YouTuber Faces Massive Repair Bill for Problematic Murcielago
Tyler Hoover’s latest purchase is a great-looking Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster with a troublesome gearbox.
Enthusiasts generally like the Lamborghini Murcielago because it represents one of the best vehicles from the era when the company made some truly “raw” products. Obviously, their modern lineup features some excellent stuff too. But there’s a certain spice to their older stuff. And the Murcielago is perhaps the best representation of that ethos.
Tyler Hoover, proprietor of Hoovie’s Garage, recently decided to purchase a 2006 Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster. It might just be his most irresponsible purchase yet. And that’s really saying something. Regardless, He stopped by his favorite mechanic for an assessment. The results seem to be much worse than he anticipated. Although oddly enough, it’s not all bad news.
America’s Least Expensive Murcielago
Hoover starts the video with a quick recap of why he acquired the Murcielago. Basically, his friend Ed Bolian of VINWiki Car Stories purchased it first and ended up selling it to him. The purchase price was significantly cheaper than any other comparable model on the market, which is why he pulled the trigger and bought it. Unfortunately for Hoover, the Murcielago currently has several maladies affecting it. Chief among them is the transmission. In his drive to the mechanic’s shop, Hoover detailed why the transmission is such a problem. “It drives perfectly as long as you don’t put it into first gear,” says Hoover. “Every time I have to stop in this thing it’s absolute agony. But as soon as I shift to third, fourth, fifth, sixth…it’s all good,” he added.
Hoover successfully gets the Lamborghini to the shop without any major issues and has David Long aka “The Car Wizard” put it on the lift to get an initial assessment. It’s worth noting that the pristine 1985 Mercedes 500SL in the background is also Hoover’s. “This is actually my first car. My grandmother got this new in 1985; 500SL and she gave it to me when I was a kid in high school. I was a really lucky kid. So it’s kind of funny to see the first car I’ve ever owned, a convertible, and my most recent purchase, which is also a convertible,” says Hoover. Kudos to Hoover for keeping the Mercedes in great shape.
Hoover Gets Some Bad News
Before the sit down in Long’s office, the duo comb over the Murcielago to take stock of everything that’s wrong with it. Transmission aside, it’s in acceptable shape. After checking all the other stuff out, Long removes the drain plug to the transmission and lets the fluid flow out. Overall, the fluid is very clean but something becomes immediately apparent once they look at the plug. The teeth for first gear are stuck to the plug. Some of them anyway. Long catches more with another magnet. “So every time I heard that horrific noise in first gear this is what was coming off the transmission,” says Hoover. “There’s not much left of first gear by the looks of it,” Long added. Ouch! The plot thickened.
Long consulted with Hoover not long after that. Aside from the transmission nothing is terribly amiss. The big-ticket item, of course, is the transmission. A minimum $8,500 in parts and labor is needed to pull out the clutch, which Long wants to do anyway since it will already need to be removed to service the transmission. He then talks about the price tag for the transmission itself: $4000 in labor just for his guy to rebuild it. Next, replacing just first gear would cost $5,400 in parts, which is the same cost for every other gear too. And it’s possible they may need to replace those too, which could bump up the total to around $30,000. Hoover is basically looking at a minimum of $18,000 for a complete Murcielago rehab and a maximum of $48,000 if the transmission currently in the Lamborghini is in really bad shape. A pretty hefty amount indeed! Fortunately, a used transmission is relatively cheap. Hoover seems to be leaning towards that option.
Glass Half Full?
Despite the dire situation, Hoover might actually be making out quite well. That’s because models that don’t have horrible transmission issues are worth a lot more than what he paid for his Murcielago. “And if that’s close to all there is then I’m still into this car for well under it’s worth,” says Hoover. It will definitely be interesting to see how Hoover makes out with his Murcielago. And he does have a nice consolation prize with his 500SL, which he got to drive home. So it wasn’t all bad. Make sure to watch the video to hear the terrible grinding of the transmission and to see Hoover practically faint when he hears about the potentially huge repair bill.