdale Air Port, taxi the last few miles, and arrived at DAS' drop off point:
And spotting her in the lot:
What a painless process: show ID, inspect, sign and drive. We are headed home:
What a fantastic start! My first four wheel drive ever, my first truck/SUV ever, hell I haven't had more than 140hp since 1990. I am so not used to sitting up so high in traffic, so not used to the ready power.
The seller of course left her nearly empty (no surprise) which gave me my first opportunity to fill her up, check the oil, and set the trip meter. I was suprised that there was no tag on the VX at all, not even a dealer temp tag. I drove it home bare, worrying all the way about getting pulled over. Tomorrow I will remedy that.
As the seller made clear, the right front bumper and lower right front signal are damaged, but those parts are in route. The backseat is also missing, but VX KAT and I are working to resolve that to our mutual benefit. She has agreed to give it to me in exchange for my heartfelt appreciation. And some cash.
I bought this site unseen, and I am happy, or rather relieved, with the result, but one can't expect perfection, and there are a few minor issues about which I was not aware:
- The PO jacked the emergency handle, I guess it wore badly or something, cause he appears to have taken a dull carving knife to the rubber/plastic coating of the handle, stripped it part way down, and stuck on a really ugly aftermarket fake CF (and not a good fake) handle. But only the top half of the handle, so it comes off easy, and the bottom is raw cut plastic/rubber.
- He also appears to have drilled a hole in one of the bevel switches, the right most switch of the row of three located to the right of the steering wheel. I am looking at the manual, and I can't tell what the switch was for. Anway, drilled a big hole in it, stuffed some rubbery material arond the raw edges, looks like some kind of wire was supposed to go in there.
- The rocker switch right next to it has a very tiny led light cover on it, is that stock? Looks modded.
I think you are looking at the alarm "armed" light. If you have the original keyless remote when you lock the doors it should arm the stock Isuzu alarm and that light should blink. Like pbkid said, some pictures could really help.
- There is an insulated wire, curly like a telephone cord, sticking out of the front of the head liner just above the rear view mirror, it leads down to the mirror bracket, and .. I can't tell what it does then. Did not have time to investigate, have to go re check it.
Like the other said, this powers the map lights that are in the mirror. When you look at the mirror there should be a toggle switch at the lower left and lower right corners of the mirror.
- Whatever is supposed to be to the right of the cig lighter is missing. Just a rectangular hole with a bracket, looks like it was supposed to be a coin holder or something?
Without pictures, I think that is where the stock ash tray should be. Merlin at St. Charles Isuzu may be able to help you out there, or maybe someone has an extra one that they could part with.
- Tires are nearing the end of their safe service life.
- Passenger side winshield squirter does not squirt. I will have to check the squirting equipment for maximum squirtyness.
First just check to see if any of the squirter tubes are pinched under the hood. I had to fool with my hood insert once and when I reassembled everything I ended up pinching a line so there was little to no squirtyness happening.
Tomorrow: Florida registration and tag
Thursday: Oil and PCV change
- Os
Originally Posted by Osteomata
After purchasing the Proton on ebay, and tracking my her from NY to FL on the DAS auto shipper website, I finally took possession today. Cut out of work early, caught the Tri-Rail (another first for me!) from MIA to Fort Lauderdale Air Port, taxi the last few miles, and arrived at DAS' drop off point:
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Secondly, DO NOT buy from an Amazon merchant named REMOTESUPERSTORE....sent me a knock off then never would refund my money even tho I sent it back 
. Had to file claim with Amazon to get money back. Go with the eBay seller of OEM remote.
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