Originally Posted by
urbanknight
That's a tricky situation, and one where opinions and finger pointing can be abundant. In my opinion, if the item was being sold "as-is", it becomes the buyer's responsibility to inspect the item and be ginger in the handling of it. If it was described as "runs great" or "just tuned", then that falls on the seller who was either mistaken or dishonest.
Let's re-contextualize the situation: suppose you are checking out a used car, and the motor blows while you are on the gentle test drive. Are you responsible for paying to have the engine rebuilt, or for buying the (now non-functioning) car?